Your week in music news, in case you missed it:
- Just in time for Halloween, Danny Elfman released a visually horrifying video this week for his first solo song in almost 40 years, “Happy.” The former Oingo Boingo frontman and voice of the singing Jack Skellington from A Nightmare Before Christmas says, according to Pitchfork: “The cynical nature of the lyrics echo how I feel about living in a semi-dystopian world turned upside down.”
- Four longtime North Texas music makers, Tex Bosley, Barney Venables, Joe Snow and Jeffrey Barnes, are in the studio completing the late Joe Pat Hennen’s final record of unreleased material. Hennen, who died earlier this year, was a Denton-based Texas music singer-songwriter staple. We'll keep an ear out for a release date.
- Denton-based indie rock band Midlake is gearing up for another album. Frontman Eric Pulido says they’re writing and recording demos and hope to be in a studio with a producer by early next spring.
- Forty-three years after its release, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors is back on the Billboard 200 chart, this week sitting at No. 14. It’s all thanks to a potato farmer’s viral TikTok video of his “morning vibe.”
- Willie Nelson and Karen O released a cover of David Bowie and Freddie Mercury’s classic hit “Under Pressure” earlier this week. The unlikely collaboration between the outlaw country heavyweight and frontwoman of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s proves just as perfect as peanut butter and jelly.
- The Flaming Lips released a music video this week for the track “Assassins of Youth,” which was filmed earlier this year during a performance in Arkansas. The show had each member of the band and audience encased in “space bubbles” to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
- Dallas artist and musician James Talambas contributed to the recently released album V2. The album is a product of the project “Top Secret...Shh” and includes hundreds of other artists from across the world who submit their own recordings of music to then be mixed into various songs. Talambas mixed, composed and arranged the record for his imprint New Media Recordings.
- Mt. Joy played a drive-in concert at Fair Park on Thursday. We caught up with the LA-based band prior to the show to talk about concerts in the time of Covid.
- Dallas-based artist Eye Moon the Experience created a platform for friends and artists struggling with addiction to find sobriety. A former addict themselves, Eye Moon the Experience wants to help those in a way they needed help while struggling with alcohol and cocaine addiction.
Upcoming Halloween concerts:
Abraham Alexander with Misa Hylton and The Grays at Annette Strauss Square
Lily Taylor at Full City Rooster
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, live score by The Invincible Czars at Texas Theatre
TryMore Halloween in the Art Yard with TryMoreMOJO at Deep Ellum Art Co.
Helium Queens at Armadillo Ale Works
Tristan Thorndyke's Rock 'N' Roll Cannibals at Movie Tavern Denton
DJ Bradford at The Rustic
Halloween with DJ Mr. Rid at The Kessler Green
