Sorry best friends, but we're going to be a little short today. You know what its like when you're trying your best to continue your complete domination of the Dallas music scene and then your boss dumps a bunch of work on your desk at 3pm on a Friday afternoon and you don't have time to write your totally sweet blog anymore? Of course you don't, you aren't me. But I'll tell you something-- it sucks. Bad. Shows:
FRIDAY
Boris | Torche | Clouds (Rubber Gloves) We have a sweet interview with Japanese psyche/metal/drone group Boris down below (Or maybe on the next page), and Hydra Head's Torche bring their surprisingly appealing stadium sized stoner riffs to Rubber Gloves in order to provide a convincing argument to show up early and drink more. I hate to be a pussy or whatever but I hope this show isn't as hot as I'm afraid it's going to be. Boris comes to DFWD like, uh, never, so this is must see if you care.
The Party Second Year Anniversary (Zubar) I don't even know what else we can say about all the local and regional success that the Party has enjoyed over the past two years. Tonight is the two year anniversary of the Party's Zubar monthly, celebrating the genre-bending eclecticism of their sets and the slick collective fashion sense of their biggest fans, many of whom attend pretty much every Party affiliated event that takes place anywhere in town. They'll be doing it up right for this one, as local producer Picnic (formerly of PPT) will host a "red carpet" affair that will certainly be filled to capacity fairly early on in the night. I would get there early and wear as little as possible.
Shearwater | Kadane Brothers | Theater Fire (Lola's) Shearwater seems to have received nearly universal praise for their latest album, Rook, and they will be joined by some great company-- The Kadane Brothers, formerly of Bedhead and currently of the New Year, will be playing their first of two area shows this weekend, and the Theater Fire will likely be playing material from their forthcoming second album.
Denton Pop Fest with Matthew and the Arrogant Sea | Florene | Talking Tiger Mountain | Verulf | Doyen | RTB2 | Heartstring Stranglers | Peace Corpse | Scene Girls (J&Js) One of the many, uh, "festivals" that these Denton acts have thrown in the basement of a pizza place over the past year. And despite the fact that it is a little difficult to have a festival inside a place that closes at midnight, the highlights here are pretty strong. I'm especially interested in hearing Talking Tiger Mountain, since you'd have to be a pretty big jerk to name your band that. And I like jerks.
ADD: Shearwater/Will Johnson In Store (Free, Good Records) Shearwater starts at 6pm (Half an hour from now), and Will Johnson goes on right after.
Blixaboy | Schwa | Royal Highnuss (Fallout Lounge) BLixaboy, aka Wanz Dover, will be doing a set of original songs and re-mixes. Ge there early for Royal Highnuss unless you're dumb.
Fuck Yeah Fest with Matt and Kim | The Death Set | Team Robespierre | Brothers Reade (1919 Hemphill) The highest profile show 1919 Hemphill has had in some time. DL and I totally LOL'd the other day when we noticed in a really old post that the Death Set opened for Best Fwends and Undoing of David Wright back at 8th Continent back in early 06. Death Set have received a ton of positive press this year for their 90's pop punk meets avant mallrat power pop meets Wham City electronica sound, and their most recent single, "Negative Thinking," has received quite a bit of college radio play as well. They are kind of a point of contention around WSJR HQ, as their peppy little tunes certainly aren't for everyone. I dig em though.
Stone Temple Pilots | Black Francis (Nokia) There was a time in my early teenage years when I honestly thought STP was the best band on the planet. It's been so long since those days that I can now tell people about it and get a smile because it ends up being a cute little joke. The unfunny thing is that these shitbags are still making music and touring. How many Chinese character tattoos does one really need to buy?
The Dutch Treats | Stag Film | The Hack And Slashers (Double Wide) The Hack and Slashers features Alex Atchley along with many dorky RPG-related references in their music. I can't tell if it's a joke, a half-joke, or dead serious, but it's frightening in any case.
Kinky Friedman | Fromholz (Dan's Silverleaf) Remember when this dude convinced all of you that being a Republican was hip and sexy?
