1. Black Angels/Blackheart Society- Dark Side Lounge (Deep Ellum)
The Black Angels ep is fantastic; it sounds like Ian Curtis fronting Velvet Underground and playing Brian Jonestown Massacre songs. They are a local Austin band but are getting national attention due in my opinion to the fact that unlike most local bands, they actually have a good singer. Blackheart Society have a pretty good cover of Syd Barrett's Gigolo Aunt on their Myspace page, but thats about all we know of them, other than that their singer seems to really like Neil Young.

2. Happy Bullets- Double Wide: Now that the Strokes sound like Batman, maybe we can go to this show and just pretend that opening band the Valentines is the Strokes. Its too bad because they look like nice kids, and they're actually a pretty good little pop band. I just know that the first time I heard their songs, I felt like I had already heard them 8 million times over the past four years. Then I realized I had. Oh well, they're playing with Happy Bullets, so it might be worth checking out just for the funk of it, considering you can hear a little Arcade Fire in em too.

3. DJ Nitwit Psychic Drive In- Fallout Lounge: The crowd usually sucks at this thing, but the music and videos are great. I recommend getting high before you go.

4. Black Arm Band/Mazinga Phaser II/ Unconscience Collective- Sanctuary Studios: I don't know anything about these bands, but shows at Sanctuary are usually interesting. The last time I was there I saw some industrial band playing jackhammers while some kid screamed into a microphone with his pants off. Thats always worth checking out since its only 5 bucks and BYOB.

Thats all for tonight: email us with any more info. weshotjr@yahoo.com

Didn't get to make it out to any of the shows we wanted to go to last night because we ended up getting drunk and therefore being lazy. There was also a bong floating around the general area, and that certainly did not motivate us to go hobnobbing at Double Wide. Did anyone catch Paper Chase's set or the Shapes last night? If so, send me an email and tell me about it, or maybe give me some pictures to post. More to come later today.

So I know its almost hip to be a republican scenester these days, but fuck you and fuck that. Its really great to see that this joker finally developed the common sense to step down. As a bleeding heart hippie commie queer, I'm of course happy to see this guy go for ideological reasons, along with the fact that he reminds me of every "self made" redneck in Texas who has stumbled across a little money and decided that the world owes him a favor. Republicans should be happy too, however, because this guy really has a great face for the Democrats to use as a symbol of corruption in the upcoming midterm elections. With the Abramoff thing going full speed ahead, it might be hard for them to avoid being labeled as the party of corrupt special interests, but at least we won't have to see this prick's ugly mug when it happens. Its also good to see that the Justice Department has somehow maintained enough independence to investigate Republican corruption. With all the shit going on on Capitol Hill these days, imagine how many more investigations would be taking place if there was a Democrat in the White House, and therefore a Democrat Attorney General. Yikes!

Oh yes- if you like the blog, be a pal and stop by the myspace page become our friend. We love new friends! Oh, and heres the link.

1. Paper Chase- Sanctuary Studios: A good band to see live in a cool venue

2. The Shapes- Doublewide 10pm: One of my special favorite Dallas bands that reminds me of Beat Happening and the Vaselines

3. Hard Day's Night- Lakewood Bar and Grill: Duh, Beatles!

4. Super Love Attack- Hailey's in Denton

IT

Srange Boys
Tah Dahs
Happy Bullets
Shapes
Paper Chase
Pilotdrift

SHIT

Burden Brothers
Polyphonic Spree
and so many more that I can't even think of... more to come

1. Every day, I will post "Today's 'It' List" which will contain items of interest for they day such as good shows, parties, Dj nights or whatever. You can send information that you want me to write about to: weshotjr@yahoo.com, and if it sounds good, I'll post about it. You can also send me pictures, albums for review, or anything else. If nothing is going on that day, I will simply not post an "it" list.

2. There will be two lists of local Dallas bands that both change from time to time. One will be the "It" list and the other will be the "Shit list." This is self explanatory.

3. Most days I will write a little something. Usually about Dallas music, but sometimes about bands from outside of Dallas, politics, art, books, whatever. Some days I will make multiple posts and some days I won't make any. But you'll see new stuff all the time. If you would like to write something and post it, email it to me and I will consider adding it, and will give you full credit for it if I do.

4. I can be pretty rude sometimes. Just remember that a lot of the offensive things I say should be taken lightly.

Thanks

At first, I was planning on writing a little something about the most overrated artist of 2005. It was to be called "Sufjan Stevens- Making English Majors Feel Hip Since 2001," but I decided that I would better serve the public interest by writing about the most underrated band of 2005, something that you might actually want to listen to. And that band is Akron Family. Whats that you say? I didn't get a best new music email about them from Pitchfork? Well fear not, reasonable indie rock consumer, they did make a couple year end lists, and you probably shouldn't pay so much attention to people that listen to Clipse anyway (check #15). Their split CD with Angels of Light that came out this year might not have had the impact that other indie releases did (see Wolf Parade, Caribou, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), but it is just as strong as any of those, and certainly more timeless and ambitious in scope. On their CD with Angels of Light (not to be confused with the full CD they released earlier this year), they sould like Brian Wilson fronting The Police and playing covers of Radiohead versions of Modest Mouse songs. Their contribution to the split, the first seven tracks on the album, contains the qualities of avant garde expiremental song structures with bright sun shine pop fighting the noise to get through to the surface. And yes they do sound a bit like Radiohead, but so completely different and new at the same time that it will matter to you very little once you start actually listening to the record rather than playing "spot the influence" with the guy at CD World. I'm actually suprised that more people don't rank them with Animal Collective and Oneida as one of the best New York art rock/folk bands around, because they are without a doubt just as experimental as those bands, yet much more accessible than either at the same time.

And maybe thats the problem with Akron Family AND Hipster publications like Pitchforkmedia. Akron family won't ever be as "cool" as Animal Collective because they are much easier to listen to, and writers for Pitchfork and record store clerks and the jerk down the street that reads Brooklynvegan every day don't get off from talking and writing about accessible music. They are in fact around to point out those bands that you "really have to take the time to listen to." Anyone can pick out a good pop record, play it, and enjoy it. We don't need pitchfork for that, and they don't want to do it. They want to tell us about German microhouse, avant garde jazz, and music that you can only dance to in theory. Thats fine, I like a lot of that music too, and I usually agree with those people on most of the records they like. However, because they are the tastemakers, and they have a desire to publicly announce their love for "difficult" music, bands like Akron Family will never be held in the same esteem as Animal Collective or Can simply because its not as fun or rewarding to point out how good they are. That fact certainly shouldn't make anyone hesitate before listening to a record that is just as fun to listen to as it is to talk about.

JR- weshotjr@yahoo.com