Denton rapper AV The Great took to the studio to give his thoughts on the insurrection at the Capitol building last week. The single “Jan 6th, 2021” captures the artist’s stunned disbelief at what unfolded and notes the utter hypocrisy of the domestic terrorists’ actions with lyrics such as: “Kaepernick…
Victoria just wasn’t the right town for a band like Velvet Skyline. They had gone just about as far as they could go in the Texas city’s cover band-filled nightlife, which also boasts of its annual Bootfest, a festival that favored country tunes and old-time rock ‘n’ roll over the…
The rumours are true. Preceded by David Crosby and Bob Dylan, both of whom recently sold the rights to their entire catalogues, Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham announced last week that he’d signed away his entire discography to Merck Mercuriadis’ Hipgnosis Songs. No word on how much the deal paid, but we’re…
Demi Lovato has been naïve. She didn’t think an attempted coup was possible. But then it happened. Her heart is broken, she says. Lovato’s fans, known as Lovatics, can’t be bothered with a coup, though. They’re begging for Lovato’s seventh album, which they refer to as “d7.” “My heart is broken,”…
Need more reasons to be glad 2021 is here? We didn’t think so. Nevertheless, it’s always fun to look ahead to new music. Luckily for us, the months ahead will include plenty of albums from some of our favorite Texas artists and bands. From Polyphonic Spree alums to rap superstars,…
Reality television may seem a particularly contradicting term when it comes to certain shows — some are certainly more scripted than spontaneous — but, there’s a component of “reality” in singing competition shows that even the most cunning producer couldn’t fabricate through a script. For starters, shows like American Idol…
Last year was without question one of the most challenging years for the music industry, and in the absence of live concerts, releases have upheld the connection between artists and music fans. Bandcamp’s First Friday initiative (in which the streaming platform waived its share of revenue to allow artists to…
2020 is over at last, and we have more than one thing to celebrate with the end of the yearr: The time has come to announce the winners of the 2020 Dallas Observer Music Awards. Traditionally, we celebrate our awards with a music showcase and a balls-out ceremony, but, our…
Black Tie Dynasty drummer Eddie Thomas died Dec. 26 after a years-long battle with brain cancer. After reuniting in December 2019 after a decade-long hiatus, the band played a handful of shows before the pandemic and was planning to reschedule shows that had been subsequently postponed. Thomas is survived by…
On Dec. 23, Dallas police responded to a welfare check for Timothy Paul Allen and found the 65-year-old dead in the passenger seat of his car. Dallas police announced Allen’s cause of death, per the medical examiner, as “homicidal violence.” Allen was a pianist, a longtime fixture in the cabaret…
BLACKBONE is operating at a different frequency. A collective of poet/neo-jazz provocateur Eboneé A.D. and producer DISCIPLINE99, the duo has carved a place in the musical landscape of 2020 with their first music video release, for “COLD REIGN” from their upcoming EP, 5G. With the song’s video, the band aimed…
Dallas sludge metal masters Mountain of Smoke have a brand new album out called Replicated, which reimagines versions of songs as disparate as Deftones’ “My Own Summer (Shove It)” and “Only Time” by Enya. The latter features backing vocals by avant-pop composer Lorelei K. All songs are filtered through Mountain…
We should’ve been able to make it through the year without something like Van Morrison and Eric Clapton’s “Stand and Deliver” hitting the music circuit and repopularizing the two privileged, out of touch old white dudes, but here we are. The 4.5-minute, call-and-response style diatribe is not just objectively bad…
Let’s not mince words: 2020 sucked. It sucked for everybody. And it especially sucked for music fans, musicians and live music venues. As a whole, the music industry makes 50 percent of its annual revenue from live music performances, and the other half, it makes from recorded music in the…
There is a rather ignorant assumption in the world that within the last 25 or so years, only one modern-day Christmas song matters. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” is a pop masterpiece that further solidified Carey’s rightful place in pop culture history and is certainly the…
After spending nearly an entire year in isolation, we’re heading into a dark and lonely winter season. The usual holiday parties are out of the question, and as the pandemic rages, we’ve been strongly encouraged not to fraternize with anyone outside of the household. Needless to say, Christmas songs feel…
Margin Walker Presents, Texas’ largest independent concert promoter since its start in 2016, announced that they were closing down this week. In a statement released on their social media on Monday, the company cited “the uncertainty and lack of resources [that] have hammered down on those working” in the music industry…
With country legend Charley Pride’s death on Saturday has come a renewed appreciation for his revolutionary career. Born in Mississippi in 1934, Pride lived in Colorado, Montana and Tennessee before settling in Texas in 1969, and his Southern roots came to define much of his music. In celebration of his…
Country music trailblazer Charley Pride died Saturday at the age of 86 of complications of COVID-19. News of Pride’s death was first announced through the singer’s website. Known for breaking systemic racial barriers in the country music industry, Pride became a celebrated name in a predominantly white genre. Hits such…
We’re not going to sugarcoat it: There wasn’t a whole lot going on in music news this year that wasn’t actually bad, sad and sadder news. Music coverage in 2020 consisted largely of pandemic trends, venue updates and obituaries. Some prepandemic stories, however, were reader favorites throughout the year —…
It’s almost like he knew it was coming. Last Valentine’s Day, as couples around the world were celebrating many forms of romantic bliss, others gathered around their speakers or donned headphones in anticipation. After five years, Tame Impala had finally released The Slow Rush, the follow-up to their decade-defining 2015 album…
Since the earlier part of the century, the sound of saxophones and soul-heavy vocals have been heard coming out of Deep Ellum bars. In the history of Dallas’ music scene, funk and R&B have always enjoyed a prominent position. The nominees for Best Funk and R&B for the 2020 Dallas…