I'm going to start this post with an apology. I've been horrible at mixing up my dates lately, posting the Summer Smackdown movie night too early and leaving the Marty Walker opening off of the list last week. I'm going to start a "Check Out" section where I will include a few ongoing or closing gallery showings and museum exhibitions. This section is not meant to be comprehensive, just a sampling of some favorites and reminders of openings you (or I) may have missed. I promise you that I will strive to become a more thorough and comprehensive fake journalist sidekick. Now on to the list.
Group Hug (Marty Walker) Featuring work from gallery artists Frances Bagley, Douglas Leon Cartmel, Ted Kincaid, Tom Orr, Matthew Porter, Susie Rosmarin, Jay Shinn, and four new artists to the gallery roster: Archie Scott Gobber, William Lamson, Marc Lüders, and Pard Morrison.
Want to see Shearwater, the Kadane Brothers and The Theater Fire at Lola's in Ft. Worth on Friday? We have a pair of tickets to give away, and you know what to do if you want them. Email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com by 5pm today for your chance to win.
Detour with Black Tie Dynasty | Schwa | Sally Glass downstairs and Dance Your Face Off upstairs (The Cavern) I was officially sick of making fun of Black Tie Dynasty several months ago. I mean, it's clear that these dudes don't really have a shot at "making it" anymore now that ripping off Interpol rip offs is no longer cool with 14 year olds. Right? Oh well. Maybe we should let them die peacefully. Anyway, for those who didn't know, Detour is a new arts/music monthly at the Cavern that will feature art work, DJs, and live bands. They made the unfortunate choice of BTD as a headliner this time (although the fact that it is an acoustic set will make it a bit easier to ignore), but they also made the wise choice of Schwa as the DJ and our friend Sally Glass as the featured artist. As anyone perched atop a tower at a SXSW house party will tell you, she's like the most amazing photographer in the fucking world and shit.... ha ha, you don't get the WSJR inside joke. Anyway, she'll be selling some of her photos at the show, and even if you don't believe me when I tell you that they're good, you can rest assured that you'll see some people you want to see at this thing, because Sally is kinda a big deal in Dallas right now. Believe it.
Ghost Pizza with It's What We Get | Yeahdef | Young Doc Gooden (Hailey's) Diverse group of DJs playing tonight, ranging from Doc Gooden's chopped and screwed dirty hip hop to disco/house sets from Its What We Get. Solid.
The Scoop (Fallout Lounge) Lots of downtempo and breakbeat and jazz influenced stuff. Pretty low key if that is what you're looking for this evening.
Duh... we have a pair of Boris tickets for their upcoming show this Friday at Rubber Gloves, and we plan to give them away to one lucky reader. Email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com any time between now and tomorrow (THU) at Noon if you want your chance to win-- we will select a winner randomly. Please make "Boris" the email subject and include your full name in the body. Good luck best friends!
In the rap world, there seems to be two distinct paths an artist can take when recording a debut full length album following a regional hit single that breaks nationwide. I’ll call these the Rich Boy Route and the Soulja Boy Route, using two recent examples from the South. After the mega success of “Throw Some D’s,” Rich Boy released a debut album on which his hit stood out as something of an anomaly compared to the harder, more serious-minded fare of the rest of the album. Soulja Boy, on the other hand, followed up “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” with a debut album full of formulaic rehashes of his hit single, dooming himself to being seen as a “one hit wonder" despite the fact that the record produced several more hits.
So, the question becomes, which path has Lil Wil chosen after his “My Dougie” has become perhaps the biggest rap single Dallas has ever produced? Is Dolla$, TX a bid for critical respect that refutes the easily digested poppiness of his big hit, or is it a bit of a pander to an audience he fears losing as quickly as he won it? Although the bosses at Asylum Records might not like it, I’m glad to say that Lil Wil has followed his single success with, for the most part, a trip down the Rich Boy Route-- a debut full length that eschews the easy cash-in of a “Dougie Girl” or some other ill-fated attempt to start another dance craze in favor of a statement from and for the streets that positions him as a strong contender for longevity rather than a flash in the pan.
