So these guys (and girl) are young (like not old enough to drink, and one isn't old enough to vote), and the recording quality on this track leaves something to be desired since its really just a demo. But its a fun song, and it reminds us a little of The Fall if they all took speed and were fronted by Milo from the Descendents. Fans of the Mae Shi will probably dig this. Listen to it a couple times.... its only like a minute long anyway, and you'll realize that EAB are a young Denton band with some promise.

Here it is: "Sweater Petter"

1. Akron Family (Andy's Denton)
We've written about these guys like a hundred times in the past few weeks. Here is one example. We're going to try our best to make it out there tonight, but Denton is a long way from home... again if anyone is going to the show and wants to take pictures for us, let us know.

2. Lost Generation with DJ Mwanza (Cavern)
If you're gonna stay in Dallas and want to hear good music that you really won't hear anywhere else, head to the Cavern tonight and make Tuesday the new Thursday.

So we know that Gorilla vs Bear already posted one of these tracks, but Jade Tree sent this to us and we like it, so we're posting it too. The album is called Rocinate and the song is called "Valencia's Dying Dream," and its comes out today. The press release says that they sound like Brian Eno, Talk Talk, and The Notwist, but somehow fails to mention the Beta Band, which we think is the closest comparison. And also, at least one of the band members appears to be from Oklahoma, which is like North Texas minus the literacy. So theres your relevancy, jerk.

MP3

So doing some background research for this review has inevitably led me to Prefix Mag, and I've noticed that whoever reviewed this record for them referred to it as a "Pop Masterpiece." A few minutes before this, I was over at Pitchfork where I read their reviewer's proclamation that some of the songs on Feels remind him of Buddy Holly. I might agree with these statements if I heard them at a dinner party and either didn't have time to think about them or wasn't really listening in the first place, but I'm not at a dinner party. Instead I'm sitting in my room listening to Feels on headphones as I read reviews (and now begin to type this one), and I have to say that listening to this album is in no way, shape or form like listening to a "Pop Masterpiece."

Sure, Feels is poppier than anything else Animal Collective has ever done. But thats mostly because of the first two songs. Yes, you can hear the Beach Boys influence in "Did You See the Words." But thats more or less the only song on the record that sounds in any way like traditional pop rock. Of course, "Turns Into Something" sort of sounds like a number from some musical that you would never see. But its comes off like it was written by Ken Kesey and performed by the Merry Pranksters. And ok, "Bees" sounds a little like Everything Must Pass era George Harrison, but it really sounds like a George Harrison song being covered by Jandek. And thats why its good. And thats why Animal Collective is good. At its core this music is floating, ethereal, and spacey experimental soundscape with a slight pinch of post punk self awareness added in so that you know these guys aren't a bunch of jackasses from the UNT jazz program or something. Theres also a slight pinch of 60's sunshine psyche pop. But its slight.

This is what keeps Animal Collective from being just another indie rock band while also keeping them out of the "difficult listen, over your head" category. Rarely does a record full of songs with such strange structures (or lack thereof), and an almost complete lack of choruses get itself so thoroughly stuck in your head. And rarely does a record that can be so catchy at times also challenge the listener as often as Feels does. Its a balance that few bands ever even think about, and one that is certainly hard to maintain. The little touches of pop in Feels keep you coming back for more, but the healthy helping of avant garde keeps you interested, and even dares you to finally go listen to that Jandek record that you're never been able to sit through.

No, Akron Family doesn't want your help. We do. We're going to try to make it to their show tomorrow night at Andy's in Denton, but in case we can't we were wondering if anyone would be so kind as to take some pictures for us and email them to us so we can post them on here on Wednesday. Of course you will be compensated to the tune of nothing, but we WILL give you full credit for the pics and a check plus in our gradebook. If anyone is interested, especially someone who was already going to the show anyway, please email us at weshotjr@yahoo.com and let us know. Nothing fancy... just some cool pics that the kids would wanna see.

1. Record Hop (Dan's Silverleaf Denton)
If you didn't catch them last week, you should. If you did, then you should save your money for Akron Family on Tuesday.

