And so do we... look for stuff later today and the rest of the week! And the comment numbers on the main page might not reflect the number of comments in each section for a while, so you'll just have to look to see if someone responded to your amazing insult.
MON: King Khan and the Shrines (the Loft) MON: Magic Lantern/Vibes/Robedoor/Totally Dad/Zanzibar Snails (J&Js) MON: Psychedelic Horseshit/Drug Mountain/Fungi Girls (Chat Room) MON: Viking Moses/Pictish Tail/Golden Ghost/Rozi Plain (Muscle Beach) TUE: Wavves/Abe Vigoda/Fergus and Geronimo/Fungi Girls (715 Panhandle) TUE: Efterklang/Human Highway/The Magic/Peter Broderick (Hailey's) TUE: Phosphorescent/Here We Go Magic/The Callers (Mountain House) TUE: Psychedelic Horseshit/Thomas Function/Yuppies/Lover! (818 Hickory St.) TUE: Marnie Stern/DD/MM/YYYY/Medications/Edie Sedgwick (The Lounge) TUE: This Bike is a Pipe Bomb/Mose Giganticus/Shellshag/Stupid Party/Hermit Thrushes (1919 Hemphill) WED: Japanther/Prizzy Prizzy Please/Drug Mountain/The Pharmacy/Rocket for Ethiopia (1919 Hemphill) WED: Box Elders/The Weakends/Frustrations/Bass Drum Of Death/Outer Spacists (Bunker Hill) WED: Skeleton Witch/Kylesa/Blacktusk/My Son My Executioner (The Lounge) WED: Roy G and the Biv/Prince William/Darktown Strutters/Schwa (the Lounge) WED: Devo (Palladium) SAT: The Deathset/Team Robespierre/Ninjasonik/Cerebal Ballzy/Totally Michael (The Lounge) SUN: South By South Flesh w/ Wavves/The Oh Sees/Abe Vigoda/Women and more... (the Lounge)
WOW. We had an absolutely overwhelming response to our My Bloody Valentine ticket contest. Several hundred of you entered, but don't worry-- we haven't notified the winners yet because we haven't had time to pick them, but we'll do it soon... so if you're waiting for that magic little email in your inbox, you'll have to wait a little longer. And Jesus Christ, there are some fucking shows this weekend (check our show calendar for even more)(post written by SR and DL)(also, the comments still aren't functioning properly, but we'll have that resolved this weekend and we'll update you when we do)
FRIDAY
Zanzibar Snails | Forbes-Young-Gonzales | Drink To Victory (Fra House) With all the hoopla concerning, well, just about everything this weekend, I'm stuck with the unexpected situation of being more excited about jazz-related happenings than anything else listed, meaning the Harvey Pekar event and this Fra House show. Mike Forbes, saxophonist, former Denton resident, UNT student, and one of the few musicians that could give Ryan Williams a run for his money as far as the amount of people he has collaborated with, pays his old town (and scene) a visit on leave from his current Chicago home.
Devin the Dude (the Lounge) Can't believe we forgot this... sorry!
Chicago has a very active underground jazz and noise scene, and Forbes has done well for himself, collaborating with the iconic noise/Now Wave/free jazz icon Weasel Walter, and helping to run a DIY Space called The Mopery.
I always considered Forbes a real "argument stopper" when discussing local music. He could hold his own on a crowded stage with the furious volume of groups like Notes From Underground, but seemed just as comfortable with any variety of dynamics and technique necessary to play with trained musicians in a small combo. Speaking of which, he'll most likely find himself in both situations tonight; playing through the avant fog of oscillations and violin noise in Zanzibar Snails, as well as improvising with the Gonzalez brothers. The very non-jazz, no-improv Drink To Victory is also performing, and we're excited about this show to say the least.
Centro-matic | Robert Gomez | Doug Burr | RTB2 (Dan's Silverleaf) This will probably be one of, if not THE biggest show at NX35 this weekend, thanks to the impressive staying power of Centro-matic, who have been one of Denton's best draws for a very long time, especially when they play Dan's Silverleaf.
Possessed by Paul James | The Theater Fire | New Science Projects | Delmore Pilcrow (Rubber Gloves) Possessed by Paul James is an Austin performer folk/blues/country songwriter who, with his scheduled appearances on tours like "Hillgrass Bluebilly North America," seems like a waste of time for everyone but "soulful" frat dudes. Fortunately, this is not the case. James, aka Konrad Wert, creates uneasy and arresting music that successfully straddles a line between vintage Americana and newer, indie/folk/pop at its least cringe-inducing. With a strong, compelling voice and a solid, raw cover of Lead Belly's "Bourgeois Town" as a Myspace page highlight, Possessed by Paul James might provide a pleasant surprise for those of us who aren't sure why most blues-based mid 20's singer/songwriter suburbanite types think we're supposed to buy their bullshit. Fans of M Ward and early Devendra Banhart will surely be impressed. The opening acts will be a solid compliment as well.
