TUE: Harlem/White Drugs/The Frustrations (Rubber Gloves) WED: Paul McCartney (Cowboys Stadium) WED: Ear Pwr/Toro Y Moi/Giggle Party (Pastime Tavern) THU: Halflings/Geronimo/Xrin Arms/Lychgate/Psychic Violence (House of Tinnitus) THU: Bat For Lashes (the Loft) FRI: Church of the Apocalypse/Divorce/Lil Foot/wu fru de lu/Welby/Colossi (Wasted Words Collective, Arlington) SAT: Dungen/Woods/Matthew and the Arrogant Sea (The Loft) SUN: Lil Wayne/Young Jeezy/Soulja Boy (Starplex)
Blixaboy | Anthony Stanford | Personal Victories | H...N (Fallout Lounge) Wanz Dover is hosting a new bi-weekly "variety show"-themed event at the Fallout Lounge, that will include a mix of DJs and bands, with Dover (Blixaboy) himself closing out the night. Acts this week include DJ Anthony Stanford, as well as the open-ended wash of twin guitar duo H...N. Finally, Personal Victories work as conveyors and collaborators of George Quartz, and I'm told that the group acts as a separate entity in addition to this collaboration. Farah had to cancel but should be back next month. Like Pooh Bro said, "Oh, bother."(DL
AV | Select | VMB (Zubar) This serves as DJ AV's birthday party, and if you show up you'll hear a lot of hip hop, reggae, and latin dance stuff, and a good time is almost a guarantee.
Hockey (Granada) This is, for some reason, a FREE show, and you can get on the guest list or whatever by RSVPing to jcprsvp@yahoo.com. I mean, I can think of a lot of reasons why I wouldn't pay to see this band, but I imagine there are a lot of people around here that wouldn't mind paying at all, so I'm puzzled. Either way, though, Capitol Records' Hockey are from Portland, OR, and you'd be surprised by that, actually, because they don't really sound like they're from anywhere. I mean, shit-- they just sort of sound like The Killers, MGMT, Passion Pit, IMA Robot (remember THAT crap?) and a bunch of other vaguely "indie" stuff, and its so bland, streamlined and marketable that it won't even piss you off, because its clearly meant for people ages 12-16 that really haven't heard anything released before 2004. Hockey also pulls one of my favorite lame band moves-- they have a song where they accidentally make fun of themselves. Check out their track "Too Fake" on their Myspace page. The line in the chorus where the main bro says "I'm just too fake for this world" is particularly humorous.
Slow Roosevelt | Element 80 | System Overload | Hardway Down (Trees) It will be interesting to see how this ultimately turns out, booking wise anyways. Just because this show isn't exactly the Trees I have any fond remembrances of, that's okay. I think it's more honest. Some of my best memories from Trees aren't from watching the big national acts in a small setting, but rather from laughing at the barrage of bad Dallas bands that unjustifiably opened for said acts. Does anyone remember Pluto? The acoustic heavy band with a lead singer going off in an Vedder-voice about how his dad "thinks he's a pussy." What an uncomfortable lyrical era that was. Honesty is overrated. (DL)
Los Campesinos | Girls | Smith Westerns (the Granada) First of all, the packed show at Mable's in Denton last night was pretty fantastic all the way through, and Chicago's Smith Westerns were probably the highlight, although Fergus and Geronimo played an extremely well received set that I enjoyed quite a bit. I did kinda like some of the noisier stuff that the much buzzed about Girls did last night, but all any of us could seem to focus on was the fact that the lead singer reminded all of us of Dave Pirner from Soul Asylum. Even people who are way too young to actually remember Soul Asylum were saying so, and the fact that some of Girls' songs actually sounded like The Replacements meets doo wop didn't help matters. They are one of those bands that sound much better live than on record. Anyway, headliners Los Campesinos are sort of a strange band actually-- stylistically, their material is all over the place, everything from Yo La Tengo/Built to Spill influenced indie pop mixed with a distinctly British brand of pop punk. Not the most amazing thing you'll ever hear, but fun and mostly solid. But really, don't miss Smith Westerns-- I know they're like teenagers or whatever, but trust me.
ADD: Buzzer | Impediments | Uptown Bums (Cool Beans Roof) I haven't been in years, but I remember really loving Cool Beans' roof. San Francisco's Impediments remind me of a lot of first wave west coast punk, and the few songs I've been able to listen to were all fantastic, and truly sound like they could have been made way back then-- translation: not a shitty hipster rip off that just ends up sounding like indie garbage (which seems to be the case more often than not with bands who are supposed to sound like this). Tourmates Buzzer are quite similar in style and quality, and are maybe slightly more reminiscent of British groups with a touch of the Saints and Flying Nun thrown in for good measure-- this should be a great show, especially with the solid Uptown Bums opening. Kind of sad that I missed this yesterday, but I fucking work for a living you assholes. JK luv u mean it!