So, this is a new feature on this site. Its called seven and a half questions. Its pretty damn simple. We ask someone of interest in the local music scene seven questions. They give us seven answers. Then we ask them half a question. They fill in the rest of the question (making it another full, and I guess 8th question), and then they answer that too. Get it? We don't.
Our first installment is with Zak Alexander and Chris Harris, founders of Undeniable Records, which is probably one of if not the only local record label worth writing about. The two grew up together in Dallas, then took different paths playing in bands and doing various other things like getting edumacations in different parts of the country, and both eventually wound up back in Dallas a few years later. Chris had been thinking about starting a label for a long time, and a conversation with members of the Happy Bullets helped turn his idea into a reality, culminating in the release of the Happy Bullets' album The Vice and Virtue Ministry. Soon after, the label released Le Fun, the first record by the Tah Dahs. Recently, the label came to an agreement to put out the next release by local favorites the Theater Fire. Here are the questions that we asked them over email:

Congrats on the Theater Fire signing. How did this signing come about, what attracts your label to the band, and what kind of success do you anticipate for the band in the near future?

(Chris) When we started the label, we had always talked about how we wanted the Theater Fire on the roster. They were on a very short list of bands that we wanted to have as release .. 3 or 4. They knew we were interested in them, and we got in touch with each other when the release was going through final mixes. As is often the case, finalizing a record takes much more time than anyone thinks, so we were just keeping in touch over the last few months. We dropped them a line on Jan 1, met this week, and agreed to work together. As far as success, that is sort of subjective. If the band is happy with the release, and we work hard for the band, and we all like the record, I think that is a success. Would we love to sell 30,000, and pay the bands enough that they could quit their day jobs? Of course. But right now, we are not really measuring success in units and dollars. We want to release the records we love, do everything we can for the bands, create the community, and the rest will take care of itself. I don’t think we would be able to be passionate about what we do if we were only concerned with money.

(Zak) Thanks! Like Chris said, the Theater Fire was always a band we felt would be a fantastic 3rd or 4th release, as they have a unique sound coupled with great songwriting. We want Undeniable to be known for diversity in sounds, not just one particular sound. We feel very strongly about this record, ever since we heard the early rough demos we knew it was going to be a great record. As Chris said success is tough to talk about in numbers. We want the Theater Fire to be happy with the results and as long as they are, then that is success. I think this will be a great year for them and playing SxSW is a huge opportunity for them.

Austin is pretty much the official capitol of indie rock in Texas right now, even though Dallas has so many more people, and thus, one would think, so many more musicians. Denton also seems to have a pretty thriving scene. Do you think Dallas is falling behind because unlike those cities it doesn't have a real college scene? What are some of the other problems that Dallas faces as a musical community, and what can be done about them if anything? Is it a matter of music quality, venue quality, fan quality, or what?

(Zak) Dallas definitely suffers from the lack of a college scene, SMU does not count, and that will always be a hindrance. I think the scene here is a bit too fractured at times, but really too many people focus on the bad and not the good. Dallas and North Texas has just as many talented people playing great music that is interesting and different, as Austin does. We have plenty of good venues to see bands play, most of which are no longer in Deep Ellum. There is no doubt in my mind that we have just as many incredible bands as Austin does, and here at least, they develop without some of that annoying hype. If we keep beating up the scene or treat fans like crap, yeah we kill the scene. North Texas is capable of producing something to rival that of Austin. I think this area is going through its best years yet, better than the ‘good old days’ of the 90’s.

(Chris)You’re right, the biggest problem with Dallas is that there is no College scene. Most of the amazing music scenes happened around a college atmosphere. College tends to be a time when people have energy and interest in things, and think that belonging to a music scene is something worth their time. As people get older, have to get up early, have jobs and spouses and kids, priorities change, and I think this is why the college town scenes thrive. There is a constant influx of new people, new influences, and new ideas that surround a college scene. Another part of Dallas is that can be challenging is that there are only a handful of great places for indie / underground bands to play. In Austin and the surrounding areas, there are little clubs everywhere that are cheap, well run, and have great music and a great reputation. We don’t really have that here, and in the past few years, most of the touring underground acts have bypassed Dallas in favor of Denton. There are some great places to play in Dallas (Double Wide, The Cavern, the Tea Room) but sometimes getting people out to these places can be tough. They don’t really have that “built-in crowd” that you find at a lot of the places in Austin, so there are times where the bands are preaching to the few converted. One of the things the Minutemen did in their early shows was play early when they played on weeknights. Having come from working class families, they understood that there were people out there who needed to get up early, and wouldn’t come out to late shows. This gained them a new and untapped crowd. I’d like to see us continue some of the interesting shows that the bands have put together over the last year. There have been benefits, art installations, sound installations, some things that you don’t always associate with a Dallas scene. I’d like to see some more things like this from some other bands around town, to kind of break with the traditional club show. I love the club show, but sometimes things can get really interesting when bands get taken out of this element and experiment more with different surroundings.

Are there any new bands in Dallas/Denton/Fort Worth that you know of right now that not many people have heard but are really good? Any diamonds in the rough?

