Man Man | Yeasayer (The Loft) At their best Man Man displays some of the caffeine buzz quirk of stuff from the Belgian label Crammed in its heyday. When they slow it down a little, the vocals are given a little too much room and they tend to bog everything down with a Tom Waits-like sort of dirge approach that isn't as appealing. Apparently, their energetic live shows put all doubts to rest, though I'm tired of hearing that as an excuse for a band's lesser material. Yeasayer's wispy brand of Prog (tracks such as "2080") is occasionally laced with sassy, lily-white 80's vocals. Sometimes the music is expansive and moody enough to remind one of Pink Floyd's Meddle, but I once read that about a couple of tracks on Superunknown, so there you go.
Steve Earle | Allison Moorer (Lakewood Theater) Steve Earle is respectable enough, cusses in his songs, hates the death penalty, and rarely offends me when people twice my age put it on, which I can't say for most of this genre of songwriting. His legendary shot at Dwight Yoakam, where he allegedly scrawled "Dwight Yoakam Eats Sushi" into a Nashville record company's elevator is also pretty cool and you have to love taking that anonymous commenting to the next level, no pun intended. There's something very DFW about sushi eating cowboys, but I'll be nice today and not name any here. Show at 7 PM.
Joe Jackson | Mutlu (Palladium) Man, people love Joe Jackson. Does he have one solid album? You know how SR knows everything about music and tries to big-time all of us constantly? Yeah, well the truth is he listens to nothing but Joe Jackson around WSJR HQ. Drives me nuts.
Disqo Disco (Fallout Lounge) Disqo Disco will be on their own tonight and guest-free. I'm sure it will be just as good, but I do hope they have Tommyboy back again.
Although this review will no doubt prompt a “What I think of Wanz Dover” Comments Section free-for-all, The Frenz’ new-ish Psychomagik EP offers a strong reminder that one of THE SCENE’s most polarizing figures has been involved and making interesting music since before many of his detractors were, as my grandma would put it, knee high to a grasshopper. Predating the full-fledged band lineup currently appearing as The Frenz live, this largely instrumental EP is the product of Dover’s original conception of The Frenz as a nom de release for over a decade’s worth of mainly solo “studio experiments,” reflecting a wide cross-section of the musical styles he has dabbled in over the years.
Opener, “The Truthkillers,” is the biggest sore thumb of the bunch, getting things off to a pretty non-indicative start with a noisy crash of tribal drumming, loud guitars, (possibly) a didgeridoo, and some highly processed vocals that I can only describe as Danzig-esque (circa the live version of “Mother”). With that bit of “TV On The Radio on a bad day” business out of the way, however, Psychomagik takes a decidedly dreamier and, to my ear, more appealing trajectory that reflects Dover’s long espoused twin loves: psychedelic guitar music (especially of the shoegaze variety) and the hyphen filled world of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music, obviously). The title track and “Das Schloss Des Lebens” are definitely the most “dancey” selections on offer here, with the former being a downright club friendly track vaguely reminiscent of a quality UNKLE remix of some early 00s guitar band, and the latter being the nicest slice of neo-Balearic prog disco that I’ve heard recently. “The Sea Is Me (Snowblind Mix)” is the serious IDM ambient track, and it would have been a perfect accompaniment to a cold bottle of water and a backrub in a comedown room somewhere ten years ago. Sadly, thrust outside of that context and in to 2008, it probably just sounds boring. The remaining two tracks, “Kraterz” and album closer, “Fon The Seducer,” are straight shoegaze / space rock / whatever-we-are-retroactively-calling-it-this-month tunes of the more noisy and dreamy variety, serving as a good reminder that Dover has been doing this kind of thing, and doing it well, since the mid-90s.
