Music

Normally I like to keep these local, but this weekend’s Daniel Johnston-designed commemorative poster for the Austin City Limits Music Festival is worth making an exception. In my defense, there are a few local connections, as Erykah Badu, Old 97’s and Bavu Blakes with Pikahsso will be performing at the…

Imagine a fresh and thriving Deep Ellum hotspot, a venue that both loyally and blindly draws music lovers of all varieties to investigate and enjoy the lineup. Perhaps, years ago, or maybe, in the not too distant future, this would be (or soon will be) within grasp. Today, in such…

Celtic punk mainstays Flogging Molly played the House of Blues last night, and DC9 was in the front row to snap these shots of lead man Dave King, tin whistle and fiddler Bridget Regan, and the rest. –Patrick Michels…

These days, when so many of us get much of our music digitally, it’s easy to overlook interesting album artwork and innovative packaging. To commend musicians, artists and record labels that create a good reason to buy a hard copy, we’re spotlighting their work in this randomly recurring feature. Stumptone…

Judging from the trance-inducing, whispered meditations of Iron & Wine, the group’s singer and songwriter, Sam Beam, should be far less affable and more nonchalant. But his music, starting with the homespun demos of The Creek Drank the Cradle and stretching to the rhythmic and melodic layers of last year’s…

Del tha Funky Homosapien saw some commercial success as a teenager with Hieroglyphics, but it’s his solo work, and specifically 1993’s No Need for Alarm, that’s elevated Del to classic status in the world of hip-hop. Since then, Del’s taken more than his fair share of lengthy hiatuses, but he’s…

God: Spiritualized made even atheists see that fraudulent phantasm on many occasions during the stroboscopic brain-bangs the act called its concerts back in the ’90s. Similarly, Jason Pierce and Co.’s first three classic albums of gospel- and junk-fueled psych-rock elevated more minds than JetBlue. This year, though, as Pierce tours…

Monday nights are slow ones at the clubs in Denton. School started a couple weeks back, and it seems the kids at the city’s two universities haven’t yet abandoned hope that they may end the semester with a few A’s. Well, that and they’re still recovering from the weekend. At…

Neko Case may be banned from the stage of the Grand Ole Opry (a topless performance tends to have that effect) but her calling voice, cutting lyrics and twangy, swooshing sound ironically prove an interesting point: Country music isn’t dead; it’s just hanging out with the indie crowd. Nope, the…

Ever since the regrettable breakup of Slobberbone, the area alt-country scene has consisted of a lot of bands (however talented) that spend a bit too much time on their wardrobes, and not enough time on their music. Someone needs to tell these folks that those big hats and bolero ties…

Clint Niosi’s debut album gives the impression that the songwriter is a perpetual scholar, one who consoles himself in academia, searching history, literature and art for meaning and stability absent from the confounding outside world. Many of this album’s songs seem aimed squarely at the English lit students and recent…

With the blues-, rock- and gospel-tinged offerings on Dem Southernfolkz’s debut release, The Message, the area hip-hop trio has immediately established itself as an impressive crew with a unique take on the genre. Sure, it’s easy to liken the act to Nappy Roots, Goodie Mob and Outkast (in their “Southerplayalistic”…

For a buzz band, Blitzen Trapper is extremely modest. Instead of trying to overwhelm listeners with their awesomeness, singer-songwriter Eric Earley and crew create casually adventurous tracks that draw from American music in ways that seem both familiar and fresh. “Sleepy Time in the Western World” opens the album with…

There’s plenty time left in 2008, but Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs’ Wagonwheel Blues will most certainly go down as one of the year’s most exciting debuts. Songwriter Adam Granduciel precisely fuses together the best elements of rollicking folk and classic rock with experimental ambience and post-punk deconstruction. The disc…

When you’re a rock band pegged with the “power pop” descriptor, it usually means you’re cursed. But for Los Angeles’ The Broken West, that curse seems to have turned into a blessing. The Los Angeles quartet’s combination of infectious indie rock stylings and power pop charm has made it one…

Hot Chip is a bunch of geeks. Over the course of three albums—2004’s Coming on Strong, 2006’s The Warning and this year’s Made in the Dark—the British five-piece has been crafting electronic music that manages to be both brainy and poppy. In a dance music scene that often takes itself…

With the new millennium, the world’s most famous two-person band, The White Stripes, entered the public eye. Since then, it seems, a never-ending stream of tandems have released albums on an almost weekly basis, hoping to cash in on the success. Some have been stunning; most, like Matt & Kim,…

“Look out, Sunshine, here’s the punch line/No one gets you anymore,” Jon Fratelli announces on the new Fratellis album, Here We Stand. Perhaps he’s commenting on the changes surrounding his Scottish band’s sudden rise to fame in the wake of 2006’s insanely catchy and witty debut full-length, Costello Music. And…

If fluorescent green could be conveyed through sound—and was then shaken up with throbbing beats, electric synths and haunting vocals—it would sound like Australian electro duo The Presets. The pair, Julian Hamilton (keyboard/vocals) and Kim Moyes (drums) may have met at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, but rest assured, neo-classical…

As a singer for collaborative bands Wolf Parade and Swan Lake, as well as his own project, Sunset Rubdown, Spencer Krug’s unique voice dominates his songs. Something of a hybrid of David Bowie’s emotive wail and Isaac Brock’s cracked yelp, it’s strong, if not necessarily confident, and always the defining…