Naughty by Nature | The Original Sugar Hill Gang / Young MC (Lakewood Theater)
You could do a lot worse than these three acts at The Lakewood Theater on a Tuesday. For starters, you're not having to deal with the legitimate one-hit wonders that usually tour the throwback circuit, meaning they have all scored some lesser hits as well as some rewarding deep album cuts. Plus, you might get to witness a few of those between song moments where an older rapper eloquently explains why he's still a bad-ass. Worth it.

The Go-Go's / Fastball (House Of Blues)
At $35 to $125, an unbelievable bargain.

Aside from the usual Monday activities that everyone loves so much (Cool Out at the Cavern being the main one), The Party will be spinning hip hop records at the Foundation Room inside the House of Blues. It's free, and I've never been to the place before, so I'm going to reserve judgment for now and not just automatically assume that it will be anything like Suite. I just hope that all of us stylish people with good taste don't have to see too many of the specimens who think they're stylish people with good taste.

SHOWS OF NOTE THIS WEEK

TUE: Naughty By Nature/Expose/Young MC (Lakewood Theater)
THU: Nina Nastasia/Tre Orsi/Burnt Sienna Trio (Lola's)
THU: Will Johnson/Sarah Jaffe (Doublewide)
FRI: Daniel Francis Doyle/Koji Kondo (Strawberry Fields)

Just wanted to let everyone know that passes to the Melodica Festival will be going on sale this weekend at Good Records and all Melodica venues (Sloppyworld, Fallout, etc.) $25 gets you access to every show (including the Sunday all ages show), and if you want one, I'd suggest buying it soon because as of right now, only 300 passes are available. Each venue will also allow you to pay a seperate cover for individual shows (ranging from $5-10), but the passes honestly seem like a much better deal if you're planing on seeing more than one show. Here is a link to the line up for each venue and showcase.



And in other news, Sloppyworld will be hosting a show this evening featuring Raised by Tigers, Plutonium Jukebox, Silk Stocking and Joe Butcher.



Rest of the weekender is below.

FRIDAY

White Williams | Rings | Sticky Buns | Cry Blood Apache (Hailey's)
So if you're into this sort of stuff, you've probably heard about the horrible image that is the cover of White Williams' debut full length Smoke. But when you get past that, you'll find an interesting and highly catchy album of electro pop influenced by just about every kind of sound under the sun: funk, soul, hip hop and house are all present, and Williams sort of ends up reminding listeners of a REALLY poppy version of Dan Deacon, whom he toured with last year. You can also hear a lot of psyche rock influences in there too, particularly in the vocal tracks, which adds another element of interest. And no, despite my description, dude sounds nothing like Of Montreal. Throw in the excellent Cry Blood Apache and the loveably silly Sticky Buns set, and you've got a good Friday night.

Super Furry Animals | Fiery Furnaces | Holy Fuck (Granada)
Disclaimer: I haven't listened to either of the last two Super Furry Animals records, so I can't speak very intelligently about those. But I have seen them live twice, and even though they were blown of the stage by openers Caribou the last time I saw them, if you're into SFA and haven't seen them live, you absolutely will not be disappointed. It's pretty good stuff. And Fiery Furnaces seem to be a hot debate topic around WSJR HQ and pretty much everywhere else I roll, emerging as one of the major "love em or hate em" bands of this little era of indie rock. Their status as imaginative songwriters is undeniable, and I've certainly heard several FF tracks that I've enjoyed quite a bit in my life, but on the whole, their music often comes off as overly cutesy, stylized and forced. I'm sure someone will have something to say about that. And I've heard Holy Fuck catch a lot of shit from a lot of people for being a watered down something or other, but I generally hear pretty good things in their music (Kraut influences being one that many seem to have forgotten). Fans of Muscles and Ratatat will dig this stuff most likely.

Nicky Click | Rival Gang | Dark Town Strutters | samizdat (Rubber Gloves)
First, local notes: this will be Ashley Cromeens last apperance with Rival Gang (boo!), and Dark Town Strutters, a new band featuring members of Faux Fox, will be making their debut tonight. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of info on what they sound like. Nicky Click was described in the Observer as a one woman feminist electropop band or something like that, which makes her sound really shitty. But the reality is somewhat better than that: true, some of her stuff is goofy, but the beats are certainly solid, drawing from early hip hop and rigid industrial dance, and the overall presentation is much less political than you might think at first glance. Or less overtly political at least. Not bad at times.