In the end, Psychomagik definitely has the overall feel of the grab bag, cleaning out the closet exercise that it is, but you’ll probably find at least a couple of tracks you enjoy on it. Considering this is the first of six Frenz EPs that are purportedly being released during the first six months of 2008 (the rest in the next two months, I guess), by late June you’ll be able to cobble together your own twelve-track Best Of The Frenz album. You could even throw their new remix of Radiohead’s “Nude” (think Burial with more jazz piano) on as a bonus track. I smell the perfect aging Dallas/Denton scenester Fathers Day gift!
Caribou | Fuck Buttons (the Loft) The last time I saw Caribou perfom was at The Loft last fall, and I'd be lying if I told you that the whole thing wasn't disappointing for the most part. The WSJR crew had caught Caribou a couple times before then (including a fantastic show at Hailey's with Junior Boys and Russian Futurists a couple years back), and each time I saw them, I found their sets to be completely mind blowing. The stunning, Kraut inspired electro found on 2006's Milk of Human Kindness translated into live performance amazingly well, thanks in part to solid on-stage visuals and two excellent live drummers pounding away at all the little Neu!-esque rhythms found in Caribou's better material. Last year, however, Dan Snaith and company shifted to a more psyche-pop oriented sound on their highly acclaimed 4th album Andorra, and although the album was tightly constructed and insanely catchy, it seemed that the band's stage show might have suffered a bit from their move towards pop music. Whereas the older Caribou shows featured all pre-recorded vocals, samples and bass parts, the new Caribou was a full live band playing more "band" oriented music. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to pack the punch that the earlier set up did, however good they might have been in the big scheme of things. I don't know what Caribou's set up will be like tonight, but I'm inclined to find out. Fuck Buttons burst into the collective indierock conscious this year with Street Horrrsing, an album that sounds like harsh noise for people who listen to house music. Seriously, a lot of the record sounds like it was created with dance music sitting quietly in the background, waiting to strike but never really getting the chance. Add in the fact that the first minute of album opener "Sweet Love for Planet Earth" reminds me of the theme music for Goonies, and I think you got something good. I'm looking forward to seeing just how much tension these guys are able to create in the never tense Loft.
Fuck Buttons (Good Records) Free In-store starts at 5pm, so get there fast people.
George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic (House of Blues) If I have to explain this group to you, then please get off my website. You might be taking your chances seeing them at the frustratingly sterile House of Blues, though, so plan accordingly.
Mum | Tacks, the Boy Disaster (Granada) I've never had the chance to see Iceland's Mum live before, but I'm curious to see whether they come off as charming or obnoxious. Their sort of unclassifiable electro/ambient/pop songs are usually at least somewhat interesting.
Cool Out (The Cavern) Tonight is Schwa's birthday, so if you're an irregular Cool Out attendee like I am, tonight might be a fun night to go.
MON: Caribou/Fuck Buttons (The Loft) MON: George Clinton (House of Blues) MON: Mum/Tacks, the Boy Disaster (Granada) TUE: Joe Jackson (Palladium) TUE: Man Man/Yeasayer (the Loft) THU: Kanye West/Lupe Fiasco (Superpages.com Center) THU: Bonde De Role/The Death Set (the Loft) FRI: MIA/Holy Fuck (Palladium) FRI: Record Hop/When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth/Nouns Group/The Brewers (Rubber Gloves) FRI: Party Garbage/Bad Sports/Vacation (715 Pandhandle) SAT: Tapes N Tapes/White Denim (Hailey's) SAT: Old Haunts/Rival Gang/TBA (Swiss House) SUN: Meat Beat Manifesto (Granada)
Alan sent us an email a couple of days ago about this, and then last night he told us we could share with everyone after he posted a Myspace Bulletin:
For reasons both creative and life changing, I have decided to leave Ghosthustler and move on. Amidst these circumstances my bandmates have deemed it necessary to carry on without me; I wish them the best of luck. Expect great things to continue being released from the Ghosthustler name and from my new project in the near future.
A disappointment for people who were expecting big things out of the group. We'll have more on this early next week.
