I can’t say I’ve ever been to DeSoto, save for stopping at a Starbucks, but the lineup for their annual SolJazz Festival is enough to make me bust hump and head south. Featuring jazz singer Rachelle Ferrell, rapper MC Lyte, human beatbox Doug E. Fresh, Cameo (ya know, “Word Up!”),…
Relocating from their Melbourne, Australia home to London before the release of 2009 debut Conditions, The Temper Trap blended like lemon and iced tea. The quintet’s sweeping pop melancholia follows on the heels of moody post-millennial U.K. rockers like the Editors and Keane, but with a stronger strain of U2,…
Since playing 35 Denton this year, things have been picking up for Noonday Morningstar. The four-piece has plans to record an album towards the end of this month, so we sat down with the band at their rehearsal space and talked about what got them into music, why some got…
The scar ran from behind his right ear to the center of his cheek, pink and waxy in contrast with his dyed black hair. His skinny arms were covered with crude tattoos, and he was wearing a black t-shirt inside out, black jeans and black boots. He stood about 6-feet-1,…
See also: The fans of A-Kon. I don’t really know why I asked to cover A-Kon, the annual anime convention in Dallas, other than I support like-minded people coming together to share a common passion, the exception being those who burn crosses and wear red arm bands. I had no…
KXT’s Summer Cut Gexa Energy Pavilion Friday, June 1 See also: The fans of Summer Cut. “What the [expletive] is that?” – Gexa’s finest usher, on the stylistic motivations of its patrons. When the Flaming Lips come to town, people tend to shed their inhibitions. For the guy in the…
As the seated half of the King Khan & BBQ Show, guitarist Mark Sultan (“BBQ”) provided the rhythmic gut for the duo’s food- and sex-propelled rock and roll. Solo, not much has changed aesthetically. His latest studio albums, Whatever I Want and Whenever I Want, as well as a limited…
Local station KKXT-FM 91.7 is dipping its collective toes in the fest pool, and gathers The Flaming Lips, St. Vincent, Fitz & the Tantrums, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Smile Smile, Air Review, Telegraph Canyon, Quiet Corral, Walk Off The Earth and more for one big cannonball into said pool…
Something happens when Emmylou Harris sings. Sure, we can get into her history — best-selling singer, one-time girlfriend of Gram Parsons, genre-expanding country artist — or we could talk about her voice, which reaches your soul like a healing salve. Hyperbole? Not to me. Emmylou is playing Fort Worth, as…
I’ve long held the belief that Fred and Toody Cole are music’s most inspiring couple. In previous band Dead Moon, their music never really veered from its pure punk base, and existed across more than a dozen albums. Pierced Arrows aren’t much different, save for a new drummer, and continue…
QuikTrip Park was the site of Dayglow, the “paint rave” I attended a couple months ago, and I’m still finding evidence on my purse. The same young crowd will no doubt attend this electronic/DJ mass, featuring local favorites Pretty Lights, as well as Passion Pit, Steve Agnello, Sander Van Doorn,…
This has been a pretty great spring for touring acts in Dallas, but there hasn’t been much that makes you want to dance. That will change when NYC’s Santi White, aka Santigold, takes the stage at House of Blues. Four years after her debut Santogold spawned “Creator” and “L.E.S. Artistes,”…
Local act Caterpillars won’t play their next show until July 20 at the Crown and Harp, but until then, they have a new record to finish. They took some time out at the Double Wide a few weeks ago and discussed what they’re up to, their first musical obsessions, and…
When I finally set foot in Main Street Garden Park on Saturday afternoon, I knew what Homegrown Fest organizer Josh Florence was talking about. The strip of downtown green is beautiful, well-designed and forces interaction, like any good, walkable park should. Looking up at the old Grand Hotel, which shadowed…
Teenage Cool Kids, Beth Israel, Adult Books, Hot Times Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios Sunday, May 27 What happened Sunday night at Rubber Gloves was a pretty unique moment, almost a family reunion of sorts. The bill was full of familiar faces and borrowed band members, which is appropriate for a…
Turnpike Troubadours Granada Theater Friday, May 25 Friday night, Oklahoma’s Turnpike Troubadours and El Paso quarter the Dirty River Boys turned in a ferocious one-two punch that floored not only the packed lower level of the Granada Theater, but proved the newest generation of country and roots music is solid,…
Let the wild rumpus begin, Dallas. You had a buzzing, humming, sexy weekend of music. Like, a real luxury yacht of fiery shows. There’s more to come to this summer, of course, with KXT’s Summer Cut up next weekend (Mmm…Flaming Lips). Somewhere in the crowds for Homegrown Fest, FLOAT, The…
Urgh! A Music War exists as one of those concert films that could never be replicated today. Filmed in London and Los Angeles in 1980 and released in 1982, it was bankrolled by Miles Copeland, brother of Police drummer Stewart and founder of I.R.S. Records, and thus includes opening and…
Black Joe Lewis, Hayes Carll, Ben Kweller, Eisley, Centro-matic, Octopus Project, Robert Ellis, Mystery Skulls, Bright Light Social Hour, Ume, Mohicans, Girl in a Coma, Low Dark Hills, the Bird Dogs and Madisons hit downtown and represent Austin, Houston and Dallas. See this week’s music feature for more with organizer…
The other day a press release landed in my inbox announcing the Dallas appearance of Montreal trio Plants and Animals, who are touring in support of their new album, The End of That. It turns out this is the trio’s third full-length release, and they’ve opened for bands like The…
Since it is fest season, Allen’s getting in on the act with its first blues festival, and the lineup is packing some serious heat. The Robert Cray Band is a must-see for fans of Southern blues, as is Texas saint Jimmie Vaughan. Funk-soul powerhouse Robert Randolph & the Family Band,…
With lyricist and frontman Andrew Savage now in New York City, focusing his musical efforts on Fergus & Geronimo and Parquet Courts, Teenage Cool Kids return to Denton for what is being billed as the band’s “last Denton show.” For the unfamiliar, the act recorded two of the best local…
