While their music seems best suited for 18-to-30-year-old SWMs, when Hollywood Undead took to the stage to deliver their energetic and frenzied live show they obliterated all boundaries separating age, race and social classes with their uniquely intoxicating “genre-less” sound.
The 30-year-old Australian singer/songwriter behind the global hit “Riptide” doesn’t need glitz, glamour or stage spectacle to deliver an exuberant live show filled with countless well-executed and awe-inspiring performances. Instead, Vance Joy simply plays his heartfelt musical compositions with genuine conviction and jubilation.
Three decades after the French electronic music pioneer staged his iconic “Rendez-Vous Houston” laser, light and music production (that engulfed the entire downtown of the Space City), the Godfather of EDM returned to the South Texas area to perform an intimately dazzling evening of sight and sound. It was an exalted homecoming that confirmed Jean-Michel Jarre's 1986 Houston concert was merely a harbinger of more magnificent things to come.
The chart-topping, superstar country rocker makes up for his Hurricane Harvey postponement by gloriously returning to the Houston area to conjure a perfect storm of artistic and musical concert might.
Returning to the Houston area after a five-year absence, lead singer Brandon Flowers and the rest of The Killers crew amply demonstrated to their Bayou City fans that baring witness to the band, live in the flesh, once again, was certainly more than worth the wait.
Four decades after opening up for The Sex Pistols at London's 100 Club and helping to launch one of the greatest musical art forms of the past half-century, "punk OGs" The Damned are currently in the midst of a worldwide "40th Anniversary Tour." Having just wrapped up the North American portion of their international trek, co-founder and guitarist Captain Sensible explains why The Damned have endured forty years in this crazy business, the musical mark the band has left on the world, his advice to any up-and-coming musicians and what he thinks the future might have planned for these founding fathers of punk.
"Think about it, if everyone always told the truth, all the time, that would not only make us, as humans, boring, but our lives in general, too," Aphex Twin mastermind Richard D. James confessed to me during an interview in 1996. "Wait, I'm not saying we should all lie, or anything like that. I mean, there is absolutely wrong with being completely reflective and honest but usually when you are just not thinking about what you say before you say it. In my own experience, I've discovered you can really get under people's skin if you stop to consider what you are going before you throw it out there. People's reactions to raw, pure thoughts are always interesting, and most of the time it just makes them angry." Some would declare this twenty-year-old statement accurately epitomizes the Aphex Twin's true personality and is the modus operandi behind his aural art. One could fairly say James, like many of us, is a walking mass of contradictions, much like his stunningly original electronic music he creates: it's honest, facetious, witty, manipulative, intelligent, raw, carefully thought-out and fearless, all at once.
From the very first moment most of us heard THAT voice of The Sugarcubes' lead singer, on their debut 1987 single "Birthday," the entire world wanted to know, "Who is this incredible vocalist and enigmatic, mysterious chanteuse from Iceland?" Seemingly, out of nowhere, "The Myth of Björk" was born. Conjecture, outright lies, speculation and often condemnation, or a combination of them of all, were often used to describe the puzzling and obtuse since she rarely gave interviews, in the early days of the 'Cubes. However, once she began her solo career , in 1993 with "Debut," she began to open up on her recordings and to the world press. We were finally allowed a tiny glimpse inside the complex and talented woman. Of course, if you are a true follower of the Cult of Björk, then you surely know most of "the facts." For instance, "the fact" that Björk has had 30 singles reach the Top 40 on pop charts around the world, with 22 Top 40 hits in the UK, including the Top 10 hits "It's Oh So Quiet", "Army of Me", and "Hyperballad".[6] She is reported to have sold between 20 and 40 million records worldwide as of 2015. Everyone knows this. But, let's test your true knowledge (without using Google) to see if you can answer any of these questions before Björk and her "Björk Digital" arrive to delight fans at Houston's Day for Night Art + Music Festival. Show me what you got!
What happens when you find yourself unexpectedly in Houston (wholly against your will) during your winter break from school? I mean, like seriously, what in the heck can you really do in a big Texas town? Luckily, this is one December when you will probably experience the most exhilarating time of your life. You'll be able to do everything from attending the most innovative music + art festival on Planet Earth to flying high above Texas Terra Firma. Not impressed? How about catching the greatest team in the NBA in action or hanging out in the coolest dive bar in Texas? It's all here waiting just for you. Don't believe me? Just read!
Preparing to celebrate its second year in existence, and featuring such wildly diverse artists as Aphex Twin, Björk and hometown soul diva Kam Franklin (of The Suffers), the undeniably unique Day For Night 2016 two-day music and art cultural explosion is the place to be, as the year comes to a close. Although a neophyte compared to the seasoned, institutionalized mega-fests, Day For Night, a rebel upstart of sorts, has (with only one event and a second about to commence) successfully altered outdated and preconceived notions about how a “festival” should look and feel like. It has been a bit of a Herculean feat, but its one that has propelled both Day For Night and the City of Houston onto the center of the international musical map.