Fizzy Dino Pop | Darktown Strutters | Sore Losers (City Tavern) It's easy to lose track of some of the things going on in your old stomping grounds when you move away to a new city, but one thing that certainly hasn't escaped my attention is the rising acclaim of Darktown Strutters-- it seems that the group's name keeps popping up more and more on Twitter and in conversations with friends in the area (especially when I came back to visit for the holidays) and on nationally respected MP3 websites, and such pleasantly surprising developments are quite welcome around WSJR HQ. Of course, the new level of attention doesn't surprise me because I didn't think the band was good, quite the contrary-- we were saying whatever we could about them within days of first hearing their material-- but it does surprise me simply because the group's sound seemed at first like it would be a bit inaccessible to a lot of people who weren't quite familiar with where the band was coming from. However, taking a listen to their music for the first time in a little while has sort of made me realize that I was probably over-thinking all this stuff before-- these songs are infinitely easy to love, and Darktown Strutters seem to get better and better every time I encounter them. In fact, I think its safe to say that they are easily one of the most interesting and impressive new groups in Texas, and I'm glad that a lot of new people, both in and outside of Texas, have started to take notice over the past few months.
Joe Nice | Soy Capaz | Distinct | Dragon Man (Plush Basement) For those not keeping tabs, Baltimore's Joe Nice is one of the key figures in the American dubstep scene, and was in fact one of the first DJs in the country to start regularly playing the bass heavy music on the East Coast (right around the same time that our own underappreciated Jason Mundo started doing it), and for fans of underground dance music, not just dubstep, his appearance in Dallas is a big deal indeed. Sounds like there's a pretty serious after-party going down in celebration of this show as well, and if you were smart you'd check out both, because we hear Joe might spin at both spots.
Joe Nice After Party with Bassick | Blixaboy | DubtillDawn/Travis Elliot (711 Elm St., Dallas) Starts around 2am and goes all night.
Mount Righteous | Giggle Party | Mr. Troll (Andy's) As I've always said, Mr. Troll has a great and honest voice, and that's what counts when it comes to singer-songwriters. I don't know why the Grapevine/Lake Dallas music scene has a weird allegiance to Andy's that stretches back to the early 00's, but that's just the way it is. "Stubbornbanites?" " Stubburbanites?" I just named the Mount Righteous live album. You're welcome. (DL)
Riddlore | MC Homeless | DJ Sober (Phoenix Project) Oh great, a "socially conscious" rapper... why do people always do stuff like this so wrong? And MC Homeless? Are you serious with that shit? Did you get kicked out of the dorms or something?
Kampfgrounds | Peopleodian | Final Club (Dan's Silverleaf) Thanks Kamprgrounds for cheering me up a little bit after having to endure listening to that MC Homeless bro. And Peopleodian sounds like they might be kinda good but I couldn't really tell from the seven seconds of material on their Myspace page.... and trust me, that's usually more than enough to know. (SR)
I just want to add that I received a tip that this Yeah Def curated event at Dan's(!) is Final Club's first show, and the epic instrumental tracks on their page are very promising. They sound like payoff and climax passages plucked randomly from the collective catalog of several "buildup rock"-style groups, but without the boring part where you have to wait eight or nine minutes before the drums even kick in. The guitar effects are used tastefully, and though I usually despise anything "tasteful," everything sounds like it's just the right amount here. I don't know if these tracks will remain vocal-free but we'll see; as it stands, they seem like they could stand up on their own. (DL)
Boats | Stoned Men | Sabertooth Snatch | Collick (Rubber Gloves) Boats are a slightly endearing pop punk group that pulls from all the classic punk influences that are popping into your head right now.
