Interpol (Palladium) This band has been mostly ghettoized to having their name in white-out scrawl on a middle school attendee's tattered binder. That doesn't mean that they didn't make quite an impact on the music of this decade, for better or worse, but I tend to lean towards the latter. Plagiarizing the feel, sound and style of a particular group and rehashing that into its own genre isn't what I would consider a commendable act. The copy-cats that formed in the wake of this king of copy-cat groups is the worst thing about them, but that shouldn't necessarily be held against them. Also, their bass player inspired countless ill-advised haircuts.
The Burning Hotels (Central Market in Fort Worth) Nevermind what I said above. This band at this "venue" is all the proof you need that Interpol fucked a lot of things up and it should be held against them. Thanks, dudes.
80's Night With DJ G (Hailey's) Where you should go if you want to hear the real thing and not the watered down trust-fund kid college dropout version of 80's musical history.
and Lost Generationat Fallout Lounge, where you should go to hear all kinds of stuff, including:
Kalabrese(really good record), FFWD(classic idm record featuring Robert Fripp and The Orb), Thomas Fehlman(gonna make my top ten this year), Flying Lotus, Vive La Fete, Chemical Brothers(I am diggin this a lot), Bonde Do Role, Maetrik, Skream, Sharon Jones(new 7 inch....brilliant), Kode 9, Caribou, Magda, Boredoms(a selection from the new super roots 9......still my alltime faves......we saw them on the super AE tour in Chicago), Sarah Goldfarbb, Sarolta Zalatnay, The Black Ghosts, Crippled Black Phoenix, Black Dice(new 12 inch), Don Williams, Switch(some new remixes from my favorite remixer) and much much more.
I was a party to two conversations at the Granada on Saturday night that helped hammer home just how strange the phenomenon of Animal Collective really is. The first occurred some time in the middle of Sir Richard Bishop's set, when my friend turned 360 degrees and remarked "shit, there are a shitload of people here." And he was right. The rather large Granada Theater (with a capacity of roughly 1200) was probably more than 3/4 full (of mostly young hipsters) at 9pm, as a bearded middle aged man with an acoustic guitar sat onstage playing quiet, meandering Indian instrumental pieces.
The second conversation occurred during the middle of Animal Collective's overpowering set, when another friend turned to me and said, "I'm pretty disappointed with this so far." When I asked why, she explained that she was expecting something a little more straight forward, adding that they hadn't even played one of their "real songs" yet. And she was also right. Those whose love of Animal Collective is based mostly on 2005's Feels, as well as those who had never heard anything about AC's live M.O. before attending the show, were probably expecting something much different than they got on Saturday night. Aside from a somewhat tossed off version of "Leaf House" and a couple Panda Bear tracks that you may or may not have heard before, Animal Collective played entirely new material on Saturday, and according to some rumors, they might have even improvised most of the set due to equipment failure in Marfra the night before. The music was strange, new, and rather experimental, and there's no telling exactly why they decided to structure their set the way they did.
But whatever the reason, the music they performed at the Granada had more in common with Einsturzende Neubauten and Kraftwerk than Modest Mouse, and the prospect of such a band attracting a near capacity crowd at a large venue and keeping everyone interested for a full set is quite exciting. The Granada's sound, which I've complained about at least 15 times over the past year, was powerful and clear on Saturday, and AC used it to push all kinds of boundaries with texture, rhythm and electro noise as their weapons of choice. Worlds away from the avant folk of Sung Tongs or the warmer shades of Feels, Animal Collective's pieces were colder, more beat heavy and electronic than most of their recorded material, and the band relied on distorted noise build ups and sudden bursts of coherent bass and drum beats to set the audience up and knock em down like bowling pins several times throughout the set. Perhaps the most impressive thing about their collage of a set was the easy conveyance of joy that marked most of their music. Despite the loose structures of their pieces and the somewhat disorienting nature of the sounds they utilized, it was clear throughout that the band was having fun, not taking themselves too seriously, and well aware of the fact that most in the crowd were eating it up. The peak of the set came towards the end when the band began banging on live drums, sending the crowd into a frenzy and highlighting the power of their trance inducing rhythms and hyperactive craftsmanship.
Of course, I've seen some great experimental electronic sets this year, but what put AC's show over the top wasn't just the performance, but the reaction of the crowd. To see over 1,000 people cheer wildly for such adventurous music was very pleasing, and anyone in attendance who doubts whether an audience for this kind of music exists in Dallas (guilty as charged) was probably forced to rethink their position. I was sure this was the best show I'd seen all year about half way through the set, but what was so great was the crowd's roaring applause at the end, signaling that hundreds of people who might not have got what they bargained for apparently agreed with me.
The Theater Fire | The Dodos (Hailey's) Good show that I don't have much time to write about today, even though I do have time to tell you that I've only read good things about The Dodos' (formerly Dodo Bird) live shows, and that I've seen these guys compared to everyone from Liars to Animal Collective to Rufus Wainright. Not sure if I really agree with any of those, particularly the first one, but I guess I can kinda hear a less difficult Animal Collective here and there.
