As D’Angelo, the neo-soul Harry Houdini, looks less and less likely to get around to making a follow-up to his 2000 genre benchmark Voodoo, prudent R&B fans might do well to undertake a search for some other slow-burning stud with a honey-baked croon. This North Carolina native’s résumé is as…
Longtime listeners of KNTU’s Sunday night Frequency Down program are surely salivating at the opportunity to check out this upcoming live show by their favorite artist, mellowdrone. On the debut EP, a demonstration of intellectual property, 21-year-old solo artist Jonathan Bates (aka mellowdrone) showed amazing chops as both a singer…
Judging by looks, Vue could be mistaken for any other MTV-friendly yet still-kinda-indie band with dirty denim and mussed hair. By sound, they could be, too, with singer/guitarist Rex Shelverton’s full-bodied drawl sounding very Julian Casablancas-esque, while the rest of the five-piece fills in the Stooges-meets-the Rolling Stones blanks behind…
It turns out the funniest Onion-esque fake news story penned so far this year did not spring from The Onion. No, Sub Pop Records–a concern not ordinarily known for its forays into satire and comedy writing–deserves full credit for “Pitchfork Staff Member Says ‘Hi’ to Real-Life Woman.” “This marks the…
Among the things flying through the air just before the Bad Religion show at last Saturday’s Vans Warped Tour were these: a sopping-wet newspaper, an old flip-flop, a black bra and one economy-size Old Spice deodorant can, which landed with a clatter next to the tattooed guy beside me. He…
It seemed too good to be true–a two-day dream concert with The Flaming Lips and Wilco and Sonic Youth and Morrissey–and in the end, it was. Despite its best lineup, perhaps ever, Lollapalooza went splat, canceled because of poor ticket sales. What the hell happened? Theories abounded: Perry Farrell blamed…
What does your daydream look like? Does it have beautiful colors? Does it shine like the sun? Does it involve you and Johnny Depp in a hot-dog-eating contest? Really?! Me, too. Well, here’s the point: Dallas’ favorite rock-choral group, the Polyphonic Spree, hosts the “Film Your Daydream” contest to find…
On their last album, 2002’s Jennie Bomb, Sahara Hotnights were a badass girl gang, switchblade sisters whose game plan was summed up by “Alright, Alright (Here’s My Fist Where’s the Fight?)” and its two minutes of sweaty swagger. Basically, they were everything the Donnas and their major-label debut, Spend the…
Experimental rock outfit Black Dice has a tendency to make short work of listener expectations. Previous releases have run the gamut from brutal, abrasive noise to electronically enhanced tropical impressionism to mutant disco, but the Brooklyn trio still manages to surprise via striking exercises in electro-acoustic frenzy and the uncompromising…
“You let me know when we’ve made it,” says drummer Josh Garza, a passenger in a van headed for Cleveland, where his band Secret Machines will perform tonight before a cross-country haul to Seattle. He’s not talking about arriving at their destination but rather about the feeling of success that…
If any band was supposed to stay broken up, it was the MC5. After all, neither their political controversy at events like the 1968 Democratic Convention riots nor their pioneering fusion of blue-collar rock with Motown soul managed to make superstars out of the guys who tore through “Kick Out…
Interesting thing about the current media fawn-fest surrounding our cover boys, the Secret Machines: Almost every national article about the rock band mentions their Dallas heritage. Spin, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone. I’ve never met the guys, and suspect I never will, but it still gives me a little hometown thrill…
Oh, no! The band OHNO is (oh)no more. As reported last Thursday in the new Dallas ‘zine Sample Press, www.samplepress.com, the Dallas band is splitsville. For the past month or so, Rahim Quazi has been playing around town as Rahim the Band and now come reports that lead singer Steven…
Things didn’t quite work out for Rooney the way they’d probably hoped. The ultra-hyped L.A. power-pop outfit’s self-titled debut was supposed to put them in the same celeb-tested, fan-approved orbit as singer Robert Carmine’s brother Jason Schwartzman’s old band Phantom Planet. Instead, they’ve been touring the peppy-if-not-adequately-poppy record incessantly since…
Bad Religion has been together since New Found Glory was in diapers, which may make them the grandpas of the Vans Warped Tour. But Bad Religion isn’t just rehashing the SoCal hardcore punk they perfected on Against the Grain and Recipe for Hate. The just-released album The Empire Strikes First…
On her new In Exile Deo, professional indie babe Juliana Hatfield makes a serious move away from the scrappy guitar-pop of her college-radio past toward the mature songcraft of the Aimee Mann set. You know what this means: slower tempos, lots of keyboards, a handful of metaphors so painful I’ll…
The Boys Named Sue aren’t your average cover band. Sure, they have a set list chock-full of titles you’d expect–“Crazy Arms,” “Ramblin’ Man,” “Wurlitzer Prize.” But it’s not these classics that set them apart. After all, how many other bands will segue into a Good Charlotte song in the middle…
In their first venture since 2002’s In Violet Light, the Tragically Hip still sound like art students living with their parents–rough, lacking production and sweating in their faded black T-shirts. Though more distinctive than interesting, the album grew on me from song to song (that is, minus the first song,…
The impressively résuméd indie-rock guitarist Jimmy LaValle–he’s spent time with Tristeza, the Black Heart Procession and GoGoGo Airheart–has released a handful of iffy solo records as the Album Leaf, a name that’s basically provided cover while he noodled in his bedroom like Enya in a denim jacket. To make In…
When we last left Marah in 2002, the Philadelphia band had blown its shot at minor-league music success. After building a cult fan base with two solid roots-rock albums, the group released Float Away With the Friday Night Gods, a bloated arena-rocker that left fans baffled and records unsold. Perhaps…
Though die-hard fans will surely love it, A Ghost Is Born lacks much of the trilling beauty of the band’s 2002 triumph, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. This is probably to the satisfaction of front man Jeff Tweedy, whose guitar is starting to echo the ragged glory of Neil Young on his…
Jonathan Richman has always been like that geeky, art-loving, shy, witty, multilingual, politically active teacher you have a crush on. Or he’s been like the only person who really understands how you feel and puts it into pop songs. Either way, Not So Much to be Loved as to Love…
