Milan Merlo just wasn’t feeling creative out in Arkansas. A Dallas-girl, born and raised, she decided to move back closer to home, transferring to the University of North Texas, where she found a community. “I just started meeting like a lot of creatives like photographers, videographers and musicians,” Merlo says…
On April 9, the world lost rough-voiced rapper DMX. He was 50. Born Earl Simmons, he claimed his spot in hip-hop around the world in the 1990s and early 2000s with hits such as “Slippin'” and “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem.” The rapper had reportedly suffered a drug overdose and died a…
Whether we like to admit it or not, boy bands shaped the music industry and pop culture. The OG boy band, The Beatles, practically invented the “fangirl” prototype. While the Fab Four quickly matured into a rock band, they undoubtedly paved the way for New Kids on the Block, *NSYNC,…
Last Friday, rapper Tay Money took the stage at Southern Junction in Irving, opening for fellow rapper NLE Choppa. In her first show since COVID-19 struck, she was thrilled to feel the energy of the audience, reminding her of her favorite part of being a rapper. While COVID has hit…
What happens when you make a video and it goes viral? You run with it. That’s what Devante Fields did after releasing a music video for his song “Regrets” in 2011, which received hundreds of thousands of views. He was in high school at the time, and more than five…
Since 2007, hip-hop magazine XXL has promoted up-and-coming artists in their annual “Freshman Class” feature. The editorial staff picks the first nine spots, and fans pick the 10th. This year, Dallas rappers Erica Banks, Kaash Paige, Tay Money and Bobby Sessions are all candidates for the last spot on the…
Lil Nas X made quite a statement this past week with his latest music video for his new single “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” in which he’s seen pole-dancing his way down to Hell and giving the Devil a lap dance. In the aftermath of the controversy, the artist…
It’s noon on a weekday, and Jay Gavit is stepping into his car to do an interview on his lunch break — a familiar tactic for those who live life with their right foot in the corporate world and their sinister foot in the counterculture. By day, Gavit is a…
Only one genre seems to befit the mindfuck caused by a trippy pandemic year: psychedelic. The genre has expanded within the last few years as artists explore different forms of psychedelic sounds within trap, trance, drill and more. This musical evolution continues as independent artists embrace the “new wave” by drawing…
This past year has been one giant swing forward for newly formed Dallas folk-pop group Telephone House. Through intensive virtual writing sessions, the band explored stories of love found within times of uncertainty. The band recently released its first video, for the track “Cracks in the Pavement,” off their first…
The new docuseries Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil premiered on YouTube this past Tuesday. The first two episodes of the series deal with the events leading up to the North Texas-born singer’s near-fatal heroin overdose in 2018 and the aftermath of when she woke up in the hospital. The…
Think of the worst offenses a Christian gospel singer can commit. Did cursing during an argument come first to mind? Well, church ladies and gents, North Texas-based gospel singer Kirk Franklin is on the verge of cancellation for doing just that. If you’ve braved the storms on social media over…
Pedro González Radio DJs have to craft a personality for their on-air audience. Hip-hop DJ and musician Pedro González, known as GSpook, didn’t need to make up a personality to reach his audience. “He was the same person,” says Dallas DJ J-Kruz, who met GSpook when they worked at K104 FM…
The luck of the draw landed a legendary metalhead’s name in the top spot of Arlington’s election ballot. And soon, he’d need all the luck he could get. Since he first entered the city’s mayoral race, it’s been a wild ride for Jerry Warden, 60, best known locally as the…
The members of punk band Noogy sit at a picnic table outside Dan’s Silverleaf after a long day of shooting the first virtual Thin Line Fest, set to air next week. The last staffer offers them a free drink, but a unanimously negative response relieves him of his duties for…
Avant pop star Lorelei K dropped her new release The Mythic Girl EP over the weekend. With five new tracks of lush, dreamy instrumentals, the album showcases the artist’s haunting vocals and superior writing capabilities with songs about love, loss and letting go. Lorelei K has been keeping busy during the…
Will Johnson, the painter, famed Denton indie musician, Conor Oberst collaborator and raspy-voiced troubadour behind 29 albums says: “It’s the most psychedelic job you’ll ever participate in.” He is not, however, talking about music, painting, or even writing, his latest creative expression. He’s talking about parenting. Johnson is 49 (though…
As Dallas was covered in snow and ice last month, rap duo Wonder Gang coincidentally dropped an icy hip-hop banger. “Ice Cola” is a jolly, opulent trap track, filled with raunchy sexual innuendos and allusions to alcoholic drinks. Brothers T.K. Savage, 21, and Keith Wonder, 28, formed Wonder Gang in…
When Gov. Greg Abbott reopened the Lone Star State, many assumed Texans would raid Dallas nightlife spots like Black Friday shoppers overrunning a Walmart. They’re not. “It’s calmer than expected,” said DJ Inzo from his Volgswagen bus-themed DJ booth at the Backyard bar in Deep Ellum. Max, a doorman at…
Selena Gomez, an icon of young millennials and Grand Prairie native, recently implied to Vogue magazine that she’s done with her singing career. For a long time, Gomez has — whether by a calculated PR design or by accidental default — been perceived as a celebrity first and a star…
Perhaps the biggest story in local music news has to do with Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to lift the statewide mask mandate and open Texas back up entirely while the pandemic is still very much going on and this state is ranked 48th in vaccine rollout. The owners and operators…
Pinebox Serenade pretty much called it quits in 2016. It was around then that the wave of story-driven Americana music led by bands such as Fleet Foxes, The Decembrists and Bon Iver was broken apart over a groundswell for stomp & holler bands ho-ing and hey-ing the genre into radio-friendly…
