As you might already know, Juan MacLean will be playing tomorrow (Tuesday) at The Loft, while Hot Chip will be playing Palladium Ballroom on Thursday. The Palladium people were nice enough to give us
*One pair of tickets to Juan MacLean *Two Pairs of tickets to Hot Chip
But since we have to give them the names of the winners ASAP, we'll just say that the first two people to send us an email to weshotjrtix@yahoo.com titled "Hot Chip" will win the Hot Chip tickets, and the first person to send us an email titled "juan maclean" will win tickets to his show. I've seen both live and they are fantastic. Anyway, go for it.
MON: Miss Kittin (The Loft) TUE: The Juan MacLean (The Loft) TUE: The Oh Sees/Sic Alps/Ty Segall/Dogme 95 (the Lounge) THU: Hot Chip/Drums of Death (Palladium) THU: Spiritualized (Lakewood Theater) THU: Del the Funky Homosapien (Granada) FRI: The Party (Zubar) FRI: Culture Prophet/Top Secret Robot Alliance/Keith P/Prince William (The Lounge) FRI: Fleet Foxes/Frank Fairfield (Lola's) FRI: The Black Keys/Jessica Lea Mayfield (Granada) SOLD OUT SAT: Thomas Function/Teenage Cool Kids/Wax Museums (715 Panhandle) SUN: Lazy Magnet/Pro Bro Gold/Animal Forces/Aunt's Analogue (House of Tinnitus) SUN: Rival Gang/The Heartstring Stranglers/Febrifuge (Swiss House)
Pretty solid weekend for shows, particularly if you live in Denton. As always, if we missed something, let us know in the comments and we'll add it to the list if it's cool enough. And PS-- we're actually starting to post MP3s in our MP3 section now, so check it out over to the right below the pics. We have a couple good ones available right now. And PPS-- vote for WSJR awards here. Whoomp here it is:
FRIDAY
Late Night with Operation Playmate (Dallas Museum of Art) Video artists/electro composers Operation Playmate (who we told you about earlier in the week) will be the most interesting thing going on at this month's edition of DMA Late Nights. The group will be performing music and displaying video inspired by the DMA's Materials and Meaning exhibit, which you can learn more about here. Late Night starts at 6, but this performance will begin at 10pm in the Atrium.
Zanzibar Snails | Geistheistler | Dirty Water Disease (J&Js) Dirty Water Disease? I think we might have a finalist for our "worst band name" award. I also caught Zanzibar Snails a couple weeks ago at the Lounge, and after about 10 minutes of confusing the shit out of me, I was quickly reminded of why I liked this band in the first place.
Back to School with Young Doc Gooden | Florene | Pepi Ginsberg | Make Believers | Grassfight | Bob White and the F Electrics | Sydney Confirm | Kaboom (Hailey's) A lot of variation on a bill that seems to be designed simply to herd as many UNT students into Hailey's as possible. If you haven't heard Aaron White's Make Believers yet, you should go to their Myspace and give them a listen-- the guy continues to reveal his talents as one of the more underrated songwriters in the area with a mastery of psychedelic pop/Bakersfield/etc. Pretending that he doesn't post on Denton Rock City will help you enjoy the music even more. JK guys! Ever since I heard that people have to pretend to hate us when they hang out at Dan's Silverleaf, I guess I've been a little jumpy. :-(
Bad Sports | Uptown Bums | Yeah Def (Rubber Gloves-- FREE) An amazing local garage punk band? Sounds like the butt of a joke until you hear Bad Sports for the first time. And when did Uptown Bums start being like WAY better than they used to be? Check "Running My Mouth" on their Myspace page for evidence of this.
Blackheart Society | Street Hassle | Jack with One Eye (The Lounge) Is it sexist for me to say that I have a crush on Mila, Jack with One Eye's lead singer? I guess the fact that I actually like her music sort of makes it a non issue since my mentioning this show has nothing to do with crushes... but after all this Palin shit, I'm pretty confused about what I'm not supposed to say about women. I wonder what those fearless feminists Karl Rove and Dick Morris would think of this issue? All BS aside, Jack with One Eye really is the standout here, reminds me of like a shoegaze Electrelane or something.
Silver Jews | James Jackson Toth (Hailey's) I really can't stand poetry. Call me ignorant if you want to, but I've been spending the past few minutes sitting around trying to think of ONE poet who really means something to me, and I just can't do it. I think TS Elliot is good, for example, but I don't take enough time to allow much of his work to really matter to me. It's probably my problem and not his, but I mention this only to say that I recently went over to my hipster friend's house and picked up a copy of Dave Berman's poetry book on his table. After reading a few of his short entries, I, for the first time in my life, acknowledged that Dave Berman is a genius, at least on some level. Does his new album suck? Yep, big time. But he made me enjoy poetry.
