Hear Here Holy Spain, See James O’Barr Cover Art

Idol just announced the release date for Dallas punky power trio Here Holy Spain’s debut CD, Manic, as April 7, though you don’t have to wait until then to hear it. The album is streaming on the band’s Last.FM site, and you can cop an advance copy through iTunes as…

St. Vincent’s Actor Set For May 5 Release

4AD has announced the release date of St. Vincent’s sophomore release, Actor, and, as the header to this post implies, we can expect the disc about two and a half months from now. The disc, produced here in Dallas by The Paper Chase’s John Congleton, also features North Texas musicians…

Wait. Since When Does Katy Perry Speak Spanish?

Just in case you happened to be flipping ‘cross the radio dial yesterday or today and you stopped on Movin’ 107.5 (because you were on your way to your pilates class) but, instead of “Hot N Cold”, you heard a strange foreign language coming out of your speakers (it’s called…

Pitchfork Wakes Up, Reviews Fight Bite’s Emerald Eyes

Must be good to be Pitchfork Media. Reviewing records whenever you want, writing overblown reviews that go over most readers’ heads, applying arbitrary numbers to your reviews (even if they don’t seem to match up well with the actual written words of said reviews), not really reviewing an album at…

Today In Music News: Metallica goes digital, NIN announces (last?) tour, Suge Knight gets a beatdown and Madonna gets sold.

Your daily dose of national music news for Tuesday, February 17, 2009… Metallica is now embracing digital music… as long as “digital music” doesn’t mean “illegal downloads”. The band is releasing its entire music catalogue digitally via iTunes on March 31 and then everywhere else on April 28.  Trent Reznor may be pulling…

This Just In: Local Radio Sucks.

Yep. And you said so, according to this 72-page study from a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, which surveyed radio listeners in six markets, including DFW, only to find that they’re all dissatisfied with what they’re hearing. It’s not that hard, folks. Really, it isn’t. Just play more…

Teenage Cool Kids Prepare Vinyl-Only Release

Over the weekend, Teenage Cool Kids’ new full-length LP, Foreign Lands, was made available for pre-order. Like the Denton-based indie rockers’ debut full-length, Queer Salutations, the new record is being released on the indie-label Protagonist Music. But, unlike Queer Salutations, which was released on CD, Foreign Lands will be pressed…

Announcing the Dallas Observer SXSW Showcase Lineup. For Real.

Every year at SXSW, our parent company, Village Voice Media, hosts a day-party concert filled with enticing national names. This year will be no different, I’m told, although the lineup card for this year’s show hasn’t yet been announced. We’ll let you know as soon as it is. That said,…

Free Stuff Alert: 100-Second Dash Compiles 26 New Songs

Do you like making snap judgments about local bands? You’re in luck. Volume 2 of the One Hundred Second Dash compilation series is available for free download today. To download it, just follow the link to the One Hundred Second Dash blog and click on the animation in the upper…

SXSW 2009 Lineup Fully Announced.

This afternoon, SXSW unveiled its complete lineup of acts booked to play this year’s festival. It’s a lengthy list, and, honestly, it’s kinda a bitch to troll through, unless you’re looking for something specific. So we did the dirty work for you, hunting down the complete list of DFWd acts…