(Zak) Well, we always have our ears open for new stuff. I can’t think of off the top of my head any unknowns plugging away. I really enjoy the Strange Boys, Mazinga Phaser, the Shapes, Pleasant Grove… all of them are doing interesting things and are good live shows. I think Blackheart Society has good promise... Like I said before there are a lot of good bands playing, just go out and see them.

(Chris)Absolutely. Don’t know if they qualify as unknown, but The Strange Boys, The Shapes, Jetscreamer, Deathray Davies, Recordhop, Pleasant Grove. There are some from the surrounding areas that I also love, Knife in the Water, The Shells, Belaire, One Umbrella, Explosions in the Sky…the list could go on a while.

How do you feel about people that download records that your label has released off file sharing sites, and how much has this affected your business? Is there anything small labels can do to adjust?

(Chris)I agree with Zak’s answer below, and don’t support illegal downloads. I remember being a kid in the late 80’s / early 90’s and waiting by my AM/FM Cassette stereo waiting for whatever song I loved at the time to come on so I could record it on glorious Maxell Tape. I couldn’t always afford to run out and buy everything I wanted, so this is how I got the music I wanted. As my tastes grew, this became recording 45’s of little college bands, making tapes for friends, recording CD’s to tape, etc. I think that the way that things are now really aren’t that different, it is just easier given the communication medium. There are things that a small label can do to adjust to the new climate of digital music. Most of the giant labels have had a really hard time with this, and I think that we can use the new climate to our advantage. We saw just as much, if not more success and interest when the bands appeared on mp3 sites and blogs than we saw when we had traditional radio airplay, or traditional press. Giving away a song or two can be a great way to spark interest in folks who otherwise would never hear the track. Smaller labels can adjust marketing ideas and change their thinking much more quickly than larger labels, and this can be a significant advantage.

(Zak) I don’t support illegal downloads, but just like everyone else I used Napster in its heyday but I bought the records I sampled. It’s hard to tell if this has hurt us. We do know that MP3 blogs like Gorilla vs Bear and podcasts have helped us tremendously and we fully support what they do. The people who read those blogs are in it for the music and they will buy a cd if the like what they hear. I think most people don’t want to buy records anymore without hearing them first. That’s the future along with the online zines and the download services like iTunes, eMusic and Rhapsody, even My Space has become an almost indispensable tool in this digital era of music.

In the eyes of many, the success of the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah record this year is a perfect example of why signing to a formal "record label" really isn't necessary in order to have underground success anymore, considering that bands can run their own websites, sell albums over the net, and promote themselves through blogs. What does signing to a small record label like yours do to help new bands in the current climate?

(Zak)CYHSY was an awesome story and I love that record. But, many bands are not fortunate enough to garner all that hype and a 9.0 or whatever review from Pitchfork. Also, those guys put in a ton of work themselves to get that press. Many artists just do not want to take the time to do what those guys do all the while touring their asses off too. Not every band is going to be able to negotiate their own national distro deal like what they got, hell they were the first rock act to ever do that. What a label like us does, is partner up with an artist and help them do the things they cannot do or don’t have the time to do. I think labels are still totally viable, because they allow artists to focus on making art rather than focus on business.

(Chris)While I have a tremendous amount of respect, and am in awe of what they were able to do, there really is very little difference in what they did vs. what Merge, SST, Touch and Go and Dischord did in the 80’s and 90’s. All were started as a way to get their own bands out, and retain control of their product. CYHSY were obviously very smart in the way that they approached things, and basically ran a label for their own record. It does show that with work and passion, people can do anything they want. The idea behind the label, again, is always to support the music we love 1st. We want for all of our bands to be friends, and work together. Right now, this is probably the most appealing asset for potential bands. I knew many of the Happy Bullets as friends for years before the label, and played in another band with a few of the Tah-Dahs before the label. This friendship lends itself to working together for a common goal, and we hope will continue to build a community of bands that work in tandem to make the scene better.

What avenues do you use to get air play for your bands, if any, and do you find the current Clear Channel dominated system or radio playlists to be a major problem for new bands on small labels? What have your experiences been with college radio?

We have used a publicity company in the past, and this has gotten the bands onto some college stations. As for Clear Channel, as far as the label is concerned, we couldn’t care less. They don’t play music that we like, and operate in a vacuum that we are not and do not want to be a part of. As consumers of music, the fact that there is this monster radio dominating company really means that we have to go to other methods to get our music, and this is why targeting podcasts and mp3 blogs and sites can be so advantageous. There is much more to the music world than FM radio, and we believe that the best way to get our music heard is going to be outside of the traditional radio mediums.