Some fun stuff in Dallas this weekend and a couple interesting Saturday night shows in Denton. Let's do this:
FRIDAY
The Party (Zubar) The Party DJs will be working with a four table set up tonight, which I assume means a lot of live mixing, etc. These guys could probably record themselves farting into a microphone and Zubar would STILL be packed with people waiting to hear it and let other people see them hearing it.
Big J and Schwa (Moosh) I stopped by Big J and Schwa's new weekly last week and discovered that it was actually a pretty good time. Moosh used to to be some vip room for a sushi place or something, but they've opened it up into what is actually a nice bar with a decent amount of dance floor room and a suitable sound sytem. And since it's right next door to Zubar, I guess there is no reason why you couldn't stop by if you're headed to the Party tonight.
Rush (Superpages.com Center)
SATURDAY
Terry Riley's "In C" (Ft. Worth Modern) This is a free performance of minimalist composer Terry Riley's famous "In C" by Elizabeth McNutt, a member of UNT's Nova Ensemble. I'm not sure exactly how many people will be participating in the performance along with McNutt, but you can read more about the original conception of the piece here. Starts at 2pm.
ADD: Dub Assembly vs Por Vida (Green Elephant) Spinning hip hop and dubstep.
Hotflash (Fallout Lounge) Killtronix and Schwa will be joined by Houston's Squincy Jonesthis evening, who seems to focus on dubstep and hip hop and a lot of harsh, high energy bass heavy crunk type of shit. He's got some really great remixes on his page as well.
Verulf | Matthew and the Arrogant Sea | New Science Projects | Febrifuge | The Heartstring Stranglers(Strawberry Fields): We've talked a great deal about Matthew and the Arrogant Sea and Verulf ever since we wrote that infamous article about them roughly seven or eight months ago, and it appears that a lot of other people are starting to take note of these two acts as well, given some of their new found friends in high places and high profile gigs. The other thing is that both are getting much better too. Good for them. The Heartstring Stranglers honestly probably have all the musical makings for a local hipster sensation: quirky, theatrical folk songs, lyrics sung in French, and a polished sheen that seems to be a prerequisite for the kind of "appeared in an Apple commercial" indie success that many younger bands seem to strive for these days. This is not a bad thing in and of itself, of course, and it should be noted that what they are doing is rather unique in the area and fairly interesting in the grand scheme of things... I just don't know if it's my thing. All of the material I've heard from them is well written and will obviously be appealing to a lot of Denton music consumers. Significantly more compelling in my mind is Febrifuge, another Denton act that I wasn't familiar with until recently. Do yourself a favor and check out the song "Adjusting Bodies" on the Myspace-- a sad pop ballad that sounds equal parts Jens Lekman, Phil Spector and Magnetic Fields with a touch of classic r&b burried deep beneath the layers of drama. The maturity, depth and power of this song is fairly remarkable, particularly for a relatively unheard of local artist, and I would guess that if this dude is able to crank out a few more like this, you'll be hearing much more about him very soon--highly recommended. By the way, this show is a charity event for the Center for Survivors of Torture, so quit being dickhole and show up for a while.
Rival Gang | Mistress | Snuff American Style (Wisconsin) Hadn't really heard Snuff American Style until earlier today, but it sounds like some interesting snuff to me. Weird MacGuiver remixes and bits and pieces of found sound along with jumbled, mashed compositions backed with hip hop beats make up the basics of the sound here, and the results are often strange and funny. Throw in a bit of 8 bit blip and noise in the mix, and you have some stuff that is pretty unique for Denton. Kind of reminds me of Art of Noise mixed with Eno and Byrne and possibly one of those "goof off" Butthole Surfers songs (like there is any other kind) if it were covered by Crystal Castles on a mushroom trip. It'll be cool to see what this is like live. I still haven't seen Rival Gang live, but I've heard so many good things that I might drive up to Denton to judge the shit out of them for myself. The one track I DO have access to, on their Myspace page, reminds me of stuff like The Raincoats and the Breeders and Josef K, and those are all very good things. Looking forward to catching Andrew Michael and Shane English's extreme noise project Mistress as well.