The Frenz | Jack with One Eye | Stumptone | Violent Squid | Sarah Alexander/ All Day BBQ and More (1314 Austin St.) A lot of bands will be playing this house show, which was advertised to us an "all day event," even though we're not exactly sure about the line up or when it starts. But since its Denton and its a BBQ and its a Saturday, I would guess mid afternoon at the earliest. A diverse and quality all local line up.
Silver Arrows | Tame... Tame and Quiet | Zest of Yore | Ella Minnow (Dan's Silverleaf) The former Denontines in the Silver Arrows have certainly maintained a solid fanbase in town, and we've told you quite a bit about Tame... Tame and Quiet over the length of the band's existence. Zest of Yore recently received a rather positive review in the Big Takeover Magazine and although I've only managed to hear a bit of their power-pop/Guided by Voices/Beatles influenced indie pop, you'll find most of it quite enjoyable if you dig the aforementioned references.
SUNDAY
M. Ward (Dallas Museum of Art) An interesting venue for M Ward to play but probably a fantastic setting for a show like this. And even if you don't actively listen to M Ward but still might enjoy some of his material (like me), you can look forward to all the attractive vegetarians that will surely be in attendance. Ward made quite the artistic and critical splash in 2008 with side project She and Him, and his newer solo material seems to take a bit from the more pop leaning approach of that project. The work generally doesn't suffer, however, and some of stuff on the recent Hold Time is among his catchiest and best, especially first single "Rave On."
Monotonix | The Show is the Rainbow | Beep Beep | Sybris (Hailey's) So I pretty much hate whenever I hear about bands who are "SOOO much better live than on record" and are "totally crazy" and blah blah blah. Who cares? Shows usually aren't that fun anyway. Well, the one band that is the exception to this rule is Israeli group Monotonix, who actually DO put on a "crazy" live show that is absolutely worth seeing any time, anywhere. They wowed a decent sized crown at the Lounge in Deep Ellum a couple months back, so much so that more than one person (myself included) claimed that it was the best show they had seen in Deep Ellum in years. And I mean this when I say it-- pretty much ANYTHING can happen at a Monotonix show (pictured above), including fires, vandalism, physical injuries and about anything else that could go "wrong" at a concert venue, including the pervasive feeling that you might be forced to join in the shenanigans at any time. The group runs around, hangs from the fucking rafters and still play some fantastically loud and aggressive garage rock that sort of transcends genres and just exists as mean rock music at its best. Nebraska's Show is the Rainbow plays a sometimes fun and sometimes annoying brand of "dance rock" that might not blow your mind all the time but adds a requisite amount of interesting influences (everything from new electro psychedelic like Of Montreal to IDM and hip hop) to make it a possibly nice set up for the main attraction. But no matter who opens, this show is highly recommended.
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone | Laura Gibson | Sleep Whale | Moth Fight (Dan's Silverleaf) I heard a pretty great CFTPA cover of some pop song (Gwen Steffani or some shit) on Radio UTD the other day that almost changed my mind about this guy. However, his small yet devoted fan base will surely be out for this one, so you really don't need me, do you?
The Baptist Generals | Spooky Folk | Mike Miller (the Hydrant) This show helps kick off the much discussed NX35 festival with festival organizer Chris Flemmons' band The Baptist Generals headlining at, uh, the Hydrant? I don't even know where the hell that is, other than "somewhere in Denton." Anyway, you may have seen a lot of "buzz" and relatively positive coverage of the festival in this week's edition of NX35's media sponsor the Dallas Observer, and there are certainly some positive things one can take from this festival-- for one, it might help raise awareness of Denton to a small degree, and the infrastructure that was put in place to organize the festival could very well serve as a skeletal blueprint to how future, improved NX35s (or something similar) could be run within the city, thus leading to a higher profile and a modest influx of cash flowing in to the city's music scene, and then, who knows? Maybe more. Maybe Denton will one day turn into a "must stop through" for relevant SXSW acts, or maybe become a festival destination of its own. Furthermore, there are a handful of quality local acts being showcased throughout the week's festivities, and that is never a bad thing, even if many of Denton's most interesting groups are not participating for one reason or another.
However, there seem to be some glaring issues concerning the way the festival has come together this year, and two of them are especially problematic-- For one thing, there just isn't a compelling list of outside touring acts participating this year. Other than moderately well known groups such as Monotonix, Riverboat Gamblers and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (who, along with James McMurtry are easily the biggest non local acts in the entire line up), the festival seems a bit clogged with SXSW also-rans. This isn't to say that none of them are good, of course, nor that a festival needs big commerical names in order to be successful. However, the out of town roster leaves quite a bit to be desired as far as quality, name recognition and diversity of sound (the overwhelming focus is on alt-country and folk), and this leads to the second issue-- the price of the festival badge: $65 for an all access pass and $50 for a night shows badge seems to be more than a little much, especially since many of the highlights of the festival (Baptist Generals, Centro-matic, Dust Congress, Make Believers, Theater Fire, etc) are groups that play in Denton constantly, on almost a weekly basis. Thankfully, Flemmons and company were smart enough to recognize the fact that many who wished to attend would prefer to pay individually for a couple shows rather than paying for the entire badge, which, unfortunately, calls into question exactly what this festival is if such a large percentage of patrons plan to pay at the doors of local venues to see mostly local acts at scattered times throughout the weekend as they mix with a few lesser known touring acts, many of which are regional. In some ways, that sounds like a typical weekend in Denton minus many of the exciting local groups who might not appeal to the festival's target demographic.
