Dallas Startup Week works to educate budding entrepreneurs every year through a weeklong series of speaker-led discussions. This year’s event, running today through April 7 and free to attend, has a new emphasis on the local music scene. “[Artists] are always looking at, ‘Who’s going to sign me?’ or ‘How…
This week we got details about the unveiling of a shiny new music and entertainment complex, the initial revelation of Live Nation’s music lineup, and concert announcements that will appeal to fans of R&B, early-2000s rock, and European industrial. Read on for the details. Regular readers of the Dallas Observer…
Six Shooter is a recurring feature where we highlight six new releases by North Texas-based musicians. Kaela Sinclair – “Golden” Yesterday Gorilla Vs. Bear premiered this new single from singer Kaela Sinclair’s upcoming album. As mentioned in the blog post, Sinclair’s solo career has been on hold the past year…
There’s a lot of overlap between fans of indie music and fans of dance music, and Fropsi thrives in that space. As a member of DJ crew The Guild, he has a weekly residency dedicated to electronic music at the Nines, where he’s known to bring in other upcoming talent…
This Friday at Poor David’s Pub, Denton’s Grammy Award-winning polka band Brave Combo will play music introduced to America by immigrants and refugees. Mayor Mike Rawlings will be there. Band member Carl Finch claims the band isn’t making a political statement — “It is just about acknowledging where a bunch…
In the ’80s, rock lovers in Dallas tuned into KZEW “The Zoo” as they cruised down Central Expressway. Now, more than three decades since that iconic call sign graced the airwaves, a key figure in the history of the Zoo is returning to “extend the continuum” of a radio station. “The…
Terrence Morris is glowing after an evening workout. He’s a far cry from the boyish, happy-go-lucky rapper who appeared in the music video for “Blu Summer,” a single from his 2014 breakthrough mixtape NuDallas. That year, the hip-hop radio station Live From the Underground declared Morris, who raps under the…
For those who treat Record Store Say like a national holiday, there is a lot of planning involved. It’s huge business for stores across the country, which can do two months’ worth of business in a single day. This year, the day falls on April 22. The official list of special…
Earlier this month, we delved into the changing landscape of music festivals in Denton when Oaktopia may be making a move from the city after it lost its main investor. That bad news came on the heels of a February announcement that 35 Denton would not be returning in 2017. Now the…
The lead singer of Dallas’ newest pop band, Starfruit — who asks to be identified only as Bubbles and uses gender-neutral pronouns — says they hear a lot of music by queer artists that’s sad. They hope Starfruit can fill that void and be something bright that gets people dancing…
Justin Rhodes was filled with excitement as he made the drive from Dallas to Austin a couple weeks ago with his girlfriend Adriel Sims. The occasion for the trip was SXSW; for the first time, Rhodes, an award-winning producer, had been invited as an official festival panelist. But what he…
The Sonics play April 7 at Gas Monkey Bar and Grill Most rock ’n’ rollers have called it quits by the time they’ve reached their 60s, preferring to play at small gatherings or for personal enjoyment. Garage rock legends the Sonics are not only completing world tours fifty years after their original…
American Football play Granada Theater on Saturday, April 1. American Football’s self-titled, nine-track debut album has far more fans now than when it was released in ’99. The band belongs to a class of emo and post-hardcore music that also counted Jimmy Eat World, At the Drive-In, Sunny Day Real…
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs play the Bomb Factory on Tuesday, March 28 Los Fabulosos Cadillacs hail from Buenos Aires, a land of explosive political turmoil and choice beef. The rock/ska band has become as intrinsic to the South American musical fabric as the tango. Next week, they’ll bring a taste of…
This week’s batch of concert announcements offers a little something for everyone. Gospel great CeCe Winans will come through in June, a slew of your favorite ’90s artists will get you moving the following month, Granada is hosting a couple of veteran acts in the form of Joe Ely and…
Last night, Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman made a couple of big announcements about this year’s edition of the traveling road show. In addition to revealing there will be a brand new Warped Tour cruise over Halloween weekend, he also shared dates and lineups for the 22nd summer festival. Warped…
John 5 plays Trees on Sunday, March 26 Given all of his years touring with Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and David Lee Roth, it’s surprising that guitarist John “John 5” Lowery was hesitant to take his instrumental solo material on the road. His reasoning? He wasn’t sure anyone would want…
You can tell Chuk Scott is a consummate cratedigger when you listen to the samples on Kemet, the 32-track experimental hip-hop opus he released on Bandcamp. Scott, who produces under the alias Arkatype, has a lot in common with other trailblazing producers such as Madlib, samiyam or Flying Lotus. On this…
It’s impossible to overstate Selena’s impact, particularly on Latin communities. The artista del pueblo had stunning crossover appeal, a fact she proved in 1995 when “Dreaming of You” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200. Selena already conquered the Latin charts and was prepared to do the same in mainstream…
Yesterday the state representatives advanced a bill to the House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee seeking to establish a Texas State Music Museum and Texas Music Foundation, both to be based in Austin. The state Senate also has a companion bill. These bills are bad news for Thomas Kreason, who has…
True fans of hip-hop culture love to debate which albums qualify as classics. Now imagine taking these intense conversations in a public setting, outside of your apartment or group texts. Josey Records is hosting just such a gathering at a new monthly open forum called the Hip Hop Book Club. It imitates…
Being a working musician is no small feat. Pair that with coordinating a “big band” of 11 players, schlepping tons of equipment to each gig, and keeping 1920s and ’30s period jazz alive, and Vince Giordano has quite a task on his hands. With his band, the Nighthawks, Brooklyn-based Giordano plays…
