Music

For someone in a band whose sound has been described as grotesque vaudeville, Brian Viglione, drummer of The Dresden Dolls, sure comes across as a chipper dude. “If someone ever compares us to Gwar, I’d feel honored but underqualified,” Viglione says from his house just outside of Boston. Indeed, even…

Mexican artists have recorded English-language songs for decades, but the opposite is rare: American musicians have historically treated Mexican music like they treat Mexicans, and when they do bother to cover a classic, they tend to sound terrible. Here we present our favorite American covers of Mexican songs: Anything by…

Lay It Down is easily the right Rev.’s best in five years—in other words, since his last Blue Note outing. This time around, though, a myriad of acolytes pay homage to the golden-throated god by guesting on a disc almost as essential as anything in the Hi Records back catalog…

Way back in 1996, Robyn reached the Top 10 with “Do You Know (What It Takes).” She followed it up a year later with another big hit, “Show Me Love.” And then she disappeared. This comeback album by the thin-voiced but spunky singer, who’s now 28, was originally released three…

“Experimental” is a frequently misapplied term when it comes to music. But when it comes to Zanzibar Snails—the brainchild of former Dallas Observer freelancer Michael Chamy on shortwave, oscillators and generators and guitarist Nevada Hill—there’s hardly a more fitting word. Their performances are improvised, combining elements as earthy and familiar…

With only The Cavern’s tiny space to book in Dallas proper, Spune Productions ends up sending a large number of its more-attractive shows to the other points on the regional triangle. Case in point: Local H and Lions’ shared bill at Lola’s Saloon in Fort Worth. But unlike so many…

In a recent interview Jonathan Cook—frontman for the locally sprung, Universal Motown-backed emo-pop-punk act Forever the Sickest Kids—spoke what most would consider near blasphemy: “Dallas is the new Nashville,” he said. But when it comes to the cadre of emo-pop-punk acts like his that have major label deals (or might…

Demi Lovato was 8 when she knew. Or in kindergarten. Hard to recall precisely. That was a long time ago. Years ago. Demi’s old now, all of 15 though sometimes she looks years older. The memory isn’t what it used to be. But the when is beside the point anyway…

His shoulders are slumped, his eyelids are heavy, and his gait is deliberate. Lil Wil, dressed in all black, looks a tired man. To his credit, the unassuming 21-year-old Dallas native, born Wil Martin, has been staying busy, working round the clock to promote his major label debut, Dolla$, TX,…

The I Love Math CD release party held at The Barley House last night was more like a CD get-together–which was perfectly OK. Nice, even. It was a relaxed, somewhat drunken affair as people kibbutzed over the sounds of the band’s yesterday-released disc, Getting To The Point Is Beside It…

Someone with the Nylon Summer Music Tour just posted this pretty funny, if wholly unnecessary, Youtube clip of the guys in Be Your Own Pet and The Virgins screwing around with a surplus of drumsticks while back stage here in Dallas for their House of Blues performance about a week…

We’ve got quite a backlog of CDs we’ve never gotten around to, so we’re going to try to chip away at the pile with this regular feature. Some are left over from previous music editors, others fell by the wayside because they were trumped week after week by albums that…

The city of South Pasadena has passed an ordinance that prohibits smoking cigarettes in any public place–including sidewalks, street corners and parking lots. Mount Righteous, aghast, became aware of this reality as we pulled into the town late Thursday night. This was after we left Long Beach and went to…

Hopefully your Memorial Day weekend hangover has subsided by now…but if you’re still racking your brains to recall how you spent your long weekend, well, Observer intern Spencer Campbell’s here for the jogging. Check out his weekend video round-up after the jump…