LOCAL TOP 5

1. Mom - Little Brite
2. Red Monroe - ¡Policia! ¡Policia!
3. Shock of Pleasure - This is a Test
4. The Slack - Wishful Sinking
5. The Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army

OVERALL TOP 20

1. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
2. Caribou - Andorra
3. Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs
4. Mom - Little Brite
5. Akron/Family - Love is Simple (+DVD)
6. Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil
7. Red Monroe - Policia! Policia!
8. Black Francis - Bluefinger
9. M.I.A. - Kala
10. National - Boxer
11. Shock of Pleasure - This is a Test
12. Okkervil River - Stage Names
13. Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This
14. Shout Out Louds - Our Ill Wills
15. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
16. The Slack - Wishful Sinking
17. Cloudland Canyon - Silver Tongued Sisyphus
18. Ateleia - Nightly
19. Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
20. The Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army

That Dirty Projectors is really good, btw-- however, the fact that it is a song for song "reinterpretation" of a Black Flag album doesn't necessarily mean that the music has anything to do with Black Flag.

A couple things that most of us already knew.

SHOWS OF NOTE THIS WEEK

WED: The Roots/Big Daddy/MC Lyte (House of Blues)
FRI: The Sea and Cake/Meg Baird (House of Blues)
FRI: The Party (Zubar)
SAT: Wall of Sound (LaGrave Field Ft. Worth)
SAT: Marked Men/Tokyo Electron/Wax Museums (Secret Headquarters)

Going to Suite last night really made me wonder something about myself: am I completely out of touch? Do I have no concept of what cool is and what it isn't? Let me tell you what I mean-- first of all, the show was incredible. Diplo was fantastic, throwing together all kinds of great pop mixes, dirty south tracks, Eurotech stuff and anything else you'll probably hear a lot more in next six months. The sound system at Suite is also one of the better ones I've heard in Dallas in a while, and it really seems to help elevate the energy level in the place. And actually, I really like the space Suite is located in. Not to say that it's anything too over the top amazing, but it's fairly comfortable all things considered. The problem I had was seeing all these jock doucheholes wandering around all night, flexing muscles, looking "relevant" and kind of embarrassing themselves all over the place. I kept wondering, "are these the cool people in Dallas? Seriously? This dude with the half unbuttoned dress shirt from Express?" Either way, the over the top hot bitches made up for a lot of it, and it was truthfully a pretty good time overall. And btw, I was just kidding about that "wondering if I'm cool" thing.

For those who were smart enough to skip out on the overrated ACL, here is some local stuff for the weekend:

FRIDAY

Egyptian Lover | Brian Bejarano | Sober (Minc)
Already gave you the rundown on this show earlier in the week (scroll down and read, lazy), and I'm wondering how it will turn out. To me, seeing an underappreciated musician like EL who also happens to have added a lot to the genres of dance music that every ad exec is currently hoping they'll eventually be able to understand is certainly worth the trip to the on again off again Minc. Certainly the most interesting dance show happening tonight.

The National | St. Vincent (Granada)
I still honestly can't jump aboard the whole St. Vincent train. I just don't see it. And the National, while they can certainly get a bit self important and annoying at times, do have some pretty good indie pop songs that add elements of surprise and musical quality that generally seems to be lacking in bands I lable "indiepop."

Wlico | Dr. Dog (Palladium)
So Wilco is, uh..dh3q4t... forget it. I'm not really that interested these days. Dr. Dog is pretty sweet though.

John Vanderslice | Bowerbirds (Palladium Loft)
This is the Gorillavsbear afterparty for the Wilco show upstairs at the Loft, and admission is free for anyone with a Wilco stub.

Gore Gore Girls | Record Hop | Switchblade Razors (Rubber Gloves)

SATURDAY

Evan Hecox | The Party | Cobrasnake (Public Trust)
Are these events called "openings" or "shows" or what? Anyway, this is going down from 7-10pm and will feature the work of Evan Hecox (I'll spare you my attempt to analyze visual art). There is an after party for this at Suite, but your dumb ass probably isn't invited. I am though. Ha Ha.

Art Show feat. Mark Pease, Nevada Hill, Logan Hill, Josh Reames(Secret Headquarters)
This art show will also feature live music performances from members of Nouns Group, Seth Sherman, and Nevada Hill.

Gallery Openings: An/Or Gallery, Barry Whistler, Road Agent (Dallas)
All of these are part of the Deep Gallery walk, and I've been told by a trusted source that these places will be the cream of the crop on Saturday... and I'm glad someone told me, because I really don't feel like sifting through a bunch of crap in order to see the good stuff. And/Or events are always fun too.

Last of the Interceptors | Gazelles | Koji Kondo | Heartrapers | The Know | Bangs (XCW Wrestling Arena on 377-Denton)
Party being put on by Wemadeoutonce and this guy named Brian who I kind of got into a little fight with in the comments section this week... we kissed and made up though so it's all good. I believe this is happening at the place where the Groovy Mule used to be off 377 in Denton, and if thats the case, then people who go to this show should really watch out for the ghosts of JNCO past trying to haunt the section of the party where the kegs will be. Oh yeah, it's $5, and there will be two free kegs for those who are 21 and up and pay. For a map, click here.