The Watchers | Joey Lawrence Gets A Coke Problem | Colossi | Medicine Buddha | A Smile Full Of Ale | Steel Hook Prostheses | Welby (Good Records) Once upon a time I never would have imagined such a show taking place at Good Records; in some ways it almost seems downright cruel, and in the event that a high schooler comes in wanting to buy Passion Pit or Phoenix, accompanied by a parent out for the new Tom Petty live record, well, both dad and lad (or mum and lass) are in for a shock. This is a noise/improv/experimental/whatever you want to call it show. We've been over this and I'm sure you don't need another "writer" stumbling through those thorny and controversial genre labels. Though some of it might actually appeal to the teen willing to give it a shot, mom and dad are probably a no-go. Though I do see middle-aged folks at these shows all the time, they probably aren't your parents. Remember Mothers Against Noise? That was fake, right? A Smile Full Of Ale is probably the most accessible act here, which isn't a bad thing; his music tends to be more structured, and he takes the one-man-band approach to a place seldom attempted. The other artists will feature everything from completely formless oscillations to calculated aggressiveness and tortured obliteration, sonic destructiveness etc. Just go to this. I like shows at Good Records and I hate being bored, so this is the perfect mix. I promise no photo booths are involved. (DL)
Why can no one write a fucking artist statement that actually states anything?
I torture myself every once in a while by forcing myself to read the various artist statements tied to these shows. The process often goes like this: I understand what the artist statement is trying to say, and I like their artwork -- but the two have absolutely nothing to do with the each other.
A prime example this week is Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum's artist statement (exhibiting this weekend at Conduit Gallery, see below), explaining how she:
[...] explores cultural residue: those things we carry that connect us to a place or to a person; those traces that are communicated -- as story, as ritual, as "mouth music"-- and are transmitted between bodies and across landscapes.
sunstrum's most recent work [...] embodies [her] notion of simultaneous selves-- selves that are trans-cultural, trans-historical, trans-geographical. She/they are on a mythic quest: the hero in a ritual of self-mythology and fantastical autobiography.
I think her artwork looks great, but what the fuck does this statement have to do with what she's doing (take a look at her portfolio)? And mouth music? I'll show you some mouth music.
Artist statements are either completely wheels off nuts and unrelated like that, or they're so completely generic that they don't say anything about anything at all. For example, great artwork by artist Gregg Coker (opening at Craighead Green this weekend, see below), but this accompanies it:
In light of my present work, I am concerned with the form and its relationship to the space around it, as well as the area between the viewer's eyes and the surface of the painting. I want the viewer to be confronted. I want the space between the work and its audience to be charged. At the same time, I am concerned with the vastness within the painting itself. I am interested in the play of scale and the sensation of weight and tension in my work.
Is that not what the entire point of a fucking painting is? Jesus Christ. Why not just not write an artist statement and save yourself the future embarrassment? Artists across the planet should band together and refuse to allow another single artist statement to be created ever again.
For fuck's sake, if you're not already famous for your art, you probably don't have anything new to say. Just shut the fuck up!
Lemuria | O Pioneers | Empire Empire | Stymie | Genius Party (1919 Hemphill) Briefly: Lemuria wears its 90's Influences on its collective sleeve, and I can respect that, since they're upfront about it. They reminded me of long-gone Sub Pop act, Hazel, and upon double-checking the comparison, they really do. Empire Empire continues with the big-guitar 90's sound, and O Pioneers has that really tough-yet-perfectly enunciated vocal delivery that either makes the singer seem really serious and articulate, or really silly and overbearing, depending on your take on things. Though I sometimes miss that singing style, a vocalist is often doing you a favor by purposely slurring and covering it all with reverb and filters. Trust me you don't want to know what most of these jokers are saying. No Dad, that's not Bill Shakespeare over there. One more note: I avoided the punctuation in the band names. It's all too much. This show starts in thirty minutes, so hurry.