Dani Deahl | Disqo Disco | Passenger Panda (Fallout Lounge) The guys from Disqo Disco brought Dani Deahl to Fallout Lounge a few months ago and it was one of the better times I've had there in quite a long time-- the music was great and the place was packed. Deahl apparently had so much fun that she decided to come back and spend her birthday in Dallas, and we're lucky she did. You can stop by Disqo Disco's blog for a post on Deahl and a link to her latest mix, and we can tell you for sure that she knows what she's doing-- she runs Calamity Jane Records, an off shoot of the highly respected Rhythm, and she writes for URB and BPM magazines, among others. You might want to get to Fallout early on Saturday if her previous performance is any indication in the interest level people will have, and especially if you like house music, which is what she'll likely be focusing on.
Marilyn Manson | Slayer (Starplex) The only portion of this show that's even worthy of discussion will take place for one hour, starting at 827 PM on the "Rockstar" Main Stage, when Slayer will play. Every other horrible band on this rather large bill sounds like fucking Paul Simon's Graceland compared to them. Duh.
Fishboy | Iji | Watercolor Paintings (Hailey's) Kinda running out of time to write here, but Iji's naive indie pope sounds at least moderately interesting.
Dallas Record Convention (Westin Park Central Hotel Dallas located at 12720 Merit Drive in Dallas (located just south of 635 exit# 19 B aka Coit) This is apparently Dallas' first record convention in three years, and it's not a moment too soon. I have had to do a lot of shopping out-of-county, out-of-state, and even overseas if I can*, so this comes as a very welcome surprise. I have had a lot of "expert's luck" at these conventions, especially considering some rare scores like a Pere Ubu live record featuring a killer cover of The Seeds' "Pushing Too Hard," and a VHS tape featuring the odd pairing of Clan Of Xymox 4AD promos with a Bedhead live show. It's the kind of place where you can get a good estimate on the value of your Moe Tucker solo project t-shirt. True story. More info here (*I know I sound like an asshole, but I hate ordering records online. BORING.)
Smith Westerns | Fergus And Geronimo | Teenage Cool Kids (Mable Peabody's) Somebody please tell me we weren't just arguing about math rock versus punk rock on here the past couple of days. Somebody please tell me we aren't arguing about the definition of lo-fi. Come on, I can't do this again guys. I'm not seventeen anymore and it's not 1997. I had to grow up and start listening to João Gilberto solo albums and ordering Americanos instead of espresso shakes. It's like all late 90's up in here lately. Anyways, I'm going to avoid delving into such philosophically treacherous subject matter, and just tell you that this will be a very good show, sure to satisfy pop-defending squares and snotty seven-inch collectors alike.
Smith Westerns are from Chicago and they mix in slower glam grooves and rhythms than you would typically find on a typical power pop/garage rock record these days. A Marc Bolan resemblance is often mentioned in reviews, and the group has validated that by citing him as an influence. The band seems more memorable as a result of sounding more like T-Rex than The Standells or Mystic Tide, as is often found with acts lumped into this category. And speaking of being seventeen, these guys are all like eleven or something. You know that WSJR loves middle school-core.
Fergus and Geronimo are back from a string of successful New York City dates and this is the kickoff show for what will basically be three months of touring if you consider the amount of time spent on the road between F&G and shared-member act Teenage Cool Kids all the way into the end of October. That's three months of excruciatingly hard work for most of these guys, but it's also three months away from this petty and semantically obsessive music "scene." Fellas, wait up! TAKE ME WITH YOU!
DI | Spector 45 | Scary Cherry And The Bang Bangs (Somewhere in Lakewood) Look it up, I refuse to type the name of this place since they refused entry to my friends and I once based on our appearance. Also: beware of reunited punk bands with Myspace pages done in comic sans.
Waxy 100 The Encaustic Center 580 West Arapaho, Suite 271, Richardson, TX 75080 August 14 : 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
I'm actually going to go to this because A) it's literally in "The Richardson Heights" and B) encaustic has really grown on me over the last year. It's a really old art form dating back several thousand years, some pieces of which still exist. Jasper Johns used it for his Flag paintings. Evidently, "the event will include a demonstration by Bonny [Leibowitz] on Painterly Techniques and Deanna [Wood] on Painting and Collage." Featured image in encaustic by Deanna Wood.
5 x 7 is a fundraising road show from Austin's Arthouse. They're peddling 5" x 7" boards with original art on them for $100 each. The coolest part, though, is that "All pieces are displayed anonymously – only when you purchase a work of art will you discover who created it."
Home Grown Emerging Young Artists Melissa Archer, Thomas Colley, Maria Cortes, Alex Hamrick, Rudy Jacoby, Huy Nguyen, Zeke Raney and Olivia Rodriguez Upper Room Gallery of Unity Church of Christianity 3425 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75206 August 15 : 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Young enough that none of them seem to have any web presence whatsoever, except Alex Hamrick, whom you've seen here before.
