Ok pals, so we have a lot of tickets to give away this week, and I figured we'd do it all right here right now, in one big post. First, our friends at the Granada hooked us up with:
1. three pairs of tickets to Digable Planets on Tuesday night. If you want to win these, be one of the first three people to email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com with "Digable Planets" in the subject line and your full name in the body.
For the rest of the shows below, we'll choose the winners randomly-- just email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com any time between now and Wednesday at Noon with the name of the show you want to see in the subject and your full name in the body (feel free to enter for multiple shows if you want)....
2. Three pairs for Danielson @ Granada on Thursday
Skeletons | Sydney Confirm | Florene | h...n (Club Dada) Skeletons are a group that I've been listening to ever since I first stumbled across their debut in early 2004, and I'm still having trouble figuring out a way to describe them. This really isn't much of a surprise considering that many of their label mates on Ghostly International present similar problems, but pin pointing their influences can be a bit challenging. It isn't that their music is particularly inaccessible or unclassifiable, it just difficult to figure out what the group is really trying to be sometimes, and fortunately, this confusion is ultimately a good thing. You can hear a wide range of influence in most of their material, incorporating everything from the hyper psychedelic musings of Silver Apples to the quiet, electronica side of post rock a la Sea and Cake and the innocent wide eyed disco of Arthur Russell (probably the most pronounced influence) but what really stands out, aside from the group's dark, surrealist lyrics, is the overall pop bent that ends up erupting into the foreground of their best work. At the end of the day, a lot of this stuff ends up sounding like pure R&b sweetness, although perhaps on an acid come down. This is generally cheerful electronic pop that never forgets to remind you of the dark side of life, and I highly recommend it.
Doomhawk | Filth Mattress | Division of Power | Big Fiction | CsygnusPsyanide (Exploding House) Seattle's Doomhawk plays a very theatrical kind of metal (kind of liked a tripped out Dungeons and Dragons take on black metal) that should take on an oddly appealing character when witnessed at a house show. Exploding House is located in Ft. Worth at the corner of Hemphill and Page st.
MON: Skeletons/Sydney Confirm/Florene (Club Dada) TUE: Digable Planets/Strange Fruit Project (The Granada) WED: Q-Tip/The Cool Kids (House of Blues) WED: Murs/Kidz in the Hall/Rapper Big Pooh/Isiah (Hailey's) THU: Gang Gang Dance/Rainbow Arabia/Sydney Confirm (Lola's) THU: Danielson/Cryptacize/Mount Righteous (The Granada) THU: PVC Street Gang/Edie Sedgwick/Scuba Team Go (The Lounge) FRI: Torche/Black Cobra/Clouds (the Lounge) SAT: George Jones (Nokia Theater) SAT: Loretta Lynn (Billy Bob's) SAT: Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band/The Felice Brothers/Rig 1 (Palladium)
FRIDAY Peaking Lights | Rival Gang | Florene | Bryce Isbell | Lil Foot (Majestic Dwelling of Doom, former 8th Continent, Denton) I've had the chance to listen to Peaking Lights several times this week, and I've been very impressed with what I've heard. In fact, I'm surprised this group isn't a much bigger deal on ye ole MP3 blog circuit these days. They are in the process of releasing some work on the respected Fuck It Tapes label, and their sound is really quite pleasant-- mixing influences from all over the place, everything from Bibio to Animal Collective to Pearls Before Swine to various noise collage artists, the group creates a quiet, elegant and dream-like echo that might remind you of what some of your favorite softer music sounds like as you doze off. I suppose you could literally call this electro-acoustic music, because it does seem to be equal parts electronic and acoustic based songwriting, but really, at its core its folk pop mixed perfectly with sound collage and quiet drone, leading to a wonderful atmosphere that might be perfect for our first real winter evening. The rest of the line up is quite solid too. Majestic Dwelling is where the 8th Continent used to be, 731 Texas St. in Denton.
Dub Assembly feat. Martyn (Green Elephant) Another edition of Dub Assembly is sure to be as solid as usual, with Dallas' own Jason Mundo on the decks after a successful European tour over the summer. DC's Martyn will headline, leaning towards the poppier side of Dubstep, drum n bass and heady hip hop a la Flying Lotus, who he has remixed in the past. Very solid stuff that will sound fantastic on Green Elephant's obscene sound system.
King Khan and BBQ Show (The Loft) King Kahn joins up with another contemporary garage legend, Mark Sultan. I caught these guys about a year ago up in Denton and their minimal stage set up absolutely does not disappoint or limit the punch they pack. Not sure about an opening act for this because I can't find one listed, but I'd be happy just seeing them myself.