Florene | Doyen | Sunnybrook | Cereboso (J&Js) I would suggest that fans of Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver, and Iron and Wine will REALLY dig Sunnybrook's stuff. I'm not even the biggest fan of any of that kind of stuff, but I've found myself drifting back to Sunnybrook's Myspace page a couple times this week to check out "Waving Hands," which also seems to have some of the same eerie sadness found in my favorite 70's prog folk act, Pearls Before Swine, even if Sunnybrook is considerably more pop oriented.
SUNDAY
Yea Big and Kid Static | Sticky Buns | Farah | The Triggermen (Rubber Gloves) Yea Big and Kid Static tread dangerously close to being way too dorky for hip hop, but shit, the 8 bit influenced beats are pretty large and as MCs, these guys really have flow. I almost said no to this right of the bat, but the more I listen, the more I say yes.
97.9 The Beat Custom Car Show with Ludacris | Bun B | Rocko/Plies (Dallas Convention Center) This month's XLR8r cover boy and former UGK dude Bun B will be the most notable performer here, but I wouldn't mind goofing off to a Ludacris song or two. The best thing about this show, of course, is that it is a custom car show, which I'm guessing means 20 inch blades and all that shit. Should be fun as hell.
Well, kiddos. Not many openings this weekend, but next weekend is the CADD Art Fair. I'd suggest hitting up some of the museum/gallery shows you may have missed and going to the Dorkbot meeting Sunday.
THURSDAY
Benjamin Hancock: Bitter Sweet (Magnolia) 6-9pm
SUNDAY
Dorkbot DFW (And/Or) 1-2pm Check out the interview with Paul Slocum.
RECOMMENDED ONGOING Martin Puryear and Kehinde Wiley(the Modern)
False Space and Time of the Apartment (Centraltrak) I have to admit, I missed this opening last weekend but I've heard good things.
Brian Belott and Ed Blackburn (And/Or) CLOSING SOON
Quick Next Big Thing with Polyphonic Spree | Record Hop | PPT | Ghosthustler | The Party (Palladium) Quick will be throwing their big free party tonight in celebration of their Next Big Thing local music awards, which turned out much better than most people probably would have expected. With a list of nominees that includes the Great Tyrant, Ghosthustler, Shane English, Lil Wil, Koji Kondo, Record Hop, Angry Businessmen, Tree Wave, Fight Bite, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, and Farah, it feels like the first local music awards show in years (aside from our show last year, duh) that actually has a little bit of relevance to music that actually matters. We like to bag on the local MSM more than just about anyone else, but I have to say that Hunter Hauk and company probably handled this process as well as they could have. PS, this is a free show, and although there are "tickets" of some kind, I would expect that you could just show up without one and get in just fine.
Elf Power | Calhoun | Telegraph Canyon (8.0, Ft. Worth) Second generation Elephant 6 band comes to Ft. Worth tonight. I used to really dig them several years ago, but I just couldn't get in to Back to the Web, their most recent release (they have one coming out this year as well). Definitely more tolerable than most of the rest of the E6 stuff.
Delmore Pilcrow | Khemo Rabbit | Street Hassle | Bad Taste (Rubber Gloves) Solid line up for the CD release party for Chris Garver's band, Delmore Pilcrow. I'd be especially curious to see what Bad Taste has been up to recently.
Summer Smackdown Movie Night (House of Dang) Starting at 830, House of Dang, in conjunction with the neighboring And/Or Gallery, will host a free screening of Showgirls. They will also force those in attendance to play some sort of Showgirls drinking game, and God knows what that entails. It's free and BYOB.
Sorry, we've just neglected to post these for the past few weeks, but we're going to start doing it regularly again... starting now. Oh, and Strawberry Fields-- we'd really like to start getting lists from you again as well.
