Acknowledged as much for his production and mixing skills as for his own recordings, Ramble John “RJ” Krohn deftly incorporates the working class ethic of his Ohio upbringing into his unique brand of hip-hop and ambient rap. Dubbed RJD2 by a friend, Krohn has collaborated with several acclaimed indie rappers…
A true musical nomad, the random tangents and musings of Neil Michael Hagerty have led to more than a few puzzled looks and general WTFs over the years. After spending the past two decades fronting two of most cacophonous and engaging rock ‘n’ roll outfits, first with Pussy Galore and…
We here at the Dallas Observer think you’ve all been slacking. Sure, it’s easy to be a music fan when all that entails is dropping a few PBRs at the Double Wide, but what happens when it’s time to put your pickled cerebellum to the test? What follows is our…
In 2003, Richard Thompson was No. 19 on Rolling Stone’s list of the top 100 guitar players of all time, right between John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and James Burton, Elvis Presley’s bandleader. “I think that’s pretty good company,” says Thompson from his home in Los Angeles…
You don’t have to have supernatural powers to sense which direction the industry is headed. With that sentiment in mind, we’ve put together a brand-new feature called On the Download. Each month, we’ll sort through the riffraff of the digital universe and provide you with links to the best in…
Although his recent output includes a relatively good acting performance in Alpha Dog and the hilarious “Dick in a Box” spoof on Saturday Night Live (the song itself does not differ significantly from the middling, phony rhythm and blues on his proper releases), former boy-toy Justin Timberlake has as storied…
Literary Triumph: Seven different people pitch a book on Weezer’s Pinkerton to the 33 1/3 series. Yeah, whatever, as long as you leave room for Hysteria and Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em. TV Party: The tortured “gotcha” syntax of American Idol elimination meetings. The ol’ “I’m very sorry to tell…
Is there a peppier performer than the Apples’ Robert Schneider? Although he’s never achieved the sort of commercial breakthrough that’s long seemed his due, this former Denver resident remains upbeat and ready for anything, as he proved on a January episode of The Colbert Report by enthusiastically belting out an…
Sharing the same West Texas roots that birthed Buddy Holly, Joe Ely helped kick-start the so-called outlaw country movement and has influenced its direction ever since. More than 30 years ago, he was part of the region’s first supergroup, the Flatlanders, and he was there with Tex-Mex stars Los Super…
Let’s get the public service announcement out of the way first: This is not the new Jill Scott album. Instead, it’s a stopgap compilation, and unhappiness with Collaborations is likely to center around that distinction. Whether Collaborations, a collection of Scott’s duets from over the years, is actually performing a…
Some folks hide from their past while others are content to rehash old glories to the point of tedium. Justin Broadrick is the intriguing performer who does neither. Best known for his affiliation with metal monsters Napalm Death in the ’80s and industrial kingpins Godflesh in the ’90s, Broadrick recovered…
While we waited more than three years for the Shins’ follow-up to Chutes Too Narrow, watching “New Slang” blow up, another indie-pop outfit by the name of Animal Collective released two modern classics: Sung Tongs and Feels, the most glorious and far-out pop music since “Good Vibrations” dropped in ’66…
The Red Tree, the first release from Ontario’s Moneen in three years, is the kind of effort that can even give emo a good name. Dense and complex, the record features the nasally howl of Kenny Bridges fitfully cast against the hyperkinetic rhythm section of drummer Peter Krpan and bassist…
One of rock’s most renowned burnouts, Roger Kynard Erickson was a legend at 18, when he wrote “You’re Gonna Miss Me” while a member of the 13th Floor Elevators, way back in 1965. The ensuing years found Erickson (who openly advocated LSD consumption) institutionalized at the Rusk State Hospital for…
We all know the funky old saying, popularized by P-funk, “Free your mind, and your ass will follow.” It’s a deceptively simple slogan, on the surface just a clever introduction to the best way to learn how to dance, but really it’s a summation of philosophy, of the connection between…
Let me not be too consumed with this world Sometimes I want to go home And stay out of sight for a long time. —From “The Trials of Van Occupanther” The wonderings and wanderings of Midlake’s music is a venture through a romanticized past—an escape from the white noise of…
Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House is a cinematic masterpiece. The sophomore album by the Brooklyn-based quartet borrows both the Beach Boys’ harmonies and wall of sound techniques to create beautiful, intimate and inviting backdrops through which each song develops and unfolds. It’s as much an artistic experience as it is a…
Julio Iglesias’ upcoming visit to the area might take him through Farmers Branch. And some of the city’s political figures want to turn it into a personal platform. For political purposes. But, still, personally. And, again, politically. Actually not at all personally. Just politically. Maybe. “It is our understanding that…
“Faithful Unlawful,” Silver Daggers Part of last year’s Not Not Fun Records 7″ Singles Club, “Faithful Unlawful” provides a dirty introduction to these Los Angeles skronkcore monsters, whose Load debut drops in April. Borbetomagus-friendly saxes slowly unfold like a fine complement to mid-’00s doom drone. When the band finally joins…
Listening to Can’t Go Back, the newest release Jason Quever has made under the Papercuts moniker, it’s not difficult to hear echoes of classic ’60s psychedelic pop such as the Kinks and the Beatles within the pensive melodies and haunting imagery. Even though Quever acknowledges the influences of the past,…
Wild About Harry’s may primarily traffic in hot dogs, but they serve a wide selection of dogs of varying deliciousness. The House on Seedling Lane, the debut offering from local band Raleigh, is sort of like a gourmet hot dog shop, only made up of Beatlesesque folk-pop melodies and Renaissance…
A marked improvement over 2003’s overpraised World Without Tears, West finds Williams at perhaps her most lyrical and deeply poetic. She calls it her “most revealing” record to date. That means this is not a disc you throw on when friends are over on a Friday night playing quarters, but…
