show reviews

Last month I had the fine privilege to attend not one, but two performances by That 1 Guy. First was a stellar opening set for Keller Williams when we caught him at The Granada in Dallas, and second was when he made it down to Houston for a show at Rudyard's. I only caught the last few songs of the first set, so I made it a priority to get there for the start of his first performance in my hometown in about a year. As I walked in, he was moments into his opening song, and the craziness was abound. Playing his patented "Magic Pipe," along with special guest appearances from his "Magic Boot" and "Magic Saw," That 1 Guy aka Mike Silverman brought along not only his music, but a full show that included comedic interludes and a host of magic tricks as well. While the audience remained seated throughout the set, they were completely sold by Silverman's antics all night. He is a great performer, and if you've never seen him before, I highly recommend it when he inevitably comes to your town. He is unlike any other act going today, and with his odd instruments and signature style he should be a force on the road and at festivals for some time to come.

Check out my photos from the show after the jump!

Hype. It's what currently is driving record and mp3 sales through the roof. Bands come out of nowhere, then all of the sudden due to a blog-approved track or video, they are pushed into the mainstream. One such example of this is the band Girls, whose name was all but nothing two years ago, but due to Pitchfork labeling them "best new music" and every other blog praising their work, they've blown up something fierce. I usually don't buy into hype before I give the record a listen or see the band live, so when Girls booked a date at Houston's Walter's On Washington, I was curious as to how good they would be.

Read all about the show after the jump

Philadelphia is no stranger to good music. Having produced great artists, such as G. Love, The Roots, Man Man, and the Disco Biscuits gives you street credentials in my mind. With my musical tastes often morphing, I find myself falling in and out of a lot of different bands. Dr. Dog is an exception to that, as I can't seem to get enough of them.

Read all about the show after the jump

I have waited far too long to see Todd Snider live. He might be the best songwriter of our generation, and has long had a reputation as an incredible live musician who sprinkles his performances with brilliant storytelling. Thanks to the lack of a Houston date, I couldn’t miss last Friday’s show at the historic Gruene Hall - Texas’ Oldest Dancehall. On supporting duties were the inimitable Vince Herman, alongside his band Great American Taxi. We caught the tail end of their set, including a cover of the ubiquitous “Wagon Wheel” as well as Leadbelly’s “Ain’t No More Cane On The Brazos.” Read on for more about Todd Snider’s performance, including some great photos after the after the jump.

I was extremely excited going into Thursday night's Yo La Tengo show, mostly because the first three times I've seen them were all excellent. The New Jersey trio which features the husband/wife duo of Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley and longstanding member James McNew, were last in Houston when they opened for My Morning Jacket before SXSW in 2008, so a return trip was well overdue. Their latest album Popular Songs was on full display during the 2-hour performance, but it was their steps back to the classic material and some interesting cover choices that really brought out YLT's true talent.

Read all about the show after the jump

Words by Michael "Grits" Smith
Photos by Anna “Hash Browns” Vernon

These So-Cal pop rockers emerged when I was in high school. I remember seeing their video for Blue Side, the only single off their first record, in rotation on MTV (they did play music videos once upon a time, but now that I think about, it may have been VH1…). Since that time, the music industry has had their "Oh Shit!" moment, kind of their equivalent to the real estate crash of '08, after everyone figured out what file sharing was. Record labels have traded in their recoupable dinners for sack lunches and shed employees like prom dresses. A lot of bands on the brink have lost everything they worked for as their A&R guys have gotten the axe. I don't know if Rooney some how got lost in this fray of music industry meltdown in the last few years, because to be honest, I had no clue these guys were still together till BOT asked me to cover the show. Being a sucker for pop, I was pretty stoked to hear them. Read the rest of my review after the jump.

Alas, the drab winter has surely taken it's toll on us Midwest dwellers. Endless days spent in an ice chest will have that effect from time to time, and now that it has been gloomy and foggy for the past week, Seattle syndrome will soon set in. Well luckily, thanks to our good friends over at Rad Kadillac, a slew of shows have taken over the south eastern corner of the good life state, allowing us to cease writing out suicide notes. That takes us to Sunday night, as a sold out all ages crowd at Slowdown in Omaha, NE played host to Keller Williams, which may have been the only ounce of sunshine I'll see in the month of January.

Words by Ross “Flapjack” Freauf
Photos by Anna “Hash Browns” Vernon

Lucky for those that dwell in Dallas, the Granada pulls in some pretty damn good artists. I walked in a little late and little buzzed like I’ve done so many times; this time to see what The Mountain Goats were all about. Get the whole story with a little extra Nintendo on the side after the jump.

A little over a month ago, I braved the soul-crushing drive from Houston to Dallas for a nice little weekend of music: moe. on Friday at the Lakewood and Rhett Miller and the O’s on Saturday at the Granada. The Saturday show had the bonus multiplier of being a benefit show for a worthy charity: The Breathe Easy Foundation, who raise money for Cystic Fibrosis research. Your primary familiarity with Rhett Miller is likely through his work with the Old 97’s, but he’s also released a string of solid solo records since 2001, beginning with my favorite in the group The Instigator. This was my first time seeing him fly solo; however, having seen the 97’s around twelve times, I figured I could count on a few things from his performance. Namely that it would be high-energy, crowd-pleasing, and feature at least a few sexually-confusing moments lost in Rhett’s charm. When he’s onstage performing, the man radiates an earnest love for both his craft and the crowd who’s there to revel in it. The lyrics he writes are packed with clever and quotable one-liners and catchy-but-not-cloying choruses that lend themselves quite perfectly to beer-buzzed singalongs. Before Rhett took the stage though, one of the best new bands in Dallas music, The O’s, were due to perform. Well, technically the first performer of the night was Salim Nourrallah, but we unfortunately missed him (blame it on gravity and/or the Barley House). Read on for a full recap of the night along with plenty of pics and videos after the jump.

Note from the baconator: Greetings BoTheads. Give a warm welcome to our newest Dallas contributor: Dillon (TBD) Lamb. A nut-punch will suffice in lieu of a welcome if you prefer; he’d actually enjoy it. Dillon is a fellow Aggie minority, in that he likes good music and voted for the right dude last November. Stay tuned for more from him in the future… keep it greasy - bacon.

I arrived at the Granada with just enough time to nab a beer, select my own personal standing area, and settle in for my first chance at catching Neko Case up close and personal. First up were some good ol’ Austin Texas boys called the Oh No! Oh My!. They have recently altered the name of the band to omit the dueling exclamation points, and while this may have been to make Google searches easier, it also parallels their musical inclinations; that is to say there was nothing too remarkable about these guys. If I am in a good mood, then maybe Oh No Oh My can pass as a more cheerful Wolf Parade, while on a worse day they may just come off as a(nother) Shins spawn. At times they could hit upon a kind of groovy, feel-good buoyancy, but these moments were marred by tiresome lyrics (“cut like a knife”), and the inability to prevent catchy from turning into cutesy. Read on for my take on Neko Case, as well as a couple more photos cribbed from a stranger’s flickr account after the jump.