GOOD RECORDS LOCAL TOP 5
1. Record Hop - Record Hop 2. Theater Fire - Everybody Has a Dark Side 3. Blackheart Society - Oh!!Oh!! 4. Mom - Little Brite 5. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah
GOOD RECORDS OVERALL TOP 20
1. Black Keys - Attack and Release 2. Black Angels - Directions to See a Ghost (pre-sale) 3. Record Hop - Record Hop 4. M83 - Saturdays=Youth 5. Man Man - Rabbit Habits 6. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours 7. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! 8. Theater Fire - Everybody Has a Dark Side 9. Blackheart Society - Oh!!Oh!! 10. Mom- Little Brite 11. She & Him - Volume One 12. Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely 13. R.E.M. - Supernatural Superserious 7" 14. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles 15. Stephen Malkmus - Cols Son 10" 16. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing 17. Devotchka - A Mad and Faithful Telling 18. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago 19. Dodos - Visiter 20. Lions - No Generation
This Sunday at 1 p.m., And/Or Gallery will be hosting the first meeting of Dorkbot DFW. Dorkbot is a grassroots organization that encourages creativity with electronics and provides a forum where musicians, artists, engineers, computer scientists, and dorks from all walks of life can present their work. There are currently a couple dozen Dorkbots in cities around the world, and Paul Slocum talked with me about the beginnings of the Dallas chapter.
How are you planning to incorporate the Dorkbot model for Dallas?
Well, I’m basing it on the Dorkbot meeting that I went to before in Denmark. I’m partly taking what I know is available in Dallas, like people I know doing this kind of stuff, and just using what’s available and using speakers that are around doing what they do. I’m probably going to speak at the first one, because we don’t have a lot of speakers yet (laughs) - it’s just getting off the ground and it’s a loosely organized group. I’m going to talk about some of my software related to music, like a project I did that approximates the pitches of the number pi and some new software I wrote for Treewave. We’re also having Lars Larsen talk about some of his synthesizer modifications. He takes old synthesizers and opens them up and modifies them. So we’re going to have that kind of stuff.
I think later on we’re going to get David Hanson to talk- he’s a robotics expert working on his PhD at UT Dallas. Ean Schuessler is going talk about some of the stuff he has done for Disturbathon, like the invite he sent last year, where you would get an email that would take you to this webpage, and then you get a phone call, and when you answer the phone the webpage changes. So he’ll talk about stuff like that. It’s real techie, but kind of art. It’s tech art, you know? I think the Dallas one may end up being a little more software oriented, because that’s what I’m involved in.
Yeah, I was going to ask you if you had any plans to emphasize more of the art and music side or the tech side.
Well, I think it will be pretty evenly balanced. The original tagline for Dorkbot is “people doing strange things with electricity,” so a lot of times it has to do with robotics. Doug Repetto , who started [the original Dorkbot] in New York years ago, runs an annual event where people build art robots called Artbot. Some of his stuff is more robotics based, and I think some of them are geared towards electrical engineering. We’re definitely going to have some of that. Really I’m not sure how it will go- it kind of depends on what people show up with, what their working on. I don’t know all of everything going on in Dallas.
Ideally, how often would you like to have meetings, and what are some of the things you’d like to see in the future?
Currently what we’ve talked about is bi-monthly. I think it’s a good way to start since I don’t know how many speakers we’ll be able to get. I know there are people interested , and I’ve definitely felt the need for this for a long time. I wanted to start one awhile ago, but I needed a few other people to step up and get involved.
I’ve read about a couple things like Artbot where different cities will organize events outside of the meetings. Do you have any ideas or plans for something like that?
I haven’t really thought about that, it may come to something like that. I’ve been to two different ones. One was more of an event, more of a fair like you're talking about. And the one in Denmark was more formal. Personally I prefer the more formal meetings.
Do you encourage anyone to come to the meetings, or are they geared towards people who would be presenting and are heavily involved with electronics?
