Music

Many of the bands around nowadays, willingly or not, attach themselves to a scene or movement in one way or another in order to define what kind of sound they’re going for. Even ones that attempt to defy genre classification can usually fit pretty snugly into a scene or community…

Cas Haley’s career has been blessed and cursed by his run on the second season of NBC’s America’s Got Talent. On top of repeatedly making David Hasselhoff all but crap himself with excitement, the show gave the former Woodbelly singer quite a bit of buzz around here. And Haley’s done…

After a nearly five-year break between albums and a two-year hiatus, LAZËR, Fort Worth’s self-professed “favorite sons of Rhineland,” have finally gotten around to recording a sophomore album. And with a title like Twatobahn, the duo of Hammel Heinrich and Briso leave little to the imagination this time around. Rarely…

In today’s pop music landscape, bands that release more than four or five albums are applauded for their persistence and ability to stretch their particular genre. But Brave Combo puts all of those other acts to shame. Kikiriki, the band’s 25th studio album, is a refreshing and fun offering from…

Generally speaking, whiskey-swilling, dark-alley-dealing Southern rock doesn’t fit the typical musical storyteller definition. Unless one is discussing the Drive-By Truckers, that is. Sprouting from the scorched, sweat-soaked soil that spawned their long-departed heroes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Truckers’ Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and the rest of the crew have never fallen…

Jamie Lidell was in a period of laid-back bliss during the summer of 2009 when his friend Beck Hansen called. Seems Beck also had some down time, and was wondering if Jamie would be interested in spending some time in the studio to work on any songs he might have…

Don’t underestimate The Drums’ star power. The four-piece has some dance-worthy beach themes under its post-punk belt, including “Let’s Go Surfing,” “Down by the Water,” and “Submarine,” plus a bunch of mood-swaying, nostalgia-infused tracks that transcend any one particular decade. A Drums song can sometimes read like a ’50s bubblegum…

The sidewalk outside is white and new—way too clean for the outside of a bar. The entryway is adorned with stained glass, and in the back of the room, a guy with a guitar strums loudly. The further you get from the snotty chatter at the bar, the better you…

Way back in 1991, before Nirvana came along and made “metal” a bad word, three of thrash metal’s biggest bands—Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax—joined forces for a tour of the States dubbed “Clash of the Titans.” Much has changed in the years since that legendary tour, but in one of the…

Torche return triumphantly to Dallas, supporting their new EP, Songs for Singles, and coming back to the venue where they shook the walls the last time around. Rest assured, the band will do it again. Seeing them play is a rarity in metal and hard rock: They crush your cranium…

Must Kings of Leon do everything backward? First the Followill boys went and got mega-popular in the U.K. before the brooding but hook-loaded 2008 LP, Only By the Night, finally kicked them up to similar arena/amphitheater status in the States. Now the Kings are about to release Night’s follow-up, Come…

Robert Pollard doesn’t do phone interviews. The frontman of the reunited Guided By Voices feels, according to his publicist, that he can give more accurate, thoughtful responses via e-mail instead of the immediacy of a direct conversation. It’s an interesting position to take, for a man who reportedly only uses…

Groove-heavy American rock and mature, up-front sexuality are two things that have practically disappeared from the pop-culture landscape in recent years. But it’s making a comeback thanks to Vermont native Grace Potter and her band, The Nocturnals, who have clearly decided that it’s high time to dust off some lusty…

Hump day once again and what an interesting collection of acts we have descending upon Dallas this evening. Tonight, there’s a little bit of something for everyone–so long as that something includes alternative rock, jam bands, post punk or deathcore…

Welcome to Staff Trax, the weekly feature here on DC9 where we shed some light on the music we’ve been enjoying of late, regardless of the touring or album release schedules that tend to bear the focus of most of our coverage. Consider it a chance for you readers to…

Between Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson and others, it’s tough to necessarily simply credit Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings as the sole proponents behind the whole Motown/soul revival thing that remains prevalent even eight years after the band released its debut full-length Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. But…

There’s no doubting that there’s certain appeal to Semi-Precious Weapons, who, for some time now, have been pretty much the undisputed kings of the New York City glam-rock scene. The above clip, with its pretty darn hilarious hook (“I can’t pay my rent, but I’m fucking gorgeous”), does a decent…

It’s been some time since DC9 last checked out Film School in a live setting. But, in our defense, it’s also been some time since the shoegaze-y San Franciscoans released any new material–three years, in fact. That much got remedied late last month, though, when the band released Fissions, its…

Eisley–not so green anymore.​After spending the better part of a decade on the rollercoaster ride that comes with being on a major label, the Tyler-based band Eisley is back on the road. And much has happened for them in the last two years: “We had four weddings in 14 months,”…

Looks like we have a new candidate in the running for Dunder Mifflin bossman now that Steve Carell announced that he will be leaving the show. Well, not really. But in this pretty funny homespun video clip, Old 97’s frontman Rhett Miller, who will be headlining this weekend’s Oysterfest on…