Forrest Cook
St. Vincent Performs New Tracks On Saturday Night Live, Acclaimed Dallas Rockers Share Their Major League Baseball Season Predictions And Much More.
Over the weekend, Dallas’ own St. Vincent was live from New York, stretching her new material’s legs on Saturday Night Live.
She was, of course, in the building to perform two songs off her upcoming Daddy’s Home LP, including the album’s lead “Pay Your Way In Pain” single and her new “The Melting of The Sun” cut that she premiered just a few days earlier.
Both songs hone in on a smoky, wood-panel ’70s aesthetic that was matched in the costuming of her guest performance. “Pay Your Way In Pain” kicked off her efforts on the night.
Her second offering, meanwhile, found the performer born Annie Clark strumming her namesake guitar with the aura of Joni Mitchell as the episode hosted by Daniel Kaluuya (Judas & The Black Messiah, Get Out) drew to its close.
As we’ve already discussed, Clark has been open in the promotion of the May 14-due Daddy’s Home about the fact that the album was inspired by her father’s 2019 release from prison after serving a nine-year sentence for his role in a multi-million dollar stock manipulation scheme.
It’s clear from the cuts we’ve heard thus far that the album indeed deals with some solemn emotions — but Clark wears it all like a champ and owns it all in the artistic manner she’s become accustomed to, breaking down the situation to let the fans into her vision. The recently released lyric video for “The Melting of The Sun” only furthers this notion.
Change, it seems, is in the air all over the place these days. For instance, now that it’s April, it’s baseball season again! But, you might be asking, what’s that got to do with music?
Well, a big article from Spin interviewed 62 musicians about their predictions for the 2021 Major League Baseball season — including local fellas Rhett Miller of the Old 97’s and Sam Anderson of the Quaker City Night Hawks.
Even with the Rangers’ outlook on the year not looking so hot, Miller was as optimistic as could be expected: “I prefer to think of it as the beginning of a new era – young leadership and a young team. And I’m holding out hope that [Joey] Gallo turns into the superstar we’ve all been waiting for,” he said.
For his part, Anderson mostly bitched about how used to disappointment Rangers fans have gotten over the years.
One local fixture that never disappoints, though, is the Denton-sprung Riverboat Gamblers. And this, week, the band’s guitar-slinging duo of Fadi El-Assad and Ian McDougall got some much-merited recognition in the form of an Alternative Press piece that listed the pair among “10 Guitarists That Brought Punk Firmly Into The 2000s.”
Speaking of killer guitar maneuvers and vibrant theatrics, one of the most exciting new death metal acts to emerge from all over the world of late is Dallas’ own Frozen Soul, which just dropped an R-rated music video for its “Arctic Stranglehold” track. The visuals are pretty gruesome… and, well, pretty awesome too.
Now seems like a good time to mention that Frozen Soul’s buddies and tour mates in Steel Bearing Hand — the two acts share a member in Chris Bonner — also has new music out. And, while their name may be Steel Bearing Hand, the death metal band’s sinister tempos often sound as if they’re driven by a lead-foot — both on record and in live settings, as the below performance clip from early last year shows.
If slaying in hell isn’t really your thing and maybe you prefer a more mindful atmosphere, Dallas-dwelling Teenage Bottlerocket bassist, author and yoga instructor Miguel Chen announced he will be teaching a short yoga lesson as part of a Backline Twitch-exclusive April 10 livestream event called “Set Break” that’s meant to to support mental health in the music industry. Headliners include Alanis Morisette and Fort Worth’s own Leon Bridges.
Speaking of area heavy-hitters: Lindale’s Miranda Lambert announced she’ll have two separate performances at this year’s ACM Awards on April 18. One will find her teaming up with Elle King to perform their tag-team single “Drunk (And I Don’t Want To Go Home)” and another will find her joining SMU alum Jack Ingram and fellow Dallas dweller Jon Randall for a number off their upcoming collaborative effort, Marfa Tapes.
Arlington native Mickey Guyton also announced a performance at this year’s awards, too. But, of course, she’s also slated to be co-hosting the event.
Staying on the country music tip, Guyton fellow Arlington native Maren Morris recently popped up in a backup vocal performance on Taylor Swift’s “You All Over Me” — a never-before-released song from Swift’s Fearless (2008) days. In a social media post about the song’s release, Morris thanked Swift for including her in the effort, writing, “My favorite thing that I don’t get to do very often is to slip into someone’s world and just harmonize.”
Speaking of new releases, emerging Fort Worth songwriter Dustin Massey released a new music video for his song “Pretty Okay” that finds him in a nifty Multiplicity-type scenario, trying to “live out a dream [he] thought he’d never see.” I’m sure the clones help!
Meanwhile, the late Dallas rapper Mo3’s brother Cogotti released a new video called “Track Star” featuring singer Playboi Smoke. It’s a little heavy on the AutoTune for me — but, as Playboi says on the track, “I watch what I say because I’m influencing/ The way I live my life it ain’t normal/ Shit got a price you have to pay if you be doing it.” You have to respect that!
In other news, the Polyphonic Spree have started teasing the release of a new covers album called Afflatus that finds the band doing its own takes on tracks from the Rolling Stones, INXS and The Monkees, just to name a few. Limited vinyl preorders are available for purchase here.
Finally, one more good note to end this week’s notes on: Adopted North Texas punk band It Hurts To Be Dead from Wichita Falls has announced that it’s getting back together just a year after calling things quits.
While this initial reveal came back in August, but it was just announced recently that the band will be joining From Parts Unknown, Nonstarter and Bullet Machine for their back-to-action show at Three Links on May 28. Sounds like an epic night at HQ!
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