1. Something School Hip Hop Night (Slip Inn)
I'm tellin' you, its fun.... and the crowds have been really big the past couple of weeks, which according to one of the regulars is something that hasn't been happening there in quite a while. Until recently. Great DJs, nice people, and a good time. You'll hear mostly late 80s to mid 90's stuff here, which everyone knows was the golden age of hip hop anyway.

2. Mile End w/ Dj Laureen (Fallout Lounge)
Laureen made the cover of Quick today, which means that you'll probably see a nice sized crowd over there tonight, in addition to the good tunes that you always get at Fallout on Thursdays. You can do this AND the Slip Inn tonight. Truss it.

3. 80's Night (Hailey's)
The best 80's night you can possibly go to in DFWd to hear rare 80's electro.

It looks like the We Shot J.R. gang will in fact be heading over to Ft. Worth this weekend to attend the Wall of Sound Festival. We're not exactly sure what kind of festival atmosphere we will find at the Ridglea Theater, but if this event works out and makes enough people enough money, it will be a really great thing for DFWd music, since it might mean that they will keep the festival going for years to come and hopefully draw some national attention to the area.

And while we recognize that there will be a few crap bands playing the festival (read: The New Year, Deathray Davies, Daryl, Red Animal War, Radiant,etc.) there will be many more great bands there, making it well worth the drive for Dallasites that usually don't venture past the 35/635/White Rock Lake/Trinity River circle, and Dentonites that usually just stay home and smoke pot (Not that there anything wrong with that). Below is the list of bands we want to see, and when and where they will be going on:

SATURDAY:

Noon- Fra Pandolf (Main stage)
2:45- Shiny Around the Edges (Upstairs stage)
4:30pm- The Southern Sea (side stage)
5:30pm- Black Angels (main stage)
6:00pm- Red Monroe (main stage)
7:30pm- The Angelus (side stage)
8:30pm- Record Hop (side stage)
9:00pm- Midlake (Main stage)
9:30pm- Mazinga Phaser II (Upstairs stage)
12:30am- Low (Main stage)

SUNDAY:

noon- Man Factory (Main Stage)
12:30- Smile Smile (Upstairs stage)
3:30- What Made Milwaukee Famous (side stage)
6:30- The Theater Fire (side stage)
7:15- Happy Bullets (upstairs stage)
9:30- Sound Team (upstairs stage)
10:10- The Octopus Project (main stage)
11:30- Starlight Mints (Main stage)
12:30am- Okkervil River (main stage)

This list consists of some bands that we know we like, some bands we kinda like, and other that we are curious about due to various recommendations. If anyone else can think of another band that we didn't include but is really really great none the less, please let us know.

We will be doing coverage of the festival all weekend, including pictures and what have you, and we're going to try to see as many of these sets as possible. We'll see what happens.

tickets and info here.

As is often the case these days, Denton is the place to be tonight. Shocker.

1. The Pharmacy | Eat Avery's Bones | Mathstorm | Chief Death Rage | Nouns Group/Daniel Francis Doyle (J&J's Pizza- Denton) First of all this is a FREE show, and BYOB as always. Also, we pretty much like every band that is playing at this thing. This show will be worth the drive for anyone that is curious about what is going on in Denton lately. I know its a bitch of a drive for Dallasites, especially on the weekdays, but give it a shot. Wednesday is the new Thursday anyway.

2. The Party w/ DJ Nature (rubber gloves-Denton)
The usual. If you're up in Denton for one of the shows tonight, you should do yourself a favor and stop by.

An Albatross is also playing at Hailey's tonight, and while we aren't huge fans, we figured that some of you were.... so there you go.

Heres a new track from Wanz Dover's Black Arm Band that we're diggin on these days (as in today)

"Life, Love and..." Link

1. As usual, Wanz will be hosting one of the most interesting DJ nights in town (Lost Generation) upstairs at the Cavern. He'll be playing a mix of experimental, noise, kraut, and a lot of other stuff, including some music from his own Black Arm Band

2. Metrognome Collective (Fort Worth)
Oso (don't know anything about them) and Tame Tame and Quiet (good band) will be playing tonight for 5 bucks. BYOB.

