Here’s an odd phenomenon: When musicians try their hand at acting, they often do a damn fine job. Al Jolson, Frank Sinatra, Kris Kristofferson, Barbra Streisand, Cher, Will Smith, Mark Wahlberg–they may not have changed the art form, but they’ve had careers. Pretty good ones, in fact. But turn the…
Hard to believe there was a time when rock stars just made music. These days, artists don’t merely release CDs–they release concert documentaries, making-of concert documentaries, behind the making-of concert documentaries. And if that’s not enough–and in our culture of celebrity, how could it be?–a slew of artist-penned biographies have…
“John Peel was the only important DJ left in the world.” –The White Stripes’ Jack White Two weeks ago, John Peel died a legend at 65–revered by critics, artists and audiences alike–but the renegade British DJ actually began his broadcast career in Dallas under his given name, John Ravenscroft. Though…
What’s better than winning the lottery? How about watching the Rock Lottery? This Saturday, 25 musicians convene for one of the coolest sonic swap meets around. This is the sixth installment of the Rock Lottery, brainchild of former Dentonite Chris Weber, which challenges artists to come up with a band,…
Christmas is a time of celebration, family and theatrical rock! The Lost Christmas Eve is Trans-Siberian’s fifth production, and it has all the riff-based carols of the band’s previous fare, only this year, it seems a little forced. Maybe finding new ways to sing about snow has become trying, or…
The strange premise of Say Anything is a Real Boy as explained in the liner notes is that the album is a punk-rock opera built around a character named Max Bemis, cursed by a “supernatural power” that causes his “inner-most fears, fantasies, and thoughts to burst forth from his unsuspecting…
Stray Cats’ first official live recording isn’t a greatest-hits collection. Though all the big tracks are here, the deep cuts are, too, so even the most ardent fans will be pleased by the offerings on this two-disc album and companion DVD, recorded at London’s Brixton Academy. More than 20 years…
Not many musicians can casually drop a little Ludwig van Beethoven–Opus 27, No. 2, better known as the “Moonlight” sonata–amid a set of (mostly) rock songs. But then, Sparrows front man Carter Albrecht is a different kind of rock-and-roller, and Snowflakes is a different kind of rock-and-roll album. Certainly different…
Some albums require a few listens before they sink in, but Get It On, the debut EP by Dallas’ Microphoner (the “I play all the instruments” moniker of Danny Malone), is the exact opposite. Jangly piano-pop rules this roost, replete with handclaps, mandolins and airy guitar riffs. Though poorly produced,…
The final evening of the three-night Rock ‘N’ Roll Ramjob, critic Mike Keller’s annual musical birthday party, felt a little like the last hours of, well, a birthday party. Only the most dedicated partygoers stuck around, with crowds peaking at about 50 or so throughout the night. And, like other…
“Random lost souls have asked me what’s the future of rock and roll,” sings front man Conrad Keely on “Worlds Apart.” “I don’t know, does it matter?” Maybe not to some, but …Trail of Dead knows what the future of rock and roll shouldn’t be. For inspiration, Keely turned to…
These New York-based indie dabblers aren’t nearly as obnoxious as you might fear: Yes, they are two American rock guys–guitarist Chris Root and keyboardist Jon Marshall Smith–and a Brazilian singer named Juju Stulbach, which sounds like the premise of a shitty sketch comedy, or the foundation of an ad for…
Pinback’s technical prog-rock gurgles with Zach Smith’s thick yet fluid bass lines and Rob Crow’s guitars and samples. The two take turns singing, weaving together phrases over a meticulously pieced-together bed of drum machines and rudimentary keyboards. But you wouldn’t know all that from listening to the band’s new disc,…
The Drive-By Truckers keep getting better at giving the characters in their hard-luck yarns a sense of setting. The Dirty South, their latest full-length, is rich with swampy three-guitar sludge and open-interstate jangle and harmony vocals like two people yelling at each other from different rooms. Onstage, though, the band…
I can admit it: I misjudged the Donnas. For their first several records I wrote off the Bay Area quartet as a cheap joke wrapped up in a cheaper gimmick: jailbait junior high girls playing black-leather garage rock about staying up all night and turning 21 and riding in cars…
Midlake is a talkative group. The guys in this Denton band answer questions at length, cut up at all times and sound like the oldest gang of friends in the world. But there’s one exception: Their songwriter, lead singer Tim Smith, is glaringly quiet. For the short time he actually…
“Everyone thinks that life is going on somewhere else, that you have to move to New York or–in Canadians’ case–Toronto or Vancouver. I’ve never felt that was necessary,” says John K. Samson, singer-guitarist for the Weakerthans and former member of political punk band Propagandhi. While other bands grapple with the…
Dallas has contributed more than its fair share of reality television stars. There’s American Idol’s Nikki McKibben, of course, and Survivor’s Colby Davidson. Every season of The Bachelor, or The Fake Bachelor, or The Littlest and Most Ridiculous Bachelor features some blonde from Dallas–pretty but plasticky, with big gloopy lipstick…
The summer ratings for local radio are in, proving once again that hip-hop is king of the D-FW airwaves. In first place is 104.5 FM, with a healthy lead over second-place 97.9 The Beat. Latin radio made a splash as well, with 94.1 FM, “Estéreo Latino,” coming in fifth, a…
Once upon a time Matthew Sweet made an album called Girlfriend, and we saw that it was good: the precise midpoint between studio-guy musical fussiness and radio-fan pop tunefulness, the kind of record you can blast for the choruses and imbibe through headphones for the guitar solos. Sweet’s done loads…
Neko Case’s first live album, The Tigers Have Spoken, leans heavily upon its supporting cast. The semi-Canadian songstress often tours with only two extra players, making the full instrumentation on Tigers an unauthentic take on a typical Case show, but who’s complaining? Backing band the Sadies have an alt-country glory…
Jon Spencer and the boys bring in all sorts of collaborators for their new CD–from chanteuse Martina Topley-Bird to Chuck D, producer madman Dan the Automator and DJ Shadow. But no matter how good these guest artists are, the presence of so many strangers makes the album go flat. Too…
