Maybe not the easiest way to start your Monday, but what the hell:

(Contributions from SR and DL)

Whats the deal with Sunday being the shit this weekend?

FRIDAY

Black Mayonnaise | A Fail Association | TEF | SDS | Church Of The Apocalypse | Brokenizer/Goat/Blast Beat (House of Tinnitus)
Almost overwhelming lineup of varying degrees of extreme at Tinnitus tonight. Black Mayonnaise released a record on the venerable Emperor Jones label and are at times even more accessible than I expected. The music is crawling atmospheric doom-sludge with drum machines, bass rumbling and distantly ominous vocals. I read a review comparing it to Sleep if their production had been done by DJ Screw. Imagine that. The rest of the show features some of Texas' brightest sound manipulators. A Fail Association has some real ear-gouging insanity on their page with some impressive stop/start work occasionally rising from the din. SDS employs short-wave radio for their creations. I've even heard that a member of Denton's Burnt Sienna Trio will be participating which is somewhat surprising considering BST is about as far from noise as you can get. Hopefully, that will get some of the uninitiated out to Tinnitus. When one of the group descriptions is simply "all out war", you can at least count on not being bored even if noise isn't usually your thing. Don't be afraid.

Record Hop | White Drugs | How Hard (Secret Headquarters)
Record Hop's last show with their current drummer, which is a shame because he was excellent. White Drugs had the opening track on our Projection comp. last year and I hear they're a good dirty live experience.

Mugzu | Shaolin Death Squad | Knee Pad | The Timeline Post (Rubber Gloves)
Mixed feelings about this one. Mugzu is definitely a solid metal band and they will be missed as they have been around forever, are locally respected, and this is their last show. So that alone is reason to witness this performance. However, if you can somehow avoid seeing the tragically awful Shaolin Death Squad, please do. I mean, it's great that they can play their instruments well. That does display a certain amount of intelligence. Ted Kaczynski was intelligent. Don't use your skill for pure evil. I don't mean pure evil in a cool headbanger way. I mean it in the worse-than-a-war crime cheese prog novelty metal kind of way. Yeah, please don't do that.

Tame...Tame and Quiet | Radiant | The Paper South (Hailey's)
Yet another show where Tame...Tame considerably outclasses the rest of the bill. The Paper South features members of American Analog Set for fans of that band.

SATURDAY

Wild in the Streets will be doing a set of classic French pop at the DMA (In the Atrium) from 10-1130.

Silk Stocking | Warren Jackson Hearne(J & J's Pizza, Denton)
J & J's Pizza on the square in Denton celebrates its 10 year (!) anniversary with two of the darkest acts in North Texas. Makes perfect sense.

Stumptone | History At Our Disposal (Secret Headquarters)
History At Our Disposal is a somewhat hushed and sometimes experimental rock group that has mostly been a recording project and has played out sporadically. Stumptone is a psych influenced big guitar band that has one of the most ubiquitous logos in all of local music.

The Theater Fire (The Chat Room in Fort Worth)
A great place to catch The Theater Fire. I'm not a huge fan of hanging out in bars but I never mind spending an evening at The Chat Room. It's so comfortable and you can check your e-mail and read all the hateful letters and anonymous comments while sipping a Long Island Iced Tea. Paradise.

SUNDAY

Of Montreal | Elekibass (Gypsy Tea Room)
You know what? If Gypsy is actually going to close down at the end of March and transfer the balance of its events somewhere else, this show might be one of your last decent opportunities to head out there and say your good-byes (if you're the kind of person that likes to say goodbye to inanimate objects). And actually, it should be more than decent. Say what you want about a lot of Of Montreal's earlier work (much of it is less than great), but Hissing Fauna, Are you the Destroyer?, their latest, is pretty exceptional. Kevin Barnes has obviously grown into a complex and unique songwriter, and the new record does quite a good job of capturing the inherent contradictions that make Of Montreal shine when they are at their best. The exuberant indie pop elements of their music might be a turn off for some, but when you consider the interplay and push/pull between the compelling electro/synth and bad trip psychedelic paranoia that set them apart from many of today's fashionable popsters, you start to discover the uniqueness and worth of their sound. I'd give the new record a shot, even if you haven't dug their previous stuff, and if the past live perfomances I've caught from them are any indication, the show should be well worth your time.

Kevin Barnes will also be playing a solo set at Good Records.

Danny And The Nightmares (Daniel Johnston) | FishboyHappy Bullets | Two Star Symphony (Granada)
One of the few artists to make the It List that would be considered a "legend". It's been a personal goal of mine to see Daniel Johnston and I'm glad to get another chance for the first time in years. Two Star Symphony is a string quartet and they had some enjoyable staccato-tinged instrumentals on their page. The bands getting to open this show should consider it an honor.