Fizzy Dino Pop | Whoa! Coder | So Juicy | Ops/Super Robocandytron (J&Js) Fizzy Dino Pop's spazzy 8 bit dance music might remind you of groups like Crystal Castles, Boys Noize or even the more heavily electro moments of the Death Set or Japanther, but the guy really seems to be on to something all his own here, and it is quite good. Locals Whoa! Coder sort of operate on a more hardcore based, Eats Tapes level, and it works for them as well, particularly when they let a bit of their house and r&b influences shine through, such as on demo "Feather Your Bangs" on their Myspace page. Solid collection of relatively overlooked local electro groups, should be fun.
Of Montreal | Icy Demons (House of Blues) Everyone at WSJR HQ really hates Of Montreal except for me. I can totally see why I stand alone on this one, what with Kevin Barnes' strange rantings on capitalism and highly inconsistent output, but hey, when he's on he's on, and his latest record, Skeletal Lamping, has a few more gems to add to his list of triumphs. And PS, as much as you might not expect it, Of Montreal is actually very good live. Who woulda thought? Also, you might want to get there early for Icy Demons, especially if you're a fan of groups like Skeletons.
Uptown Fridays with Select (Zubar) I saw Select describe this night as a "non hipster dance party." Thank god.
Envy Model Search feat. Astronautalis | The Bright | Pikhasso (Granada Theater) Model search for Envy magazine? Ok. I'll just pretend that I went and like tons of girls talked to me and stuff. Hey, I can even pretend to like The Bright and stuff too if necessary, even if they fucking do a "sexy" cover "Kashmir." Who the fuck does that?
Prince William | Keith P (The Lounge) I haven't heard anything else about this show other than the fact that it is listed on various sites, so if this isn't going on anymore, someone let us know in the comments, will ya?
AIDS Wolf | Teenage Cool Kids | Orange Coax | Secret Bangs (Club Dada) Aids Wolf once described themselves in an interview as "a little bit no wave and a little bit hardcore," and if you're searching for the most concise way to accurately describe their sound, that's probably as good as it gets. People often seem to throw out comparisons to Arab on Radar, Lightning Bolt and the Locust when describing Aids Wolf's music, and although these are all accurate on certain levels, you can also hear hints of a lot of other stuff in there as well-- everything from the Germs to Teenage Jesus and the Jerks to some of the most arresting moments of Sun Ra's output. Of course, none of these references really hit home when it comes to describing the totality of this band's thrashing, atonal attack, but instead provide some parameters for readers to imagine what some strange amalgamation of the aforementioned artists would sound like. I've read all kinds of different reviews on their latest record, Cities of Glass, and although it appears that some of these writers would completely disagree with me, I think it is the most accessible record of their careers. Do I mean to say that Club Dada's Wilco loving regulars will dig it? No way. But the record leans decidedly closer to the lil' bit hardcore side than I think the band ever has before, and the small doses of cohesive rhythm that seem to creep into the tracks as a result is really a pretty welcome development. Again, Aids Wolf sounds crazy as fuck, and could in no way be considered hardcore, but the little touches of 1st wave American are just right. Oh and by the way, I'm thrilled that I got the privilege of seeing Secret Bangs and Orange Coax last Friday at our part. Both were fantastic. And yeah yeah, I know Orange Coax is on our label, but fuck it: they put on one of the best local shows I've seen all year. You can choose not to believe me if you want, but don't cut off your nose to spite your face, ok?
Be sure to check out CADD Art Lab and the Olafur Eliasson show- some really great stuff!
THURSDAY
More Than This (CADD Art Lab) 5-8pm A whole slew of great artists on this show: Anderson and Low, Scott Anderson, Frances Bagley, Scott Barber, Kevin Bewersdorf, Paul Booker, Candace Briceno, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Tracy Hicks, Terrell James, Tom Orr, Jennifer Rose, Carl Suddath, Takako Tanabe, Jackie Tileston, Erik Tosten, and Lizzy Wetzel.
The title “More Than This” refers both to the potential of objects to create meaning--whether calling into question the world around you or divulging an internal fantasy--and to the futility of it, as the Roxy Music song claims, “more than this/there is nothing.”