Scarcity of Tanks, No Endowments Julian Lynch, Orange You Glad Atlas Sound, Logos Intelligence, Fake Surfers OOIOO, Armonico Hewa Eat Skull, Wild and Inside Woods, Songs of Shame Nothing People, Late Night Black Dice, Repo Mount Eerie, Wind's Poem Subway, Subway II The Strange Boys, And Girls Club Memory Tapes, Seek Magic The Hunches, Exit Dreams Lotus Plaza, The Floodlight Collective Atom, Liedgut Tim Hecker, An Imaginary Country Wet Hair, Dream CFCF, Continent Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart,s/t: A lot has been said about the Pains of Being Pure At Heart's self titled debut this year, but what stood out to me the most was its boldness and simplicity-- in essence, it came off as a well crafted and joyous break from a lot of the trends we've seen throughout the past decade, even if such effect was unintentional. Listening to highlights such as "Come Saturday" and "Tenure Itch" felt like a triumphant call to former indie pop nerds and people who were conscious of underground music before the Strokes (or even Nirvana) to once again embrace a simple guitar pop record that took influences from C86 and Shoegaze but also recalled what one might refer to as "college rock," a term used to describe the more pop oriented, pre-grunge underground music played on college radio stations in the mid and late 80's. Although there have been plenty of fashionable groups that have borrowed from C86 over the past few years, the Pains record actually felt more like an artifact of that time than any other, and the fact that it also inspired flashbacks to Lewis Largent and early Teenage Fanclub videos only made the fantastic songwriting feel that much more important, because in the end, this record truly does measure up to many of the best records that were actually released during the era from which Pains took inspiration in the first place, and it was quite refreshing to hear a collection of songs that almost ignored the last ten years all together. Genre exercise? Perhaps a bit, but it was nice to be reminded of the extraordinary rush that "indie pop" has mostly failed to provide for the better part of a decade.
Black Meteoric Star,s/t: DFA's Gavin Russom seems to have spent the past several years tragically flying under a lot of peoples' radars, and although his Black Meteoric Star project probably won't elevate him into the realm of hipster electro superstar, it certainly cemented his reputation as one of the more tasteful and talented electronic producers to have emerged in the past decade. Like a strange mixture between Tangerine Dream, Manuel Gottsching and Acid House, Russom utilizes exclusively analogue equipment here to create a record that overwhelms the listener with the woozy wobbles of the Roland 303 while using repetition and compositional simplicity to allude to early electronic music, resulting in a highly psychedelic yet tangible dance music experience that serves as a very effective reminder of why people like Steve Aoki need to be ignored for eternity.
Dam-Funk,Toeachizown: Although it might seem a bit ridiculous to refer to an artist that spends time remixing Animal Collective tracks as "Gangsta" or "G-Funk," much of what you've read about Dam-Funk's stunning epic of a synth funk record is absolutely true, and it turns out that its one of the most pleasantly surprising full lengths of 2009. Damon Riddick, aka Dam-Funk, has created a sort of retro-future funk adventure that feels epic in both length (two discs roughly one hour a piece) and content. Riddick has been running a very popular DJ night in LA for a while now, and the record comes off as the perfect soundtrack for cruising around that city late at night with a blunt and not a care in the world, taking cues from 80's synth funk, Prince, early 90's west coast hip hop production, early IDM and contemporary hip bedroom dance pop (as evidenced by his collaborations with Nite Jewel) to create an astonishingly refreshing sound that soars with a keen knack for nasty funk hooks but still feels intimate and relaxed, simultaneously reminiscent of both the inherent isolation and the indifferent, almost vacant sense of calm and satisfaction that seems to pervade Los Angeles at all times.
Tyvek,s/t: Although not everyone seems to agree with me, it felt almost impossible to listen to Tyvek's self titled debut full length without thinking of early Pavement (and by extension, Swell Maps and the Fall), and it was a good thing indeed-- with all of the sub-par lo-fi and chillwave and shitgaze material that's been grabbing so many blogspot headlines over the past couple of years, it's fantastic to hear a slacker punk rock record that actually pulls off this kind of inherently tossed off brilliance without any sense that the group is forcing it or trying to appear is if they aren't trying. Tyvek's mostly nervous, choppy art-punk is certainly full of its own kind of urgency and tension, but the delivery is gloriously amateurish and self aware, and on their first full length, the band sounds as if they're having a lot of fun deciding whether or not to give a shit about anything, and its hard not to identify with their nihilistic plight.