No, I don’t think you have to be involved. You don’t have to be doing something to go to the meetings. The format will probably be: we have a set amount of time for each speaker, and we’re thinking the meeting will be an hour long. That’s what we’re planning for this Sunday. We’ll probably plan whatever speakers we have and divvy up enough time for 10 or 15 minutes of open mic time, where people can present things quickly, on the fly. That’s what they did in Denmark, and it worked out pretty well.
What is the best way to reach you and get involved with the Dallas Dorkbot?
We have a website, and there is a Google discussion group on the site. People can join the group or email me directly.
If you would like to see what Dorkbot members in other cities have been up to, you can also check out the main site.
Kids in the Hall (Nokia) Apparently Kids in the Hall are back together and performing a lot of new material mixed in with some older favorites. Watching reruns of their TV show, as well as regular viewings of Brain Candy, makes it pretty clear that their concepts and jokes really haven't aged at all. I mean, how many shitheads like the "He's Cool, He's Hip, He's 45" guy have you had to deal with in the past few months?
The Hope Trust | Lalaland | Deep Snapper (Hailey's) Lalaland qualifies as the first "indie pop" band I've ever heard that features a singer who seems to be directly inspired by the solo work of Phil Collins. But like many bands who are "inspired" by some older band or artist, these dudes don't even come close to approaching the quality of the source material. I'll say it again: these guys aren't even close to being as good as Phil Collins solo. This would be a much more effective dis if I hadn't listened to Collins' "Two Hearts" twice in a row on my ipod the other day. Don't tell anyone. And the Hope Trust is kind of this alt country influenced radio friendly indie pop band that sounds like Wilco during their more predictable moments. How many bands in Texas can you say THAT about? Deep Snapper is the saving grace here for sure.
The Scoop (Fallout Lounge) The Scoop spins a lot of down tempo, jazz infused instrumental hip hop beats. A lot of it is pretty good if you're in the mood for that sort of thing. I also heard them get into some dance stuff at the end of their set a few weeks ago, which was cool until homie had to go and fuck with Michael Jackson via needless scratches. Don't do that. Pretty chill event all around though.
A couple of months ago I was at a Half Priced Books digging through some records on a week day. I noticed a rather large and odd looking old man to my right sifting through stacks and stacks of 7 inches on the lower shelves. I sensed him getting closer to me, and then I felt a tap on the shoulder as he asked "You ever seen one of these before?" I reply, "Uh....no I haven't, what is it?" "This is a Triumph record, Joe Meek's label, you know the label the Beatles tried to get on?" He went on to describe how rare it was, and I naturally tuned him out. I didn't think anything of that encounter again until I started reading Good Vibrations by Mark Cunningham, who subtitles his work as "A History of Record Production". A loose grab bag might have been more suitable than a whole history, since I could really care less about the engineering subtleties of Elton John's "Caribou." But that is neither here nor there.
Anyhoo, one of the earliest chapters in the book is dedicated to some English DIY engineer and producer from the late 50's/early 60's named Joe Meek. As I read more about Joe and did a little digging, I soon realized that Mr. Meek has had an enormous influence on the way I hear music today. I was also pretty astounded to find out that this was the first Englishman to write and produce a US number one hit (Telstar). Unfortunately, in the eyes of many, his contributions will be overshadowed by his unstable behavior that led to his suicide in 1967 along with the simultaneous murder of his landlady. In lieu of regurgitating Meek's biography, I have concluded that Meek's mark on pop music is three fold. Joe Meek as..... 1) The first "sonic signature" producer 2) The first popular eccentric producer 3) The first popular ambient music writer and producer. So let's briefly touch on each point and listen to some of this dead dude's shit.
1) The first "sonic signature" producer:
Before Joe Meek most studio engineers in the late 40's and early 50's were ex-military scientists or military engineers. In fact, the military was the only organization in the world to invest significant capital in sound recording technology. At the end of WWII, our country's finest sold a lot of their equipment to the burgeoning pop music industry, and the studios were still run in a military like fashion (They even wore lab coats!). The sole purpose of recording a group at the time was to capture their live sound as accurately as possible, and mathematical formulas were used to determine how to record each instrument. You want to record a saxophone? Then a saxophonist must stand at an exact distance away from the microphone, use a certain type of mic in a certain sized room with a certain preamplifier and so on and so on. This rigid process would be repeated for any instrument; the true definition of "by the book".
