It’s always a good sign when guys who use “brothers” in their name are actually brothers. Noel and Hollis McKay are fifth-generation Texans who revel in the best things the state has to offer: food, a frosty beverage and an honest twang. Their impressive sophomore effort, Cold Beer and Hot…
There’s an unspoken requirement for guitar-strumming English majors to develop a penchant for lyricism that’s worthy of canonization in Norton’s Anthology. The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy creates candid characters, as Charles Dickens did, in the same manner that Will Johnson, of Centro-matic fame, conveys the distinctly Southern grotesque of William Faulkner…
This has been a banner year for the ’80s underground, most notably in the Great State, where after nigh on 20 years away, Austin weirdo rock heroes Scratch Acid reunited last month. With that in mind, Laptop Deathmatch/Lost Generation general Mwanza Dover has added a new wrinkle to his annual…
Broken Social Scene: exhibit #246d of why Canada might stand to be a little closer right now to the ages-old American ideals of freedom and cooperation. Riding the crest of the feel-good tsunami of 2004’s out-of-nowhere indie smash You Forgot It in People, this huge collective of up to a…
Audiences generally respond better to the familiar than the new at big rock shows, but Wilco fans are smart enough to savor new material as Jeff Tweedy and company work them out live before heading to the studio in November. Recent set lists show the band mixing three or four…
Recycling AC/DC riffs has not proven as popular as it was in the ’80s and ’90s, as many contemporary metal heads have chosen double snare drum deviltry (along with Cookie Monster meets Beelzebub vocalizing) as the path toward the darker side. Los Angeles’ Buckcherry happily go against that trend, embracing…
Just back from a mini-tour that included a stop at the Midpoint Music Festival in Cincinnati, Fort Worth’s the Cut*off is back in the studio, recording the follow-up to their excellent Rorschach EP. The new recording sessions, helmed by (who else) Salim Nourallah, should offer more of the amiable grunge/alt-rock…
Resembling an advertisement for vibrant prophylactics, the billboards promoting the Blue Man Group bring to mind either a colorful way to promote birth control or some kind of sadistic cult gone horribly awry. But according to one current member of the performance art attraction, there is something fundamentally philosophical about…
Some people would want you to forget the horrific legacy of the American slave trade or deny the occurrence of the Holocaust. But none of these tragic catastrophes deserves to be subjected to historical revision. “Ice Ice Baby,” however? That’s a different story. Robert “Vanilla Ice” Van Winkle wants you…
Anyone who would attempt to coordinate the simultaneous playing of 1,000 guitars would need a little help from the Lord. Good thing Tom Dooley, who hosts the Christian talk radio show The Journey (KVTT-91.7 FM) is in good with the man upstairs. Dooley has put together the ultimate in axe/God…
After hearing the Dallas darlings’ eponymous release it’s obvious Baboon honestly doesn’t have it in them to disappoint. The quintet has an incredible ability to translate energy into their music–live or recorded. This latest release, the first in four years, offers a power-pop dreamscape that spans heartbreak, maturation and distress…
As if introducing the world to Aqua Teen Hunger Force weren’t enough of a contribution to society, the overlords at Adult Swim have now proven to be reliable merchants of fine underground hip-hop and synthesizer space funk. A follow-up of sorts to last year’s The Mouse and the Mask collaboration…
Money Waters is a natural storyteller who takes his sweet time telling a joke or dropping some hard-earned knowledge. You don’t wanna stop him, even if you’ve already heard it. The Pleasant Grove rapper is strongest when he and his homeboys are venting their Everyman tales of frustration about nagging…
With a debut album that was hailed as an “instant classic” and a follow-up that avoided the sophomore slump so many bands suffer, the Marked Men have surpassed becoming a “band to watch” and are quickly on their way to “rock ‘n’ roll juggernaut” status. Their third album, Fix My…
Damn, there were some good haircuts at the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ show last Friday night at the Gypsy Tea Room. We’re talking choice coifs: product-sealed ‘dos, bangs cocked at such perfect angles it looked like someone used a protractor, precisely mussed bed-heads and a montage of multicolored unisex cuts, their…
Despite the howling of the legions of fans still hanging on to their inebriated memories of the Replacements, ex-Mats leader Paul Westerberg hasn’t made a good solo record since his debut, 14 Songs, way back in 1993. Content to play the recluse, Westerberg has quietly released a whole catalog of…
Denton has long been infamous for its sporadic house-party shows, but at long last somebody has gotten serious about it. The House of Tinnitus (628 Lakey St.) might be now the prime North Texas destination for the oddball musical misfits passing through who can’t, won’t or just don’t wanna set…
The Old 97’s are about to return from some pretty active downtime. While not performing or formally working on new material, front man Rhett Miller released his third solo album The Believer back in February, and the band managed to pop up in that Jennifer Aniston-Vince Vaughn movie, The Break-Up…
Let’s start with Deep Ellum because that’s where I began. I grew up in Fort Worth in the ’80s, and Deep Ellum was one of the few pockets of North Texas that gave a young, snotty, music-obsessed teenager like me a glimmer of hope. This was before the Bass family…
PPT–named for members Pikahsso, Picnic and Tahiti–became the first hip-hop act ever signed to Dallas label Idol Records in August, a few months after their song “Rowdy, Loud and Proud” was chosen as the Dallas Mavericks’ playoff theme song. If you didn’t know better, that turn of events would sound…
Michael Bolton is the type of celebrity who makes almost every average human feel incredibly lucky to have no talent whatsoever in the realm of entertainment generally (and singing specifically). Because of Bolton, it’s not just bearable to have unremarkable mousy brown or dishwater blond hair–it’s desirable. For a longtime…
“Sports is the modern version of slavery,” says Denton-based singer Daniel Folmer, as he watches the Cowboys/Jaguars game at an eatery in North Dallas. “I mean, look at football–there’s an owner, and the players run around on a field with chains on it,” says Folmer. The 21-year-old songwriter has just…
