You can’t help but like a band that puts its members’ blood types on their web site. So it’s sad news to hear that D’espairsRay canceled tonight’s tour stop in Dallas. The Japanese band’s fourth full-length album, MONSTERS, was released on July 28 and featured more of the industrial metal/glam…
Your daily dose of national music news for Monday, August 16, 2010…Sure, Tila Tequilla gets on my nerves as much as the next “reality” star, but, does she really need to be hit with Juggalo feces? But, why did she think a Juggalo festival was the best place to perform?Kenny…
It shouldn’t come as too much of a shock that DFW has an ever-growing, ever-awesome, music scene; we’ve sort of been shouting that for a while now. From Denton to Arlington, it seems to be a region of Texas supersaturated with talented musicians, dedicated fans, and supportive venues. But why…
Only a month later, we’re finally wrapping up the joy and wonder that was DOMAXXII. We all had a blast this year–with several fun new additions like the award ceremony’s on-stage mash-ups and the first-ever, incredibly hot, outdoor stage, presented by Bud Light. Our friends at Expat Films went toe-to-toe…
Just got word from Todd Gautreau, the lone man behind the ethereal act known as Crushed Stars, that he’ll be finishing up a new album this coming weekend. The album, Gautreau hopes, will be release in mid-November.The album, tentatively titled Convalescing in Braille, is Gautreau’s fifth under the Crushed Stars…
The city of Dallas has never been a very vocal champion of electronic dance music. Apart from the infamous “club kids” and the days when MDMA was sold at bars in Dallas, the city hasn’t ever really been known for its electronic music culture–not in any important or globally relevant…
Your daily dose of national music news for Friday, August 13, 2010…Carlos D quit Interpol because he hated playing bass. Bad choice of instrument to hate for a band’s bass player.Are Kanye West and Bon Iver collaborating?Apparently Arcade Fire show us why you can still make it as an indie…
A few months ago, we did a lot of talking about Doug Burr. He’d just released his newest record, O Ye Devastator, which is possibly the best of his already shining discography. So it was a little surprising to see an email this morning announcing Doug Burr’s album release at…
Your daily dose of national music news for Thursday, August 12, 2010…Apparently MTV has forgiven Kanye West. The rapper/producer/twitterer will perform at this years VMA’s.So, now parody songs are violate copyright infringement? The former rap star known as Nelly has gotten a part-time job as a radio DJ…
Erykah Badu was in Chicago this past weekend, performing at Lollapalooza and donning a brand new, blonde mohawk to boot. While there, Billboard caught up with Ms. Badu for a little chat. And it’s kind of a revealing one–not quite, say, “Window Seat” revealing, but, hey, they can’t all be…
2010’s been a banner year for Dallas’ Symbolyc One, known best around these parts for his work with both Erykah Badu’s Cannabinoids and his own long-running Waco-based hip-hop collective, Strange Fruit Project. “I’ve been doing work,” the producer says over the phone this week. “I’ve been doing a lot of…
At 57, Cyndi Lauper is as feisty today as she was when her debut album, She’s So Unusual, was released back in 1983. Still performing in those outlandish outfits with an ever-changing array of multi-colored wigs, Lauper has always been a new wave pop and rock trailblazer. These days, Lauper…
Your daily dose of national music news for Wednesday, August 11, 2010…The Train hit song “Drops of Jupiter” was allegedly the cause of the fight between Charlie Sheen and his wife last year.Apparently Jack White doesn’t like hipster audiences.At least Mark Walhberg has lightened up about his music career…
Well, finally: An email from New West Records today finally gets around to confirming all that hard work and reporting we’ve been kicking out since April on the next, once-thought-to-be-a-double-album-but-now-known-to-be-a-two-part-release from Dallas’ own Old 97’s. Meaning: Yes, it’ll be called The Grand Theatre, Volume One. Yes, it’ll be out on…
The members of Midlake are in the middle of the busiest year they’ve ever had: They’ve already toured the world a few times over, won a MOJO award for Best Live Act, and, ahem, perhaps most importantly, they won a DOMA for Best Indie Rock act.And now, upon returning from…
This afternoon, after spending much of Monday on life support in an Austin hospital, Ryan “Ace” McNeely died at the age of 30.A familiar face to many in the Dallas music community, McNeely worked as the sound engineer at City Tavern and, most recently, played bass in Grant Jones &…
Your daily dose of national music news for Wednesday, April 29, 2010…Like the rest of the major labels, Universal Music Group continues to act like a bunch of bitchy little girls as they pulled all their videos from MTV’s web sites. But, considering MTV rarely airs music videos, it may…
We admittedly let the April release of Meat Loaf’s new album, Hang Cool Teddy Bear, come and go without much ado. But, considering the subject matter of “California Isn’t Big Enough (Hey There Girl),” we really couldn’t let the new album from Dallas native and Thomas Jefferson High School graduate…
Your daily dose of national music news for Monday, August 9, 2010…If you didn’t make it to Lollapalooza this past weekend, here’s a reason why the current incarnation isn’t as good as the original.Bun B will be a guest lecturer at Rice University for a Religion and Hip-Hop Culture class…
If week two of the first round for this year’s Shiner Rising Star contest–hosted by KHYI 95.3 and Shiner Bock Beer–was solid, last night’s, week three performances were a ten foot-thick slab of concrete and steel. In short: It was an outstanding display. Feel free to add to the list…
Your daily dose of national music news for Friday, August 6, 2010…Apparently people really like to buy albums by Dave Matthews and Tori Amos, they just don’t listen to them.Vanilla Ice is set to get his very own home renovation show on the DIY network.As much as KISS would sell…
On a hot summer day last month, I played the “international calling game” with Crowded House’s bassist Nick Seymour. I harassed operators and PR reps to no avail: The number I was dialing was not in service. I wondered what in the hell I was mis-dialing or if I got…