Real Estate,s/t: "Beach Comber," the jaw dropping opener to Real Estate's debut full length, pretty much sells the entire record from the moment it begins-- with a breezy lead guitar line that commands attention with its catchiness while seemingly floating around in a pleasantly warm dream-like head space, the track exemplifies Real Estate's approach to guitar pop and sets the stage for a record that beautifully conveys a sense of sedintary longing for a more pleasant but unattainable past-- the feeling that the party is over, but there's nothing you can or really want to do about it. This sort of topical material has certainly been covered in the past, but Real Estate is undeniably on to something uniquely their own-- although you'll hear bits and pieces of identifiable influences here and there (everything from bossanova to self titled Velvet Underground to the Byrds to Galaxie 500), there isn't one particular sound that comes across as borrowed or overly indebted to anything that has come before it, and the freshness of the group's approach is truly welcome in a year like this. The topics of youthful transgression, endless leisure and suburban disillusionment are all dealt with here in a manner that recognizes the ups and downs in a comfortable yet lonely existence, and Real Estate's true achievement is delivering the kind of emotional depth necessary to explore the aforementioned topics with a gentle, escapist sound that's as easy to enjoy as it is to get lost in.
Matrix Metals,Flamingo Breeze: There are a lot of contradictory pieces of information floating around out there concerning who exactly was involved in the making of this record-- was James Ferraro involved? Is Sam Meringue a collaborator with Ferraro or a pseudonym for Ferraro (its the former, but some people aren't so sure)? Of course none of this is made any easier by the fact that Ferraro once apparently allowed Meringue to release a record under his name, but after a few listens to this mysteriously fuzzy lo-fi dance record, these questions start to become less and less important as the anonymity of its maker(s) sort of turns into an asset for a strange and captivating piece of bedroom dance that doesn't really need a face. Although not extraordinarily different from a lot of the releases that have come from this crowd in the past few years, the Matrix Metals project is a more coherent and beat reliant record than you might expect-- reminiscent of the sound of a worn out early 80's synth funk or disco cassette, Matrix Metals focuses on rhythm and succeeds in the sense that it takes some of the most captivating parts of the Ferraro/Ducktails/Not Not Fun tape culture sound and streamlines them to make them more coherent and even kinda sorta danceable. It's a tough sell for an aesthetic like this, but a successful one none the less. Sure, there isn't an incredible amount of new ground covered here, but Flamingo Breeze is enough of a compositional achievement to be a must have for fans of this scene, and for those interested in delving into the world of Ferraro, Clark and Meringue for the first time, Matrix Metals is a fantastic place to start.
Pictureplane,Dark Rift: Although classic house and tongue in cheek 90's commercial dance influences are anything but novel these days, Pictureplane's Dark Rift sounded like the record I had been waiting for someone to make for a long time now. Rather than coming off as a throwback or an obvious pastiche ready made for the speakers at Urban Outfitters, this music presents itself as a well worn collection of fuzzy memories of dance music's past, working within the structures of Acid House, Dancehall and MTV's The Grind to reference the collective foundations of contemporary dance music as abstractly as one possibly can while still crafting what are essentially pop songs that, in fact, can be danced to. This is undoubtedly a party record, but its a smart one, and its standout tracks constantly bring one thought to mind-- why hasn't anyone thought to do it like this before?
Ga'an,s/t: Chicago's Ga'an sort of came out of nowhere for me this year with a self released record that took inspiration from goth, prog, krautrock and drone and then twisted them all up to make something surprisingly unique and lacking in foundational history. It's been somewhat difficult to acquire a whole lot of useful information about this band for me, but the engaging and dark ride provided by the only recorded material I've heard from them speaks for itself, and if you are able to get your hands on this release, you'll probably agree that its probably only a matter of time before we start finding out a lot more about this group.
Sun Araw,Heavy Deeds: This was certainly one of the head-fuck records of the year for sure, but Sun Araw's latest went far beyond hip stoner fodder, digging deeper into the psychological make up of its creator in order to mine some truly inexplicable but endlessly fascinating ideas that felt bolder and more important than anything Sun Araw had done up to this point. Raw and infectious funk serves as a background structural base for much of the record, with eerie vocal samples dancing around in the foreground as Cameron Stallones constructs massively joyous, loosely structured odes to Gospel, synth driven psyche rock and drugged out paranoia. There's a tangible dark side to all of it, and the contradictory unease and bliss found within these tracks makes them difficult to define and impossible to deny.