Setting the record off with a bang, the title track and “Money On My Mind” both find Lil Wil rapping a metroplex-referencing “Get Money, Fuck Everything Else” statement of intent over a beat that I would venture to include in the “Can’t really describe it but I know it when I hear it” Dallas sound built around stabbing synths and rolling drums-- both tracks stand out as two of the album’s strongest. “Move It” follows as the obligatory rap album “track for the ladies," saving an eye-rolling hook from Lil Wil (“First I hit you with the Dougie, Now my pockets gettin’ chubby”) with a backing track tailor made for skating rinks and a celebratory Akon-esque vocal hook from Papa Reu. Why it hasn’t been pegged as the follow-up single is a mystery to me. “Move It” is also the first taste of the interesting Caribbean influence Wil’s Rude Bwoy Entertainment partner Rude weaves through the album, most explicitly on “Straight Up” and “Thug Thang,” where his dancehall-style vocals are prominently featured.
After a pointless drug selling skit, Dolla$, TX hits another strong but oddly paced run of tracks starting with the paranoia of “Look At What The World Made Me,” which, along with the later track “Focused,” stand as Wil’s biggest argument for “serious artist” consideration, as well as the biggest backup for his recent assertion that he is “more T.I., than Souljah Boy.” Sadly, this is followed by “Stacks On Deck,” which, despite being a good strip club tune with a fun T-Pain-sans-autotuner turn from Deonte, sounds really off sitting next to the hard luck tales of its predecessor. Next up, the song that made it all possible, “My Dougie,” swaggers through still sounding great after a million spins while providing a perfect lead in to the “dressing up for the club” designer name checking of “Grown Man.”
Of the last few tracks on the album, “Bust It Open” makes the biggest impression. Described as Lil Wil’s second hit by Asylum’s marketing department, it is hard to imagine a track based around the phrase “Bust that pussy open, then I tell her bring it back” having a wide crossover appeal, regardless of the contagious beat provided by Liqwid Entertainment’s Big E (who also provided the beat for “My Dougie”). The aforementioned “Focused” and “I Feel Like” bring the record to a mellow conclusion before giving way to a bonus remix of “My Dougie.”
All in all, the album proves that Lil Wil is capable of getting out from under the shadow of a leftfield hit and creating a lane for himself and the Dallas hip hop scene that should last past the next YouTube video dance craze. Old heads may grumble and true schoolers may mourn, but if artists like Lil Wil have any say in the matter, Dallas Got Next.
Don't really have time to say much today. Let us know what you think of our Tom Waits preview from last night, I'm kind of in the dark about what the general consensus is.
Islands | Awol One | Crayonsmith (Granada) I don't know what else we can say about Islands. They have a big MTV logo on their Myspace page, so I guess that's cool or at least a sure sign of success. Awol One is a label-mate of Islands, has worked with Kool Keith, and is also part of the hip hop group, Shapeshifters. Some of the backing tracks sound pretty decent, but I didn't have enough time to form a decent opinion of the rhyming. Crayonsmith is an indie pop group from Dublin.
La Dispute | Broadcast Sea | Spark Is The Diamond | Pools | Jubilee | Daniel Rice (1919 Hemphill) I'm glad to see the Observer has taken a profound interest in 1919 Hemphill shows of late. Even though it's annoyingly transparent, it's ultimately a good thing if it helps keep the lights on.
Styx | Boston (Nokia) A woman once shared a story with me about a stripper she knew that would dance almost exclusively to "Mr. Roboto" when she performed. I've never quite figured out if that made me feel more sorry for the dancer or for Styx, who surely took this little rock opera atrocity seriously.
Tom Waits (Palladium) Tom Waits is coming to Dallas tonight and it's yet another obvious and classic example of an artist whose record sales do not necessarily reflect his actual cultural impact, judging by the wide spectrum of people that have been freaking out. I've never seen so many of my friends gladly pay 102 dollars (!) for anything. Not vintage wine, not Air Jordans, not stupid video games, not delay pedals, and not even a rare record that I can only assume does not have his music on it. I would hope that nobody would ever pay over a hundred dollars for anything released on Anti, aka Aging Rock Critic Music 101. Good taste prevents me from typing what I said out loud to a buddy after he excitedly told me how much he paid for his ticket, as if Mr. Waits and The Palladium ballroom were doing him a favor. And that's along the lines of what I said he should do at that price-- personally perform an enthusiastic and intimate sexual favor for everyone in attendance. I mean, who is this guy? The Eagles? Oh, wait. They were one of the first in a very long line of awful artists to cover his music.
