With Eels in town for a no-strings-attached concert (or at least no string section), it’s the perfect time to examine the art of the double album. Most two-disc sets should have half as many songs–or none at all–but Blinking Lights and Other Revelations was the rare twin platter that actually…
After four different men verified my driver’s license, I was escorted into the club and given a few drink tickets. Athletic, attractive people already filled the lobby, but compared with what awaited me, they may as well have been dressed like Cub Scouts. In the main hall, more than a…
Video killed the… : After staring at hours of movies and documentaries at this week’s Dallas Video Festival (page 41), you’ll need a good excuse to stand up, move around and shake off the popcorn bits that have gotten stuck to your shirt. A strong music presence at the festival…
This extravagantly named pop-rock dude was born and bred in small-town Ohio, providing him with a solid Rust Belt foundation that’s reflected in his sturdy meat-and-potatoes songwriting. The tunes on Full Moon Cigarette, Gran Bel Fisher’s debut, explore familiar young-man lyrical turf regarding life and love, and his handsome, high-flying…
Angry guitar chatter, looping percussion, weird studio effects and strange synthesizer screeches: The sounds (if not “music”) of This Heat’s formerly rare debut record require total concentration. At times completely atonal and rhythmless, This Heat has nothing but the most adventurous audience in mind, influencing so many avant-garde acts since…
This Chicago MC gives a good name to conscious rap, too often the genre where creativity and fun go to die. Like his pal and benefactor Kanye West (with whom he won a Grammy last year for co-writing “Jesus Walks”), Rhymefest is obsessed with the intersection between virtue and temptation…
As the nine-minute-plus version of “In The Crowd” that opens disc two of this set winds down, a brief coda of the guitar chords that end The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” emerge. Makes sense; back in the late ’70s new-wave days when Weller led The Jam, he was the…
A common tactic by rappers, especially positive MCs, is to declare hip-hop’s state of emergency and then proclaim to be part of the solution. Forney (yes, Forney, get over it) rapper Sivion takes this approach on “I Still Love H.E.R.” (“Rap music is a mess/What once was greater has now…
It’s nice to catch an act before everyone knows what’s going on and enjoy that giddy satisfaction of having a pocket band all your own. San Antonio’s poorly named Snowbyrd (the moniker suggests an awful Jimmy Buffet cover band from Denver) offer the rare chance to get in on the…
The truth be told, Texas white blues may be most associated with Austin, but the scene actually percolated out of DFW. Doyle Bramhall was, along with the Vaughan brothers, et al., part of the Austin migration of the early ’70s. And with his soul-shouter voice, deep-groove drumming and heartfelt, classically…
In this week’s main music feature, Andrea Grimes takes a hard look at the changing face of local booking agents, but what good is the feminine shift without an interesting show to prove its worth? Fortunately, this week’s iteration of Callithump Productions’ New Music Tuesday is a good example of…
This British singer’s eponymous debut has created quite a buzz in her homeland, becoming only the fourth release by a female to ever debut at the top. Now, the 27-year-old Rae brings her sweet and rich voice to America, anxious to show that her relatively recent embrace of classic soul…
Inspired by fellow showbiz folk turned politicos (Schwarzenegger, Ventura, Friedman), one Theodore Nugent, aka The Motor City Madman, is said to be contemplating a run for president. It’s the kind of idea that begs just one question: Why the hell not? Besides making a ranchload of money by conning legions…
That’s the last time I huff Scotchgard after snorting a couple Oxycontin/Celebrex speedballs. Because after my arthritis flare-up subsided, it seemed like a good idea to go to Club Clearview on Saturday, July 22, to watch kids passing off what they call “punk” these days. Things were promising when I…
When the people standing in a circle introduced themselves, I became increasingly nervous. Out of the 20 or so who arrived for Monday night’s very first Save the Scene Dallas meeting at the Darkside Lounge, half of them either were affiliated with musicians/companies I’ve bad-mouthed or who had previously made…
Is the world ready for a Dirty South rap single that’s not about ostentatious automotive modifications or garish cosmetic dentistry? Waco’s Strange Fruit Project is banking on it. “Soul Clap” marries funky brass (arranged by Denton funk-rockers Mingo Fishtrap) and jazz guitars to a handclap beat. The deceptively simple beat…
Tom Petty has made some of the most apropos music to ever enhance windshield time, both solo and with the Heartbreakers. But despite its title, Highway Companion isn’t exactly that. Instead, his new near-literally solo album–on which Petty plays a full complement of instruments down to the drums, abetted only…
Reissued the way John Lydon requested, Metal Box gets magnificently de-digitalized as three 12-inch 45s sealed in a metal faux film canister (The set is also being issued as two CDs in a smaller metal container). It has been argued that this format offers the best sound, and while that’s…
Seven years ago, P didn’t have many Japanese friends. Los Angeles’ Rentals learned this the hard way, playing their final, sparsely attended concert in Osaka, Japan, in October 1999 before disbanding. Soon after, lead singer (and former Weezer bassist) Matt Sharp began a new career as a startlingly quiet, folky…
The Life You Always Wanted, the sparkling full-length debut from San Francisco quintet The Bittersweets is music of an uncommon, almost upbeat melancholy. Amidst the ringing guitars and Hannah Prater’s hauntingly sincere vocals roams sadness tinged with hope, a depth of feeling and appreciation of repentance that speaks well for…
If for any reason the term “neo-soul” confuses you, head directly to the Sugar Water Festival for a three-hour crash course. The best of the genre–a sultry take on R&B full of hip-hop, jazz and funk elements–hits town on Thursday with Dallas’ greatest neo-soul ambassador, Erykah Badu, headlining the affair…
In his Brooklyn apartment, Eric Elbogen creates detailed narratives based on classic science fiction and horror themes and somehow manages to make his paranoid vision work. Ferocious Mopes was one of 2005’s best collections of warped indie-rock, an amalgamation of ambient electronica and angular pop played with a joyous garage-rock…
