Haters gonna hate

​There's a lingering disdain in the air for the turbulent playlists of KXT 91.7-FM. Understandably so. For every decent song the station plays, there are two or three -- Train's "Drops of Jupiter," Stereo MCs' "Connected" -- that belong on corporate-run stations.

It wasn't always that way, though. The station's first year was strong, with only a few programming hiccups. A good mix of local and indie rock, plus a complete lack of commercials, easily made it the only station you needed to listen to all day. Then about a year ago, they started playing Matchbox 20 and other bands of the mainstream, saccharine ilk and called it an attempt to grow. The Twittersphere, however, called it #KXTFail.

Even still, my radio dial hovers pretty closely over the air space. In fact, I had it on this Saturday when my two-year-old son and I were driving around in the cold rain. That's when something strange happened.

A song came on that prompted me to turn it up. A xylophone rang out over melody reminiscent of the early '90s power pop of Sugar or Guided By Voices. But there was something new about it. I imagined the band was some fledgling national act I hadn't yet heard, breaking out with a pretty solid pop single. I can't remember the last time the radio did that to me: I had to find out who sang the song.


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Mick Jagger, the ultimate frontman

​Make no mistake; there is a big difference between a run-of-the-mill lead singer and a bona fide frontman. Huge, really. Not just anybody has the magnetism required to convince 20,000 people at the American Airlines Center to raise their hands above their heads and clap, or the charm to make 1,000 folks at the Granada Theater to feel like his band is performing a private show in each of their living rooms.

It's a tricky skill set to master, but when somebody truly masters it -- like a Mick Jagger -- it can make a band like the Rolling Stones one of the biggest on the planet. Or as Roger Daltrey sang in The Who's "Join Together": "It's the singer not the song that makes the music move along."

But what does it mean to be a good frontman and when does one cross that invisible threshold from being charismatic to being hokey or distracting? To help us answer this question we invited John Spies of Soviet and Douglas Hale of Air Review -- two noted local frontmen -- to help with the discussion.

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No more Bank Of America overdraft fees for Kurt Vile

​Today, Pitchfork reports that Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles was pretty unhappy after learning Kurt Vile's song, "Baby's Arms," was used in a Bank Of America commercial. He ranted about it on his Twitter account, tweeting things about Vile like "I thought you were, like, the best dude in music!"

While many share the opinion about Vile's music --  this year's Smoke Ring For My Halo is some of the best music being made -- it didn't stop Stickles from lashing out against the artist, whom he seems to respect.

Isn't his criticism a little self-righteous, if not completely outdated?

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​Something happened this week 20 years ago, and music hasn't been the same since: Nirvana released "Smells Like Teen Spirit," the lead single from Nevermind, which would itself come out later in the month.

With the song came a new movement in music, a new era. But plenty of other influential acts released seminal albums in 1991.

REM came out with Out Of Time, My Bloody Valentine had Loveless, Pearl Jam released Ten and U2 released Achtung Baby (which will be re-released in box-set form on November 1).

There were many other great records that year, too. But these, along with Nevermind, top my list for 1991's best, most important releases. And with such a strong array of releases that year -- not to mention the cultural implications that followed (grunge culture took over my junior high school and everyone else's) -- it's hard not to look at 1991 as the '90s most important year in music.

Pete, as always, has a differing opinion. Hit the jump to read our discussion on music released in 1991, the best year of music from the '90s, and the range of influence all of these records still carry today.

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Dallas disco cover band Le Freak

​A well-timed cover can be just the thing to take a band's live performance from good to great. But if the execution of the song is off, it could blow the whole set. On the flip side, although playing a cover is a risky move, sometimes the rewards can make an artist's career. More >>

That red part's us, y'all.

​The three major cities that make up North Texas (Dallas, Fort Worth and Denton, duh!) have always taken part in a sort of friendly competition with each other. There's always been trash talk from apologists of each music scene, of course. But, in the end, each scene seems to reluctantly coalesce into the larger North Texas music community.

Still, it seems that seems that when one city's music scene is experiencing a good spell, the other two become mediocre or dry.

For example: The Fort Worth music scene. It's stronger right now than it's been in years -- maybe ever. Meanwhile Dallas carries on at a comfortable pace and Denton is a little dry.

A few years back, though, all those positions were swapped.

So, this week, we invited several representatives from each scene to discuss which city currently appears on top of its game and which is a little cold. Together, Andy Odom of Dentoneer, Cory Graves of Subservient Experiment, Mark Schectman of KDGE 102.1-FM The Edge, Anthony Mariani of Fort Worth Weekly and I each shared our thoughts on the matter. It  turned into a pretty interesting discussion about the cyclical nature of each music scene.

Hit the jump to check it out.

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Time to load up the van and hit the road, bros.

​Going on tour is pretty much the funnest thing that a band can do, ever. On the road with your bros, drinking during the day, making tons of money, and so on and so on.

Well, probably not that part about making money. Not early on in a band's career, at least.

In fact, going on tour kind of sucks. You drive all day, eat a steady diet of gas station food, play the same songs a zillion times (often for an empty room) and you don't even get paid enough to get a hotel room, which means you're sleeping in the van -- if you're lucky enough to have one.

It takes its toll on you pretty quickly. Just look at what happened to that Kings Of Leon guy.

All that said, the most important thing a band can do, besides creating music, is performing it live. Bands can sell their music on the web, but the live show is something that the Internet has yet to replace.

Still, it seems like a disappointingly low number of North Texas bands are actually getting out there on tour. Sure, there are a good handful of local bands on the road, but many acts have been sucked into the North Texas touring cycle, and seem content about it.

After the jump, Pete and I talk about why more bands aren't taking their live show out on the road.

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Slobberbone and the Old 97's

​Here's the deal: Slobberbone and the Old 97's both arrived on the scene at right around the same time in the 90's, and, though Brent Best and Co. took some time off to focus on other projects in recent years (read: The Drams), both bands are once again currently active.

The 97's just released their second phenomenal effort in as many years, and Slobberbone is apparently in the studio themselves, working on their own comeback release.

So now seems like as good of a time as any to decide which of these two legendary local acts is the top dog of regional alt-country. Let's forget for the moment that only half of the Old 97s currently live in Texas. Let's take this step by step.

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Tyler, The Creator seems like a nice young man.

​Just last week, DC9 ran a review for the Gorilla Vs. Bear Festival that took place at the Granada Theater.

The show, which featured 10 acts -- from Shabazz Palaces to Preteen Zenith -- was pretty great. But a big hot-button topic surrounded the venue's "Twitter wall," which showed unedited Tweets on a screen between acts.

For a time during the show, the tweets got a little ugly. Hateful jabs at Shabazz Palaces and their fans didn't sit well with a lot of the crowd. Neither did some of the homophobic ones that showed up.

It got me thinking: Why is that commentary looked down upon as hateful and intolerant when done in that setting, but generally acceptable when done in music? While we certainly believe that no one should be censored, acts like Odd Future are pushing the limits of socially unacceptable subject matter in hip-hop.

After the jump, Pete and I discuss the reason such shocking acts have become so popular, while looking back at other acts who have pushed the boundaries in the past.

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George Steinmetz

Show us to the music!

​We here at DC9 are deeply entrenched in the local music scene. Among the in-house writers alone, we've got at least a collective 60 years of experience in North Texas music.

It's also safe to assume that a good portion of our readers have been going to shows since they were barely old enough to have an X drawn on each hand. And, chances are, you've got it all down pat by now. You've figured out which venues you like, which bands you like and which scenes you like. More >>