Conspiracy theories are well-worn highways in popular culture. They serve to fill in the blanks in our gaps of knowledge so that we feel like we have complete and interesting world-views. Can’t understand how a man can become as successful as Jay-Z? He must be part of the Illuminati! Don’t…
Turns out, Garth Brooks doesn’t have many friends in low places. During a press conference on Monday, the country star announced that he would be performing at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration on Wednesday, Jan. 20. The lineup of talent performing at the inauguration includes Lady Gaga, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen…
Around the time humans started dipping their fingers in ochre and telling stories on cave walls, a group of shamans forged flutes from bone and drums from animal skin. Those shamans were, by definition, healers, and the sounds they made with their flutes and drums were part of the therapeutic…
Phil Spector is dead, and the world is better for it. Seemingly most nationwide press outlets have acknowledged the fact that the once-venerated producer was convicted of murder following the 2003 death of actress Lana Clarkson, but some have chosen to do so with callous soft-pedaling. BBC was scathingly criticized…
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…
Sure, we all love “Gimme Shelter.” The Rolling Stones classic about the perils of the Vietnam era is one of the band’s signature tunes, and it’s always been a favorite of filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who incorporated it into some of his best films, including Goodfellas, Casino and The Departed. Unfortunately, Scorsese…
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…
Bandcamp, one of the largest digital distributors of independent music, ran an article this week recognizing “Ten Latinx Acts Shaping the Future of Dallas Independent Music.” Recognizing the long history Mexican-Americans have in the world of Texas music, the article highlights bands such as Luna Luna, The Bralettes and Sub-Sahara,…
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…
This past year has seemed to really screw all of us, so it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t close it out with some bangers. By now, you’ve surely exhausted Josh Groban and Michael Buble’s Christmas albums, but for some odd reason, Pornhub released a holiday album appropriately titled Pornhub…
As if 2020 weren’t the worst year already, imagine the clock striking midnight on Jan. 1, and you have no one to celebrate with — not just because we’re in a pandemic, but because you’re single as hell, girl. That’s a different level of hurt, whether we choose to soberly…
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…
