YACHT’s 2011 release, Shangri La, pieces together a summer synth album perfect for poolside lounging, even if it’s in contrast with their existential themes. The duo takes its acronym–Young Americans Challenging High Technology — seriously as they go about creating some of the most memorable electro-pop in the last year…
Locals Blackstone Rangers have gone from a duo to a quartet to a trio in the span of a couple years, but despite the fluctuation, they’ve managed to fine-tune their distorto-pop sound and put out a new EP. Into the Sea will be released via local label/promo venture Dallas Distortion…
Ozomatli’s style-hopping, multicultural blend of hip-hop, rock, funk and Latin is the perfect example of cross-pollination for Univision’s inaugural H20 Festival. While the L.A. group’s elements may be a mélange, and their five albums a series of costume changes, it comes together in a singular idiosyncratic character, which anyone who’s…
I can’t say I’ve ever been to DeSoto, save for stopping at a Starbucks, but the lineup for their annual SolJazz Festival is enough to make me bust hump and head south. Featuring jazz singer Rachelle Ferrell, rapper MC Lyte, human beatbox Doug E. Fresh, Cameo (ya know, “Word Up!”),…
Relocating from their Melbourne, Australia home to London before the release of 2009 debut Conditions, The Temper Trap blended like lemon and iced tea. The quintet’s sweeping pop melancholia follows on the heels of moody post-millennial U.K. rockers like the Editors and Keane, but with a stronger strain of U2,…
Since playing 35 Denton this year, things have been picking up for Noonday Morningstar. The four-piece has plans to record an album towards the end of this month, so we sat down with the band at their rehearsal space and talked about what got them into music, why some got…
The scar ran from behind his right ear to the center of his cheek, pink and waxy in contrast with his dyed black hair. His skinny arms were covered with crude tattoos, and he was wearing a black t-shirt inside out, black jeans and black boots. He stood about 6-feet-1,…
See also: The fans of A-Kon. I don’t really know why I asked to cover A-Kon, the annual anime convention in Dallas, other than I support like-minded people coming together to share a common passion, the exception being those who burn crosses and wear red arm bands. I had no…
KXT’s Summer Cut Gexa Energy Pavilion Friday, June 1 See also: The fans of Summer Cut. “What the [expletive] is that?” – Gexa’s finest usher, on the stylistic motivations of its patrons. When the Flaming Lips come to town, people tend to shed their inhibitions. For the guy in the…
As the seated half of the King Khan & BBQ Show, guitarist Mark Sultan (“BBQ”) provided the rhythmic gut for the duo’s food- and sex-propelled rock and roll. Solo, not much has changed aesthetically. His latest studio albums, Whatever I Want and Whenever I Want, as well as a limited…
Local station KKXT-FM 91.7 is dipping its collective toes in the fest pool, and gathers The Flaming Lips, St. Vincent, Fitz & the Tantrums, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Smile Smile, Air Review, Telegraph Canyon, Quiet Corral, Walk Off The Earth and more for one big cannonball into said pool…
Something happens when Emmylou Harris sings. Sure, we can get into her history — best-selling singer, one-time girlfriend of Gram Parsons, genre-expanding country artist — or we could talk about her voice, which reaches your soul like a healing salve. Hyperbole? Not to me. Emmylou is playing Fort Worth, as…
I’ve long held the belief that Fred and Toody Cole are music’s most inspiring couple. In previous band Dead Moon, their music never really veered from its pure punk base, and existed across more than a dozen albums. Pierced Arrows aren’t much different, save for a new drummer, and continue…
QuikTrip Park was the site of Dayglow, the “paint rave” I attended a couple months ago, and I’m still finding evidence on my purse. The same young crowd will no doubt attend this electronic/DJ mass, featuring local favorites Pretty Lights, as well as Passion Pit, Steve Agnello, Sander Van Doorn,…
This has been a pretty great spring for touring acts in Dallas, but there hasn’t been much that makes you want to dance. That will change when NYC’s Santi White, aka Santigold, takes the stage at House of Blues. Four years after her debut Santogold spawned “Creator” and “L.E.S. Artistes,”…
Local act Caterpillars won’t play their next show until July 20 at the Crown and Harp, but until then, they have a new record to finish. They took some time out at the Double Wide a few weeks ago and discussed what they’re up to, their first musical obsessions, and…
When I finally set foot in Main Street Garden Park on Saturday afternoon, I knew what Homegrown Fest organizer Josh Florence was talking about. The strip of downtown green is beautiful, well-designed and forces interaction, like any good, walkable park should. Looking up at the old Grand Hotel, which shadowed…
Teenage Cool Kids, Beth Israel, Adult Books, Hot Times Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios Sunday, May 27 What happened Sunday night at Rubber Gloves was a pretty unique moment, almost a family reunion of sorts. The bill was full of familiar faces and borrowed band members, which is appropriate for a…
Turnpike Troubadours Granada Theater Friday, May 25 Friday night, Oklahoma’s Turnpike Troubadours and El Paso quarter the Dirty River Boys turned in a ferocious one-two punch that floored not only the packed lower level of the Granada Theater, but proved the newest generation of country and roots music is solid,…
Let the wild rumpus begin, Dallas. You had a buzzing, humming, sexy weekend of music. Like, a real luxury yacht of fiery shows. There’s more to come to this summer, of course, with KXT’s Summer Cut up next weekend (Mmm…Flaming Lips). Somewhere in the crowds for Homegrown Fest, FLOAT, The…
Urgh! A Music War exists as one of those concert films that could never be replicated today. Filmed in London and Los Angeles in 1980 and released in 1982, it was bankrolled by Miles Copeland, brother of Police drummer Stewart and founder of I.R.S. Records, and thus includes opening and…
Black Joe Lewis, Hayes Carll, Ben Kweller, Eisley, Centro-matic, Octopus Project, Robert Ellis, Mystery Skulls, Bright Light Social Hour, Ume, Mohicans, Girl in a Coma, Low Dark Hills, the Bird Dogs and Madisons hit downtown and represent Austin, Houston and Dallas. See this week’s music feature for more with organizer…
