You know those dudes Nature, Sober, and Select, better known as the Party? Well in case we haven't told you, they're playing our party at Fra House this Saturday, and in case you hadn't already heard, they've just put out a great new mix that you can download here. It's exactly what you'd expect from these guys: rude, sweaty, and stylish. The perfect soundtrack for the end of the summer.
Pleasant Grove, one of the few Dallas bands that just about everyone seems to like, will be at Doublewide tonight with the overrated Sara Jaffe. It's like all the "proper music critics" in town got together and just picked some random singer/songwriter chick to talk up. Or maybe not. I don't really care either way.
Old Canes | Dust Congress | Parata | Glen Farris (Rubber Gloves) Old Canes features Appleseed Cast frontman Chris Crisci playing some emo-tinged folk music with an overzealous strumming style that recalls Bob Mould's solo career at its worst. The real highlight tonight is local band Dust Congress, a good live act to counter all of the neo-folk gimmicks from crowd participation ("Here, have a triangle") to the overabundance of animal costumes. Didn't Animal Collective more than obviously corner the market on all of the animal imagery shit? The lone Dust Congress gimmick is that its main songwriter has taken the challenge of playing the percussion himself, utilizing a bass-drum and hi-hat while he plays guitar, accordion or banjo simultaneously with the kit. So the gimmick is the added actual substance, somewhat of a rarity lately. If his songs were God-awful (they aren't) then I probably wouldn't mention any of this. I'm just surprised that someone who has such a daunting stage-setup can actually take the time to write nuanced and memorable folk songs on top of everything else. Marimba, trumpet and upright bass (sometimes played by Baptist Generals' bassist Ryan Williams) all make appearances and are brilliantly understated enough to add something to the songs without overshadowing anything. Glen Farris is one of the Spune Productions people that is bringing you the Wall of Sound Festival and is also late of Current Leaves, who are playing one last show opening up for Midlake as part of a pre-party for the festival later this month. Glen's music sounds pretty different from his work in Current Leaves, there is a definite lack of 60's jangle-folk worship, and the songs sound more like traditional folk, save for the way the vocals are layered. I don't know much about Parata other than that they seem to be very different from all of the other acts tonight.
Also wanted to mention that Strawberry Fieldswill be doing Short Attention Span Theater tonight at Hailey's, showcasing Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job, which might just be the best show on television right now.
1. Mom - Little Brite 2. The Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army 3. Salim Nourallah - Snowing In My Heart 4. Shock of Pleasure - This is a Test 5. The Happy Bullets - The Vice & Virtue Ministry
OVERALL TOP 20
1. Mom - Little Brite 2. Liars - Liars 3. M.I.A. - Kala 4. Okkervil River - Stage Names 5. Blockhead - Uncle Tony's Coloring Book 6. Caribou - Andorra 7. The Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army 8. Flaming Lips - U.F.O.s at the Zoo 9. Odd Nosdam - Level Live Wires 10. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass 11. Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals - Lifeline 12. Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight 13. Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This 14. New Pornographers - Challengers 15. Josh Rouse - Country Mouse City House 16. Brunettes - Structure & Cosmetics 17. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 18. Salim Nourallah - Snowing In My Heart 19. Eisley - Combinations 20. Justice - Cross
The new Caribou is off the chain if you know what I mean.
Mom | Douche | Dirty Water Disease | Matthew And The Arrogant Sea | Raised By Tigers (Rubber Gloves) This is the second night of Free Week at Rubber Gloves and I have to hand it to them for booking pretty varied and interesting lineups whenever they do this, though this Free Week is a little heavy on the Gutterth stuff. Mom continues to be a local favorite with their light airy instrumentals, in contrast to Dirty Water Disease, who have a darker and more imposing style. Douche is the highlight of this show, in spite of the fact that they have only four or five songs, they're four or five really good songs and we're glad to have them play our awards show this Saturday. Their cover of "Jordan, Minnesota" is spot-on even sans drum machine, and their understanding of dynamics accompanied by their overloaded tube attack makes for a startlingly focused show for such a young group. I haven't really heard much about Matthew And The Arrogant Sea...today.
We're back after a nice relaxing holiday.... we're putting the finishing touches on our show (this Saturday at Fra House), and we'll probably have a feature or two for you this week as well. It's cuz we're cool like that.
SHOWS OF NOTE THIS WEEK:
TUES: Mom/Matthew and the Arrogant Sea/Raised by Tigers/Dirty Water Disease/Douche (Rubber Gloves-Free) FRI: Undoing of David Wright/The Frenz/Electronik Warfare/Florene (Hailey's) FRI: Hands Up with Yo Majesty/Nature/Sober/Select (The Loft) FRI: Dub Assembly (Green Elephant) SAT:WSJR Awards Party with Akkolyte/Koji Kondo/Angry Businessmen/Lebanon/Zanzibar Snails/Douche/The Party (Nature/Sober/Select)/Ghosthustler (DJ set)/Farah (Fra House- Free, all ages, free beer for 21 and up) SAT: Sean Kirkpatrick/The Great Tyrant/Silk Stocking/Will E. Lee (Club Dada) SAT: Mom/George Neal/Jen Seman/Tame...Tame and Quiet/Florene (Secret Headquarters)