When can we expect new releases from the Tah Dahs and Happy Bullets?

Neither record has a date associated with it yet. The Tah-Dahs new record is still in progress, and the mixes we have heard are fantastic. They have moved forward with the sound and feel of Le Fun, and added some additional elements that weren’t captured on the 1st record. The Bullets are kicking around with digital home recording, and have no definitive plans for a release date either. If they are kind enough to go through the release ride with UnRec again, we will be thrilled to let everyone know what the plans are!

While some feel the show was a success, many consider Chris Elliot's "Get a Life" to be one of the worst shows in the history of television. If you could tell us why the detractors of this genius show are eggheads, what argument would you make?

Anything that spawned “The Handsome Boy Modeling School” masterpiece from Prince Paul and Dan the Automater is tops in my book. Elliot is like a master painter who can only be understood after he is one. Much like Van Gogh and Monet, he paints his television canvas with nuggets of Genuis that are beyond our feeble human comprehension.

1. Laptop Death Match (9pm Gypsy Tea Room)
We're told that this is a pretty fun monthly even, with people getting up and playing all kinds of music, but mostly electronica, IDM, and hip hop kinda stuff. Should be worth checking out.

2. Wild In The Streets (Hailey's Denton)
Mod, soul, garage, and more.

We've heard that these new things called desktop computers can do all kinds of crazy things right in your own home. Recently, we figured out how to use these computers to post links to sites we like in the sidebar. Look over to the side and check it out!

Coming later today, some more record reviews from the Bestest list, an interview with Undeniable Records, and the It list.

So we stopped by for a little while at Sanctuary Studios last night for its last show. Didn't hear anything too impressive... so we left. Then we went back just after the show had ended and hung out a bit. Whatever you can say (or can't say) about some of the bands that played there during its short run, we have to say that its sad to see Sanctuary Studios go. Not that we are going to post a "Memories" article about the place, but we think the atmosphere there was pretty fantastic. People of all ages running around doing god knows what with god knows who, and strange bands that you've never heard of playing music that you don't expect people to be into in Dallas. And whether you liked the music you heard or not, you knew that you were going to hear something different, that it was going to be free or really cheap to get in (they usually just asked for donations), and that you could bring your own beer. And even though it was located in the middle of the projects, it sorta felt safer than anywhere in Deep Ellum, didn't it?

Aaron Gonzales, resident of Sanctuary and the guy credited for booking and organizing most of the shows, really has the right idea. If Dallas has nothing, then you've got nothing to lose. Find a place to play thats NOT a club, where you don't have to deal with club owners and local scene politics, and book bands that you like, or find interesting, or that you think other people will like. Its really pretty simple, but he is one of the few in Dallas doing it. Talking with him, you get the impression that he is not only really knowledgeable about rock and experimental music, but a genuinely nice person that has the patience required to deal with bands, fans, and the half dozen animals that seem to be running around at Sanctuary all the time. The shows at Sanctuary really are what Dallas could be all about if there were more Aarons out there, but alas there don't seem to be. At least right now. There could be, however, once people start to see that these kind of shows work, and that there is a sizeable contingency of people in Dallas quietly screaming for something interesting to do on the weekends. Really, there are. We know a lot of them.

We've got a pretty great urban environment in Dallas, with tons of places like Sanctuary Studios: buildings in forgotten parts of town with low rent and some "fixer upper" work to be done. But its these kinds of places where legends always seem to begin, isn't it? The first place that Joy Division played. The first place that Nirvana played. The Sex Pistols. Big Black. The Minutemen. Husker Du. Can. Sonic Youth. Fuck, CBGBs. The list goes on and on. Its not places like fucking Trees or Gypsy Tea Room where the shit starts. Its old buildings, makeshift stages, good bands, bad neighborhoods, interesting crowds and people that are willing to organize it all. Not for money or to get their name in the goddamn Observer. Anyone that does it for those reasons probably doesn't have a clue about good music, art, or anything else. But instead because they like music, and are bored with what everyone else is offering them. Or not offering. And not to be overly dramatic about it (we know the limits of this sort of thing) but sometimes at Sanctuary it felt like something important could have happened there one day. The setting was ripe for something important to happen. It didn't, and now it won't have a chance. Heres to hoping that Aaron Gonzales or someone like him starts something else up like Sanctuary Studios. And that people notice. And that good music thrives there. And that we one day have something to be really excited about in Dallas. Something that will give those fuckers in Austin a run for their money.

