Music

The last time we saw the Black Eyed Peas, they were offering up the sensory violation that composed their performance at the Super Bowl halftime show a couple of months ago. Their massive lights so bounced off the snow, I could see it from Denton.Yet another example of the Peas…

At every opportunity, Kelly Upshaw and his backing band of Denton’s finest mercenaries in The Hope Trust—a lineup that includes Bosque Brown’s Jeremy Buller, RTB2’s Grady Don Sandlin and Andy Odom of Doug Burr’s pre-solo outfit, The Lonelies—seem to go out of their way to dispel the notion that they’re…

Houston transplant Greg Schroeder has never wanted for talented backing players: His last release, Songs for a Bluebird, featured supporting performances from members of Hayes Carll’s band; his new full-length, Schroeder, features most of Dallas’ revered King Bucks, among other talented performers. And it’s not hard to see how Schroeder…

Way back in 2007, Denton’s The Demigs released Yardling, a howling and thunderous debut that channeled Chris Demiglio’s Pixies fascination into 13 well-executed alt-rock gems. Critics faulted Demiglio for sounding too much like Frank Black, and, to be sure, songs such as “Solvents” and “Summer Spiders” would certainly feel at…

W.A. Fite is the pseudonym for Dustin Blocker, best known about town as the frontman for the local rock outfit Exit 380. But that, more than anything, is just a point of reference. Because, on this, his debut solo effort, Blocker plays all the instruments and takes the music in…

The easiest comparison: The Black Keys. Almost obnoxiously so. Really: The undiscerning listener wouldn’t be blamed for mistaking each and every song on this album as a deep cut or B-side from Brothers, that duo’s hugely successful 2010 release. Surely, there are worse fates. Endless commercial appeal and festival circuit…

Ride With Me, the self-produced new album from McKinney’s Zane Williams, a prodigal Texan who returned after writing Jason Michael Carroll’s hit song “Hurry Home” on Nashville’s music row, is a neo-traditional prize, pleasingly rife with the PBR-scented tones of fiddle and pedal steel. Along with those hardwood-tested sounds, Williams…

Given the restless impulses of Band of Horses principal singer and songwriter Ben Bridwell, it’s no wonder that any cease-and-desist letters the My Morning Jacket legal team may have sent were returned to sender. Giving up on Seattle, where he formed the band, Bridwell recently retreated to the land of…

Raised in the Catskills of Upstate New York, the Felice Brothers grew up in the shadow of Woodstock, spiritually as well as geographically. Their boisterous Americana bears the deep imprint of classic ’60s roots acts The Band, CSN and Neil Young, while Ian Felice’s raspy drawl invokes Bob Dylan. Just…

Some bands carefully craft themselves on image, plunking out generic tunes while trying to maintain their artistic appearance. But this isn’t the case with Los Angeles-based psychedelic outfit Warpaint, whose debut full-length, 2010’s The Fool, packs a serious punch. It didn’t take long after that album’s release for the band…

Sune Rose Wagner, the singer and guitarist who makes up half of Denmark’s biggest rock ‘n’ roll export, The Raveonettes, is stuck in a hotel in Copenhagen. He moved to New York seven years ago, and he normally enjoys his visits back home, where he and his bandmate Sharin Foo…

According to George Clinton, the chief architect of funk, the definition of the style is “to do the best you can in life, and after that, funk it.” Considering his reputation, though, it’s a little ironic that Clinton’s first band was a doo-wop-style group modeled after Frankie Lymon and the…

It was a familiar springtime scene in Deep Ellum last weekend, with Main Street blocked off and big stages erected at either end of the Deep Ellum Arts Fest. But the acts booked to play these stages weren’t run-of-the-mill talents. They were honest-to-goodness ones, including local favorites The Marfalites, Whiskey…

It’s a weird and wonderful variety of shows happening in our area this evening. Fans of classic reggae and neo-classical avant-garde will be especially pleased…..

In 2006, when Peter, Bjorn and John broke through with their catchy hit song “Young Folks,” which might be more commonly known as “that whistle song,” the blogosphere ate it up, and so did droves of newly acquired American fans. Rightfully so: Writer’s Block was one of the best albums…

The Wailers, about whom you are no doubt familiar even if your Bob Marley knowledge is minimal, will be stopping by the Granada Theater this evening to do their whole reggae thing. But, it should be noted, there are actually two different Wailers bands floating about the country at any…