"are just that-- small bits of something interesting that never manage to coalesce or build momentum."
Ouch. Furthermore, reviewer Larry Fitzmaurice is critical of the length of many of the tracks as well as the way the record itself sounds:
"All of these complaints are just minor quibbles, though, next to the album's greatest weakness: it sounds terrible. Every element of every song is mixed way, way into the red. Throughout, nuance and layering are discarded in favor of an annoying sonic antagonism."
Double ouch. But as a person who has spent time listening to this record quite a bit lately as I've attempted to prepare a full length review, I have to agree-- Homemade Extacy just isn't much fun to listen to. Yes, many of the songs are entirely too long, often clocking in at six minutes plus and giving the listener the feeling of running in place; and yes, the record is mixed terribly and is often physically difficult to listen to, but not in a good way. Unfortunately, however, I found the songs lacking even moreso than Pitchfork seemed to-- the truth is that Florene's debut sounds too harsh to be psychedelic and mesmirizing, not rough or interesting enough to be confrontational or challenging, and the whole thing puzzlingly lacks the beats needed to make it the least bit danceable. There are a lot of good influences to be found throughout, and the group seems to know its way around an XLR8R magazine, but it was tough to find much to like about their execution on record. You can buy it here if you want to hear it for yourself.
Erykah Badu | B.o.B | Janelle Monae (Verizon Theater) Badu is playing to her hometown crowd, in support of her most recent release, New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh, but of course the conversation for months on end has been about almost anything but her music. Now a lot of people may groan about that, and with eyes rolled, talk about how "music is just sound" and if you "write good songs" that's all that matters etc., but that's never the entire story. Some people are just so interesting they can get away with music that isn't always well-written, or the catchiest, or contains the best beats, or any music-as-sports cliches about what makes any piece of art "the best" or better than any other.
Now with Badu, I think her music has definitely had different levels of successfully catching your attention; sometimes willfully unconventional and sometimes unabashedly destined-for-the-charts. When she's at her best, it's a little of both. However, I think the distinction between her and her peers is that there always seems to be this push, or effort to constantly reach outside of the often strict and rigid structure of what makes a hit record for someone having to worry about moving a ton of product every couple of years. That's something that most people just can't fathom even if they are trying to follow the hoary rules of showbiz.
Badu's video for "Window Seat" was such a local scandal that it became the leading story on the DFW nightly news for days. That's something that has pretty much never happened with any artist in Dallas music history as far as I can tell. If you have a better example, please let us know. You can call it a publicity stunt, exhibitionism, performance art, hey, dismiss it however you want but I will say this: Anytime I've been outside of Dallas since the video was made or talk to out-of-town friends, they are fascinated by this event, and want to know everything they can about how it was perceived around town. There was a certain amount of actual shock here. Somebody from Dallas actually made an artistic statement and people reacted. A lot of people reacted. The police got involved. Discussions were had. This wasn't the work of some overpaid hotshot publicist or a backroom label deal to get a video played on some hip website. This was an actual expression that evoked natural reactions: both good and bad, but passionate either way. And this wasn't from some underground metal or noise act or a performance art extremist, but someone with many eyes on her and everything to lose. Actual guts, actual feelings hurt, and a longtime local stigma shown with a brand new perspective by way of a pretty low-tech video and a few shed articles of clothing. Badu radically pushed much needed lofty and ambitious concepts back into pop music if even for a bit, and I gladly discuss the video she made over plenty of other things I'm sick of being associated with in the never-ending discussion of Dallas music.
Screening: El Laberinto Del Fauno AKA Pan's Labyrinth (Texas Theatre) Wow, and what do you know? An actual movie is playing at the Texas Theatre. What do you think Dallas? Are we still the "City Of Hate?" Or are we "over it?"
There are a couple things we know and don't know about this show. What we do know is that the line-up tonight features Pete Shelley / Steve Diggle / Danny Farrant / Chris Remington and they will be playing their first two albums in their entirety. The press release also says they will be playing "hits" which hopefully means all of Singles Going Steady. What we do not know is if the guys can reproduce the youthful punk blast of joy that so many of us love. If the double live album Driving You Insane from 2005 is any indication we should be in for quite the night. After party will be at Fallout Lounge with Soular Power.
This is going to be the last show for Giggle Party as Dallas residents, and since The Handsome Kitten is also the residence of Giggle Party this will also be the last show there as well.
Solid line-up for bands that usually require the audience to stand in a basement or equally un-air conditioned setting. The show is free for 21+ so there is nothing holding you back from walking back and forth between Rubber Gloves and here.
Little Black Dress is one of the worst names for a rock band since Deep Blue Something. Surprisingly enough Little Black Dress features members of Deep Blue Something. Get ready to be proud of your music scene again Dallas!
Sir Name features members from one of my favorite local bands from previous times Street Hassle who then became Touch Tongues. After previewing the Myspace stuff this new incarnation seems to have retained the Exile on Mainstream-esque sludge that made Hassle so great but with a more direct pop approach. Reminds me in parts of New York Dolls and the similarly Stones influenced Royal Trux.
I could give two shits about any kind of professional sport, especially one played predominately by foreign people, but this is a really fun song and might come in handy if you plan on hosting a World Cup party. Air Miami were not from Miami but from Washington D.C. and consisted of ex-Unrest band mates Mark Robinson and Bridget Cross. This EP features five remixes of the song World Cup Fever originally featured on the 1995 4AD release Fun, Fun, Fun. I might be wrong here but I do believe this is the only American born soccer pop song. So as a favor to me and all the other non-soccer fans can we keep all World Cup discussion to this thread. Thanks!