Fight Bite (Central Trak, 800 Exposition, Dallas) Starts at 7pm at Central Trak, a gallery space run by the University of Texas at Dallas. There will be visual art on display, but I don't have the details on that. Maybe El Tocadiscos, WSJR VP of Visual Art and Media Affairs, could provide more information?
Visitations | The Diamond Center | Heartstring Stranglers (Fra House, 7pm) This show, like most others going on in Denton this evening, is designed around the Silver Jews show so that you can hit up both if you want. Visitations' Myspace page lists a number of notable influences, including Faust, Negativland, Ghost and Fela Kuti, but, uh, they don't really sound like any of that-- I hear lots of 90's indie pop in there, a touch or two of Grandaddy, and maybe a splash of Athens' the Glands. Remember them?
Visitations (1110 N. Austin St., Denton) Starts at 2am in case you didn't catch them earlier at Fra House.
Operation Playmate | Phantastes | Tommy Boy (Knight House, 1433 Knight St., Denton) We already told you about this show in our news section this week, but let me say that anyone with an interest in early Detroit techno or mid 80's industrial should check out Phantastes at this show. Did you read the description of what they are trying to do at this house? Here's to hoping this stuff starts happening in Denton a lot more. Stuff kicks off around 930 over there.
The New Year | A Weather | Transona Five (Granada Theater) Let me start off by saying that the Kadane Brothers are the best songwriters that the Dallas rock scene has ever produced. Period. How they have managed to make so many records and never make fools of themselves for a single moment is unfathomable. Though I have enjoyed many local bands in the past fourteen years, and especially the last five, the chances of another one coming along that will have the timelessness, longevity, and impact of the Kadane Brothers is something I'm not exactly counting on.
See, it's all about standards with The Kadanes. Recording in studios that don't suck with people that aren't stupid. I know, I know. Hard to imagine in today's musical landscape, where every decision is made at light-speed and the results are worried about later. No violated design principles on their minimalist cover art. One of them (Bubba) has even spent a lot of time poring over details in the only local yet nationally reputable cd manufacturer that I know of, to prevent you, bands and artists, from cutting corners and making mistakes. They have never employed the lowest common denominator tactics of so many lesser artists, which is a rare thing indeed. I'm a huge proponent of spontaneity and intentional amateurism, but there is something to be said for such a flawless discipline and work ethic.
What I'm getting at is that the Kadane Brothers are just giving us more of the same on their new New Year record, "The New Year," and when you consider that the two have spent so many years displaying such intelligence and excellence in so many variations on a theme, this is not at all a bad thing. I've heard so much hype about this being "the piano record" or something to that effect, and if that hadn't been mentioned so many times I probably wouldn't have even noticed. They have employed piano before, most famously on "The End Is Near," and have been using keyboards for at least a decade. So what's the big deal? I was actually expecting to hear ALL piano songs, with layered pianos for the big buildups, which is something I don't think I'd mind hearing them try.
But on just about every song you can point to other similar moments in their catalog, or at least a vague precedent that has already been established. If anything, the lone surprise here might be that there are more similarities to Bedhead than on the previous two New Year records, which isn't really much of a statement. It's like being surprised that Lou Reed solo records sometimes sounded like VU. For instance, album opener "Folios" possesses the same tense and repetitive snare hits used to close out "The Rest Of The Day," with chord changes and keyboard sounds very close to the track "The Present," a fan-favorite from Bedhead's triumphant career-closer "Transaction De Novo." Upon noticing the similarities, I had a good feeling this was going to be a winner from hearing the first track alone.
Elsewhere we find The New Year showing off their ability to do slow, almost country-like balladry far better than the legions that struggle to mine gold, or at least tolerable records out of that largely bankrupt territory. But they have done this at least as far back as "Any Life" from the "Dark Ages EP." The anti-rock found on "Wages Of Sleep" in the form of interwoven guitars and lack of back-beat is another facet of the Kadane sound, a reminder of the old art-world saying "Style is everything you do wrong."
There is, of course, a difference between the Kadanes' two projects, and this is largely attributed to The New Year's extended family of celebrated musicians, especially the recent announcement of Centromatic's Will Johnson joining the touring lineup. The fact that I'm not particularly a fan of Will Johnson, or even Peter Schmidt for that matter, but STILL probably won't mind hearing them tonight is just further testament to the Kadane's ability to improve everything around them. The New Year has often been compared to label-mates Silkworm for their more straightforward rock tendencies, and there is room for that comparison on the final track, "The Idea Of You," with its crunching guitar and keyboard combo. This is a logical and almost obvious comparison since Matt Kadane played some fairly raunchy organ parts on the last couple of Silkworm records, so it's safe to say it's a mutual influence. The Kadanes have also written shorter, up-tempo songs for most of their career, and it's hard to pin them down sonically, other than they seem to excel at whatever they choose to do. This record is proof of all these various abilities in one concise statement, and it could very well be my favorite of The New Year records so far.