Speaking of covering his music, people have been equally freaked over, albeit with an almost universal negativity, actor Scarlett Johansson's new Waits cover album, "Anywhere I Lay My Head." This record has been trashed by critics, but really it was dismissed long before it came out. I get it: an a-list actor's crossover into music is offensively smug, since she chose one of the last sacred characters of American Popular music. I just thought I'd take a minute to inject some sense into this blanket dismissal, as well as some good old fashioned devil's advocacy, and of course, the underlying and unspoken truth that these versions might be better than the Waits originals. We'll work up with some background, factoids and a little compare and contrast. This is my gift to all my favorite annoying Waits-heads, friends and family included, in the form of a special extended It List. You'll love it...
Waits, as an Artist
Waits is a good songwriter. I usually hate the "good songwriter" argument, the one I had heard countless times applied to Dylan and Neil Young by ignorant blowhard customers as they chatted with one another in the years I spent as a record store clerk. The argument is that yes, they are good songwriters, but suffer from the paradoxical affliction of interpreting their own work worse than anyone else in the world. The opposite is usually true and the work of all three men has been watered down by many a lesser artist, the end result inevitably choked with enough studio glitter to irritate your eyes and especially your ears. But at a certain point in Waits' career, his cartoonish over-singing sapped some of his authenticity, increasing the odds that others would be able to interpret his work to sometimes better effect.
He was kind of a lounge music joker before he met Kathleen Brennan, who hipped him to Beefheart, a true visionary that he's often compared to despite the fact that he somehow failed to recognize Beefheart, even though they shared the same manager for a time. But Beefheart was begotten not made, a true American orginal that came out swinging right out of the gates and onto his debut platter. He didn't have to build up to his strange atonal approach from some cheap nightclub act that borders on stand-up comedy.
Who Better?
Everyone has been up in arms about the sacrilege of this concept, as in "How dare Scarlett Johansson record these neo-standards by one of our greatest living treasures?." Examining the ways in which the work of Ann Margaret, Diana Dors and Eartha Kitt has been lionized not only as something other than kitsch but as some sort of previously unheralded genius might be a good way to evaluate how this project will age. Who would you rather do Waits covers? Until recently, it was quite a few ne'er-do-wells and credibility starved fools that had tried their hand at what is classically melodic yet lyrically treacherous material, which often puts extra pressure on the artist to breathe authenticity into this heartbroken hobo schtick. So who are we to believe has done this with any success in the past? The aforementioned Eagles? Springsteen? How about Rod Stewart's version of "Downtown Train?" Never really bought it. And as far as Waits himself directly participating in the recording sessions of those he has inspired, the man himself collaborated with Primus. Would any super-fans like to try to defend that? Scarlett Johansson would never collaborate with Primus, so she is much cooler than Tom Waits at least in that respect.
It is also worth mentioning The Ramones owe their last great moment to Tom Waits, and I owe it to them for forcing me to reconsider his work. I was introduced to Waits in my early teens by my family, specifically my uncle and father who tried to tell me how "weird" he was. Looking at a scuffed up cassette copy of "Big Time," I almost believed them. Then I heard some faux scatting and put the tape away for awhile. But the Ramones cover of "I Don't Want To Grow Up" is by far the best song on Adios Amigos, their last studio album.
Actor Versus Actor
If you want to compare the two as actors, consider that both have played piano players on film. But Scarlett is actually acting. In the Coen brothers severely overlooked "The Man Who Wasn't There," she brilliantly plays a painfully mediocre teenage musician, and you really suffer with her after a failed audition. Waits usually just winks his way through scenes with all the subtlety and self referential aplomb of an organ grinder and his monkey. He has starred in celebrated features by Jarmusch, Coppola, and Altman, but his acting credits also include "trombone player" or "drunken bar owner," neither of which is really much of a stretch.
