he’s been branded everything from tortured and bruised to moody and difficult, but right now, Fiona Apple just has a case of the sniffles. Talking on the phone from her Venice, California, home, the much-praised, much-embattled singer-songwriter/pianist is lying low, preparing to embark on the biggest concert tour of her…
Sara Hickman’s last concert at Poor David’s Pub didn’t have quite the air of a homecoming. Despite an inspired introduction in faux-Latin by club owner David Carr, the audience showed absolutely no enthusiasm, and that lack of energy in the crowd was reflected right back from the stage. Hickman tried…
Melody, heart and–for lack of a term as concise–balls; together, these qualities mark the best Midwestern bands, from Rockford’s Cheap Trick, to Minneapolis’ Replacements and Hüsker Dü, to Milwaukee’s Modern Machines. Say who? Modern Machines, a trio that’s been breathlessly compared to its Midwestern predecessors in the punk press, are…
At some point during last week’s Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, everybody did the zombie walk. After days of drug-amplified dehydration and exhaustion, the zombie walker shuffles forward, eyes and mouth half-open, often leaning to one side and stumbling a few steps while allowing the weight of…
On the evening of June 24, exactly one year and one day after my debut music column appeared in the Dallas Observer, a man left a vague message on my cell phone. Who was he? Not sure. How’d he get the personal number? Lord knows. But I slept through the…
Let your freak flags fly: Remember March’s Wall of Sound Festival 2006? If your memory’s hazy, that’s probably for good reason; expectations were a little high, crowds were a little skim and the thing ran a little too long, but the heart–and the bands, dammit–were worth it. We can’t help…
The rumors surrounding the long-awaited follow-up to one of Kool Keith’s most infamous creations, 1996’s Dr. Octagonecologyst, only serve to complicate an already convoluted character. To bring about The Return of Dr. Octagon, Kool Keith’s vocal tracks (supposedly from a 2002 session with producer Fantik-J) were appropriated by Simon Walbrook,…
Faux spookiness of the Count Floyd/Count Chocula variety is everywhere; just turn on MTV2, or head to your local counterculture shlock shop for a dose of unintentionally hilarious “goth” aesthetics. But for 25 years, the London-via-Amsterdam band Legendary Pink Dots have proffered a rarer, truer kind of darkness. Your Children…
The brainchild of Ben Chasny, a Bay Area-based guitar whiz who also plays in the celebrated psych-metal outfit Comets on Fire, Six Organs of Admittance dedicates the second half of The Sun Awakens to a single 23-minute track called “River of Transfiguration” that sounds like a one-armed hobbit practicing snare-drum…
An eight-hour van drive in Texas sans air conditioning–at any time of year, really, but this is the summer we’re talking about–is hardly an ideal way to travel. That’s the scenario Sound Team guitarist Sam Sanford faces during a recent interview, right as the sextet begins a U.S. tour in…
While her eerie alt-country creations with the Geraldine Fibbers were moody to say the least, Carla Bozulich’s second solo release, Evangelista, is another matter altogether. Largely improvisational, the nine lengthy compositions are dark and harrowing tales of religious and personal disintegration set to a pace only a snail could love…
Alejandro Escovedo hasn’t had it easy: His first wife committed suicide; his excellent, critically praised discs haven’t set any charts afire; and he battled a recent bout of hepatitis without the support of health insurance. So you might expect his first release since 2002’s By the Hand of the Father…
Everything I know about St. Vincent–which consists of Annie Clark doing everything save for drumming, which is handled by Brian Teasley–comes courtesy the Polyphonic Spree’r’s MySpace page, where four songs are available for streaming (and dreaming about, alas). That Clark is not better known (where, may I ask those who…
Jocks used to beat the crap out of skaters. Now they’re one in the same, and nowhere is the unholy union of jock bravado and anti-establishment angst more apparent (not to mention highly marketable) than at the Vans Warped Tour. Now more than 10 years old, the annual extreme sport…
It’s tough enough for a band to hail from New Orleans these days, but getting stuck with a Sunday night slot at an out-of-town venue during Independence Day weekend plain blows. Then again, I could extend a pity party to just about any band–Quintron and Miss Pussycat get love for…
Let’s talk about the South: It’s where country music leapt into sweet miscegenation with the blues and had a kickin ‘n’ howlin’ little brat called rock ‘n’ roll. Some 10 years later the Brits reprocessed it and sold it back to the next young Stateside generation. The Black Crowes stand…
It was almost 20 years ago when a young Edie Brickell and New Bohemians got its first bewildering taste of success. “What I Am,” the lead single from Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, resonated almost immediately with an audience bored with repetitive synthesizers and formulaic radio. That track, fueled by…
“Whatever, man. No problem.” Despite a publicist’s snafu concerning time zones that left him waiting hours for a phone call, Ben Bridwell is relaxed, true to his easygoing and affable reputation. The lead singer of Band of Horses is en route with the rest of his band to Ohio after…
“I have the emo bangs,” laughs Donnie DeBoer, pulling his lengthy locks away from his face. The singer and main songwriter for local rockers Auto Escape smiles mischievously as he makes fun of the genre in which he plies his own craft–though he’s the first (and loudest) to disagree with…
If you think this week’s cover feature is an end-all, comprehensive look at Dallas music Web sites, you’re mistaken. “Plugged In” focuses on only three major bloggers; the people behind Gorilla vs. Bear, We Shot JR and Texas Gigs are certainly worth the attention, but what good is a piece…
Best cow in town: “That is fucking outrageous,” Salim Nourallah told us over the phone on Monday. “I hate those fuckers.” The 2006 Dallas Observer Music Award winner seldom gets so angry, so what’s irritated this soft-spoken father? Why, the Curtain Club/Liquid Lounge/Club Clearview complex. A few weeks ago, we…
Country music has always found room for both the shitkicker and the guy who falls in shit. Even Buck Owens and Roy Clark suffered through the cornpone of Hee Haw and actually made a haul poking fun at rural folk. Walking that line between humor and oafishness hasn’t proved easy,…
