Music

Brothers & Sisters were down a few family members last night. (Aubrey Edwards) So, earlier today, you saw my review of last night’s show at the Granada, which was a fairly good time in my book. It was a big, fun, Austin-imported night. Now, a bonus… Actually, make that two…

We always appreciate it when visual artists and musicians collaborate, whether it’s by putting on a big event, holding a concert in a gallery or museum, or complementing live music with interesting visuals. But we don’t want to overlook the smaller ways in which visual artists and musicians work together,…

In this week’s DC9 paper supplement, you’ll see that I wrote about the new album from Zanzibar Snails, a Denton noise experiment headed by Michael Chamy and Nevada Hill. (Despite how it appears in the paper, Zanzibar Snails is the band name and Brown Dwarf is the album name. Sorry,…

Only a paltry 22 viewers have taken in the delight that is this Youtube clip, which features Freddie King (Rolling Stone’s 25th greatest guitarist of all-time, mind you) performing in Dallas on January 20, 1973, just three years before he passed of a heart attack and ensuing complications in 1976…

When morning came in L.A., we began to get out of bed to find the house littered with the remnants of the night’s party. Stepping over bodies, beer cans and strewn instruments, a few members of the band gathered their stuff and headed up to Malibu where Lee has family…

On a steep hill overlooking the wooded, undeveloped flood plain just south of the Old Alton Bridge, near the border between Argyle and Denton, there’s a weather-beaten red guitar swinging from a noose like a warning against bad riffs—or perhaps an offering to appease the rock gods. Who knows? But…

Will Johnson’s been thinking a lot about duality. That might seem obvious for a couple of reasons. Johnson’s two primary musical projects, Centro-matic and South San Gabriel, are about to release a split double album that even has the word “dual” in its title. Each of his bands represents an…

For someone in a band whose sound has been described as grotesque vaudeville, Brian Viglione, drummer of The Dresden Dolls, sure comes across as a chipper dude. “If someone ever compares us to Gwar, I’d feel honored but underqualified,” Viglione says from his house just outside of Boston. Indeed, even…

Mexican artists have recorded English-language songs for decades, but the opposite is rare: American musicians have historically treated Mexican music like they treat Mexicans, and when they do bother to cover a classic, they tend to sound terrible. Here we present our favorite American covers of Mexican songs: Anything by…

Lay It Down is easily the right Rev.’s best in five years—in other words, since his last Blue Note outing. This time around, though, a myriad of acolytes pay homage to the golden-throated god by guesting on a disc almost as essential as anything in the Hi Records back catalog…

Way back in 1996, Robyn reached the Top 10 with “Do You Know (What It Takes).” She followed it up a year later with another big hit, “Show Me Love.” And then she disappeared. This comeback album by the thin-voiced but spunky singer, who’s now 28, was originally released three…

“Experimental” is a frequently misapplied term when it comes to music. But when it comes to Zanzibar Snails—the brainchild of former Dallas Observer freelancer Michael Chamy on shortwave, oscillators and generators and guitarist Nevada Hill—there’s hardly a more fitting word. Their performances are improvised, combining elements as earthy and familiar…

With only The Cavern’s tiny space to book in Dallas proper, Spune Productions ends up sending a large number of its more-attractive shows to the other points on the regional triangle. Case in point: Local H and Lions’ shared bill at Lola’s Saloon in Fort Worth. But unlike so many…

In a recent interview Jonathan Cook—frontman for the locally sprung, Universal Motown-backed emo-pop-punk act Forever the Sickest Kids—spoke what most would consider near blasphemy: “Dallas is the new Nashville,” he said. But when it comes to the cadre of emo-pop-punk acts like his that have major label deals (or might…