Ulitmately, this is comparison is close to a tie since Johansson was in "Eight Legged Freaks," while Waits appeared in "Mystery Men." Waits' music is still his best possible contribution to any film, particularly the last segment in 1995's "Smoke," where "Innocent When You Dream" plays softly in the background and well into the credits. But Scarlett has starred in increasingly worse vehicles since "Ghost World," so maybe a superior version of one of his songs will end a Sony Pictures Classic in the near future, or maybe an updated documentary about Waits using only her music will emerge. I would enjoy that.
Johansson's Ultimate Triumph
It is not inconceivable that someone could like this album more than the originals. At its best, this record sounds like This Mortal Coil, and there are traces of that project's same haunting cover version revisionism since it was actually sequenced by T.M.C. mastermind, Ivo-Watts Russell. Even more impressive is the fairly decent production and guitar work, respectively by people from TV On The Radio and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, two groups who I don't not necessarily enjoy. In fact, that might be the larger miracle here-- an actor, a songwriter, a guitarist, and a producer, none of whom I consider truly great, got together to produce an end result is actually good or much closer to great than would be expected. This record had every reason in the world to suck, nothing at all going for it, and yet... it does not suck. Compare Johansson's album to her actor/musician contemporaries: Jared Leto? Juliette Lewis? Jason Schwartzman? No thanks.
Upon first hearing of this project, Waits diplomatically made the point that a singer must make the song his or her own. Johansson has certainly done that and that's why this impossibly risky project succeeds. In an earlier recording, she competently attempts Gershwin's "Summertime" to merely mixed results since she tries to go for the predictably slow, sultry interpretations of countless accomplished singers of decades past. Had she given it the frosty, post-coma performance technique utilized so well on this record, it would really stand out as something other than a tossed-off celebrity talent show bit.
With the question of authenticity removed from the equation, the overall concept is allowed to materialize. Waits spent too much of his career, specifically the first part, trying to find new ways to say "I'm drunk," and it can really wear thin as far as subject matter is concerned. When Johansson promises that she'll "drink you under the table" in "I Wish I Was In New Orleans," there is a simultaneous absurdity and believability in the boast. Are we to believe that this pampered New Yorker is forgoing another posh weekend on the Upper West Side to instead slum it in the alleys of our own modern Atlantis? Just the fact that her reworking of the song might give the listener pause to consider such things is reason enough to listen.
The diva in a snowstorm feel of the record sometimes sounds like something on Italians Do It Better, and though that's meant as a compliment, I've also heard it lobbed as an insult. The past ten years have brought us many anemic versions of classic songs by songstresses of varying talents, and Johansson fares better than many of them on her debut.
"Hey, Just Have Fun Out There tonight. You Deserve It."
So if you were one of the unlucky fans who didn't have the hundred plus dollars to spend on the non-paper tickets tonight, just rest easy knowing that you can make your way down to one of our few remaining record stores that sells new music and plop down a fraction of that for something you might ultimately enjoy even more. And if you are lucky enough to go, I hope you have fun, and I look forward to spending the rest of my week hearing your oral show reviews while defending this writeup.
Boris just seems to be one of those bands, you know? Critics love them. People who don't listen to metal or ambient or drone or anything else they've ever done love them too. Metalheads and record collectors are on board, as are people who usually spend their time debating the merits of Cat Power. Personally, I jumped on the Boris train pretty late, hearing them for the first time in late 2005 or early 2006-- a few months before they released Pink, the album that many see as their "crossover" into the peripheral of the mainstream. Ever since that time, I've found the band very interesting-- where they come from, their process, and their place in underground rock music. I've wanted to interview Boris for quite a while because I've always wanted to ask them about their own career and how they viewed their successes as a strange and relatively challenging Japanese psyche rock band that has somehow made a big impression in both the U.S. and Europe. Luckily, Rubber Gloves owner Josh Baish was nice enough to provide us with a wonderful translator, Aya Nakayama, who helped us facilitate an interview with drummer Atsuo. The results are below. We left the original Japanese text in just for kicks.