When Meek was hired at IBC studios in 1953, he cringed at the sterility of the big-time London studio environment. Meek soon bought his own tape machine, set up shop in his tiny London flat, and founded Triumph Records (You can take a virtual of tour of his apartment on-line and it's unbelievable to think that such a huge sound came from such a small space!). Soon his flat was filled to the brim with homemade consoles, pre-amplifiers, equalizers, compressors and effects. Meek didn't have the luxury of a large acoustically treated space, so his inclination was to mic the instruments as close as possible and add artificial reverberation. His lack of space inspired Meek to concoct some of the richest delays and echos ever put to vinyl. This became known as "close mic-ing," and it revolutionized the recording industry. In fact, if there are any home-recorders reading, then you can thank ole Joe. Like many of the greats after him, Meek had a sound in his head he strove for. He embraced the same distortion and tape saturation that would have nauseated any old school, big studio fuddie duddie. He wanted nothing to do with simply accurately recreating a live performance, and instead sought to leave his own eternal sonic stamp on everything he touched, even if that meant pushing his equipment and musicians to their breaking points. Phil Spector, George Martin and Brian Wilson obviously took notice of Meek's imprint on pop music, and sought their own sonic signatures after him. The clippity-clop splashy percussion on "The Bublight" is easily reminiscent of Pet Sounds, and his use of large amounts of compression and quirky EQ gave way to the psychedelic pop of the Beatles. Even though Spector's wall of sound was the antithesis of Meek's close and isolated mic-ing technique, their nuanced and manic pursuit of perfection are similar. Thanks to Meek, producers in all genres of pop music now seek out their own sound. Simply put, Meek was the first to break some very rigid big-studio rules in the pursuit of "his" sound.
2) The fist popular "eccentric" producer:
Apparently Meek was hell to work with. Veteran session musicians who worked with Meek knew to start running when things went wrong, because Meek was prone to throw anything at anyone (including a Tape machine down a spiraling stairwell at a guitarist. Anyone seen "American Psycho"?) After all, he was gay and living in a country where homosexuality was illegal at the time, so I guess that could make any dude a little up-tight. His fascination with the occult led to him mounting tape machines in graveyards in an effort to record voices from other dimensions. At one point he recovered the whines of a cat he swore was a human spirit pleading him for help. Buddy Holly's spirit was also a frequent visitor to Meek's unconscious. Meek adored Holly so much that he chose the 8th anniversary of his death to join him on the other plane. The Beatles massive success and the realization that he had thrown their demos in the trash a few years earlier couldn't have helped his mood, especially as he got older and the Beatles got better. The fact that Meek took the life of his innocent landlady, Violet Shenton, at the same time he took his own, makes his life seem that much more troubled. Phil Spector might as well be Bob Newhart compared to the highly erratic Meek.
3) The first popular ambient music writer and producer:
Okay this might be a stretch, but its hard to imagine after listening to the first two tracks listed here what Brian Eno and similar artists would have become without the world of Joe Meek. He couldn't play a note or read music, and was more fascinated by sounds, texture and space than notes and chords. Meek's heavy use of sound effects were nothing short of astonishing for the time period, and his use of feedback, compression, effects and eclectic instruments fool the listener into thinking he had stolen keyboards from the future. There is no question that early keyboard developers had Meek's sounds at the forefront of their minds during the dawn of the electronic music age.
Let's get to the music and just hear what all this fuss is about. The first two songs listed are the furthest thing from traditional Joe Meek pop song of the early 60's. Both are from a concept album he partially released in 1959. "The Bublight" and "Valley of the Saroos" by The Blue Men are the best representations of both the quantum leaps Meek had taken creatively as a producer and the possibility of ambient music for the future. The third song listed became the first US number one from an English group, "Telstar" by the Tornadoes. Although all three songs are instrumentals, its worth noting that Meek produced hundreds of pop songs with both male and female singers.