Of course, this isn't to say that there is anything wrong with any of this per se, nor that the festival will not be a success in the eyes of the organizers. It also seems as though many involved with NX35 are aware of and open to these issues and the need for improvement in the future, and some of the things they've done this year (such as brining in Harvey Pekar) are quite positive. It's just that I, for one, hope that the organizers learn from what they did right AND what they did wrong, and apply these lessons to putting on another festival that will present both a more exciting touring act roster and a local line up that truly reflects ALL of the exciting and relevant music currently being created in Denton. Best of luck to them.
We Shot J.R. is thrilled to announce that My Bloody Valentine will be playing in Dallas as part of a very limited club tour on Wednesday, April 22nd at the Palladium Ballroom, and the folks at AEG have been kind enough to give our readers a chance to win one of four pairs of tickets (EDIT: according to the band's website, tickets are already on sale here).
Most of you probably know the story of My Bloody Valentine backwards and forwards, but for those who weren't aware of the band's recent activities, here's a little update--
After releasing their almost universally celebrated masterpiece, Loveless, in 1992, the group sort of imploded, failing to release a follow up, and, after a brief period of time, ceased all live performances and band related activities. However, in November of 2007, the band announced that after more than a decade of inactivity, they would play a small series of shows in the UK, which was soon followed by several festival appearances and a small handful of North American dates.
This year, the band is set to play Coachella in April, and they have announced a very limited number of club dates in the U.S., one of which is fortunately taking place in Dallas (other shows will take place in Austin, Denver and Seattle as well).
If you'd like to win the tickets, please email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com any time between now and tomorrow at noon. Please give us your full name in the email body and make the subject line "My Bloody Valentine." We'll choose 4 winners at random. Good luck!
You may have noticed that we currently have a problem with our comment function. We thought that perhaps you had stopped commenting as much, but it has come to our attention that isn't the case. We are trying to get to the bottom of it, and will let you know when it's all better. As for now, it may take a couple of tries (if you submit a comment once and it doesn't show up, try refreshing the page ONCE, this usually does the trick), but still please feel free to say all of the awful things you usually do about our lack of talent, bad taste, poor fashion choices, and personal lives.
Disco: Hate | Madeline | Ham1 | Little Birds (Club Dada) Disco Hate is a Mount Righteous side-project, and Madeline is the ever-touring singer-songwriter from Athens that will be playing NX35 along with fellow Georgians, Ham1. I've only seen Madeline perform completely solo, sans mic even, and I'm wondering how her live show will be now that she has a backing band. If that's not a recent development, forgive me, it's been a long time.
I think it's important to mention that NX35 will have walk-up prices for each individual show. It's not a wristband-only situation as many, including myself, feared. So if there is a particular show you want to catch, you should just go to that, and not worry about getting a wristband. The Harvey Pekar event is wristband only, however.
Romp Almighty | Quick Chris | Jude (The Cavern) Romp Almighty is an extremely poppy duo from Dallas. They employ the kind of distorted yet happy-sounding riffs you don't hear from a lot of current, local, pop-rock groups and sound more like mid-90's, female-fronted, radio rock.. Quick Chris is the DJ tonight, and Jude, the visual artist.
Florene | Power Animal | Lite Brite | Sunnybrook (J & J's Pizza) This show is themed "Rivers & Tides," and I'm just wondering what makes all these kids so calm. Aside from some static and noise elements in Florene's music, this is a fairly serene bunch. How do they do it? Did they have really fun childhoods or something? Did they "participate" in extra-curricular activities growing up? I'm amazed that they can keep it together so well. I can't. I should mention that this show features Lite Brite, the side-project of Sleep Whale's Joel North, and I think I prefer these looser pieces to Sleep Whale's painstakingly constructed music.
Disqo Disco (Fallout Lounge) Tonight is special like Lowenbrau for Disqo Disco now that they have had their Tuesday at Fallout Lounge for one full year. Which is really bothering me, because it seems there is no way that could actually be true. Anyways, they have a playlist picked out for their event which Hunter Hauk has posted on his Quick Blog. Extra points for that Pointer Sisters track at the end. With all of the extra effects on it (courtesy of Pilooski), it winds up sounding like some reworked Les Stances A Sophie-era track by Art Ensemble Of Chicago. Tommy Boy, Schwa, and Keith P will all be guests tonight as well.
90's Night (Hailey's) Tonight's guest is Sober, along with Yeah Def.
