Music

The biggest knock on the Keys’ 2006 major-label debut, Magic Potion, was its lack of innovation. That can’t be said about the band’s new disc, Attack & Release, which remains steadfast in its blues allegiance while expanding the Akron, Ohio, duo’s territorial reach. Tastefully done, it’s undoubtedly a Black Keys…

R.E.M.’s 14th studio album, Accelerate, lives up to its speedy title. It’s loud, quick and dirty, spinning by so fast that it takes multiple listens to absorb. It’s full of buzzing guitars and stream-of-consciousness discontent, along with an abundance of Mike Mills’ choir-boy harmonies and sinewy bass. And naturally, it…

Destroyer frontman Dan Bejar decided that the lineup that recorded his band’s 2006 album Destroyer’s Rubies should remain intact indefinitely, so the follow-up to that record, Trouble in Dreams, now finds the Vancouver indie-pop band testing its own limits. “Blue Flower/Blue Flame” trumps Ladybug Transistor at its own game and…

Like the subject matter at the heart of its lyrics, Wounded Soldier is almost too much to bear. The ghosts of fallen soldiers and the traumatic memories of warriors still living seem to haunt every song in this brutal tour-de-force from Broadcast Sea. A press release notes that singer Sterling…

The southern rockers in Cross Canadian Ragweed—who, it should be noted, aren’t Canadian at all (their band name is derived from elements of the four members’ last names: Cross, Canada, Ragsdale and, um, Plato); they’re from Oklahoma—are, at worst, an act you wouldn’t mind playing your favorite bar and, at…

Ghosthustler, Denton’s much-loved electro-dance outfit, doesn’t exactly appear to be in a big hurry. They’ve been mentioned on Pitchfork’s tastemaking site, they’re constantly hyped up by locally based national music blog GorillaVsBear and they’ve even been profiled at length in this very publication. And yet, the band has only offered…

Indianapolis-based Christian metalcore band Haste the Day is the headliner for this show, but it’s the Australia-native Sick Puppies who are the real attraction on this bill. Dressed Up as Life, the Sick Puppies’ debut, features “All the Same,” a song made famous via YouTube as the soundtrack for a…

Fort Worth’s Collin Herring is temporarily residing in Austin, trying to keep his life in order. After releasing his brilliant sophomore effort, 2005’s The Other Side of Kindness, Herring’s fortunes took a dark turn for the worse. Rumors of alcoholism were rampant over the past couple of years, but Herring…

It’s 1 p.m. on a Wednesday, and the Irving office of Radio Salaam Namaste has all but emptied out. The only one who hasn’t gone to lunch among the station’s Pakistani and Indian staff is DJ Neha Upadhyay, who is spending the hour with her listeners. Dressed in blue linen…

You may have already heard that local folk/pop duo Smile Smile was signed to local label Kirtland Records earlier this week. Not a huge shocker–Smile Smile’s a talented act. See for yourselves on that front, though; Kirtland’s hooking DC9 readers up with a free download of “Sad Song” (from of…

Pet Hospital is a young and promising local act. It’s also the reason Lion Dog Records was launched. (Stephanie Alexander) Lion Dog Records is the newest label in the DFW area, and it started for one very specific reason: to put out Pet Hospital’s first EP Dry Bones. I wrote…

Maryland’s The Mishaps are worth your five bucks. Busted the day after rent was due? Oh, we feel you. Luckily, Wednesday night we can get a fix of rock ‘n’ roll at Rubber Gloves with The Mishaps for a mere $5. If the five bucks feel steep, keep in mind…