1. Over your career, you guys have worked with a number of different labels. How do you choose which labels to work with on a particular project, and does whatever project you happen to be working on at a given time dictate your choice in label to any extent?
Well, sometimes the label’s impression influences our piece, and sometimes we look for the right label when the songs gets close to being done. It’s different every time.
2. Your sound has changed quite a bit throughout your history as band. What, in your mind, are the forces behind these changes, and what inspires you to start exploring different sounds? Is it something as arbitrary as using new equipment, or is it more of a preconceived conceptualized theme that you wish to address?
We are influenced by many different things. Sometimes equipment shows us new sound (not music), and it could be equipment that’s almost broken down. Music that we listen to at times also could influence us. Right now we don’t have much time to listen to music, so we get a lot of inspirations from “life” itself, including touring and recordings and stuff. So right now we are not really interested in music. Life and experiences have become our inspirations, which is very reasonable. Our pieces have always been documentary of our relations to people around us, family, society and world; so the change in our lives leads us to the change in our music. We have not changed in a way that we keep “changing”.
3. Do you sometimes find that some of your fans are disappointed with the new directions you take with your sound? How do you react to this? Does it concern you, or inspire you, or does it not matter much?
We feel it’s very natural that we get both sides of an argument; the pros and the cons. It makes me chill when I see some artists get free praise from everybody in the entire world. I feel like they are all brainwashed. We take reactions from fans seriously, we never ignore them. Expression is not just the matter of the sender, but also it includes the feedback.
4. Boris seems to be a band that is almost universally loved by western rock critics. How important is this praise to you,
We enjoy getting applause, regardless of misinterpretations or misunderstandings. Sometimes we move onto new pieces from there, so we’re always trying to take that feedback for us positively to move on.
and what are your general feelings about rock criticism? How does criticism from professional critics compare to feedback from fans?
Well, personally I think it’s disputable to talk about music within a music frame. We no longer mean to stay within the music frame, and I think “rock” should be discussed with paintings, literature, theatrical plays, and many other genres altogether. Especially in Japan, because of the close relationship between media and record companies, media is nothing but advertisement. What I learned from releasing Smile and doing the promotion for the album was that music journalists know nothing about the actual scenes that we create music at. I was under a strong impression that they are a kind of people who cannot talk about music until everything is all done. In other words, they would not know basic stuff like how much just pulling a fader up and down could influence the whole piece. Feedback from fans is more emotional. Today, anyone can be the one who sends off information with using blogs and stuff, but actually they are just sending stuff off. We feel like fans in foreign countries are more active, like I got this interview from somebody’s personal blog. Instead of just thinking to himself and sending it off, he takes one more step of trying to get to know in the process, like he is trying to send it off based on this communication. It’s not like that in Japan. Interviews are exclusively for media and listeners are the people who buy CDs. They never think about being a part of the process of creating a work. I am trying to answer as many interviews as possible.
5. Your band also seems to garner a great deal of respect from the art world, almost elevating your music to the realm of "high art." This is curious in the sense that you guys often play music that could be described as "metal," which is often shunned by critics and the world of high art as being crude or low brow. How would you explain this? Do you think this is due to a cultural reevaluation of metal, or does it have more to do with your band's approach specifically?
Art is something to make invisible things visible, or to present new view points and new values. In this way, what we are doing is not just making music, but we are creating new pieces based on our personal value or life experience. So it’s kind of like we are doing the same thing. Personally, I hate my work to be called “art” because in this society people often try to push everything incomprehensible or new against the corner by using the word. I think it is very dangerous that using that word make people feel like they understood those things before even they actually feel them. On the other hand, “metal” has the name for its genre, but since metal has been shunned by the society, critics, and the world of high art, we had more discretion on many different styles within the genre. The meanings and content of metal has been weathered. I feel like people appreciated our music through these modern metal scenes.
6. Which one of your records do you feel was a turning point for you with American audiences, if any? Or was it maybe a particular American tour?
As everybody says, it was probably PINK. We were touring abroad a lot then, and we made songs from what we saw; it was something like future rock. So we did not think anyone would appreciate it, but at the same time, we did not care. It is still hard to look at the piece objectively and, we do not feel like we made it. That piece was created very quickly in the life we were living at the time.
