With Fall Out Boy and Yellowcard both in town this week, there are plenty of opportunities to get your early aughts nostalgia on. You might as well make a thing of it and watch Mean Girls, or go searching the depths of your closet for that old first generation iPod. I bet that Postal Service album is still on there, right where you left it. Those of you who might be too cool to indulge in such wistfulness might be more inclined to check out Alt-J or WHY? But those looking to dig even deeper will be able to catch a super intimate performance from Daniel Johnston and The Baptist Generals. The Texas based indie icons will share the stage at our Best Of Dallas 2013 pick for Best Live Music Venue, The Kessler Theater.
Fall Out Boy Thursday, September 26, at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie Pop-punk never fared particularly well among people who enjoy spending lots of time talking about things like "authenticity" and "soundscapes." It is a kind of music expressly built to make an antisocial expression (punk) as widely palatable as possible. But lost in the pearl-clutching of purists was the distinct pleasure of this stuff -- Fall Out Boy at their best push a lot of the same buttons as Bruce Springsteen, at least from a notes-and-rhythms standpoint. Because of the youthfulness of this stuff (you can't get screaming sad about your girlfriend not texting you back once you hit 30), many of pop-punk's truer artists sought the pastures of solo singer-songwriting. Patrick Stump of FOB did that for a while, but he was a little too flamboyant and his excellent album sort of disappeared. So now the boys are back together and leaning as far in the pop direction as possible. It's so much better than you thought it would be. Kiernan Maletsky
Jeff Whittington Thursday, September 26, at the Patio Sessions at Sammons Park The phrases "NPR host" and "rock band member" are not often found in the same sentence, but that's one of the things that make Jeff Whittington unique. The host of KERA's long-running show Anything You Ever Wanted to Know and executive producer of Think got his start in media as a singer and a songwriter with several bands before joining the lucrative world of public broadcasting. Thankfully, he hasn't completely put his past behind him -- a new self-titled album with songs like "Literature Hell" and "Death's Gaping Maw" find fun, catchy ways to express the frustration of keeping up with a world that's constantly changing. Danny Gallagher
Wind Hand, Solomon, FOGG Friday, September 27, at Doublewide Solomon makes the Melvins look like the Spice Girls. They make Neurosis look like Sum 41. They make any supposedly bad-ass metal group look like the Polyphonic Spree. It isn't sludge metal so much as coastal erosion metal.
It was epic, much as I hate that word, on the scale of watching a new solar system being born. You could feel each note change, let alone key change, building up and blasting yet another hole, first in your chest, and then in the back of this tiny venue. And that's just the first thirty seconds of the first song. Gavin Cleaver
Peelander-Z Friday, September 27, Three Links Peelander-Z is a punk band with matching colored suits and a backstory. Something about aliens. Live, they are manic to the point of recklessness and do a better job than nearly everybody else at getting crowds involved. Kiernan Maletsky Yellowcard Friday, September 27, at House of Blues You'd be hard pressed to find a millennial who doesn't know at least a few lyrics' from Yellowcard's 2003 LP Ocean Avenue. The title track especially, which ruled the radio airwaves while us Gen Y-ers were in school, will stay forever burned into our brains whether we like it or not. Those of us who do, however, have a chance to relive our salad days this week. In August, Yellowcard dropped an acoustic re-release of Ocean Avenue, to commemorate the album's ten year anniversary. Friday, the supporting tour will stop at House of Blues Dallas along with former Thursday frontman, Geoff Rickly. No matter how much this show may make you feel like a teenager again, try to resist all temptation to drunk text your high school sweetheart. Vanessa Quilantan
Daniel Johnston, The Baptist Generals Saturday, September 28, The Kessler Theater Daniel Johnston is a nerve ending of a songwriter, strange and simple and completely without peer. He makes this appearance at the most sympathetic room in Dallas alongside The Baptist Generals, a band that knows plenty about vulnerability. KM
Mudhoney Saturday, September 28, at Dada The grunge craze may have been reduced to a dull murmur, but that doesn't seem to have affected the members of Mudhoney. Last April, these reliable grunge rockers celebrated their 25th anniversary with Sub Pop Records, and they recently released their ninth album, Vanishing Point. These milestones have given them an interesting perspective: They're survivors of the fickle gantlet of the recording industry. That's helped hone their dark, edgy perspective on work, life and love. Danny Gallagher
WHY? Saturday, September 28, at Trees Trading oral sex for drink tickets at a bat mitzvah, picking fights at lesbian bars and self-gratification in art museum bathrooms are all in just one WHY? song. No topic is off-limits for the band's frontman, Yoni Wolf. A self-proclaimed "master of the cheap pun," Wolf is an indie hip-hop wordsmith. His non-narrative lyrical knots bring to mind the imagery of Bob Dylan except infinitely more crippled by self-deprecation and neuroticism. Over the last several years, WHY? have made a reputation for themselves as a genre-bending, near-unclassifiable band. The unpredictability of the group's recorded material extends to their concerts as well. Having previously seen the group perform in DFW, I can tell you that Yoni's enigmatic wordplay and deadpan delivery are every bit as satisfying in a live setting. And this area has particular significance to the band -- their most recent album, Mumps, etc., was fleshed out right here in North Texas. Calling on the aid of a UNT professor, WHY? used student instrumentalists to enrich the sound of their new tracks, recording much of the material at Denton-based studio The Echo Lab. Jonathan Patrick
Alt-J, Lord Huron Sunday, September 29, House of Blues The Mercury Prize winning buzz band and blog darlings, Alt-J, will hit Dallas this Sunday. With them, they'll bring their distinct blend of eclectic, genre-bending indie rock- along with LA-based Lord Huron. If you're a fan of the likes of Foals, The XX or Local Natives- you're likely to feel right at home among what's sure to be painfully hip crowd. VQ
