New Music From Smoke Paint, Andrew Combs, FEEVES, Tornup, David Jennings, BeMyFiasco, Native Fox, Whyte Noyze, Vincent Neil Emerson, Toadies, Play-N-Skillz, Dead Sullivan, FlexinFab and Ten Foot Beast.

Welcome to Songs of the Week, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By putting them all together here in one place, our hope is that you can spend less time searching for relevant new releases and more time giving each one of these jams the proper shine they so deserve. OK? OK.

Smoke Paint — SPII.
RIYL: Halloween in da club.
What else you should know: They’re each good for at least a couple releases a year between their solo projects and various other endeavors, many of which owe some degree of debt to Centro-matic, but Daniel Markham and Tony Ferraro’s doomy Smoke Paint collabo doesn’t quite sound like anything else the pair dabbles in. This is their second Smoke Paint record, similar in scope to the first, with some added heft coming from the decision to drop the drum machines for a live kit this time around.

Andrew Combs — Canyons of My Mind.
RIYL: Nashville’s past.
What else you should know: Recently, Justin Townes Earle made news with some incendiary comments about which type of Nashvillian was responsible for ruining country music. Said Earle: “The problem that’s happening now is Nashville has become so disconnected with its past. And there are people there now who have an active disdain for Nashville’s past. They don’t want it there and want to see it gone… I wouldn’t chalk it up to hipsters. I’d chalk it up to blow-dried douchebags from elsewhere who come in to tell everyone else how they should do things. It’s not the kids in floppy hats who are messing up country music, it’s those douchebags.” But Dallas-rased Nashville import Andrew Combs isn’t one of those douchebags he was referring to. Produced by folks that previously worked on Earle’s own records, Combs’ new LP – out today on New West – is just good, honest singer-songwriting. A solid effort from top to bottom, it couldn’t ruin a genre if it tried. Listen close and you might hear fellow Dallas ex-pat Caitlin Rose singing some harmonies in there, too.

FEEVES – “Casual.”
RIYL: NEONNOAH.
What else you should know: Opening a new chapter of late is Esteban Flores, who closed the book on NEONNOAH, the indie rock band he fronted over the weekend and began his next project called FEEVES pretty much instantly. Basically, if you were into NEONNOAH, you’ll probably also dig the similarly poppy first single, “Casual,” from FEEVES.

Tornup – “The Money.”
RIYL: Being broke.
What else you should know: Spacebeach bassist Torry Evan Finley dabbles in hip-hop here. Actually, he does more than dabble; this is just a legit hip-hop song, period, regardless of Finley’s past musical dalliances. And it’s pretty poignant, too. Lyrically, the rhymes strike a nerve. Writes Finley on Facebook, “Each song is a perspective of a different marginalized person’s role in the prison-industrial complex. This song is just about what perpetuates it: the money.”

David Jennings – “Hit Me Back.”
RIYL: Returning texts with phone calls.
What else you should know: From the mailbag this week comes this one from David Jennings, an Arlington rapper we honestly don’t know too much about. On its own merit, without backstory or context, this tune is still a real head-nodder. His flow is nice and pronunciation sharp. Good enough for us.

BeMyFiasco — “Never Too Far.”
RIYL: Making the Lambeau leap.
What else you should know: Produced by WaveGod Audio CEO Lambeau, this is the first of what they say will be a great collaborative partnership. It folky and soulful, and sonically interesting with its reversed waveform elements. Whether it “shapes and changes airwaves for years to come” like its creators say, it should absolutely shape your airwaves today. Take it one day at a time.

Native Fox — Floor Model.
RIYL: Reminiscing about your salad days.
What else you should know: We’ve been fans of these young, suburban bedroom poppers for a while now. This new EP, though, feels like is the first time their initial vision has been fully realized. They’ll probably hate me for saying so, but it’s got a bit of a Mac DeMarco thing going on, with a touch more psych thrown in. Last weekend, they held an official release show for this EP at a house show. But they’ll perform in a proper Dallas venue later this summer at Dallas’ first psychedelic festival, the Paisley Maze Fest at Dada on June 3.

Whyte Noyze — All Hail the Wild Youth.
RIYL: Committing to a bit.
What else you should know: Like their previous efforts, this (mysterious?) masked and besuited duo gets help on its new release from some of the most lauded members of the Dallas hip-hop scene — appearing on this one are Tyler Sloan, 88 Killa and -topic. The beats hit hard, the flow is a bit unconventional, but it’s a solid package overall.

Vincent Neil Emerson – “Louisiana Blues.”
RIYL: Feeling blue.
What else you should know: It’s been a minute, but VNE’s still got the blues. After threatening to follow up his East Texas Blues LP – one that features several tracks with “blues” in the title – with a more Wilco-inspired thing, this one is more of that same old good-good. He gets a little bonus help from FtW’s go-to accordion man, Abel Casillas, who adds a zydeco flair to this Louisiana-themed track. Find a physical version on Hand Drawn Records’ next Analog Sessions compilation.

Toadies – “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.”
RIYL: Root, root, rooting for the home team.
What else you should know: Following his Texas Rangers ad that ran during the Super Bowl, Vaden Lewis and the rest of his Toadies bandmates continue their partnership with the ballclub with this recording of the 1908 classic. The band will also play a post-game concert at Globe Life Park on April 29, following a contest with the division-rival Angels.

Play-N-Skillz – “Si Una Vez” (feat. Wisin, Frankie J, Leslie Grace).
RIYL: Anything Selena-related.
What else you should know: It’s not just Dallas; people in lots of places will do anything for Selena. This urban remake of her “Si Una Vez,” from the locally based multi-Grammy winning duo is on top of the Latin charts at the moment. It was also recently the No. 1 most Shazam’d Latin tune of them all. People are curious folk!

Dead Sullivan – “Sever.”
RIYL: Wiping the sleep out of your eyes.
What else you should know: This Denton bedroom pop act incorporates some baroque elements into this gentle cruiser. It’s not easy to pull off the trick of sounding so blasé, low-key and lo-fi with so many instruments and parts, but it’s one he pulls off with aplomb.

FlexinFab — Aye Ok Alright” (feat. Benny Bandit).
RIYL: That good-bad, or that bad-good.
What else you should know: The Dallas Observer posed the question this week whether FlexinFab was hip-hop’s next star or if he was just the worst. We’re here to remind you that those things aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. Lil Yachty’s biggest track has nearly 90 million plays on Spotify, for example.

Ten Foot Beast – “VII.”
RIYL: Instrumental hardcore.
What else you should know: TFB takes care of business without any billygoated frontman required. It’s plenty big and brutal on its own. I imagine it’s even more capable of blowing your hair back in a live setting, which is convenient given that this foursome is playing the new-look Andy’s Bar in Denton this Sunday.

Cover image of Whyte Noyze from their “Fat Asses” video.
No more articles