7. Are there any Japanese psyche rock or electro groups that you think most people in the United States haven't heard but are highly important and overlooked?
Good thing is we get to see the audiences’ faces. Everything happens within internet now, you know? It’s very natural, but there are so many things that are very important but are forgotten in exchange for the convenience. Just from looking at each other in the eyes, people can feel lots of information, and I feel like we have luxurious lives in that way. Bad thing is.. well, our members and staff get completely worn out. We don’t know for how long we can keep doing this, so I’d like you guys to come see us sooner. Thank you.
(Boris plays this Friday, June 27th at Rubber Gloves in Denton)
(Defensive Listening contributed to this interview)
MON: Tom Waits (Palladium) TUE: Islands/Awol One/Crayonsmith (Granada) FRI: Boris/Torche/Clouds (Rubber Gloves) FRI: The Party 2 Year Anniversary (Zubar) FRI: Shearwater/Kadane Brothers/Theater Fire (Lola's) SAT: Fuck Yeah Fest with Matt and Kim/The Death Set/Team Robespierre/Brother Reade (1919 Hemphill) SAT: Centromatic/Kadane Brothers/Theater Fire (Granada) SUN: Stone Temple Pilots/Black Francis (Nokia Theater)
Written by Defensive Listening, so direct all of your kind, thoughtful compliments at me and not Sally Glass or SR.
FRIDAY
Psychedelic Horseshit | Teenage Cool Kids | Fabulous Diamonds (Chat Room) For all of the static stain on Psychedelic Horseshit's purposely garbled recordings, their melody, both instrumental and vocal, still somehow glows through the chaos. This is even more apparent in a live setting. Australia's Fabulous Diamonds represent the decidedly less pop rock side of Siltbreeze, with a combination of minimal repetitive beats, drone vocal monotone, and the busy clicking and clattering of Eastern-styled percussion hypnotizing its way down the center of the mix. Should be an interesting show at the always bustling Chat Room.
Burnt Sienna Trio | Phantastes | Dust Congress | Some Say Leland (Hailey's) Mainly folk-based show with two of Denton's best, including a real curve-ball on the bill: Phantastes. This is the remaining members of The Undoing Of David Wright manipulating some intricately hand-made modulators and synths.
Times New Viking | Record Hop | Teenage Cool Kids (Club Dada) Featuring three acts that rock shamelessly, this is the first in a barrage of high-profile shows at Dada in the coming months. Times New Viking seems to be everywhere since their Strawberry Fields set last spring. Like Psychedelic Horseshit, their live set is extremely accessible and makes them seem much less challenging or as willfully obscure as their recordings suggest. Teenage Cool Kids and Record Hop are a good match and I think they should arm-wrestle to see who loves the Nineties more, though they are respectively worshiping different years.
The Great Tyrant | Fight Bite | Koji Kondo | Blank Blank (Chat Room) Three of Fort Worth's most intimidating live acts, one hardcore punk, one grindcore, and whatever The Great Tyrant considers their terrifying brand of gloomy prog. Fight Bite certainly stands out here, but will hold their own due to the wrist-slitting subject matter of every single one of their songs.
Hands Up w/ Gracie Chavez (The Loft) This time The Party presents Houston's Gracie Chavez who is a DJ, mother, music writer, and veteran of Houston's club scene. From shedding light on fellow female DJ's as a co-founder of the "La Femmes" project, to her recent ten thousand download triumph of her recent "Yo, Mami" mix, Chavez is quite the overachiever as well as the perfect act with a pedigree heavy enough to headline the chaos of The Party. Read the excellent interview over at Central Booking.
Spazm 151 | Damage Case | Akkolyte | Wayward boys | Kill The Client | Human Struggle | The Krumbums (Red Blood Club) Red Blood Club gets an appropriate send-off with some of the acts that made this one of the last destinations in the endangered Deep Ellum area. Just a couple of these bands would be a fierce bill, all of them together makes it staggeringly brutal. Watch your pretty face.
