On Aug.16, Zyon Iman turned 22. That day, the Dallas rapper by way of Milwaukee released the first installment of his mixtape series IPMD [I Paid My Dues] Vol I. The title may seem a bit presumptuous and off-putting to those in older age brackets, but when you consider the life obstacles…
Before the pandemic shut down North Texas nightlife in mid-March, it would’ve been a tough task to name a local band enjoying more forward momentum than Bastards of Soul. In the first several weeks of 2020, the group released its stellar debut LP, Spinnin’, which flew off the shelves of…
In a shocking development caused by the economic devastation of COVID-19, two respected Deep Ellum venues located a mere half mile from each other announced they would be closing this week. Lizard Lounge, a Dallas institution that has stood for 28 years as a mecca of electronic music and Goth/post-punk,…
You never know when music will be important. When avant-jazz act Yells at Eels and avant-metal act Pinkish Black entered the studio together in April 2018, there was no way they could have known that the tracks they would be laying down then would become the soundtrack to the isolation…
Concerts are something we look forward to for weeks or months. They mark our lives with a meaningful timestamp that interrupts the drudgery of our daily responsibilities. A concert can be a significant life event, where our idols’ lives intersect with our own, as we feel at one with a…
Live Nation Entertainment is organizing the first of what they hope to be many concerts that comply with social distancing protocols, Bloomberg reports. Travis McCready, vocalist of Americana band Bishop Gunn, will be Patient Zero for this new experiment, which will take place on May 15 at Fort Smith, Arkansas…
Wavers, rejoice: It’s time to show our kids that being a little weird isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s pretty cool. If your child shows interest in the experimental or the obscure and prefers to march to the beat of his or her own synthesizer, this list is your…
While the future of live music remains uncertain, and some sources predict there will be no large concerts until 2021, one Dallas musician found a way to continue touring around the lockdowns. This Monday, famed electronic musician Marc Rebillet announced via Twitter that he’ll be embarking on a national tour…
There’s no denying that spending extra time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic has led many folks to see things in a new, unexpected light. That’s certainly the case for Wade Bowen, one of the biggest stars of the Texas country circuit. The Waco native is deriving unexpected pleasure from…
While it may be a tough time to have the name “Corona” associated with your brand, it’s a name that’s working well for a local singer-songwriter. Kristina Corona is gaining lots of local recognition with her song “Missing,” which has been picked up for radio play on Dallas stations. Corona…
MATTIE is easy to crush on. The Dallas musician and hairdresser is a force of creativity whose work is boundlessly original. She’s a superb live performer with a transfixing onstage act rooted in storytelling. Offstage, she’s just as fascinating, an all-caps mystic with inimitable style. Here’s why we love her…
People gathered outside of an old Dallas shopping strip. Some wore masks and others openly carried firearms. One held a flag that bore the words: “Trump 2020 — Make America Great Again.” They were rallying in support of Shelley Luther and her business A La Mode, the Dallas salon that decided…
Like many of us these days, Nicholas Altobelli has abundant time on his hands. And, like some of us these days, Altobelli is making productive use of it. As a lark, the musician recently wrote, recorded and released a new EP — the evocatively titled I Took My Hockey Stick…
Dallas folk duo Penny & Dime first met in the summer of 2016, through a Craigslist ad. The meeting culminated in what may be one of the best albums of 2020 with the band’s eponymous debut EP. “Because we were both transplants to Dallas, we didn’t really know where to start,” Kylie…
Our woman crush this week is Denton-based singer-songwriter Lorelei K. The excitingly ethereal avant- popstress is not only a local queer icon, but a collaborative artist who keeps the music scene at large thriving through connectivity. This week she premiered a video for “White Dress,” the closing track on her…
Mike Brooks is a longtime Observer concert photographer who has shot seemingly every type of artist at every type of local venue. Here he breaks down five of his favorite concert photos. Five pictures, five stories. Or, 10 pounds of talent in a 5-pound bag. I’ve been lucky enough to…
Every year, 10,000 members of the Juggalo diaspora embark on a mass pilgrimage to Insane Clown Posse’s annual Gathering of the Juggalos festival, and the band’s fandom has a zeal that’s undeterred by the event’s frequent location change. This year, it was supposed to take place at Nelson Ledges Quarry…
As protesters across different states demand that their respective governors put an end to imposed business shutdowns and stay-at-home orders, some North Texas businesses are taking things a bit further than holding up “I want a haircut” signs. One Fort Worth music venue, The Basement Bar, announced Tuesday night that…
Pop music, historically speaking, isn’t kind to maturity — doubly so when it comes to women. You need only look as far back as the late 1990s and early 2000s for ample evidence of this: Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera — the Helen and Clytemnestra of tweenaged Y2K bubblegum pop…
Lucinda Williams didn’t have to think twice about returning to her nitty-gritty Southern roots in making Good Souls Better Angels, the 13th studio album in a prolific Do-It-All-American career that dates to the 1970s. Though she moved to Los Angeles for the first time in 1984, Nashville keeps finding a…
North Texas’ biggest and brightest artists will get us through our isolation with an abundance of much-needed new music. We approach summer 2020 with a hoard of new music from the freshest crops in the Triple D: Tay Money, Trapboy Freddy, K Breezy and others who are also expected to…
Effective May 1, concert promoter AEG Presents will give ticket holders an opportunity to request refunds for shows that have already been rescheduled, The New York Times reports. “That means that fans holding tickets to shows that have been delayed but not rescheduled will have to wait,” the article states…
