Music has a way of bringing people together. After the tragedy that rocked Dallas in recent days, the people of our city need that healing energy as much as ever. It’s a great chance to celebrate diversity, too, with a music calendar that’s all over the map. From early-’00s boy…
Book of Love With JG and the Robots and Michael Douglas Duncan Granada Theater, Dallas Saturday, July 9, 2016 Ironies abounded at Book of Love’s Granada Theater concert on Saturday night. Despite the above-average age of the audience members, it was one of the livelier shows at the Lower Greenville…
Thursday night’s show at RBC was supposed to be a memorable one. Dertroit rapper Denmark Vessey flew in specifically to headline the show, and Callie Dee, the Fort Worth promoter who organized it, had DJ Sober design special posters to mark the occasion. But as the police shootings took place…
On a Saturday afternoon, 19-year-old rapper Eliza Versa strolls into Universal Studios in Arlington, ready for her audition for the Konscious Konnect Sypher. Producer M. Slaego puts on a five-minute mix of beats, ranging from twinkling keys to belching boom bap, all while Versa doles out life lessons peppered with…
Every year since 2009, XXL Magazine has dished out its picks for the most promising rappers of tomorrow in the form of its XXL Freshman Class. Over the years, the quarterly mag has predicted the rise of the likes of Kid Cudi, Future and Vic Mensa. With shiny new up-and-comers…
Through their record labels Audiophile, Audiophile Deep and Audiophile XXL, Jimmy Freer and Chris Wu have become cornerstones of Dallas dance music. Outside of the dance community, their labels may be overlooked in Dallas, but Audiophile has a higher profile than the vast majority of local record labels. They release music…
Bonnie Whitmore ventured out of a lifetime of country music influences to make a rock record. It’s a record that gives voice to the singer-songwriter and the Denton native’s angry inner woman. She says the album, F#@k With Sad Girls, will pull some of her fans out of their comfort zones. “Let’s just say…
When Leon Bridges walked into Niles City Sound in Fort Worth during summer, 2014, Niles City Sound didn’t exist — nor, really, did Leon Bridges. Bridges was still a dishwasher who played unpolished sets during open mic nights and Niles was an empty warehouse in the process of becoming a…
It’s been a charmed year for Grapevine native Post Malone. He’s gone from an unknown kid posting his own recordings on Soundcloud to touring the world with Justin Bieber. Now Malone has hit another milestone, and The Biebs himself helped him celebrate. Malone turned 21 on Monday, sharing a birthday…
They are like a Texas thunderstorm that slowly builds and releases intense energy. They Say the Wind Made Them Crazy, the duo of Sarah Ruth Alexander and Gregg Prickett, has a wild sound built on improvisation and theater. You never know what you’ll get from TSTWMTC. Offstage, Alexander radiates…
If you’ve been on Facebook in the past few months, then chances are you’ve received at least one virtual invitation to a fake concert. The trend started back in April when a Facebook user’s fictitious invitation to a secret Limp Bizkit show at a Sunoco gas station in Dayton, Ohio, on…
After years of hearing stories about record stores closing, it seems the tide has turned and stores are popping up everywhere with increasing frequency. While Dallas lost two of its best spots in the past year, Groovenet and Dead Wax Records, there’s no shortage of crate digging options in the…
Darius Rucker is backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the foundation and epicenter of mainstream American country music. He’s ready to perform, looking calm and casually hip in jeans, a black T-shirt and over-the-ankle lizard-skin cowboy boots. Rucker has decided to close his three-song set, on opening night…
Six Shooter is a recurring feature where we highlight six new releases by North Texas-based musicians. Well July is here and there are a ton of music to look forward to. But June featured a host of great new releases from North Texas artists. We didn’t forget, of course, which…
There’s an old rust-colored bus that’s seen better days parked on the property of Strokers Dallas. Strokers is a combination custom motorcycle fabrication studio, showroom, auto repair shop, bar, restaurant and tattoo parlor on Harry Hines Blvd near Love Field. The bus, dubbed Sugar Magnolia, is purported to be the…
Dallasites see a lot of big acts coming through town. Why are we surprised? This town’s got some big venues and a well-earned reputation for throwing some elaborate parties. And this week is no different, even if it starts off a holiday. After July 4, Dallas plays host to the…
Would it excite you to hear DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown is playing at this year’s Oaktopia Music & Art Festival? What if we reminded you that’s the stage name for Erykah Badu? Oaktopia, which markets itself as “North Texas’ premiere independent music and entertainment event,” today released the second…
For a pair that makes music together, it’s awfully difficult to find Jeremy Lantz and Josh Wrinkle in the same room. It turns out the Fort Worth electronic duo, who perform as Tidals, only really see each other at their shows. Between work and traveling, weeks and months might pass…
Coming home to North Texas means a lot of things for Leon Bridges. It’s much more than just the name of his debut album, the album that launched him to overnight stardom a little more than a year ago. It means seeing his mother, whom he supported for years with his…
This week’s Dallas Observer Mixtape features the exotic beats of radio show host DJ Flying B. Through his shows The Flying Burrito Music Show and Global Beats, Flying B explores modern around the globe. This may go down as one of the strangest installments in this series. The mix itself is…
When DDFW Master of the Mic launched in 2015, its aims were ambitious: bring unity, collaboration and healthy competition to North Texas’ hip-hop scene, while finding its next great undiscovered talent. The result was impressive enough, finishing off with a packed house at Trees, celebrity judges and plenty of memorable performances…
Everyone knows that 2015 was a big year for North Texas albums, thanks in no small part to the international attention that Leon Bridges’ Coming Home garnered. But there was much more to it than just Bridges, of course, and the proof lies in the stellar output of new music…
