On Tuesday afternoon, the Round-Up Saloon posted a confirmation that Lady Gaga would be making an appearance after her show at the American Airlines Center. It was to be her fourth stop at the bar in Oak Lawn. She never showed up. The bar’s management offered no explanation on Facebook…
The Lady Gaga show at American Airlines Center offers a narrative, as these sorts of productions often do: We are somewhere in space. There is a procession. An evil authority figure rides a horse made of humans in costume. Sexy men wield flags saying, “G.O.A.T.” which we will later learn…
The last time I saw Ty Segall I was lifting him into a crowd of people so he could surf along to the sounds of the Jesus and Mary Chain, he had a grin on his face and a air of “fuck it, let’s have fun” around him. When combined…
Do you want to know if Chan Marshall imploded last night at South Side Music Hall? The line to get in the place spills out of the long alley in front of the door and into the industrial blacktop that surrounds the complex. The crowd is whoever: pretty people and…
I first saw Purity Ring in 2011. Outdoors on a small stage for a 30-minute set was hardly the perfect set-up to see their particular brand of electronic pop, but woo they did it. Their music, a seductive blend of melody and backbeat, sounded new in the best way possible…
Some called Cat Power’s return to the scene in 2012 a comeback. And it made some sense: As some fans grew tired of the public meltdowns and inconsistent live performances, there was a collective agreement that the larger Chan Marshall narrative was a tale of a tormented, if talented songwriter…
Dallas hip-hop duo A.Dd+ are starting off 2013 by releasing a new mixtape and headlining their first show at Granada. Listen to the first single, “Suitcases,” off their upcoming DiveHiFlyLo release for a little taste of what you’re in for. Then get your ass to the show on Friday for…
It is going to be pretty hard for Ty Segall to top the year he had in 2012. The California native released three full length albums, a 7-inch and a tour split, appeared on a compilation, and toured as a member of bandmate/collaborator Mikal Cronin’s solo effort. Add in the…
This past October, Punch Brothers mandolin player and vocalist Chris Thile received a $500,000 “Genius Grant” from the MacArthur Foundation, bolstering the notion fans of roots music already understood to be true. While Thile has been a closely watched prodigy since childhood, his current gig has him stretching the boundaries…
Tuesday sees the Dallas leg of Lady Gaga’s latest attempt to put some relevant words in front of the word “Ball” and successfully market it as an event. To be fair to Lady G, she’s one of those rare pop phenomenons who managed, at least for a while, to successfully…
Last night, Calexico delivered a performance as expansive and dramatic as the Southwestern landscape and people from which the band draws so much of its inspiration. In turn the audience — and the Granada itself — gave back to the band all required to make the evening a memorable one…
The Atomic Tanlines received plenty of praise last year with their blend of punk, free jazz and soul. The Denton-based five-piece sat down with us at the Waffle House where they started to discuss their background in music. You can catch them this week at Le Bitch Manor on Thursday…
Here was my reaction after 30 seconds of Googling Metalachi: “I have to see this live. It’s like my childhood and teenage years got together to blow my whole world asunder.” Metalachi takes the stage at Trees in full costume, their violin player is shirtless, each member of the band…
Los Lobos is one of a handful of American bands that have sustained a notable and distinguished presence on the American music scene for over 30 years. A crossover band before the term was coined, they write music that has been a bridge between Mexican and American cultures ever since…
Last night’s Jeff Mangum show at the Majestic was really a very special event. After a pleasant, relaxing, warm bath of a set from The Tall Firs, Mangum shambled unassumingly onto the stage, clad in a hat that shaded his eyes from view and an impressive beard. From the first…
Lucinda Williams has always sounded wise and weary, but never has she seemed as comfortable with that role as on last year’s Blessed. Williams achieved an alt-country masterwork early in her career with Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and wound up a household name somewhere around the considerably less-acclaimed…
Almost a year ago, Erika Wennerstrom and her band, the Heartless Bastards, released an excellent LP, Arrow, which followed up the possibly more excellent The Mountain. Now that the hoopla surrounding the release of Arrow has passed, the Austin-based act is in a sweet spot. The band’s set last March…
You are almost certainly aware that Mr. Mangum is the voice, guitar and driving force behind a pair of classic, and relatively unique, albums from the 1990s when fronting the band Neutral Milk Hotel. Featuring repeated lyrical engagements with difficult subject matter, most noticeably Anne Frank, and a unique vocal…
The last time Calexico rolled through Dallas, for their 2008 release Carried to Dust, they were as effortless as a tumbleweed but harnessed the power of a sandstorm. Since the mid-’90s, the Tucson-based band has been fusing Latin American sounds with a good rock ‘n’ roll sensibility that has taken…
Southern California metalcore foursome Of Mice & Men are hitting the road again after the re-release of their 2011 sophomore album The Flood. They’ve made no mention of a new album, but my guess is that they’ll whip out some heavy new material. A handful of equally heavy groups like…
Erika Wennerstrom and her fantastic band, Heartless Bastards, return to Dallas on Saturday night. In preview of their show at Trees, Wennerstrom shed some light on her (lack of) formal training and the strange looks she gets for the band’s name. Which instrument did you learn to play first, piano…
“Electrifying,” “Magnetic,” “Memorable” are just some of the words that people used to describe an evening with B.B. King at the House of Blues in Dallas. His sophisticated style of soul-wrenching guitar playing inspired tears of joy and calls of “Amen,” “Preach it, brother” and “Oh Lord, I’m coming home.”…