A Memorial Celebration for the life of Andrew F. Sie Stan's Eye Light & Sie 129 Leslie Street, Dallas, TX 75207 August 15 : 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Evidently Andrew Sie died at the beginning on July due to "long-term" illness. The first half is the memorial, then the second half is going to be a selection of works from Stanley Light's personal collection.
Bowerbirds | Megafaun | Matthew Gray (Hailey's) Bowerbirds are a North Carolina folk duo who have garnered a considerable amount of attention for their mostly traditional, pastoral Americana folk, and have notably gained the approval of the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle, along with a spot opening for him on tour. The group released their sophomore LP, Upper Air, last month to respectable if not ecstatic critical praise, and the rather muted compliments found throughout many of the albums' most positive and high profile reviews are understandable-- most of their material is similar to what you've probably heard over and over again throughout the past half decade if you've been following trends within this strand of "indie folk" even casually, and although many of their tracks could be called "lovely," which something reviewers really like to say these days, "boring" would be another appropriate adjective for these mostly predictable songs that vaguely deal with the connections between humans and animals and other shit like that while copping the stylings of everyone from Devendra Banhart to Phosphorescent in the process. Even the duo's back story-- isolating themselves in the woods to make music thats honest blah blah-- has become pretty tired by this point. Not that I'm not all in favor of hippiesters leaving the rest of us alone in our villages as they journey to the middle of nowhere to connect with some kind of something, but lets just give it a rest, alright? We know you still managed to get high speed internet access out there.
And speaking of making records in the wilderness, Megafaun are former members of the band DeYarmond Edison, along with Justin Vernon, who is better known today as Bon Iver, the namesake of a project which proves that sometimes, some bro recording folk songs in the woods actually results in something worth listening to. And although Bon Iver is excellent in its own right, Megafaun take a much different approach, utilizing kitchen sing percussion and several part melodies to produce experimental Americana thats actually interesting, as their association with the always fascinating Akron/Family might attest. They are certainly the band most worth watching this evening.
ADD: DECADES with DJ Nodad (Rubber Gloves) Forgot about this one-- Dj Nodad will be spinning records from different decades every hour, working his way from the 60's on up. Projections will be going on as well. FREE for 21 and up.
Dear Human | Tambersauro | The Space Love Gambit (Death House, Denton) Complicated Math Rock guitar parts.... tons of tempo changes... polished instrumentation... emo tendencies... mostly instrumental? No thanks. And bands, please quit calling yourselves "shoegaze" just because you use a lot of distortion on your choruses or some shit, ok? Oh, and Tambersauro-- the world doesn't need a Rollins Band revival. Really. I'm serious. Don't know where Death House is, actually, so maybe someone could share in the comments.
free los campesinos, girls and smith westerns tickets
I'll make this short and sweet because you already know what's up-- Los Campesinos. Girls. Smith Westerns. Saturday night at the Granada. 2 pairs of tickets. Thanks to the Granada. Email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com to win. Do it before 5PM Wednesday. Thanks for reading.
What's up everyone? It's Monday again, and there isn't a whole lot going on this evening (as usual), but I thought we could talk about a few things. Is that ok? I mean, we're friends, aren't we? Isn't that what friends do?
First of all, strangely enough, Pitchfork has recently taken notice of Denton's Sunnybrook, posting a track on their "Forkcast" that we first discussed here more than 14 months ago, entitled "Waving Hands" (although they've shared a re-recorded version of the song) . Way 2 b 5 blog years late, broz. Anyway, Pitchfork's posting comes in response to last week's announcement, via Gorilla Vs Bear, that Sunnybrook has just completed a new EP that appears to be nearly ready for self release. We haven't seen or heard a lot from Sunnybrook's Paul North over the past year, but it would probably be reasonable to expect to hear a lot more in the very near future. Pitchfork also posted tracks from Denton based Abacus today as well, if you'd like to check those out. Looks like Denton has really been making some national waves recently, doesn't it?
Second, I've been listening to a lot of new music over the past few weeks, and I was wondering if you guys would like to discuss some of the stuff released this year that you've been digging as of late? Recently I've enjoyed new and relatively new stuff from Box Elders, Ooga Boogas, Dinosaur Jr, A Place to Bury Strangers, Health (a fairly drastic change from their debut, by the way, but excellent), Neon Indian, Ga'an, Malibu Falcon, Subway, Smith Westerns, Deastro, Delorean, Headdress, Oneohtrix Point Never, Talbot Tagora, Tyvek, the new Vivian Girls, and the list goes on. So whatchu got?
This evening you can check out the usual: Cool Out at the Cavern and Jazz at the Amsterdam Bar.
ADD: And I don't know why we keep forgetting this, but Mayhem Monday is happening at Fallout Lounge tonight, featuring Stefan Gonzalez and DJ Meco Seco spinning lots of hardcore, thrash, grindcore, death metal and more. You should go.