Healers | Naw Dude | Akkolyte | Trifle Tower (1919 Hemphill)
Sweet hard/grind core show that includes Naw Dude, who happen to have one of the best band names in the State of Texas right now.

SATURDAY

ART SHOW: Kristin Lucas with performance by Mom (And/Or Gallery)
Mom will be taking the stage at 830 to perform at an Art/Show that sounds quite interesting. And I don't say that about Dallas art shows very often. Read about it at the And/Or Gallery website, which includes a link to an Art Forum review. Show reception lasts from 6-9, and all the cool people will be there.

Band of Horses | Cass McCombs | Tyler Ramsey (Palladium)
This show is sold out, but if you already have tickets you'll want to show up early for the wonderful Cass McCombs, who is my major motivation for wanting to go to this show in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Band of Horses are bad or anything, and I know for a fact that they won't be nearly as boring as Iron and Wine was a few weeks ago, but just go early. As one person who comments on here all the time says: "Just sayin'."

Rival Gang/Mistress (Strawberry Fields)
Another great free show at Strawberry Fields with Rival Gang making their second appearance of the weekend, this time with Mistress, a harsh noise project featuring Shane English and Andrew Michael, two of the more consistent artists currently playing in and around Denton.

The Tah Dahs | Blackheart Society | Record Hop | Bridges and Blinking Lights | Laura Palmer | Holy Diver | Street Hassle | The Grass Fight | Robert Jones (Space Studio)
A line up of, uh, mixed quality. Record Hop is the absolute standout here, although Street Hassle has a few pretty good tracks as well. Some art will also be on display, and refreshments will be provided. Gets started at 3pm.

Drink to Victory | Lil Tedly | Jen Seman (J&Js)
Paperstain show starts at 9pm and will apparently be the loudest show the basement has seen in a while. Members of Lil Tedly will be joining Jen Seman's solo performance.



Screaming Red | MC Router | Sticky Buns | Kitty Violet (Boiler Room- Vagina Monologues Benefit)

SUNDAY

Wild in the Streets (Hailey's)

Laromlab / Robot Cowboy | Alex Atchley / Boogdish (1919 Hemphill)
The show at 1919 is heavy on the electronics tonight, which further proves that they don't just have "gutter punk" shows here as someone said to me recently, and I won't mention any names. Anyways, Laromlab has a take on the 8-bit Commodore based micro genre that updates the beat somewhat, or at least uses the kind of throwback Eighties rhythms that have been so prevalent in dance music of the last half decade or so. Not only is that not a knock, there is a really focused melodrama and emotion to the instrumentals that is at first amusing but ultimately refreshing. The tracks on their page are really enjoyable. Robot Cowboy is another act that uses old school electronics, including a midi guitar and video monitor headset to top off the performance. I'm sure you've heard us describe both Boogdish and Alex Atchley more than a few times.

Marcus Striplin | Emil Rapstine | Glen Farris (Double Wide)

Lost Generation (Fallout Lounge)


80's Night With DJ G (Hailey's)

Usual good stuff happening tonight, including Taxi Fare at Zubar and It's What We Get at Hailey's. Also:

Matthew and the Arrogant Sea | A Childlike Fear | Tavo Carbone | S Rich and the K.N.O. (Club Dada)
MATAS play a somewhat rare Dallas show, joined by locals A Childlike Fear and Brooklyn's Tavo Carbone, a singer/songwriter and backing band combo who should probably be commended for not being hipsters, if nothing else. Carbone writes these cutesy, Library of Congress sounding folkpop songs that could easily be much much worse than they are. Not my thing, but certainly not bad. S. Rich could probably be described in pretty much the same way. If you enjoy quiet, sing songy folk, you could do a lot worse, and KNO singer Sam Rich has the best voice of all the vocalists at this show. Local music boosters can rest assured that MATAS is the best of the bunch here though, an A Childlike Fear is probably right behind them. I usually don't enjoy seeing this kind of music performed live, but that doesn't mean there isn't some quality in there.

I checked every corner of Preston Hollow People, Paper City, Envy, and Al Dia and I couldn't find anything. Sorry. There's no way you've read that entire local review roundup, so scroll down and finish it. Thanks.

THE MNGMNT