SWEET BOYS: Hernandez, left, and Roberts bang the ivories with “piano pop.” - Teresa Nasty

A new Dallas duo sounds like they’re going to give Chicago’s Aluminum Group a run for their money. In 2007, Dan Paul Roberts kicked up his high heels as the draggy electro trio She-DICK, which has sadly been on hiatus. But Roberts’ creative juice isn’t stagnant. Not only has Roberts been flexing his painting skills — with a recent exhibit at the Magnolia Theatre gallery — Roberts is unveiling a new musical project.

On Monday, Roberts teams up with North Texan Tommy Hernandez for a performance at JR.’s.

They call it “piano-driven pop,” but that tag sounds too cookie cutter for their too-weird-for-the-radio compositions. Which is a good thing. Take Hernandez’s loungey, deadpan delivery of a song titled “Death in Dallas,” which is posted on his MySpace page. The soft layered vocals and left-of-center instrumentation promises that Monday’s gig should probably captivate the JR.’s crowd as they try to figure out what they’re listening to.


June 23 at 9 p.m. at JR.’s Bar and Grill, 3923 Cedar Springs Rd. Free.



This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 20, 2008.