Well, finally: An email from New West Records today finally gets around to confirming all that hard work and reporting we’ve been kicking out since April on the next, once-thought-to-be-a-double-album-but-now-known-to-be-a-two-part-release from Dallas’ own Old 97’s. Meaning: Yes, it’ll be called The Grand Theatre, Volume One. Yes, it’ll be out on…
The members of Midlake are in the middle of the busiest year they’ve ever had: They’ve already toured the world a few times over, won a MOJO award for Best Live Act, and, ahem, perhaps most importantly, they won a DOMA for Best Indie Rock act.And now, upon returning from…
This afternoon, after spending much of Monday on life support in an Austin hospital, Ryan “Ace” McNeely died at the age of 30.A familiar face to many in the Dallas music community, McNeely worked as the sound engineer at City Tavern and, most recently, played bass in Grant Jones &…
Your daily dose of national music news for Wednesday, April 29, 2010…Like the rest of the major labels, Universal Music Group continues to act like a bunch of bitchy little girls as they pulled all their videos from MTV’s web sites. But, considering MTV rarely airs music videos, it may…
We admittedly let the April release of Meat Loaf’s new album, Hang Cool Teddy Bear, come and go without much ado. But, considering the subject matter of “California Isn’t Big Enough (Hey There Girl),” we really couldn’t let the new album from Dallas native and Thomas Jefferson High School graduate…
Your daily dose of national music news for Monday, August 9, 2010…If you didn’t make it to Lollapalooza this past weekend, here’s a reason why the current incarnation isn’t as good as the original.Bun B will be a guest lecturer at Rice University for a Religion and Hip-Hop Culture class…
If week two of the first round for this year’s Shiner Rising Star contest–hosted by KHYI 95.3 and Shiner Bock Beer–was solid, last night’s, week three performances were a ten foot-thick slab of concrete and steel. In short: It was an outstanding display. Feel free to add to the list…
Your daily dose of national music news for Friday, August 6, 2010…Apparently people really like to buy albums by Dave Matthews and Tori Amos, they just don’t listen to them.Vanilla Ice is set to get his very own home renovation show on the DIY network.As much as KISS would sell…
On a hot summer day last month, I played the “international calling game” with Crowded House’s bassist Nick Seymour. I harassed operators and PR reps to no avail: The number I was dialing was not in service. I wondered what in the hell I was mis-dialing or if I got…
Your daily dose of national music news for Thursday, August 5, 2010…Kings of Leon aren’t messing around: They intend to capitalize on the success Only By The Night by releasing a new disc this fall.Sooooo… apparently Wyclef was serious about a Haitian Presidential bid. Aretha Franklin was forced to cancel…
Tuscon’s metalcore heavyweights The Bled stop through town tonight for a gig at The Prophet Bar, and these guys incorporate just enough of the classic sludge/noise from the likes of Mudhoney and The Jesus Lizard to keep the indie folks interested.Also, seeing that our weather has taken a turn towards…
The folks who run Austin”s Fun Fun Fun Fest have made it clear: Heading into their fifth year of operation, they aren’t planning on slowing down their ever-growing momentum. Quite the opposite, actually: The fest is ramping up to seriously challenge ACL as Austin’s premiere fall fest.Seriously: Just a few…
The idea of having a band on a ship is nothing new, but whole rock ‘n’ roll cruise-ship thing has really started to take off in the past few years. Last year, we saw Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights join Lynard Skynard on a cruise-ship concert series, and now…
Lest there still remained any doubt about the cool factor backing up Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights and, specifically, it’s icy-cool, blues jam freak-out “Devil’s Basement,” some pretty solid arbiters of cool–among them HBO, Martin Scorsese and, uh, Al Capone–have given the band and song a fairly impressive stamp…
Your daily dose of national music news for Wednesday, August 4, 2010…Arcade Fire paid tribute to the late Jay Reatard at it’s Philidelphia show.So now bloggers can’t host an album that was given away?Hey, did you download that new Daft Punk song from the Tron soundtrack? Too bad it’s fake…
Had another good time at The Libertine last night for the first-Monday-of-the-month “DJ” night/party/bad decision called The Local Hang, where your ears get stuffed with nothing but local music, because those are the rules. At least, I hope it was a good time. This throbbing sensation between my ears deserves…
(Back in April, we caught up with the 97’s as they were pre-recording material at Sons of Hermann Hall in Deep Ellum.) About a week after Rhett Miller tweeted that the upcoming, planned double-disc release of the Old 97’s new album, The Grand Theater, would indeed be a split release…
Your daily dose of national music news for Tuesday, August 3, 2010…Just what the world needs right now, a Justin Bieber memoir.If Steven Tyler joins American Idol as a judge does that mean that Diane Warren will write his best lines for him?Derf Scratch from Fear has died…
Lots of great shows coming up in the coming months–but you already knew that. Most likely, you already knew about the third annual Dia de Los Toadies fest on August 27 and 28 in New Braunfels, too.Did you know the complete lineup, though? It’s got the Toadies (duh). But the…
Your daily dose of national music news for Monday, August 2, 2010…The RIAA’s fight against illegal downloads is slightly reminiscent of the war on drugs.If Moz thinks you shouldn’t marry Russell Brand, you should listen to him.Maybe Deadmau5 wouldn’t collapse on stage if he didn’t wear a HUGE mouse head…
Your daily dose of national music news for Friday, July 30, 2010….Madonna is going back to hear hip-hop/street roots with a new tour. Wait, what?Iggy Pop plans on recording a new album with The Stooges.Ellen DeGeneres has decided that she works too much and doesn’t like hurting people’s feelings, so…she’s…
Lately our coverage of Neon Indian has been a near-daily affair, but the Denton band just keeps cranking out big news. Earlier in the week we told you about the UK release of Psychic Chasms, featuring a bonus remix disc called Mind Ctrl: Psychic Chasms Possessed, which made us a…
