He is Mark Ridlen by day, but Deejay Mr Rid by night. There are few musicians in Dallas that have earned veteran status, but Ridlen earned the distinction as a member of seminal art and psyche bands in the ’80s and ’90s. One of the original DJs at the legendary…
Joshua Balis might have a familiar last name, but with the release of his debut EP, Modern Gospel, he is quickly gaining his own musical identity. The 24-year-old son of Danny Balis — Dallas musician, radio personality on The Ticket and co-owner of Twilite Lounge — has grown up…
Maren Morris has been working the Hero status for much of the past year. Her debut album of that name may have only come out over the summer, but the Arlington native has been marked out as a rising talent in the country world ever since she dropped “My Church”…
Dallas went nearly three years without a Kanye West sighting. Now, having finally gotten one last month, it will only have to wait about eight weeks to catch him again. That’s because West has added another leg to his acclaimed Saint Pablo Tour and will be returning to American Airlines…
After years’ worth of his original music was stolen from his backpack at the end of September, it would’ve been understandable for local rapper So-So Topic (or -Topic for short) to wallow in his own sorrow. After all, three weeks later he still hasn’t gotten the music back — despite…
It’s a random Tuesday in Oak Cliff, and the lobby of the Belmont Hotel is jumping. Celebrated rocker Alejandro Escovedo has come downstairs from his apartment on the hotel’s second floor and is playing an acoustic version of his hit “Always a Friend” with Austin songwriter Jeremy Nail. In the corner,…
Dallas Observer Music Awards season is in full swing, and piece by piece the details of this year’s awards have been falling into place. First came news of the showcase, which takes place in Deep Ellum the first weekend of December, as it has the past two years. Then came…
Mike Kannon is best known for his role as morning show personality on the top 40-centered radio station KVIL, but the recent Dallas transplant also happens to have a deep relationship with underground techno. For this week’s mixtape, Kannon goes hard in the paint with a mix of techno largely…
Last week, we revealed the nominees for the 2016 Dallas Observer Music Awards. With five nominees each spread across 40 different categories, the ballot — which is open until midnight on Dec. 2, the night before the DOMA showcase — offers a pretty good overview of what the local music scene…
JT Donaldson is one of Dallas’ most accomplished DJs. With releases on a wide variety of labels including the legendary Chicago house label Casual, he has maintained a steady output. Along with his heavy involvement in Josey Records, Donaldson has been busy with his new record label New Math, which…
During the first 10 seasons of The Voice, 52 contestants have been from the Lone Star State with 18 of those being from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The Voice apparently loves Texans, and Season 11 has proved to be no different. Five DFW residents or homeowners have made it past…
Last week the 2016 Dallas Observer Music Awards officially got a date, and now comes the important part: the ballot. For the 28th year running, the DOMAs are here to celebrate the artists, venues, promoters and everyone else who makes the Dallas music scene great. Voting is open as of…
Kim Finch looks tired. The owner of two of Dallas’ most popular dives, Double Wide near Expo Park and Single Wide on Lower Greenville, is a regular presence slinging drinks behind the bar. But on a Friday night at the end of September, the last week has taken its toll,…
Six Shooter is a recurring feature where we highlight six new releases by North Texas-based musicians Post Malone – “Deja Vu” Not long after wrapping up a nationwide tour together, Post Malone and Justin Bieber team up once again for their music collaboration “Deja Vu.” The melodic track featuring similar…
The life of the music memorabilia collector can be a strange one. There are your more ordinary items, like gig posters or rare records. But from there you can go pretty far down the rabbit hole, through sweat-stained clothing to, say, locks of David Bowie’s hair — or, as is…
Cameron Brand has been active in Dallas music since the ’90s. Mostly he’s done time with bands like Blackheart Society, Bring in the Satellites, Apparatus and AT NIGHT. Nowadays he can usually be seen deejaying records from his collection as DJ Culturegang. A measured selector, he’s eclectic enough to get booked for…
The 2016 Dallas Observer Best Of Dallas issue is barely off the presses, but already our sights are set on our next big special issue of the year: the Dallas Observer Music Awards. This year marks the 28th annual for the DOMAs. The DOMAs, of course, are much more than…
There were a few ups and downs this week on the Dallas music front. Well, fortunately the main “down” didn’t happen here, and didn’t even involve a Dallas musician, but it did involve a missed appearance. With a celebrated homecoming for Norah Jones leading the week’s other news, though, there…
Chris Penn has spent a decade at the forefront of the vinyl resurgence in Dallas. He co-owns one of the city’s most beloved record stores, Good Records with business partner and Polyphonic Spree frontman Tim Delaughter. When Penn isn’t busy with day-to-day store operations, though, he moonlights as a DJ…
Timing can be everything for a band, as the members of Gammacide know all too well. They hit the North Texas metal scene in the late ’80s, when thrash metal peaked in popularity, and the band disappeared into legend shortly thereafter. The Arlington five-piece left behind a couple of demo cassette tapes and 1989’s Victims of…
RL’s Blues Palace II, in the Fair Park neighborhood, is a stand-alone venue in more ways than one. Its surrounding streets are far from Dallas’ sanctioned nightlife districts. The adjacent strip mall parking lots get crowded with loiterers on hot summer nights, hanging out on the backs of cars or…
Vanilla Ice’s hometown show at The Bomb Factory on Saturday night was as ’90s as it could get. Dallas’ loved and loathed one-hit-wonder, and still best-selling local hip-hop exponent, pulled out all the nostalgia stops in Deep Ellum. (The review is here.) But one thing was missing from the night:…