I imagine the majority of the readers here are too young to have seen Morrissey live in 1991. I was 11 and my only Moz experience at the time was my friend's older brother's "Smiths" cover band. The 91 performance that spawned the concert video "Morrissey: Live in Dallas" showcased the hysteria of Morrissey crowds during the singer's early solo career. Anyone halfway familiar with his live performances immediately visualizes stage runnings, rose throwing and pseudo-fascist synchronized chanting. For someone who seemingly dismisses the enjoyable, Moz has consistenly been an excellent showman, which is part of what makes "Live in Dallas" a strange artifact. Sixty minutes into the concert,when it's obvious security has no control on the audience's persistence, Moz storms off while his band is left shrugging their shoulders before they eventually join him off stage. It could have been worse. It could have been a riot.
Fast forward sixteen years. While Moz's hairline grows with his age, the pompadour retains its form, and even though LA's commuter culture hasn't been kind on his waistline, the voice hasn't aged a bit. In fact its remarkable how little has changed with this guy in the past 15 years. Stylistically, the music hasn't really evolved or transformed, and neither have his lyrical themes. While some may critique his output as formulaic, ask yourself: would you ever really want a radical departure from Moz? What would that even be? The concert on Friday was far more calm than the "Live in Dallas" video footage that could easily pass for a national front rally rather than a musical performance. It was enjoyable to watch him exchange trivial quips with the audience, partly because you could tell HE actually"enjoyed" it too. Morrissey live is great because it may very well be the only time and place where the old man lets his guard down a little bit. Age has apparently humanized the king of self loathing. Oh and yes... he played "How Soon is Now."
Morrissey "Everyday is Like Sunday" from Live in Dallas 1991
It's been a while since the last time I wasn't able to find anything to do on a given night, but I guess nights like this are just what happens after a blow out concert weekend like the one we just had. I honestly had a really good time at everything I went to:
Morrissey: I wasn't expecting much for Morrissey- I'm not a huge fan of his solo work for starters, and the prospect of watching a middle aged guy sing snobby love songs isn't exactly appealing on paper. In fact, the main reason I went to the show at all was because I wanted to see if Morrissey fans were as crazy as I had heard they were. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover what a great performer the guy really is. His voice and onstage energy are still highly impressive (voice sounds just about as good live as it does on record), and his band sounded fantastic throughout the show. It had been a while since I'd been to a big stage "concert event" like this, and I have to say that it was a nice change of pace. We'll have more on this show soon, but I will say that Palladium annoyed me a lot less than I thought it would, five dollar Shiners and no smoking policy notwithstanding.
Glass Candy: The new Art Club venue is worlds better than Avenue Arts as far as layout and atmosphere, with a real stage and a split floorplan design that makes the place seem more like a venue and less like some room with a bunch of bad art inside. Glass Candy sounded great inside the small venue, with Johnny Jewel's tight live bass carrying the strong syth disco rhytms and Ida's vocals coming through as more dramatic and noticeably bigger than they sound on recording. The whole thing had a dance party atmosphere to it rather than a "stand around at a rock show" vibe, which played a big role in making the show a success... what Johnny said in our interview the other day was true: Glass Candy played to the atmosphere in the room, and the crowd played a big role in the show.
Animal Collective: We'll have more on this show later too, but I'll just tell you that it was, in my opinion, the best show I've seen in Dallas this year. Period.
WED: The Theater Fire/The Dodos (Haileys) FRI: DJ set by Daniel Ash of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets (Cavern- Camel event) FRI: DJ Battle (Absinthe Lounge) SAT: One Year of Losing Our Asses Party (Secret Headquarters) SAT: RTX/Bob White and the F Electrics (Pastime Tavern) SAT: El Paso Hot Button (715 Panhandle)
We kind of decided to take the day off today, but we've got some stuff for you anyway. And if you're looking for something to do tonight, House of Tinnitushas a pretty good show going, and RPG, Record Hopand White Drugswill be at Rubber Gloves. We'll be back tomorrow with show reviews and other features, but for now you can enjoy this:
And Last Week's Good Records Sales Chart:
LOCAL TOP 5 1. St. Vincent- Paris is Burning 2. Mom - Echo Breath (CDR) 3. Voot Cha Index - The Talking House/Cradle 7" 4. Tame.. Tame and Quiet - Tin Can Communicate 5. Tree Wave - Cabana EP+
OVERALL TOP 20 1. The National - Boxer 2. Battles - Mirrored 3. Skeletons & the Kings of All Cities - Lucas 4. Voxtrot - Voxtrot 5. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (Deluxe) 6. Hot Chip - DJ Kicks 7. Blonde Redhead - 23 8. Handsome Furs - Plague Park 9. Feist - The Reminder 10. Mice Parade - Mice Parade 11. Jana Hunter - There's No Home 12. Page France - And the Family Telephone 13. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible 14. Dungen - Tio Bitar 15. Centro-Matic - Operation Motorcide EP 16. Elliott Smith - New Moon 17. Parts & Labor - Mapmaker 18. Efterklang - Under Giant Trees 19. Boris with Miichio Kurihara - Rainbow 20. White Rabbits - Fort Nightly
