Dallas band Lovie’s indie debut Harshmellow doesn’t evoke a girl-band aesthetic just because they are…um…girls; rather, it borrows heavily from the alternative pop that hit and flourished in the past 20 years from the (girl band) Go-Go’s to (girly-lead-singer band) The Lemonheads to (boyish-girl-lead-singer band) The Cranberries. Lovie has developed…
Sondre Lerche. Club Dada: To call it a coup would be like calling the Trinity toll road a country lane. After all, the Norwegian wunderkind began his career with raves rarely doled upon a high-schooler. “He’s such a prodigy!” the critics said. “Such a grasp of songwriting at 18!” they…
Otep Shamaya says, “Art is war.” The singer for her namesake L.A.-based metal-fusion band, Otep, considers herself a revolutionary and makes art catharsis via visceral screams and songs that sear the ears like hot grease. Her lyrics are laden with apocryphal poetics about religion, politics, love and loathing; she’s a…
Just a few years ago, the idea of a Meat Puppets reunion seemed out of the question. Although their legacy held up well, buoyed greatly by a generation of listeners who grew up on Kurt Cobain, the band’s founding brothers hadn’t played together on record since 1995. Cris Kirkwood was,…
Put a dainty slab of Oregon out-of-towner in between two whole-grain slices of local music and what do you get? Hands down, the worst lead-in to a Critic’s Pick ever conceived, that’s what. Portland’s one-woman reverb fest Fall of Snow swoops into town to unfurl her ghostly resonance; think Boards…
About 100 people sat in the gallery of the city council chambers last Thursday at the city plan commission meeting—an oddly high number, considering the commission usually discusses such scintillating subjects as 1-to-1 slope gradations or some shit like that. The audience sat patiently, some clad in lawyerly chinos, others…
Local hip-hop/R&B artist Ulises let word out his songs can be downloaded for free via his MySpace page. There’s something kind of Prince about this guy. He’s completely rough around the edges, but he has drive and with his audacious pics and assertive self-campaigning, I wouldn’t be surprised if he…
The Red Blood Club has suffered quite a bit in a short amount of time lately. With the SUP stress and last weekend’s stabbing, it is under a major black cloud. It doesn’t help that its liquor license has been suspended while the incident is under investigation. Manager Justin Powers…
Our buddy Jesse Hughey gave DC-9 the heads up that Picnic from Dallas’ P.P.T. co-produced Houston’s Coughee Brothaz new disc Waitin Our Turn. The Brothaz are Devin the Dude’s group project these days. While the disc hit bins in September, it just got a nod on Pitchfork. We haven’t had…
If the success of locals-hitting-it-big Fair to Midland means anything, it’s that constant touring and publicity bombardments can sometimes work. Of course, so can dense, smart proggy guitar work. In this case, the combination of all these elements has shoved FTM to the top of the list of what the…
Cheer up, Big Tuck — you’re in Vibe!The latest issue of Vibe, which isn’t online, has a regional round-up of hip-hop’s most happenin’ scenes — and Dallas is included. But it’s good news-bad news stuff — isn’t it always when Vanilla Ice crops up in the second freakin’ graf of…
If you’re into heartbreak and Swedes (and who isn’t?) Jens Lekman headlines the Granada Theatre tonight. Local lovely songstress Sarah Jaffe opens. Do try and make it out. I’ve already plugged the show in our print version but, as somebody once said, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”…
Found this footage of the Lizard Lounge on YouTube a minute ago (many people have asked why we started this music blog–it’s because it’s a good excuse to surf for goofy videos instead of reading copy on deadline day), and it cracks me up. The whole thing is so dark,…
(Photo illustration by Krissi Reeves)With behemoth machines like Big Buck Hunter and Golden Tee monopolizing our bar fun-time, can you blame a gal for lamenting the days of pinball machines and joysticks? And…and!… the most recent abolition of a classic vending machine by its hi-tech counterpart is, by far, the…
Ever so prolific, our favorite Outkast-ian hip hop star Pikahsso has produced yet another bit of badassery. Check his video with eight versions of the funky Sly/P-Funk sounding jam “Verb.” Eight different versions, each touching on a different genre, each matched by different videos with different directors. Our fave is…
Everything you missed this weekend — or just really want to relive. We really wish we could spend dayssss with Mr. Ian MacKaye. His stories are amazing. The Evens at The Public Trust Ian MacKaye — punk rock legend behind Minor Threat and Fugazi — and his new partner-in-crime Amy…
Yer best options, real quick-like: DallasLovesCash Party 8 p.m., Friday, November 9. Space, 2814 Main St. $5. “Cash is my dog,” very good friend of the Observer Hal Samples just told me on the phone, “She’s been with me the last four years, watching everything.” Yup, Cash has an eagle…
Steer clear of Addison this weekend, because a comedy cold front’s bringing copious amounts of unfunny to the city. Deep Ellum, however, will be covered with a thundercloud unleashing buckets of laughs on the neighborhood. Skies are clear for comedy in Tarrant County, and look out for heavy gusts of…
Jam goes indie: Meet the men of Fight Song. (Melanie Gomez) When we heard a group of indie all-star musicians were going to have a jam performance in Denton, we couldn’t resist. Fight Song features Midlake’s McKenzie Smith, History at Our Disposal’s Jason Reimer and Brian Vandivier, Centro-Matic’s Scott Danborn…
The Subchronicles Crew, GOAT, All-In Clic, Bill$ Clinton 9:30 p.m., Friday, November 9. TomCats Deep Ellum, 2914 Commerce St. Funny, Tomcats–one of the clubs denied a Special Use Permit by the City Planning Commission–is doing the neighborly thing and hosting a canned food drive tonight. You know, as in a…
Regina Spektor House of Blues November 8, 2007 Better than: Watching an indie rock band perform on a college campus. Review: The first Tori Amos album I listened to was Boys for Pele and it was transitory. The first time an adolescent girl hears a woman bleeding and screaming over…
DC-9 can’t resist pondering rumbles between bands or even classical music gangs. In fact, instigating them might even be more fun, but possible lawsuits just didn’t sound like something we wanted to deal with. Thus, in no way do we intend our fantasy fights to cross the line into actual…