Tech N9ne | Paul Wall | Ill Bill (House of Blues) Why are lowest common denominator hip hop party songs about 151 so much fun? I really don't know. I doubt I would pay to go to this show, but if I could get in for free, it would be a blast I'm sure. True, headliner Tech N9ne is actually kind of lame and nothing new, but shit, if you're going to a House of Blues hip hop show expecting Art of Noise or some shit, then the joke is on you. And Paul Wall helped put Texas hip hop on the map for sure, which is ok with me. Thrice | Circa Survive | Pelican (Palladium Ballroom) I wish I had one of those puke faces that Vice uses in their record reviews. That would sum this shit up pretty nicely.
Disqo Disco (Fallout) The DD folks will be joined this evening by Genova, a dude who seems more than capable of delivering the latest g-tech and blog house and whatever else you might want to hear if you're looking for a big dumb party night. Haven't seen one of his sets yet, so I can't attest to their quality of lack thereof, but I'd give it a shot.
Mavs vs. Hornets (Game 2, 6pm) I find myself caring less and less about the Mavericks with every passing playoff debacle, but man, what a disappointment Game 1 was. After a very strong first half in a game the Mavs could have easily stole, they imploded into the limp, ineffective morons we've seen for much of the past couple months. If they don't win tonight, I quit.
The Shackeltons (Doublewide) The Dallas Observer's music blog posted an MP3 from these dudes earlier today, referring to it as a "Bonus" MP3. Oh you know, it's like a gift from them to you. Well, I guess if you consider getting hit over the head with mediocre, indie-tool drivel to be a "bonus" of some kind, then you're in luck, hipster, because that is exactly what you'll get with the aforementioned bros. And I'm not sure where Pete Freedman might have read it (a press release perhaps?), but the Shackeltons do NOT sound like the Talking Heads in any way, shape, or form. Just because some indie waif likes to yelp nonsense into a microphone does not mean that he sounds anything like David Byrne, and when you couple such crap with run of the mill power punk guitar parts, a band that created three legendary albums with Brian Eno should be the last thing on your mind. These guys aren't even good enough to be compared to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the other band mentioned in the write up. Wolf Parade for kids who hang out at Hot Topic? Now THERE is an accurate description. Boring works too.
Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks | The Joggers (Granada) "Stephen Malkmus sucks" has pretty much become a cliche whenever he's brought up. Each solo album increasingly gives you that Westerberg syndrome, or: guy from some legendary band who continues to lose his way. That being said, I recently heard some tracks from "Real Emotional Trash" playing in a retail setting, and it caught my ear more than anything he's done since the two tolerable tracks off of his first solo record. And by caught my ear I mean everything from "Hey, this is okay." to "Weird. This is Malkmus? What the hell is he thinking?" That's better than the usual reaction. The Joggers have some quirky, spiky little guitar parts that would almost convince you they're going to be good, until they come in with their vocals, which are the something to the effect of a guy from Portland trying to sound like Ray Davies.
MON: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks/The Joggers (Granada Theater) WED: Kids in the Hall (Nokia) THU: Quick Next Big Thing with Polyphonic Spree/Record Hop/PPT/Ghosthustler/The Party (Palladium) THU: Elf Power/Calhoun/Telegraph Canyon (8.0, Ft. Worth) THU: Van Halen (American Airlines Center) FRI: Rush (Superpages.com Center) FRI: The Party (Zubar) SAT: Hotflash (Fallout Lounge) SUN: Yea Big and Kid Static/Sticky Buns/Farah/The Triggermen (Rubber Gloves) SUN: 97.9 The Beat Concert and Custom Car Show with Ludacris/Bun B/Rocko/Plies (Dallas Covention Center)
(There is a show at House of Tinnitus this week as well, but we're not sure when it will take place, so stay tuned for that.)