Quest Love | Yameen Allworld | Sober | Select | Neva Dug Disco (Minc)
This will probably be one of the most packed shows all weekend so go early. Sober, Select and Questlove. That might be the best lineup I've ever heard of at Minc.

Akkolyte | Tolar | Man The Conveyors | Expresion Clandestina (1127 N. Clinton Ave. Dallas, TX)
I saw some intense footage of Akkolyte playing Snake Eyes Vinyl in Austin from last week that made me even more excited to catch this house show than I already was. Grindcore/hardcore isn't for everybody but Akkolyte has earned many admirers that usually wouldn't attend a show like this through their almost unbelievable ability and diversity. A band that Dallas should be proud of. They did the bass and drums duo thing long before it was cool. Note: Show starts promptly at 6PM and ends sharply at 10PM.

Due to a computer freeze, we've had to do a bunch of work on the weekend list twice. We'll get it posted ASAP. In the meantime, you can go read the Observer's preview of the Trout Fishing in America concert or whatever the hell they previewed this week.

The typically wimpy congressional Dems are, for the first time, trying to do something to actually stop Bush's misguided, stubborn and ineffective Iraq policies as opposed to simply expressing their non-binding disapproval of them. We need more where this is coming from.

No time to write for you today, but here are some shows you might be interested in:

Eat Avery's Bones | Koji Kondo | Heart Rapers | MC Router (Rubber Gloves)

Oh No! Oh My!/RTB2 | Eaton Lake Tonics (The Cavern) w/ Zoo going on upstairs

80's Night With DJ G (Hailey's)
Lost Generation w/ Wanz Dover (Fallout)

Monsters Of Pot | The Mojo Spleens | 1-800-ZOMBIE | Judascow (1919 Hemphill)
Monsters of Pot is a Midwestern noise group that sounds like they'll most likely put on a deafeningly intense show. Their track samples consist of ear-ringing ambient frequencies and static-scapes complete with harsh yells reminiscent of Whitehouse. And as if their name wasn't warning enough, watch your weed ladies and gentlemen. The group has threatened to "smoke all of the weed in Texas" after the show. Tourmates The Mojo Spleens are a surf-rock band. Judascow is a local noisemaker who sometimes shows projections to accompany the chaos. 1-800-Zombie is an 8-bit electronic duo with cutesy "Wordy Rappinghood" sounding vocals. They're from Keller and I'm sure you're all aware of the ultra competitive Keller 8-bit scene. You're not? I guess you're not as hip as you thought.

Sober | Select (Clear Lounge)

Violent Squid | Phalanx | Adam Duc Trio | Final Fight | Heartrapers (Dan's Silver Leaf)
Violent Squid will be performing a set at this Habitat For Humanity Benefit at Dan's tonight with pizza provided by J & J's. Their music is constantly changing so it's interesting that they're playing in a "battle of the bands" setup. I'm usually opposed to such shows but it's okay since it's for a good cause. Don't know much about the other groups except that I wish Final Fight had a website since I've heard good things about them.

Sticky Buns And Friends Dance Party (Rubber Gloves)
It's Valentines Day and if you've given up all hope and have been contemplating death because you're completely alone, miserable, unloved, and unlovable then this might be a good place to get cheered up. Sticky Buns is sticky funz.



Flashlight Party (Hailey's)

Benefit show for The Family Gateway Center featuring The Black Angels | White Ghost Shivers | Shanghai 5 | The Tah-Dahs (Granada)
The Family Gateway Center is an organization that provides various services to the homeless and families in crisis. This show features some of the state's most beloved acts including the ever popular Black Angels. They will be playing their set while Hal Samples provides some background visuals. Film shorts by Samples will also be shown in between acts. White Ghost Shivers are another Austin group that have rather anachronistic influences and they've been impressively entertaining when I've seen them. Tickets for this show are $10 and $15 and doors open at 7:00. So if you go, don't show up at 1:20 in the morning like everyone else in Dallas.

(And I really should add: if you saw the Black Angels live like a year or two ago and didn't dig it, you might want to give them another chance. Their live show has improved greatly over the past 6-12 months, and the last time we saw them at Gypsy, they sounded incredible.)

Astro Jazz Quartet (Pearl)

Music is from 8-11. Show is free.

Bridges and Blinking Lights | Swim Swim | New Science Projects | Nouns Group (Club Dada)
So it's New Music Tuesday at Club Dada and here we have four bands and I'm not sure if any of them are all that new. Well, they might be new to somebody I suppose. Bridges and Blinking Lights is a pretty straight ahead rock group from Denton that has been around for what seems like forever. New Science Projects is another one of those acts that you can never tell if it's one person or a whole group and their page has at least one pretty memorable song with a dark almost cabaret type melody. Swim Swim plays poppy songs and will have an excellent opportunity to increase their local profile by opening up for The Polyphonic Spree in March. Nouns Group has a violin and a lot of yelling.