Neon Indian,Psychic Chasms: It seems almost pointless to start a discussion about the increasingly rapid buzz to backlash cycle in the MP3 blog world these days, but the criticisms of Neon Indian's self assured debut were mostly so off base (at least in the comments sections of this website), that one can't help but wonder what exactly it was that motivated such harsh words. How did Alan Palomo put this together? What samples did he use? What ideas did he borrow? Has someone done this before? Does he play "real" instruments? Is Palomo even old enough to remember the 80's? I can honestly answer all these questions with "I don't know and I don't give a shit," because Psychic Chasms' primary accomplishment went far beyond stroking nostalgia or being the best "chill-wave" album of the year. Instead, Alan Palomo transcended both his old projects and the ridiculous "genre" that Neon Indian helped birth with a selection of endlessly catchy pop songs that showcased his ability to simply write better music and present it in a more compelling manner than almost anyone attempting anything similar these days. The fact that he also happens to be better at marketing himself and making his music work for him than most people his age certainly isn't something to hold against him, either. Instead, the h8rz should take a time out and realize that this just happened to be Neon Indian's year, and Psychic Chasms did a lot to demonstrate that for once, a blog buzz sensation might have a real chance at having more than one good turn around the hipster marketing cycle.
Kurt Vile,Childish Prodigy: I can't believe I'm about to write a paragraph in support of a record that sometimes reminds me of Bob Seger, but in a decade in which more or less everything has become fair game for reinterpretation in underground pop music, it really shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone who's been paying attention. Of course there's been quite a buzz brewing in honor of Philadelphia's Vile for more than a year now, and although he's been associated with a lot of the more popular "lo fi" names that you're already familiar with, Kurt Vile approaches his sound with an entire different result in mind. Although alluding to lo fi indie pop and even drone here and there, Vile's shining moments come in the form of salt of the Earth rock songs that are full of nods to Americana, the Boss, Tom Petty and other straight forward rock n roll mainstays while also maintaining the intimacy of a bedroom pop songwriter who might easily be making music only for himself. This low key feel works quite well throughout, and instead of conjuring up images of rock n roll icons, the tracks on Childish Prodigy inspire images of a group of guys in a basement who are themselves recalling iconic American rock and making it their own, and the result is considerably more immediate and endearing than almost any other guitar rock record I've heard in quite a while.
Emeralds,What Happened: These days it seems like drone records are a dime a dozen, and there aren't too many other genres covered on this website that are more prone to sameness and ambiguity when the material is mediocre. Cleveland's Emeralds distinguished themselves from the pack this year by crafting a collection of compositions that are more moving and memorable than most would expect from the kind of band the revels in synth experimentation and counts Brian Eno and Popol Vuh as influences. The beauty lies in the movement of these pieces, which draw from early ambient music and electronic drone as the listener is brought up and down along with the build ups and breakdowns, hanging on every note while never quite knowing what will come next. This kind of music is difficult to describe and the experience of listening to it varies more from person to person than is possible to imagine, but Emeralds are clearly tapping into a sound and a feeling that many of their peers don't seem to be aware of, and the proof reveals itself slowly and unexpectedly, just as a record like this should.
Bibio,Ambivalence Avenue: I'm quite certain that many long time Bibio fans probably reacted to Ambivalence Avenue the same way I did the first time I heard it: "Wait, this is Bibio?" With Ambivalence Avenue, Stephen Wilkinson branched out quite drastically from a stylistic standpoint, moving away but not totally abandoning his Boards of Canada/British Psyche folk roots while exploring everything from lo-fi funk to dance pop all while somehow retaining enough of his signature sound to keep most of his fanbase quite happy. The big changes found on this record could have easily ended up sounding unnatural or forced, but Bibio pulls everything off remarkably well, exploring new territory and sounding extremely comfortable doing it-- this is certainly a breakthrough for an already fascinating project.
