Rick Simpson keeps a low profile. Not one to promote or push his skills on anyone, he has been a staple in the regional DJ scene for almost a quarter century under aliases like Ricky Silk and R9. He’s collaborated with local wunderkind Cygnus and dropped a track on wax…
For someone living in the relative comforts of a city like Dallas, it’s easy to take music and the arts for granted. But for free jazz trumpeter Mazen Kerbaj, who visited Crown & Harp last night for the weekly Outward Bound Mixtape Sessions and is the featured guest tonight at…
The Wild Detectives is hidden near Zang and 8th in Oak Cliff, and has been opened for the better part of a year. The burnt-orange house converted into a cozy bookstore serves espresso, local beer and has hundreds of those antique objects with paper pages called books. They even have…
Piero Rossini, the man behind one-man electronic act Peladini, is a true nomad. From Florida and Lima, Peru, Rossini has led an unlikely journey that has only seen him firmly plant foot here in the Dallas music scene in the past couple months. Even in a music scene that thrives…
North Dallas isn’t usually the kind of place you’d go to for a fun night out on the town. Amongst the sprawling grid of lower-to-middle-class households and apartments, strip malls, pawn shops and other respectable businesses, this area has almost always been a void of culture. But, as unlikely as…
Kanye is an artist! Respect his artistry! Oh wait, sorry, wrong thread. What we meant to say is, what the hell does Kanye West have up his sleeve this time? The pied piper of pop music and Taylor Swift’s unofficial new BFF has been tweeting the website Yeezy.supply for just…
It’s hard to name a more unforeseen story in the music industry than the recent resurgence of the vinyl LP. With vinyl record sales increasing at astronomic rates (up over 50% since 2013 alone), opportunistic major labels that had abandoned the format years ago have been promoting limited re-releases and…
True Widow has garnered international acclaim for their glacially paced drum section, haunting, reverb-soaked vocals and shoegazey brand of stoner rock. But behind the smoke and mirrors is guitarist Dan Phillips, a pivotal force in the three-piece’s wall of sound, who actually only moonlights as a musician. “The band is something…
Andrew Barton, aka M3SA, straddles the fine line between four on the floor and U.K. bass music. As a producer and DJ, he pays homage to the various sides of floor-friendly club music without being allegiant to any one in particular. M3SA approaches electronic from more of a producer’s point…
Last week a song by the name of “White Iverson” made its rounds on the Internet. It’s a spacey and melodic number and it deservedly captured the attention of many. Naturally, it got the attention of Twitter, but more importantly it also impressed Complex and XXL. You know how this…
Preferring to be addressed as S1, Dallas’ platinum-selling producer and songwriter is also known as Larry D. Griffin Jr. or Symbolyc One. He has collaborated with the likes of Beyoncé, Jay Z and Ghostface Killah. S1 is a member of The Cannabinoids, the band that backs up Erykah Badu and…
A little over two years ago, Texas Radio Hall of Famer John Rody and his wife Sallie launched The Southside Pirate, a Fort Worth-based Internet radio station dedicated to only playing local music. But they weren’t content to just stream music; they filed for a frequency under the Community Radio…
Well, yet another Grammy Awards night has come and gone, and like usual, there are plenty of things for people to complain about. Like Macklemore in 2014 or Adele back in 2012, the big winner on Sunday night was Sam Smith, who took home four awards, although not necessarily because…
After years of persistent and ugly rumors, Uptown bar Kung Fu Saloon was publicly, and loudly, accused last year of racism at its door and in its dress code. The bar’s owners didn’t say much at the time, but now the bar has accepted a plea deal with the city…
Brett Johnson is something of a house music hometown hero. Or at least he should be. He cut his teeth in the ’90s Dallas DJ scene, and he’s gone on to considerable success on an international level. His career has since taken him around the world and back again. But…
There’s a lot to like about the lineup for Homegrown Music Festival in 2015, announced this week. Now in its sixth year, the downtown Dallas fest landed Spoon as headliner, easily the biggest act to play the Texas-only music festival. Homegrown’s no longer the little fest that could; it’s turning…
It’s almost Valentine’s Day, which means one of two things: Either you’re single and you’re dreading the prospect, or you have a significant other and you’re pretty sure you’ll screw the whole holiday up, in which case you’re also dreading it. But there’s an easy way to fix this whole…
A quarter-century ago, Dallas Museum of Art debuted its weekly music series, Jazz in the Atrium. Local trumpet player Dennis Gonzalez was among the first to perform for the series on Sunday, January 17, 1990. He has not performed for the series since. Gonzalez had not even given the experience…
News surfaced early last night that Dallas R&B veteran Rev. Gean West, the leader of the Relatives, has passed away. West had battled heart health issues for several years, leading eventually to a GoFundMe campaign that bandmate Zach Ernst organized in the fall of 2014. He was able to return…
Upon crossing the threshold to The Jagoe House, I detected a distinct feeling of otherworldliness. If someone had blindfolded me, spun me around and dropped me off at this doorstep I would’ve sworn I was in Austin. Here was a living room draped with technicolor christmas lights, packed with band…
Chris Roze is somewhat of a newcomer to the Dallas DJ scene, but over the past few years he has made his mark on area clubs. Through his role as a member of the Trillwave crew and their associated parties, Roze has helped bring a string of touring bass specialists…
South By Southwest is so powerful that its residual effects bleed some 200 miles north into Dallas. Well, bleed isn’t the word; it’s actually a spillover. The spillover has been so strong that for the eighth year Parade of Flesh is putting together its Spillover Fest, which was once a…
