Nuthin' other than the usual: Cool Out at Cavern and Jazz at the Amsterdam. It'll probably be a pretty nice evening to sit out on the Amsterdam patio and hear some solid standards from a group of Amsterdam regulars that never seem to disappoint. We have another post coming in just a second...
First things first-- we just hooked ourselves up with a new PO box after our last one was shut down on us in a surprising and puzzling fashion. Sorry to everyone who had stuff sent back to them marked as "return to sender," btw, and if you want to resend any of that stuff to us, we'd be very happy. And we promise that this new P.O. Box will be maintained, like, forever. The address:
We Shot J.R. P.O. Box 720291 Dallas,TX 73372
SHOWS OF NOTE THIS WEEK:
FRI: Transona Five/The Theater Fire/Dust Congress/J Gray (Sloppyworld) SAT: Dan Deacon (Hailey's) SAT: Hands Up 90's with The Party (The Loft) SAT: Chris Brown and Bow Wow/Soulja Boy/Sean Kingston/Lil Mama (American Airlines Center)
This weekend appears to be about as thin as any we've seen in a while around here, at least as far as live music. Things do start to pick up next week however, so don't be sad (and sorry, we had to republish and I guess the earlier comments were erased. Feel free to add them again!). A few things:
FRIDAY
Matthew and the Arrogant Sea | Ryan Thomas Becker | Amo Joy | Hardin Sweaty and the Ready to Go | New Science Projects (J&Js Pizza) Despite what you might think about their online marketing tactics, MATAS are a downright prolific band, releasing several new songs online seemingly every week while playing a steady stream of local shows all over town. The best part is that much of their new material is quite interesting and very well done, with a wide variety of styles and influences ranging from avant tribal chants a la Sunburned Hand to sad, ambient infused tracks that remind me of the first Panda Bear album except with lyrics. And of course, that doesn't even begin to account for all the sounds contained in the many other projects of MATAS associates.
Kinky Friedman (Bill's Records and Tapes) This Kinky guy is a fucking bozo. Starts at 6pm. And guess what Bill? If I ever do go back to your record store, I won't be falling for your "this Misfits record is $30 because it's a rare import" stories anymore. The current me thinks that the 14 year old me sucked.
SATURDAY
Pleasant Grove (All Good Cafe) Starts at 9pm, $10 cover.
Deep Ellum Film Retrospective (Kettle Art) This film event, which begins at 7pm, features several different short pieces that depict life in Deep Ellum during various eras of the neighborhood's existence. Although I'm not one of those "Save Deep Ellum" people by any stretch of the imagination, it might be interesting to check some of this stuff out, even if nothing says "dying entertainment district" more than a weekend in which the main event in said district is a retrospective about how cool it used to be.
Andrea Grimes Farewell Show with Dove Hunter | The Happy Bullets | JD Whittenburg | Travis Hopper | The Felons | Amo Joy (Club Dada) I should thank Andrea Grimes for the inspiration she's provided during her very noticeable tenure as one of the most ubiquitous and outspoken writers at The Observer in recent memory. Her comments on our blog were often a complete dismissal of "toaster-banging" as well as electronic music, and I know she voiced a lot of the frustration, confusion, and disgust that many DFW readers have felt about our tastes and interests. By personifying that, I think she helped WSJR's focus to be more clear and precise. So thank you, Andrea. But a word of warning from a former Austin resident that I'd like to present to you in the form of analogy: Think of Dallas as the kind of war that was fought in the first part of the 20th Century: This is our country VS your country, this is our flag against your flag, clear-cut and defined. Though this type of warfare is by no means easy, it's simple since your enemy presents itself in a forward manner, uniform and all. Austin is much more like modern insurgent warfare (i.e. Vietnam-Iraq) where you'll be surrounded at all times by the enemy. Imagine a Stonedranger lurking behind every corner. Frat guys that have hip record collections. Cowboys that go to discos. Record stores filled with heartless, bloodsucking vampires that will make fun of you if you even mention living in Dallas. Alternative Weekly Editors that fact-check. We Shot Jr will seem downright nice in comparison. Good luck. (DL)
SUNDAY
Liquid Couage (Zubar) DJ's Redeye, Robert Taylor and Wanz will be spinning a variety of dance music from twitch to minimal to old school house to whatever. Happens weekly.
Judas | Rageous Bros. | ANS | Bleach Boys (Xtreme Dudes Manor located at 1119 Frame St. in Denton) I've been waiting for things to get back to normal now that the holidays have come and gone, and I'm hoping this intense lineup and intense barbecue can help speed up the process. Expect lots of surf riffs, blast beats and even some big sludgy metal breakdowns from this stylistically diverse group of hardcore bands. Barbecue is at five, show starts at seven.
Just had a chance to check out the new EP from Shane English (Ghosthustler, Undoing of David Wright, Chief Death Rage), and I highly recommend that you head over to his Soundhead blog and download it for free, because it's excellent. Anyone who likes Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, early industrial like Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, or even early Human League will probably dig it, as will those who are in to darker early 80's electro like Nine Circles and even contemporaries like the Knife and Indian Jewelry. I know that's a lot, but there are bits and pieces of all those sounds throughout the EP. Here is the link.
There isn't a whole lot going on tonight, but Strawberry Fieldshas the Denton folks covered with Short Attention Span Theater at Rubber Gloves. Here is what they'll have tonight:
Join us tonight as we watch Sun Ra'sclassic Space is the Place. Breaks will be taken through out the night for drinking/conversing/listening to DJ No Dad tunes. Also stay till the veeeeeery end to watch Anton Corbijn's (Control) 13 minutes short film over Don Van Vilet (of Captain Beefheart fame).
Sun Ra--space-age prophet, Pharaonic jester, shaman-philosopher and avant-jazz keyboardist/bandleader--land his spaceship in Oakland, having been presumed lost in space for a few years. With Black Power on the rise, Ra disembarks and proclaims himself "the alter-destiny." He holds a myth-vs reality rap session with vblack inner-city youth at a rec center, threatening "to chain you up and take you with me, like they did you in Africa" if they resist his mplea to go to outer space. He duels at cards with The Overseer, a satanic overlord, with the fate of the black race at stake. Ra wins the right to a world concert, which features great performance footage of the Arkestra. Agents sent by the Overseer attempt to assassinate Ra, but he vanishes, rescues his people, and departs in his spaceship from the exploding planet Earth.
By the sound of it, he's making it more and more difficult for us to think so.
Here's to hoping that this "Baltimore" track is not the most tempting morsel that Matador could offer in anticipation of the next Malkmus/Jicks disappointment--already their 4th release since Pavement's break up!?! I still don't know who/what the Jicks are supposed to be or what they've done with the SM I was used to.
I was willing to be patient after the first solo album. There were a few good songs on that one, but I honestly haven't been interested in the second and third releases enough to give them more than a few listens. I can't remember the last time I've even noticed them when flipping through my CDs.
The last thing I expected was for a Malkmus solo effort to be more jokey than Pavement, but it seems like that's mostly what the first three albums have been. Matador claims that the upcoming Real Emotional Trash will include some of Malkmus' most "gorgeous" and "contemplative" songs ever. I would welcome nothing more, but I'm skeptical given the post-Pavement precedence set by singles like "Jenny and the Ess Dog" and "Baby C'mon."
Another bad album and I don't know what else to think except that this guy has captained one of the most puzzling and frustrating spin offs that I've cared about enough to be puzzled and frustrated with.
