Cory Graves
Four Festivals Announce Themselves, St. Vincent Does WTF and Gorilla Vs. Bear Loves Leon Bridges.
According to popular expression, Texas has four seasons: drought, flood, blizzard, and twister.
And while that might hold pretty much true for the state as a whole, we'd argue that, here in Dallas, things can be further simplified. As far as we can tell, there are only two seasons in these parts: There's festival season, and festival announcement season.
In case you haven't noticed, we're squarely in the midst of the latter. Aside from this morning's announcement of 35 Denton's initial 2015 lineup, there were a couple of other big fest announces of late.
Last night, South by So What announced the fifth wave of bands that'll be performing at its eighth annual affair, which will go down Friday, March 20, through Sunday, March 22 at QuikTrip Park. Bands on this most recent announce include Circa Survive, Title Fight, Balance and Composure, Emmure, Power Trip, Stray From the Path and Within the Ruins. You can check out the 100-plus other bands that are playing the fest and buy tickets here.
Then there's yet another newcomer to Dallas' fest landscape called Something Wonderful. Meltdown producers Disco Donnie and Full Access will launch their latest, EDM-heavy affair on April 18 at the Cotton Bowl. The lineup has yet to be announced, but presale tickets can be bought here prior to Friday, December 19.
Likewise, Homegrown Festival, which won't reveal any of the acts playing its upcoming sixth go-round, recently opened blind pre-sale for its own May 9 fest.
In the other big news of the day, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2015 inductees this morning. Worth noting is that this year's class includes Oak Cliff product Stevie Ray Vaughan. It also includes Ringo Starr, Bill Withers, Joan Jett, Green Day and Lou Reed, among others.
Speaking of honors, up-and-coming throwback Fort Worth soulman Leon Bridges's “Coming Home” came it at No. 4 on Gorilla vs. Bear's list of the top songs of 2014. Then there was Rolling Stone's list of the year's top country albums, which featured Denton's Eli Young Band, as well as Tim McGraw's Maren Morris-assisted latest. Meanwhile, NPR's list of its favorite songs of 2014 includes a handful of local songs: Sarah Jaffe's “Some People Will Tell You,” Parquet Courts' “Bodies Made Of” and St. Vincent's “Digital Witness” — a song we really dig, too.
Speaking of St. Vincent: She joins Rhett Miller as the second ex-pat in as many weeks to sit down and spill her guts to Marc Maron for an episode of his WTF podcast.
On an infinitely sadder note, we'd be remiss not to mention the recent passing of former Ghosthustler member Gray Gideon. We won't pretend we were close to Gideon, but we'd like to point you to this Dallas Morning News piece, which was penned by its new pop music critic, Hunter Hauk, It's a touching tribute to a man who died far too young.
On that same tip, Vice — with the help of Joe Ely — did a rather bang-up job of memorializing the hell-raising '70s sax hero Bobby Keys, who also died earlier this month. (Spoiler: It's rather scandalous read.)
Moving on: Dallas' most interesting new live electronic band, iill, released a new video this week for its song “Mail Female” late last week. Check it out below.
Meanwhile, Dallas Mesquite rapper Lord Byron released another new single to his Bandcamp page. You can stream that sucker below. And, hey, if you like what you hear, you can even download it for a meager $10.
Likewise, Curtiz Mayz and Mga-Czar have paired up for a new track of their own. The song, called “Enigma,” is one the duo calls, “a healthy dose of reality from their life to your speakers.”
Elsewhere: Booty Thrill recently released a new mix, and a pair of upcoming Dallas shows; Fort Worth's The Hanna Barbarians announced that its upcoming December 26 album release show at Lola's will be its second-to-last before it goes into “retirement”; and Craig Wayne Boyd will find out tonight if he'll be the winner of Season 7 of The Voice.
Got a tip for White Noise? Email us!
