‘Twas a week before Christmas, when all through Grand Prairie, Slow jams were straight stirring, courtesy KR&B. A Grown and Sexy Christmas, you get the idea; A half-dozen new jack swingers performing at Nokia. The kids were nestled all snug in their beds, While an overpaid sitter watched over their…
Christmastime is here. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Here comes Santa Claus. We’ve all heard it before, and we don’t need to hear it again. Before you plan a holiday bash or go on a three-hour road trip, burn a mix of these fresh holiday tunes. Winter…
Few believed Jay-Z would actually stay retired, so his return is no surprise. But why come back now? He went out on top, and as president of Def Jam, he’s the head of rap’s premier institution. What more could he want? The Dr. Dre-produced track “30 Something” may provide some…
The SYR series of recordings were the right idea at the right time. Issued via Sonic Youth’s imprint—beginning in 1997 and continuing, albeit sporadically, to the present day—the releases allowed the group to shrug out of verse-chorus-verse strictures self-imposed as (relatively) new Geffen signees. Lyrics were spare and, if present…
In space, no one can hear you be hip, thus it’s probably a blessing that the Low Frequency cultured its sound in Haugesund, Norway, likely as close to space as it gets. Despite the muffled, Unwound-like vocal production, the group can’t hide its bubble-radio training wheels. There’s fighting Norse blood…
If you are into frenzied, turn-of-the-20th-century riot-inducing Eastern European classical music with a twist, and if you like your Christmas tunes in the same format, this one is a no-brainer. Graham Reynolds’ Golden Arm Trio (who recently scored Richard Linklater’s A Scanner Darkly) is an Austin institution, brewing an odd…
Hear ye, hear ye. This is where it all comes to a head: the love, hate, passion and snarky anonymous hatred spewed forth on a daily basis on the We Shot JR DFW/Denton music blog. Have you ever been to a party with an anonymous host? Come see how WSJR…
To see and hear a bespectacled Jim Heath play old blues and jazz standards with this side project trio is to see him lounging Clark Kent-like, without the costume he’s made of his Reverend Horton Heat persona, except that a bit of cape is poking out of his Hawaiian shirt…
Thankfully unrelated to the heavy-handed ’70s hard rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose, this is actually Montrose Cunningham, a Dallas multi-instrumentalist who worships at the funky altar of Prince and Terrance Trent D’Arby. Inertia, his sophomore effort, released in 2004, is full of soulful funk and sexy ballads, never straying too far…
Chris Flemmons (of the Baptist Generals) and Martin Iles really know how to build solid rock ‘n’ roll traditions. Each year the two of them help organize both Rock Lottery and a Halloween super show (like this year’s Our Band Could Be Your Band) in Denton. Then each Christmas, the…
Otep is the name of both this brutish Los Angeles goth-metal band and its singer. These perennial Ozzfest faves, whose shock-cred has been abetted over the years by whispers of members indulging in black magic (silly) and cannibalism (sillier), deliver nihilistic, apocalyptic odes to the dark side. Murder, religious perversion,…
Dan Auerbach may or may not have made a deal with the devil at the crossroads, but the Black Keys’ singer did venture to the Promised Land, the muddy banks of the Mississippi, to hone his signature guitar tone. His journey to R.L. Burnside’s “Bad Luck City,” the Delta region…
Reporters are nosy people. That’s what they pay us for. That’s where we scored highest on our vocational aptitude tests—minding other people’s business. Some reporters, such as the ones who discover Firestone tires blow up or that carrots give you cancer of the hair, save people’s lives by being nosy…
Speaking from Northern California on the eve of an American tour, Thomas Dolby sounds energized, ready to bring out machines old and new, to dress up like an aviator lost in an electronics store, anxious to prove yet again that he is anything but an ’80s one-hit wonder. “People who…
File this one under “Stuff you need to know about to avoid musical ostracism.” Cred Sheet is a periodic gauge of cultural stimuli for those unwilling or unable to think about this shit for a living 24/7. (Note: These people are most often smarter and better compensated than those who…
Even sans the film, the Tenacious D-orchestrated soundtrack for its full-length feature The Pick of Destiny is a seriously marvelous three-act musical comedy. The album is like a spoofed-out Behind the Music, unraveling the fictitious story of folk-metal musicians Jables (aka Jack Black) and Kage (aka Kyle Gass), track by…
Sweden’s continuing export of solemn singer-songwriters isn’t showing any signs of slowing up. Like her copatriot counterparts Jose Gonzalez and Jens Lekman, Frida Hyvönen is a loner; a stripped-down ivory tickler, who maybe falls somewhere between our own Fiona Apple and Tori Amos. But while she croons like the aforementioned,…
Kid-friendly Ramones merchandise is nothing new. There’s already a universe of products emblazoned with the band’s likeness or logo: diaper bags, baby bibs, onesie jumpers and, of course, those motherfucking tot-sized T-shirts. Produced by ex-L7 bassist Jennifer Finch, Brats on the Beat features members of established and obscure punk bands…
Composed of one part Wolf Parade, one part Destroyer and one part Frog Eyes, this hotly anticipated indie “super group” isn’t so much super as surreal. Not in a “wow, I can’t believe we should be so lucky” surreal way, but more in a sonic, “this is really kinda weird,…
Just when Phil Elvrum’s Microphones seemed to be getting bigger—more oddly grandiose and more recognized outside Pitchfork-approved circles—everything changed. The songwriting visionary added a “e,” becoming Phil Elverum. He dropped the Microphones. He lost his supporting cast, his choirs, his loud distortion, his crazy organs, and he became Mt. Eerie…
I’d heard of Darden Smith for years but never seen him or given him a fair listen. His reputation preceded him; my impression was of a wan, mopey, earnest, trying-so-hard-to-be-meaningful balladeer. That all changed when I got a dose of Sunflower (2002). It certainly wasn’t party music, but Smith definitely…
In a year most notable for their midsummer indie-rock roadshow cluster Wall of Sound, it’s nice to see Spune Productions return to their local roots. Norman, Oklahoma’s Starlight Mints are the name here, but their post-Flaming Lips eccentricity is just an anchor for one of the best local bills in…
