Last Night: Memoryhouse, Twin Sister, SLEEP ? OVER at The Loft

Memoryhouse, Twin Sister, SLEEP ∞ OVERThe LoftAugust 25, 2010 Better than: ironing out the kinks of that new Windows XP installation. Each of the two non-Texan touring bands who took the stage last night at The Loft have enjoyed a busy summer of touring the United States, with Memoryhouse even…

Last Night: Chromeo and Holy Ghost! at the Palladium Ballroom

Chromeo, Holy Ghost!Palladium BallroomAugust 25, 2010Better Than: Hearing a Dallas DJ drop Chromeo on a very suspecting crowd in some dingy club.             Before the band even stepped out onto the stage at the Palladium Ballroom last night, the crowd was chanting “Chro-me-o-ooh, Chro-me-o-ooh.” On stage, giant glowing…

Dia De Los Toadies III

You have to hand it to The Toadies for their ability to capitalize on a 16-year-old record. None of their other efforts have aged as well as Rubberneck, but they’ve managed to maintain a strong fanbase—strong enough, at least, to draw about 5000 diehards to a remote location in Texas…

Titus Andronicus, Soft Environmental Collapse, Bizarro Kids

It’s hard to dislike Titus Andronicus. Even if you’re not a fan of main man Patrick Stickles’ distinctly Conor Oberst-aping vocals, it’s nearly impossible not to get swept up in the band’s momentum, a flurry of classic bar-band bravado and strident indie-rock. Their debut album, The Airing of Grievances, may…

Meat Loaf Dicks Around On His Latest

You hear it, but you can hardly believe it. “C’mon,” you think to yourself. “There’s no way he just sang that.” But, alas, there it is, just 50 seconds into the ninth track on Meat Loaf’s new album, Hang Cool Teddy Bear. And he freakin’ belts it: “I can barely…

Free Week Welcomes Students Back to Denton

Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios’ annual Free Week is an entire week of free shows with different local (and sometimes non-local) bands. It’s the venue’s way of kicking off the new school year and welcoming the influx of tens of thousands of students who will repopulate Denton into the thriving little…

Dead Confederate, Ume, Futurebirds

Known for their hybrid mix of alt-country and post-grunge, Athens’ Dead Confederate created quite a critical buzz with the release of Wrecking Ball, the band’s 2008 debut full-length. That album’s bipolar cacophony had many folks comparing the band to both Nirvana and My Morning Jacket. Although that’s a lot to…

Green Day, AFI

Temperatures will probably still hover around 100 degrees by the time Green Day and AFI roll into town, but make no mistake: Their fans will still come out in droves. Busy these days promoting their 21st Century Breakdown album as their Tony-award-winning musical continues to play on Broadway and their…

Listomania: The 30 Best Songs About Genitalia

If Cee-Lo wrote the greatest song of all humankind with “Fuck You,” which has sufficiently taken over the Internet this week, then Meat Loaf certainly deserves a firm No. 2 spot for his own masterpiece, “California Isn’t Big Enough (Hey There Girl),” a song that finds the 62-year-old singing, quite…

Show Announcements: Bush, Smashing Pumpkins, Free Week at Rubber Gloves, Joanna Newsom, Los Campesinos!, Hanson, Futureheads, We Are Scientists, White Denim, Trail Of Dead and More!

It looks like this week’s edition of Show Announcements could have been written in 1995 thanks to two big shows coming to town. On Friday, October 22, a newly reformed Bush will be passing through town at the Palladium Ballroom. And I’m sure everyone over at Kirtland Records is more…