FRIDAYPeaches | Drums Of Death (Granada)
I hate to sound like "Old Man DL," but the Peaches show I saw at Club Clearview circa 2000 (I believe) will be hard to top. It was a small setting, really low-key, not too much of a crowd to speak of, and Peaches taunted the audience and carried on as if she were headlining a 20 dollar a pop show at a big theater, as she will tonight.
It's hard to imagine a time when electro/synth-punk whatever sounds were rather uncommon, but acts like Peaches (and to be fair, Gravy Train) were much less ubiquitous and were more of a curiosity than anything else, lost in a sea of emo-rock-bro bands. All of that has changed since of course, and I think that Peaches has been hugely influential, for better or worse, even
Christina Aguilera cited her as an influence around the time she desperately sought to lose her safe teen-pop image. It's hard to imagine the trashiness of Lady GaGa going over so well without a bunch of 13-year-olds first hearing "Fuck The Pain Away" when they were obsessing over
Lost In Translation in seventh grade. That would almost be kind of funny or quaint, except that movie basically ruined everyone on the soundtrack for me. I think Peaches, for the most part, remained unscathed.
There have been some less-than-impressive moves over the years: bad duet with
Iggy Pop, getting more glammed out as time went on, increasingly pedestrian material etc. But it's to be expected on some level. Peaches is now 40, and even electro punk perverts have to grow up sometime. No matter, I would still go see this show, simply out of respect for a woman that changed the world with a dirty mouth and a drum machine.
Bath House Music Fest (Bath House Cultural Center)
Aaron Gonzalez will be curating this year's performance again, which will feature improv performances by the Gonzalez brothers, Kim Corbett, Nevada Hill, Ty Stamp, Sarah Alexander, and other guests. It's free but donations are appreciated, and I'm sure you'll be compelled to give these guys something. Doors are at 7 and the show starts at 8.
Tre Orsi | True Widow | Shiny Around The Edges (Annex House)Viva Voce | Cut Off Your Hands | Robert Gomez (Hailey's)Bitches, Blunts, And Ballin | Fab Deuce | John E. Specs | Kids Having Fun | Nathan Jackson (Rubber Gloves)Aretha Franklin (Winstar Casino)Ryan Thomas Becker | History At Our Disposal (Moka)SATURDAYMount Righteous | The County Lines | The England Ramaband | Little Birds | Teddy Roosevelt and The Great White Fleet (Andy's Denton)Gorilla VS Bear Presents White Denim | Harlem | PVC Street Gang | Fight Bite (Pastime Tavern)
I've said this before many times on here, but I'll say it again-- I love seeing shows at the Pastime Tavern, and I'm really glad Chris Cantalini was smart enough to book a big show like this at such a low key, out of the way venue. Well, I guess it really isn't THAT out of the way when you consider its proximity to South Side Lamar, Lee Harvey's and a variety of new, overpriced condominiums, but shit--- that area is still one of the most frightening places in Dallas, so whatevz. Mad street cred. Most of you know Austin's White Denim and what they do at this point, and a lot of you are probably at least somewhat familiar with GVSB approved Harlem, who sound like something in between Black Lips and lo-fi 60's jangle pop/garage groups like Crystal Stilts and Vivian Girls. Anyway, I would expect this show to be packed, especially considering the two strong local openers, so get there early, and remember to be courteous to all street corner crack dealers that you may encounter on the way in. (SR)
Amplified Heat | Super Heavy Goat Ass | Exeter | A Revolution of Kings | Magnet School (The Lounge)SUNDAY
David Byrne (Majestic Theater)
I'm not much of a "solo careers" kind of guy. Don't get me wrong, there have been a lot of great artists who have emerged from great bands to have stellar solo careers, and I can certainly think of many that I listen to on a regular basis. But as I once discussed with DL during one of our amazing music conversations that would probably blow your mind, there's just something a bit unsettling about "personality rock," or the unquestioning worship of certain rock personalities by otherwise intelligent and discerning music fans no matter what kind of garbage said personality gets involved with after being in a great band. Everyone from Nick Cave to Stephen Malkmus has fans like this, and I've really never understood it. David Byrne isn't exactly an exception to this rule, but for me, he comes about as close as it gets to being someone who I trust, almost completely, to release solid material during a solo career following his tenure as a leader of one of the most important bands of the past three decades. Sure, I realize that 90's ponytail Byrne did some disappointing things here and there, and I'll even step out on a limb and say that his most recent album length collaboration with Brian Eno was a pretty big disappointment, despite the stellar reviews it received. But I'll happily march on over to the Majestic Theater Sunday night to catch David Byrne's performance because I feel a musical kinship with the guy that I rarely find with any other living performer. After really digging into the Talking Heads catalogue for the first time six or seven years ago, I picked up the excellent Heads biography This Must Be The Place, and my view of the band was changed and heightened forever. Almost everything Byrne has done with Talking Heads and his solo career has been based on the kinds of ideas that I find most exciting in music, and most of them have been executed with an easy eye for both pop and the avant garde, often finding what I see as the perfect balance between the two. Needless to say, if it were possible to write "objectively" about music in any context, I certainly wouldn't be able to do it here, even though I absolutely despise the concept of "fanboys." (SR)
Martin Iles Presents Three On Sunday: Asparagus | Signer's Secret | Future Shock (Dan's Silverleaf)