JR- weshotjr@yahoo.com

1. Art Prostitute: Dj set by Dj Nature (one of our new favorites in DFW) and the art of Steven Harrington and Justin Krietmeyer of National Forest. Its at art prostitute in Denton from 7-11pm, located at 210 Hickory. Phone #: 940-381-1526. Go see a DJ thats played with MIA, and some local art (we haven't seen it, so tell us how it is).

2. Mazinga Phaser/ Faux Fox (Rubber Gloves)
Even though their show wasn't great last night, we still like Mazinga and think its worth checking out. Faux Fox also sounds interesting, so go early to see them if you are in Denton tonight.

UPDATE: We're also told that there is a show at Santuary Studios tonight... not sure about the bands though, but its BYOB and almost always interesting, so you should go check it out. Near the corner of Maple and King's Road, uptown.

Thats it.

The first thing we noticed when we walked in was: "Holy shit, its packed in here," and considering that a lot of people were there to see a band thats playing with Glenn fucking Branca later this month in New York, we were pleasantly surprised. Maybe there are some people in Dallas that take experimental music seriously.... or at least know who Glenn Branca is.

Despite that initial excitement, we were underwhelmed by Mazinga. Not that there weren't some very good moments throughout the set (there were), but there were a few things that held it back. For one, we couldn't hear anything the singer was saying or singing, and the sound on all the instruments was just too low to really get the full effect. This lead to a fairly awkward beginning since we're not sure that the audience actually knew when the set began, due mostly to the low volumes on the p.a., and partially to the fact that the song they opened with didn't seem to get going until a couple minutes in. We spent a lot of the time waiting for the songs to really kick in and start to rock (loudly we might add), but it seems that most never did. It was especially disappointing that the mix was so low because it sounds like Mazinga has a lot going on in their songs... and it would have been nice to hear more of the details. Even though some of the songs didn't really seem to go anywhere, we could tell that this is band that has a lot of talent, and could easily become a killer live act if their songwriting and live performance were given a little more time to develop. We didn't catch any of the names of the songs, but the third one they played (with the heavy electronic percussion, busy live drums and ambient psyche noise) was pretty killer, and we enjoyed their use of pre recorded material. It seems that they had some computer problems too, which lead them to fall out of time at a few points, but nothing really serious.

Mazinga is going for a sound that is very "now." Psyche rock with ambient undertones and spacey, shoegaze texture that certainly rocks but is also smart and experimental. It reminded us of Spiritualized, Oasis, Stone Roses, and Ride, but not quite as poppy and way more compressed than any of those bands, sort of like the Ariel Pink of spacerock. These guys will be fantastic if they allow their songs to go farther and expand into new places, or at least turn up the volume to let us hear everything thats already going on. The good news is that their set left us wanting more, meaning that we dig the basic ideas and the sound that they are going for. It just doesn't seem like they are there quite yet.

We got there too late to catch Linea Triste, so if anyone saw them and has any thoughts, let us know.

JR- wshotjr@yahoo.com

Here is something we found on Myspace that you all might be interested in tuning into as you drive around on your Friday night. Undoing of David Wright will be performing on KNON 89.3 TONIGHT. Heres the scoop:

Time: 12:00am - 4:00am Location: Rocket Radio @ KNON 89.3 FM we're playing a 40 minute set---- including 4 new songs from our upcoming album, The Eighth Continent. If you're not in town, or you don't have a radio, check out www.knon.org ----- click in the top right corner to tune in via the lazer web.though you might want to know,ENGLISH, & CO.

1. Mazinga Phaser II, Linea Triste (the Cavern downstairs)
Come early to see two of the more interesting local bands playing right now. Both do dreamy electronic drone kinda stuff, with Linea Triste focusing more on ambient, while Mazinga seems to go for more melodic, shoegazer type stuff. Both say that they are influenced by Brian Eno, which is refreshing to hear in a town where Flicker Stick still packs em in. Mazinga's Myspace page is linked in a post below, and here is Linea Triste's.

2. Bosque Brown (Rubber Gloves, Denton)
This much hyped about folkie is supposed to be ready to wow the world at SXSW in March. Although we're not sure whether that will happen or not, we know that she's got a nice Joanna Newson-Mazzy Star sad country thing going on with some pretty good tunes to boot. We're going to do a little write up about her later on as part of our SXSW local preview.

3. UP with DJ CJMacPhie (Cavern Upstairs)
Guess the Cavern is the place to be for good music in Dallas tonight. Go listen to Mazina and Linea downstairs, then head up to hear a good selection of post punk, brit pop, psyche and lots of other stuff.

4. Centro-Matic (wreck room, Fort Worth)
I know we posted about them last night, but what the fuck else are you going to do in Fort Worth? Tip a cow?