David Bazan | Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (Dan's Sliverleaf)

Magnolia Electric Co. | Golden Boots | Tre Orsi (Rubber Gloves)

Oakley Hall | Zykos | Paul Duncan/The Narrator (Hailey's)

SUNDAY

Queens of the Stone Age | Howlin' Rain | Dax Riggs (House of Blues)
I just realized that I haven't heard any of the last two QOTSA albums. Are they any good? Somehow I doubt it, but who knows. The association with Kyuss alone is enough to put them on my list. Also, some of you might want to check out Howlin' Rain, especially if you feel like you might be into hearing members of Comets on Fire and Sunburned Hand of the Man playing songs that sound like the Grateful Dead. Unfortunately, I actually AM that kind of person. Oops.

Diplo | Switch (Suite)
Diplo has had many critically acclaimed releases and remixes for the past few years working on everyone from The Decemberists to Three Six Mafia to more underground baile funk stuff on his own label. He is most famous for his work with M.I.A.. Hopefully this show being at Suite won't be as bad as the recent Kid Sister show where everyone got turned away, but we'll see. Opening act Switch has also worked with M.I.A., and I actually prefer his somewhat more minimal electro approach and lack of world music aesthetic.

Daniel Folmer | My Son The Astronaut! | William Blackett (J & J's Pizza)
My Son The Astronaut is the solo acoustic project of one of the 715 Panhandle guys and that crowd's youthful exuberance can usually get me to let my guard down enough to even watch a set of borderline pop-punk. Miraculous. The ever expressive Daniel Folmer is also playing and I wonder if he'll enlighten the crowd with some commentary on how pickup hockey games are like slave labor.

Pleasant Grove | JD Whittenburg | Naptime Shake (Double Wide)
Dallas Observer writer Noah Bailey must have totally used his powerful position at the weekly to score this sweet Thursday night show at The Double Wide. Good for him. Do what you gotta do in this highly competitive local music scene, bro! It's dog-eat-dog. Pleasant Grove has been playing music since before my voice completely changed and Clinton was still president.

The Ataris | Thorn VS Side | Brake Vegas (Rubber Gloves)
I just posted this so I could put up that unbelievable press-kit gem. Do you think they had to drag that cheap rug like a fucking lake to find the band afterwards? They blend right in!

On November 4th. Tickets go on sale 9/21.

I know we pretty much never post record reviews and stuff when we're supposed to, but we ARE currently working on a couple good features, and you can expect to see them soon. Anyway, there are a few good things going on tonight that you might want to know about. Unfortunately, one of them is NOT the Never4Git Fest, which was supposed to feature Angry Businessmen, Koji Kondo, Best Fwends and several other good acts at Bruce Hall on the UNT campus this evening. Apparently there was a mix up with the college permit paperwork for now. However, the fest's organizers (the same people who run 715 Panhandle) tell me they have some plans for their DIY space that we might just reveal to you soon.



Taxi Fare with DJ Nature (Zubar)
Nature is kicking off his new reggae, one drop and dancehall weekly at Zubar tonight, and if anyone in Dallas can make something like that work, it's him. He tells us he'll be playing a lot of classic 80's tracks and dub in the beginning of his set, and will then transition into contemporary dubstep later in the evening. Sounds pretty cool.



Akkolyte | Yells at Eels (Red Blood Club)
For me, Akkolyte's performance at SHQ was the highlight of our awards party on Saturday. I honestly don't know a whole hell of a lot about grindcore outside of the basics (yes, I've listened to Napalm Death), but Akkolyte's presence on the scene is one of the best arguments I've ever heard in favor of exploring the genre in more depth. Tonight, the brothers Gonzalez will be celebrating Stefan's birthday by playing an Akkolyte set as well as a set with their father in Yells at Eels.



Oveo | Locks | Dirty Water Disease (The Cavern)
A rare chance to see the excellent Oveo in Dallas, and since it appears that they might be playing one of their last shows with the present line-up, you might want to wonder over to the Cavern to give this a try.



Short Attention Span Theatre is now going down at Rubber Gloves rather than Hailey's. Not sure what the video theme is this week.

Egyptian Lover is one of those old names that seems to be popping up in all the right places these days. After a string of highly successful Kraftwerk inspired electrofunk/hip hop 12 inches in the early and mid 80's (somewhat similar in style to the work of Mantronix and Africa Bambaataa, not to mention Giorgio Moroder and a variety of European slow motion disco acts), Egyptian Lover, a Los Angeles based producer, seemed to sink into obscurity for more than a decade.


In the past couple of years however, there has been a reemergence of interest in his work amongst critics and DJs due to the rise of early 80's electrofunk, disco, and early hip as fashionable points of inspiration in electronic music circles. And after one of his records was reissued by the highly respected Warp in 2006, Egyptian Lover hit the road again as a DJ and has apparently been touring constantly since.

Fortunately for us, Egyptian Lover will be performing at Minc on Friday night with Sober, and the people from frescogear.com were nice enough to hook us up with 4 pairs of tickets to the show to give away to you (Oh, and check out this interview with him over at Central Booking's blog for more info on the guy).

Just email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com any time between now and 10am on Thursday if you want to try and win a pair.