I'm the kind of person that didn't "get" the first Strokes album... at first. Back in 2001, most of my friends immediately fell for the eternally catchy Is This It, but it took me several listens to get into it at all, and several more to start picking up on why everyone else liked it so much. Point being: I'm slow, and rock music usually doesn't hit me very fast, even when it is super poppy and easy to listen to (like the Strokes). Considering my M.O., I was very surprised when Washing Machine's song "Heart Like a Megaphone" burned itself on to my brain upon first listen (I wonder if anyone else had the same experience hearing the song on the We Shot J.R. myspace page over the past few weeks). I was even more shocked when I discovered that there are several other Washing Machine songs that are almost as instantly catchy and just as interesting as "Megaphone," despite the fact that these guys have only played one or maybe two real shows. After one quick listen, I wanted to know more.

I know I know. You're sick of hearing about the great new band that has only played one or maybe two real shows. Me too. But Washing Machine have actually been playing together for a lot longer than that, and you'll hear the proof almost instantly. A couple of years ago, Mike and Earl Hanson (cousins) got together to record some bedroom demos that would later be the foundation for Washing Machine. Some time later, they started adding different people into the mix and crafting a bigger sound with a new focus on live instruments. Adding Brandon Alvey on guitar, Gomez on keys, Jason King on synths and theremin, and Catia Quinones on xylophone and percussion caused the Washing Machine sound to change quite a bit from its original incarnation on the demos, but everyone liked what they heard and decided to move forward. The group practiced for a fairly long period of time before recording or playing live, slowly tightening their sound and actually, you know, trying to sound good before they started playing gigs. But just as they got ready to venture out and play in public, their drummer decided to quit. So that he could move to South Africa to play drums in a Russian circus. Not kidding.

This forced them to cancel some shows and reconsider what they were going to do next, considering that finding a drummer in DFW who doesn't completely suck is pretty hard to do. Fortunately they figured it out pretty fast, somehow, and recently played what we think was their first show with My Heart is a Machine, with what we think was a temporary drummer. (we're a little foggy on who played drums at that gig, but we know for sure that they are looking for a new drummer, and are accepting applications on their myspace page)

Washing Machine lists a lot of Elephant 6 bands as influences, and although we can see a connection due to their occasional use of horns and the airy pop sensibility that makes itself instantly apparent, we also hear a lot of bedroom pop in their songs (like Magnetic Fields, Russian Futurists, Skeletons, etc.), along with a light touch of Chicago post rockers like Sea and Cake, some Starlight Mints, and yes, a little Of Montreal thrown in for good measure. But really, they don't sound a lot like any of those bands, and we can already tell that they are going to sound less and less like them as they continue to create new material. To put it simply, they sound like a band that is actually crafting something new out of their influences rather than just sounding like them.

If you haven't heard these guys yet, download the tracks below. Because if there is one new band in Dallas that will immediately get your attention, one that has us genuinely excited about their future, it is Washing Machine. And you'll probably only have to listen once.

"Heart like a Megaphone" Link

"Days go By" Link

"Technology" Link

Days Go By and Heart Like a Megaphone are kind of quiet for some reason, so turn em up.

Don't point that finger at me you prick. Yes, he was once one of the most simultaneously powerful and corrupt majority leaders in modern congressional history, but now he's going to have to go back to spraying Bug B Gone around the edges of peoples yards in some crappy suburb of Houston (Yes, that is in fact what he used to do before he ran for congress). Its official: Tom DeLay will NOT seek reelection this year. This probably had something to do with one of his top assistants pleading guilty to conspiracy over the weekend and promising to help the government's investigation into DeLay's dealings with Jack Abramoff. Or maybe baby Jesus told him to do it or something.

And although it is somewhat surprising that it took THIS long, considering that the guy ran a modern day Christian right wing free market version of Tammany Hall for several years, we can still look at this as a small victory for common sense. Here is the Dallas Morning News article.

Its pretty sad when not even Karl Rove can save you from your fuck ups, isn't it?

Oh, and here is a Time magazine piece on his retirement. Its really funny. DeLay claims that he smiled in his mug shots because he "wanted people to see Christ through him." Blow me.

There will be a free Mexican food buffet from Pepe's Y Mito's upstairs at the Cavern during Cee Pee's Dj set, where a listening party for the new Flaming Lips album will be taking place. You should go for the free food and the good music that CeePee will play, but I've gotta say it: the new Flaming Lips album sucks. Like, really bad. Like, their worst album in more than a decade. Has anyone else heard it? If you haven't, and you like the Flaming Lips, get ready to be disappointed.
Shit goes down at 10pm.