When Flogging Molly arrives in Irving to play the Toyota Music Factory Aug. 13, fans of the long-running band will be treated to the group’s trademark mix of Celtic-inspired arrangements of punk-infused rock. They’ll also be greeted by an artist more at peace, more centered, and just all around happier,…
Abraham Alexander is a relatively green musician, a fact that belies the maturity of his sound. Just four years into playing music full time, he is releasing a self-titled EP that reflects his cultural influences as well as his internal rumination on purpose and identity. Alexander hopes that this EP…
Dallas has always been home to a plethora of musical styles and genres, and one neighborhood in particular acts as a home to them all. Sure, you can scour the rest of DFW for these sounds and styles, but nowhere else can they be found in such close proximity to…
The Green Elephant in Dallas was turned into a psychedelic music festival, just for one night. Los Angeles-based record label ILLUZYN coordinated a two-stage rabbit hole adventure called ESCAPISM, that ran as smooth as some major music festivals. ILLUZYN representative Vladimir Calise says that he and his partners wanted to…
On Wednesday, we published a concert review of New Orleans hip-hop duo $UICIDEBOY$, who played Toyota Music Factory on a quasi-touring festival called Grey Day Tour, which meshed both hip-hop and hardcore punk acts. There was a rather noticeable stylistic contrast, but each act earned a positive and lively reception…
At least half of the acts on this list have released new music in the last year, so make sure you’re up to date before you head out to a concert this week. Uji, a nomadic electronic producer and multi-instrumentalist, just released his debut solo album Alborada a year ago. The…
Peace of Blues guitarist Kepha Arcemont had planned a night of guitar slinging at Canyon Road Barn & Grill reminiscent of his guitar hero, Jimi Hendrix, slaying the stage 50 years ago at Woodstock. A lanky, white-haired 59-year-old, Arcemont has been a fan of Hendrix since he was a teenager…
Summer rolls on and the heat is rising. Back to school, though, is fast approaching. As such, make sure you’re setting aside some free time from studying or making babysitting plans, because the concerts are rolling in. We’ve got a big show at American Airlines Center, a chart-topping rapper coming…
When you first set eyes on Austin Meade, you can’t help but feel like you’re in a time warp. While inked forearms, steel-gray eyes and half-buttoned shirts are all timeless pieces to the rock ‘n’ roll arsenal, it’s Meade’s ’70s porn star mustache and long, dirty-blond hair that loudly scream…
Pop music has long made heartbreak hummable, but making it a feeling worth savoring? That’s a bit tougher to pull off. Yet Carly Rae Jepsen did just that Thursday night throughout her 90-minute headlining set at the House of Blues. In her first Dallas-area appearance in three years, the 33-year-old…
A Dallas court on Friday will conduct a hearing on a request for a temporary restraining order made by Spinderella concerning her former band co-members in ’90s girl group Salt-N-Pepa. Paul Stafford, the lawyer for Dallas-based DJ Spinderella, aka Deidra Roper, says issues among Spinderella and Salt-N-Pepa will be discussed…
It was an overcast day in the spring of 2014, but everyone at the meeting was wearing sunglasses. Dave Howard and Pete Swulius, a pair of quiet software gurus, chose the recently opened Wild Detectives as the site for this unusual rendezvous. “It was a hit job,” Howard recalls. “And…
There are two ways in which one can be offensive: One is by causing a disturbance in a way that targets vulnerable people, and the other is by causing a disturbance in a way that targets power. Truly constructive and historically exonerated offensiveness is achieved with an implicit understanding of…
When Dierks Bentley was in Dallas just last year, he turned Dos Equis Pavilion inside out, entertaining a rowdy group of fans, the same kind of loyal followers who helped make the country artist a star with multiple No. 1 hits spread out over nine successful albums. Now, as he…
For 9-year-old Dave Walser, the inspiration that would propel him through the next 55 years seemed to strike out of nowhere. As a boy living in West Texas, Walser was still learning to play the guitar but had mainly been learning the traditional folk and bluegrass songs his parents and…
Coming up with an idea is not the same as devising a plan, executing it and bringing it to fruition. When Dallas hip-hop artist and entrepreneur Mozez Tha Great has an idea, he sees it through. A year ago, we spoke with him about the first I Am Dallas Hip…
Since exorcising some of his demons and getting clean on his 2017 sophomore album Corners, Dallas-based singer-songwriter Dalton Domino has recently had more things go right than wrong in his life. Domino has lost two bands, suffered a relapse and gone back into treatment, but he still says his life…
With a catalog as diverse as Beck’s, with its broad range of emotions from manic to maudlin, it was hard to predict the set that Dallas would receive this past Saturday night. With tour mates Cage the Elephant and special guests Wild Belle and Spoon attached to the bill, however,…
On Friday night, I was on assignment for a concert review at Toyota Music Factory, where Third Eye Blind, Jimmy Eat World and Ra Ra Riot performed. A fellow Dallas Observer music writer, Chelsey Norris, happened to be among the 8,000 people in the crowd, after which we conversed about…
There are plenty of top-dollar shows this week, but about half of them on this list are free. The “Spontaneous Song Generator” Paul Slavens will be doing his thing in Denton on Monday. On Tuesday, you can hop over to The Free Man Cajun Cafe & Lounge to see the small-band…
Frank Iero is a man of many names. Band names, that is. The former My Chemical Romance guitarist has always dabbled in side projects, even in the band’s heyday. But since the emo icons went their separate ways in 2013, Iero has been going at it alone. “I never set…
For this week’s batch of announcements, our area will receive a return visit from a local Grammy winner along with drop-ins from some punk veterans, soulful female singers and a couple of singer-songwriters. Read on for the details. News came in late last week that Texas native and Grammy Award-winning…
