It’s been a big year already for legendary rocker and producer Todd Rundgren with his nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the start of his 25-city Clearly Human virtual tour, which makes a digital stop in Dallas Sunday, March 7. The idea is simple. Rather than…
Hannah Jadagu’s mom is an OG Drake stan. In fact, one of Jadagu’s earliest memories is her mom dancing in the kitchen of their Texas home. Drake was on (“probably something from So Far Gone” Jadagu says) and her mom was cuttin’ it up while cleaning. “Do you know who…
Derek Tusing drives across state lines with his younger brother on a road trip with no agenda. Mere days after the disastrous winter storm wrapped Texas in its icy grip, temperatures are rising once again. In a car without A/C, the dream folk singer-songwriter feels “a little toasty,” but considering…
In February 2020, singer-songwriter Vanessa Peters was in Italy preparing for a European tour when the country went on a national lockdown. The tour was canceled and the recording sessions that had been scheduled in Texas after the tour were scrapped. Working instead in a farmhouse in Castiglion Fiorentino in…
John LaRue, the co-owner of the Deep Ellum Art Co., says his two biggest enemies right now are “mathematics and bureaucracy.” He and his wife and co-owner, Kari LaRue, have spent the better part of the last year fighting to keep their music venue and local art space “dedicated to…
The lights were still on at a North Texas bar during the state’s snowpocalypse, and a lightbulb went off in the owners’ heads. Soon, the venue would become a community center for neighbors suffering through power outages. “Everyone was out of power, so we decided to call the Rail Club…
Nostalgia is a tricky thing, but Daft Punk did it right. It already feels strange to refer to Daft Punk in the past tense, but when you think about it, the iconic house duo have always been primed for 20/20 hindsight. With Daft Punk announcing their breakup after what many…
When singer-songwriter Michael Sanchez lost his job of 10 years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he was devastated. He had been working as a youth development director for a local nonprofit since he graduated from high school, and he offered programs such mental health training to children. Now Sanchez advocates for…
The Dallas Observer is looking for a music and culture intern. Now, before you think about how internships mean you have to fetch coffee and face the icy cold bitchery of editors when you get the order wrong — and do all of this for free — know this: We are sunny-warm…
On Valentine’s Day, hip-hop artist Flower Child released her video for “Love Will Save the Day.” Walking in front of the boarded-up businesses in Deep Ellum with portraits from the Black Lives Matter movement prominently displayed, Flower Child raps about the need for love — not the love between romantic partners,…
When you meet someone as passionate as Mallo the Great, you feel it immediately. His energy exudes exuberance and charm, but his outgoing personality and experimental style are just the surfaces of his story. While he’s been rapping since he was a teenager, Mallo has expanded his artistic concept and…
Pentatonix! Are! Excited! First of all, it’s Christmas, and no one loves Christmas more than Pentatonix. Second of all, they’re home. Not Japan (where they’ve been more than 10 times) or Europe or Brazil, but Grand Prairie. OK, technically band members Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi and Kirstin Maldonado are from…
On Wednesday, Feb. 10, the members of SouthFM met via Facebook Live to announce the re-release of their 2003 album Drama Kids, which will be available for the first time on vinyl on May 7. But that’s not the story. This is. One of those members, former guitarist G.I. Sanders,…
“First thing’s first, rest in peace to my mom,” begins rapper Justin King’s opening track, “THINGS,” on the debut album Dreams and Things. The album was recorded in part as a tribute to his parents, who shaped King as an artist and musician, he says. “For almost my whole childhood,…
It’s been a long seven years since we’ve heard anything new from Denton band Midlake. After 2013’s Antiphon, its subsequent single releases and vinyl rerelease of the 2006 classic The Trials of Van Occupanther, it was unclear whether we’d actually get any new music. Late last year, the band announced…
On Dec. 23, Dallas police found 65-year-old Timothy Paul Allen dead in the passenger seat of his car. The medical examiner ruled Allen’s death was caused by “homicidal violence.” On Monday, Dallas police announced they’d arrested Tristin Devon Howard, 17, and Qaulin Dajuan Curlin, 18, in connection to Allen’s death. The…
While she may be fairly new to the hip-hop scene, rapper DeeVine has built an impressive resume throughout her 26 years of life. The artist finds creative ways outside of making music to get in touch with her spirit and womanhood. On her new single “Remind Yah,” she shouts out…
There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit…
How does a UT Arlington and Eastfield journalism dropout find a way to express his love for the city and the teams that represent it? He might as well rap, he figured. Garland native Kevin Cusingberry told his friend, an aspiring recording artist, that they should work on a mixtape…
What started as a “casual encounter” on Craigslist turned into a lasting friendship for Denton band The Infamists. The Dallas Observer Music Award-nominated three-piece formed in 2012 while attending University of North Texas. Now, they are one of North Texas’ quickly rising rock bands. Guitarist/vocalist Riley Rogers and bass guitarist/vocalist…
House Parties is the latest woman-fronted punk band to emerge alongside acts like penny bored, Matchstick Ghost and Velvet Skyline. Their first, high-energy single “Hindsight” is available now on Spotify. A reflection on moving on from bad situations and bad people, the uplifting track is bolstered by emocore harmonies and…
Evan Rachel Wood, star of HBO’s Westworld, made headlines this week by pulling back the veil on one of the entertainment industry’s biggest open secrets. After four years of refusing to do so, Wood officially disclosed who exactly was responsible for the brutal intimate partner violence she described suffering through…
