By their own admission, Hip Hopp Astra’s lyrical game is a refreshing change of pace from the “dumb fucks that got nothin’ better/To rap about except for bling-bling, hos and chedda.” Rhymes of the more cerebral variety trade bong rips with some twisted third cousin of Sly and the Family…
Lille, France, may be chilly this time of year, but DAT Politics is up to the task of taking an often cold musical subgenre and making it as warm, whimsical and infectiously human as anything you might imagine. This French laptop trio has released a variety of discs on a…
Singer-songwriter Guy Clark is nothing if not beloved. When indie-rock poster boy Conor Oberst dissed the Lone Star State in a misguided fit of post-election rage at a 2005 concert (“I’d put a gun to my head before I’d live in your state,” he said), he made a quick exception…
Down in Deep Ellum, the scene outside Tom Cats is a study in juxtaposition. Two members of a heavy metal band stand outside in a slight chill, hands in pockets, their two girlfriends waiting patiently as the guys talk heatedly, excitedly and sometimes angrily about what has happened to this…
For two decades Walter Salas-Humera and his Silos have been one of the leading lights of Americana music. Sadly underappreciated, the New York-based Silos have released more than a dozen efforts that merge country, folk and indie rock in increasingly fascinating ways. The band’s high-water mark was Cuba from 1987,…
In his cute-as-a-button essay accompanying the five-EP Sufjan Stevens collection, Rick Moody wonders, Why is it that the horrible little tree in the Peanuts special seems better than any other tree ever? Well, sincerity, for starters; its the only Christmas special that can break your heart, because its the only…
Secrecy is the key to any conspiracy, and Art Conspiracy coordinator Sarah Jane Semrad is keeping her lips sealed about the financial situation of the La Reunion group, this year’s Art Conspiracy beneficiary. That’s not to suggest there’s anything nefarious about her plans. In the city best known as the…
Henkka Seppala, bassist for Children of Bodom, Finland’s favorite death metal export, does his best (in broken English) to explain why his band covered “Oops, I Did it Again” as a single in 2005. “And the drunk somebody said, ‘Hey, let’s do Britney,'” says Seppala. Despite his pedestrian second-language skills,…
Go ahead: Keep holding that grudge against Natalie Maines for exercising her freedom of speech. We don’t care if you miss the finest and most genuinely musical live act in contemporary country music (even if the best stylistic reference for Taking the Long Way, their latest album, is the California…
John Gorka “I’m not afraid of drums,” says John Gorka, one of contemporary folk’s most accomplished songwriters, discussing the genre’s historically odd recoil from percussion. “I’d like to be thought of as in the folk tradition,” says Gorka, “but I really like the beat.” For more than 20 years Gorka…
Is it too early to be nostalgic for the mid-’90s? The beautiful space rock transmitting from Denton and Austin should have ushered in a new space age of Lone Star psychedelic instrumental music but faded out sometime just shy of the millennial finish line. But someone had to buy all…
Bringing a toy for a tot will get you half off the already affordable $4 door admission at Callithump’s New Music Tuesday. At two bucks, you’ve got no excuse, and what’s one more toy when you’ve already gotta sell plasma to pay for all your Christmas shopping? The toys won’t…
On their own, Irving’s DJ Frantic and Houston-bred Big J are dangerous. Dangerously funky, that is. But when they join forces they’re twice as dangerous, four times as funkified and 86 million trazillion times doper. That’s just simple math, folks. Clutch City transplant Big J relocated to Dallas from the…
For a woman who spends much of her time rapping about sex, Canada-born Merrill Nisker, who performs as Peaches, doesn’t seem all that concerned about having fun. Take “Two Guys (For Every Girl),” a provocative cut from Peaches’ latest CD, Impeach My Bush, in which she declares, “I wanna see…
Sabrina Ewing, singer of Austin’s all-female punk revivalists The Applicators, is a single mom with an attitude. Speaking from her kitchen, Ewing is both peppy and articulate as she discusses the pros and cons of females in punk rock. “We don’t need to rely on being girls or fall for…
A year ago Paul McCartney opened the vaults to The Freelance Hellraiser, who smashed the back catalog all to, well, hell by mashing up mediocre Macca till it sounded brighter than the solo Beatle ever did all by his lonesome. Now comes the old pro hisself, Sir George Martin, attempting…
New Pagan Love Song, Paul Brill’s wonderfully skewed neo-pop confection from 2004, established the New Yorker as a singer-songwriter of unusual subtlety and brave innovation. Mixing the plainspoken charm of Ben Folds with the sonic weirdness of Sparklehorse, Brill found a fertile, unforeseen meeting place of the sweet and the…
If I had to venture a guess—just based on the personally scrawled letter on notebook paper that arrived accompanying Daniel Folmer’s new release—I’d say he’s a simple guy, prone to bouts of wit and vulnerability. Hell, the 21-year-old explains his musical history (cello since age 7, writing and recording the…
Blowfly performs Tuesday, November 28, at Rockin’
Rodeo, Denton.
Ah, yes, the holidays: A time for eggnog, good cheer and…milking the Nirvana legacy for all it’s worth. That’s right: Even posthumously, Kurt still sells, especially at Christmas, and Geffen Records is cashing in this season with its release of a DVD version of Live! Tonight! Sold Out!. Like 2005’s…
GWAR performs Saturday, November 25, at Gypsy Tea
Room with The Red Chord.
Man, the lighting guy for the Radiant CD release party at the Granada last weekend pulled out all the stops. Giant swirls of light cascaded down the art deco walls; purplish backlighting highlighted the band; kinda psychedelic orange patterns crisscrossed the ceiling. Dude, save something for the New Monsoon show!…