When discussing the new album the other day, I realized that I've heard people complain about the "sameness" of The Kadane Brothers' output for over ten years now. Viewed from this perspective, the overall cohesiveness of their life's work is really something to marvel at, or as Wildcat said to me recently (paraphrasing), "their entire career is a concept." Despite the fact that they are still tragically underrated in their hometown, we should all hope that Dallas will eventually have another band that we can be equally proud of, at least in our lifetimes. (DL)
Hey there pals... I'm really tired, so I'll just say this: we have TWO pairs of tickets to give away to this Saturday's Silver Jews show at Hailey's (thanks to our good friends at Radio UTD), and if you want them, you should email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com any time between now and 3 pm today (Thursday). Make "Silver Jews" the subject line and include your full name... blah blah I'm tired. We'll pick winners at random.
Scott Anderson: Rendezvous Point and Daniel Mirer and Joe Pflieger (Light and Sie)
SATURDAY
CADD Art Lab Open House (1608-C Main Street)11-8pm This is the grand public opening of the CADD Art Lab, a new gallery and educational center for contemporary art that will feature themed shows drawn from the collections of the CADD member galleries. The current exhibition, "Indexing the Moment, features work from work of David Dreyer, Vincent Falsetta, Greta Gunderson, Ted Kincaid, Janaki Lennie, Kristen Lucas, Kenda North, Brent Ozaeta, Rusty Scruby, Ludwig Schwarz, and Allison V. Smith. This opening will also feature the issue launch for the Fall 2008 Art Lies, and artists talks at 2pm (with Rusty Scruby) and 6pm (Rachel Cook).
Stuff at Centraltrak Man, Centraltrak has really packed in a full night for themselves. There will be three simultaneous shows: Ludic Space: Faith Gay and Ruben Nieto in the main gallery, Laray Polk in the Corridor and Unit 9 (her work is also at the MAC right now). The photographs of Kate Nelson will be in the Project Room. Fight Bite will perform at 7pm.
Rosemary Meza-DesPlas: Women Under the Influence (Mighty Fine Arts) 6-9pm
Throw Me The Statue | The Boat Lights | They Were Stars (The Cavern) Throw Me The Statue is a Secretly Canadian band, rich with a wealth of perfect press snippets, and sometimes compared to The Kinks. Kinks comparisons are often dubious, and this is no exception. In fact, as I blasted this music out of tinny little computer speakers, the office consensus was that the music is a little more David Gray than Dave Davies. This is part of the "Detour" series and DJ Redeye will be playing as well.
These Are Powers | When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth (The Lounge) When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth's follow-up to their 2006 debut, "Snacks," bears an appropriate and purposely annoying title, "Not Noiice," which has to be the most obnoxious name since two guys from Ft. Worth decided to call themselves Best Fwends. And of course, when you do something like that, you're bound to make as many enemies as "fwends." I can respect that WDRTE definitely go out of their way to grate on the listener with whatever it takes; two drummers, two singers, a small army on stage, and all of it just to get under your skin with a sound that is shrieking, screeching chaos and spidery guitar lines, jarringly interrupted by low-blood pressure sludge rock. You get the feeling they want to make you nauseated, which shouldn't bother you if you're already sick.
These Are Powers blend noise and dissonance into their song structures in a rather different way, though an easily recognizable way where it's immediately apparent the band is determined to be taken more seriously than the aforementioned pranksters. Theirs is a throbbing, thudding attack, with some tribal-like pummeling as well as some willfully machine-like rhythms. Some of the extended monotone moaning sounds somewhat like the vocals in Live Skull, or the mini-genre of groups that "kind of sounded like Sonic Youth" in the mid to late 80's. Both acts certainly have their moments and that shouldn't be overlooked due to either their occasional mischief or pretense, respectively.
Ratatat | Panther | E*Rock (Granada) THIS SHOW JUST SOLD OUT: In my mind, Ratatat is a band that must be experienced live. Some might see that as a backhanded compliment of sorts, and maybe it is, but it also happens to be the truth. Most of Ratatat's recorded material is solid, dance leaning instrumental music that takes cues from influences as diverse as DJ Shadow, Bollywood and Iron Maiden, embracing heavy metal's past in one instant while looking towards abstract hip hop in the next. This is all well and good, but the experience of sitting down and listening to an entire Ratatat album on an Ipod can be a little bit tedious at times-- the songs tend to get a bit repetitive and eventually become a tad difficult to pay attention to. Live, however,the band is certainly more than a worthy experience. I've been able to catch them several times in the past few years, and watching them do what they do on-stage is highly entertaining in and of itself. Mix this with a lot of volume and an appropriately excited atmosphere, and Ratatat transforms into a can't miss show.
Disqo Disco (Fallout Lounge) This is an after-party for the Ratatat show, and The Frenz will have copies of their new ep.