Blues Control,Local Flavor: Although its perhaps the most overtly "rock" record to be found in Blues Control's impressive discography (which still isn't really all that straight forward), Local Flavor loses almost none of the uniqueness and mystery found on other Blues Control releases while diving into twisted psyche rock full force with newly developed awareness of strucure. This is clearly the strongest release as of yet from this group, and one of the more conceptually adventurous records to be put out on Siltbreeze in the past few years.
Ganglians,Monster Head Room: Ganglians are a group that seem to have gotten their shit together about as quickly as one could possibly hope-- Monster Head Room was the second record they released this year, and it stood out head and shoulders above their previous material with more fully fleshed out ideas and stronger pop leanings. Throughout the record, Ganglians take on a lot of different inspirations and sounds-- think Beach Boys, Garage Rock, CSNY, Bakersfield, and 60's psyhe pop, but they manage to own it all, with startlingly catchy tracks such as "Voodoo" and "Violent Brave" that might demonstrate a great deal of promise, but primarily satisfy on a much simpler and more enjoyable level.
The Max Levine Ensemble | Mass Sterilization | Occult Detective Club (605 Texas St. in Denton) This all-punk lineup of bands includes touring act The Max Levine Ensemble, who were somewhat famously dissed by Ben Weasel on his radio show last year, and that makes yet another instance where the only thing notable about Ben Weasel is that he made fun of some band. Pop punk vocals really grate on me so The Max Levine Ensemble isn't really my thing, but I find it hilarious that Ben Weasel makes fun of anyone, considering the quality of his own work in both Screeching Weasel and The Riverdales, two bands that ruined many a high school afternoon when I got mixed up with the "wrong crowd." In the past, Weasel's rants have caused me to feel sympathy for acts that I generally despise, specifically his memorable slam on Cap'n Jazz. And I hated that band. Weasel's point is basically that if you like The Max Levine Ensemble, and you also like his music, what has he been doing wrong all these years? What has he been doing wrong, indeed.
The other two acts are much more along the lines of punk I actually do listen to, and Occult Detective Club is unabashedly poppy without really delving into the overly cutesy pop-punk vocal stylistic territory, or at least flirts with it in a way that isn't so painful. Mass Sterilization is a brand new act that just played their first show this past Sunday, and though I was initially told that the band was supposed to be slow, sludgy, and messy or similar to Flipper, it turns out that the group is just as likely to attack with hardcore speed and ferocity. The group manages both disciplines quite well, and includes members of Koji Kondo, Trifle Tower, and Teenage Cool Kids.
Punk Bunny | Darktown Strutters | Black Barbie (Rainbow Lounge located at 651 S Jennings Ave in Fort Worth) Shockingly vulgar and comically sexual dance-punk act Punk Bunny returns once again to North Texas, though this time it will be at The Rainbow Lounge in Fort Worth; unfortunate site of an awful police brutality controversy this past summer*, but a fantastic place for this show. No matter what you might think of Punk Bunny's music or ridiculous antics onstage, they achieve two of the most important objectives for any artist in my opinion:
1. Be entertaining, by any means necessary. 2. Be completely unforgettable, also by any means necessary.
This is a solid lineup and a show that will certainly be worth your time.
*The Fort Worth Police Department's investigation has concluded and was reported on today as it turns out. Video here.
Multi-talented Dentonites, Shane English and Jonah Lange will be spinning Cold War Twilight-era vinyl as a one-off event at Hailey's tonight; no word yet on whether or not this will be a regular occurrence. I'm hoping that's the case since the 80's void left by the departure of DJ G will take a few deep diggers to adequately fill. English and Lange will be focusing mostly on "fringe 80's culture", ie No Wave, Post-Punk, and Industrial, and promise not to play a single track that was recorded after December 31, 1989. Damn, I wish it was that day right now. Fuck this "future" shit.
On a somewhat related note, why didn't anyone tell me that Crash Course In Sciencereunited? Damn it.
Just the weeklies tonight... Oh, and effective immediately, if you don't list your upcoming show on the shows list, it won't go on the It List. Thanks for understanding.