Take your time: Olafur Eliasson (Dallas Museum of Art) This is a really exciting show I've been waiting for a long time. You can check out his work here and see some photos from the exhibit at the MOMA.
james ferraro: the clown prince of noise and bedroom pop
I'm not an expert on noise. I don't really like most of it, actually. I never really got into legends-in-their-own-time noise group The Skaters and why they are soimportant, and frankly I don't care. I do however enjoy the solo efforts of two of the group's memebers, Spencer Clark and James Ferraro, far more than their work with their most well known project... but please don't let me stop you from going into a long discourse about how The Skaters are going to cause the second coming of Christ through nothing more than practice amps, cheap mics, digital delays and throat noise .
The thought of trying to describe James and Spencer's music makes my head spin so I'm not even going to bother. I listen to this stuff for one reason alone: its fun ear candy. So don't be afraid, I won't bore you with the patented, "……this is the sound of being tele-ported through a transistor radio in your subconscious as radio jingles from hell stick toothpicks in your brain…..". I did read one review on some random blog that said, "James's music is like being on drugs in hell". I found that really funny. More important is the fact that I'm posting some of Jame's full length works for your listening pleasure, so take advantage of it and give it a whirl.
Most of the music from these two San Francisco based weirdos has been "released" (for lack of a better word) on limited copies of tapes and CDR's which have long been sold out. Some Lamborghini Crystal tapes have fetched as much as $200 on ebay. I can't imagine the type of person who would have $200 to burn on two stoners banging on pots and pans while screaming in front of a recordable boombox. Oh wait, I know-- an asshole, that's who. For now, I am only going to talk about James's projects. There is no telling how many hours of music he has put to tape (easily in the 1000s), so the projects I am posting only scratch the surface of his catalog. If I get around to it I will do a post on Spencer's Monopoly Child Star Searchers, which is excellent in its in own right.
James represents the more playful half of Skaters and that is immediately evident in the titles of his solo projects alone (each new project has a new name so it can be tough to keep up). He has recently finished up some more focused solo efforts actually titled, "James Ferraro"…..awww he's all growns up and he's all growns up.
Lamborghini Crystal: There are four or five full length tapes/CDr's of this stuff. Each one is slightly different but they are essentially pop rock sound collages. The last two minutes of Video Head Cleaner capture the essence of Lamborghini Crystal.
90210: This recent project is the perfect blend of the playful pop of Lamborghini Crystal and the more modal drone and noise James also delves into. It's one track, 30 minutes of synth and guitar. A very strong project from James and an easy, fun listen.
Postremo Mundus Techno Symposium: This new project moves to the other extreme with two twenty minute pieces of modal sounds. One of the most horrifying projects I have ever heard. James creates a hellish fantasy world and belches it out on a cassette. The drunk trumpet in the background blended with the muffled screams in the foreground is enough to give me the willies.
Edward Flex's Liquid Spring Break Skeletons: Okay…..let's go to the other end of the spectrum. By all indications (the title and cover art) this is the ultimate party album from hell. I think this project was a pre-cursor to Lamborghini Crystal but don't quote me on it. One very long 71 minute track of fun, sun, beer and steroids. I can only take about 40 minutes of this,tops, but its worth it alone for the hilarious "weight lifting" sequences at 7 and 19 minutes. The rock theme immediately follow the 2nd weight lifting "sketch" is actually very pretty. There are some really cool sequences in this and some not so cool ones too. James is a true original.
In closing, there isn't much info out there on James, Spencer or any of their projects. They don't have MySpace pages and from what I have read aren't really "into" the internet. I think a lot of their communication is done via snail mail and pay phones, so if anyone else out there would care to share anything about these two special and bizarre individuals, go for it. Enjoy!
We've been so busy this week that we almost forgot to say some thank yous to everyone who helped make our record release party such a huge success last Friday night.
It's really hard to do head counts at free keggers in Denton, but we estimate that more than a couple hundred people came by throughout the night to catch five great performances, and most of them stayed for quite a long time. We started getting a little concerned when 60% of the crowd seemed to disappear after the keg floated at around 1030PM, but we were pleasantly surprised when we realized that everyone had just taken a little trip over to Midway Mart to pick up their own stuff before returning to the party.
I still think that Time Bandits is easily one of the best places to see a show in the area, due both the uniqueness of the space and the general air of positivity that seems to permeate throughout it, and despite encountering a few of the sound issues that are practically a given at DIY shows, we couldn't have asked for a better location for our party, nor for more helpful people running the sound and helping set everything up.
So thanks to Time Bandits, Fight Bite, Darktown Strutters, Orange Coax, Shane English, Animal Forces, Secret Bangs, DL (what a guy!) and everyone else who helped us throughout the evening (including the Denton Police for showing up and deciding NOT to bust us for once.) Mattie has some pictures here if you'd like to see them.
