So everyone's favorite band to hate that they used to secretly love last December, the Arctic Monkeys, are playing a sold out show at the Granada tonight. Seriously, the backlash against these guys has gotten to the point where it is now fashionable to backlash against the backlash, which means that I must start a backlash against the backlash backlash so that I might sleep well tonight with the knowledge that I'm not out of touch. But actually, I just can't do it. I don't know why. After reading all the Monkeys hype, I was quite disappointed when I first heard them and learned that they were little more than a mix between Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand and The Libertines. Fine, I guess thats the right thing to say. But still, these kids are like 19, and if they lived in Dallas they would be one of the best local bands in this city. I don't know what that says. But what I do know is that the Arctic Monkeys seem like fairly normal, slightly immature, slightly clever lads that aren't even close to being the worst band that high school kids are listening to these days. Oh, and they are kinda ugly too, which makes me want to root for them even more. I don't know what stage of the backlash I'm at right now, but I wish people would give it a fucking rest about these guys and how "overhyped" they are. We get it, dude. You don't ever buy into trends. Heres a trophy.

Elsewhere, Lost Generation will be going on at the Cavern tonight. Here is the scoop from Wanz:

I am gonna try something new this week. The first and last hour of Lost Generation will be dedicated to the various new and old oddities that I like to play anyways. The middle 2 hours will be a giant megamix using ableton live. That mega mix will be for everyone that wants to get up dance a little. I scored a shit load(roughly 32 albums) of stuff off Soul Jazz records this week (including the new E.S.G.)and all kinds of new Dubstep and Grime stuff that I Plan to to do live(realtime) remixes and mashups with. Burial/The Rakes, Tom Vek/Celebration, Venetian snares/ MF Doom, Digital Mytsikz/The Chills, Ruff Sqwad/Mark Stewart and The Mafia, Wiley/Pop Group and many more will enter the Wanz Dover Mashup machine. I also have new stuff from J Spacemen(solo), Boards of Canada, Thom Yorke(solo), Camera Obscura, Scott walker, Robin Guthrie, Hot Chip and more. I will also ahave a surprise mini set from one of our Laptop Deathmatch guys. I have no more commitments to any bands so i am putting a lot more effort into these sets. Come out have a drink and say hi. Get lost at The Lost Generation. Where great music goes to be found.

Also, Berry | Super Love Attack | Bang Bang! @ Metrognome tonight. SLA reminds me of spacerock influenced late period Pixies. For some reason, I thought I didn't like Super Love Attack for a long time, but I guess I was thinking of some other band because I went and listened to them last night and really liked their stuff. Bet its good live shit too. Don't think I'm too crazy about Bang Bang! (they remind me of the Rogers Sisters, one of the worst bands on the planet), but this would be a good opportunity to catch Berry's strong indiepop if you didn't last night. Oh, and James apologized on some comment thread for making a comment about people not showing up to Metrognome shows. I wouldn't have apologized if I was booking so many badass bands at such a cool venue and no one was coming... so props to him for being nicer than me.

Oh, and Fishboy is playing at Art 6 in Denton tonight (424 Bryant St. @ Scripture). Starts at 9, bitches.

Is this working?

i HEARD that black tie dynasty kicked ass. then i HEARD black tie dynasty.

...i'm kinda glad i didn't go buy an album just because of what some dude told me one time.

i'm just glad you judge music by hearsay

I heard that the Strange Boys are generic & boring. Alas. The fact that they are in mojo perhaps confirms it.

zak's funny. rhett who? miller? yeeesh!!! somebody go see paul giamatta(wrong spelling, perhaps?)he's lonely in cowtown. would people stop name dropping those holier than thou dinosaurs from athens. yeeesh!!!

ha, yeah. that's kinda what i was wondering.

mojo does have a tendancy to turn any texas band into some string of descriptions like "whiskey soaked" or "home fried" or "kicking-up-dust"
they're always making sure to toss in a couple of texas steriotypes. maybe that shit sells in europe or something.... either way, it's a cool magazine so that was cool to read (and highly unexpected).

...i wonder how they would fit bands like the undoing into the whole "texas" category

and what exactly is a twang punk? My guess is: anyone from Dallas that has heard of the Stooges.

holy crap.

since there's no other place to make this remark... if anyone hasn't checked out the new MOJO magazine, do it...

here's page 132:

"fellow up and comers like swedish neo folkie jose gonzales, velvet underground worshiping austinites THE BLACK ANGELS, and south london indie rockers Art Brut also make good showings, but the most notable newcomers this year are THE STRANGE BOYS (holy fuggin shit), a group of teenaged dallas twang-punks led by ryan sambol, whose eerie androgynous voice and nuggets inspired songs transfix a crowd that includes REM guitarist Peter Buck. After snatching up one of the groups demos, buck admitted that he couldn't decide whether the band were the best of worst thing he saw- which, given the head-spinning hype surrounding the 1400 pluss acts in town, was as honest an assessment as any heard all week"

all i gotta say is... i'll be goddamned.

wow, stonedranger,

i'm impressed! such artic monkey restraint. just when i thought i had you figured out.....

I agree. It was too bad hardly anyone was at J&Js to see Berry lastnight. It was good stuff. Plus Super Love Attack gets better and better everytime I see them live.

If you can't go to that, definitely show some love to Fishboy before he heads off on tour.
The show is FREE.

Happy Bullets @ Metrognome 6/30.

Also playing at Art Six Rob Gomez (of the Latin Pimps) George Neal (formly of Little Grizzly) and Ryan Anderson (Austin, TX) This is also free.

Denton or Ft. Worth, GO OUT TONIGHT!

All I have to say about these 'overhyped' bands is that if kids really are listening to them or if it even penetrates the mainstream a bit... it's a good thing. I'd much rather kids listen to that than some awful mainstream hip-hop, nu-metal, metal, pop-punk, or emo.

At least it may send some kids to dig deeper into the indie world and that is a good thing.

pAper chAse acoustic in-store at Good Records, 7pm, in honor of the band's CD release today. If you haven't seen the pAper chAse acoustic yet, you really fucking should--it's nice to hear how well the songs work with straightforward, not-screaming arrangements.

And that's the damn funniest Arctic Monkeys shit I've read in a while.

arctic monkeys blow donkey balls.
its such generic crap.

sweet

I know that this is a music blog, but hopefully people that read this site also enjoy literature. and with the expectation that at least a few of you do, let me remind you all that there is also a 666 literary showcase tonight at Metrognome, where a handful of very talented writers, selected by Tammy Gomez will be reading their reflections on the deeper meanings of the number 666 and our society's hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

The reading will begin at 7:30pm, and is free.

666 at Rubber Gloves as well.