Attic Ted | Zanzibar Snails | Glass/Secret Briefcase (Wisconsin - 731 Texas Street Ex-Eighth Continent) Attic Ted plays loopy, skewed songs, heavy on the organ and with obvious quirky influences such as The Residents. They also bear a resemblance to the nervous rhythms and uptight vocals of groups like 100 Flowers and The Homosexuals. I wonder if any other weirdo acts are hiding out in San Marcos. Glass is the sludge-metal side project of Kaboom, Zanzibar Snails will include a guest appearance by Burnt Sienna Trio's Sinevil, and the night will be finished off by a noise improvisation by several local artists.
Russian Circles | Daughters | Young Widows (Lola's) Russian Circles is said to blend Explosions In The Sky-styled instrumental rock with metal overtones, and I can only imagine that would have to be an improvement. Daughters are a well-known live act, notorious for their anger, energy, and nakedness. Young Widows is ex-members of Breather Resist.
Final edit of Loose Change on Saturday, June 21 at 8pm (Lakewood Theater)
Sorry, Blogger had one of their obligatory two hour shutdowns today, so not too much info here, but we'll talk soon.
Stay School Swag School (Roof of Cool Beans) Though it's long been my philosophy that alcohol and rooftops don't necessarily mix, this "Roof Jump Off Party" sounds like a pretty diverse show and who doesn't like hanging out on rooftops? The lineup features the reunion of In Dot Dat, as well as Yeah Def, and Young Doc Gooden. Topping it all off is Andrew Savage of The Teenage Cool Kids, who will be playing records. Mind your step and please recycle.
Plan B | Darktown Strutters (Rubber Gloves) Mismatched show featuring our new favorite local band. We're so fickle with our highly sought love and attention.
Faun Fables | Invincible Czars | The Chameleon Chamber Group (Lola's) Faun Fables makes unconventionally theatrical art rock, has toured as far as New Zealand, and records for Drag City. A little over the top in a Ren' Fair sort of way and certainly not for everyone, but if that doesn't bother you give it a chance.
I have been consistently impressed with the shows at Conduit, Holly Johnson, and PNDB since I moved to Dallas. If you haven't made it out to any of them, all three have openings this week.
THURSDAY
And/Or House of Dang Summer Smackdown (4219 Bryan St.)
The two things I love most in the summer: outdoor movies and breaking into apartment complexes for a late night swim. This week is Teen Witch, with a Most Popular Girl Contest. Everything goes down at 8:30. Bring some popcorn and a lawn chair.
Marill, Starr, and Iwasaki (Conduit) I have been excited about this show ever since I saw two Iwasaki pieces at the CADD Art Fair.
Margo Sawyer: Synchronicity of Color (Holly Johnson)5-8pm A continutation of the work that Sawyer did for Discovery Green in Houston.
Twenty-one (PNDB) 5-8pm So, I screwed up and posted this last week, but it is really opening this week. Twenty-one photographs will be up, including work by Mario Algaze, Mario DeBiasi, Chuy Benitez, John Herrin, David Johndrow, and Elliott Erwitt.
Also, PNDB is also the sole gallery in the States representing Chinese photographer Wu Jalin. I would highly reccomend checking out his work while you're there.
Jackson Hammack, Jason Brown, and Jeanie Gooden (Craighead Green)
Playboywill be filling in for Nature at Taxi Faretonight at Zubar. For those who didn't know, Nature is currently playing shows in his home away from home-- San Juan, PR. Cool people know that the guy was huge there a few years ago, and a decent argument can be made that his is a name that should be mentioned along with Diplo when discussing how the contemporary dance music of Puerto Rico made its way to New York and the rest of the United States a few years ago. Anyway, Sober tells us that this Playboy dude is pretty good, but that is all we know other than the fact that he spins reggae/dancehall.
Dance Your Face Offis at the Cavern tonight, and it's for people who actually like to dance to, you know, dance music and stuff. I stopped by to sample one of the sets a few weeks ago and heard a lot of solid house and disco grooves. Pretty good stuff, even if an empty upstairs Cavern can be a pretty lonely place to hear high energy dance music. Hopefully people will catch on to this sooner rather than later.
