1. Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight (film screening @ the Angelika)
Starting at 7pm, a screening of Jarecki's new award winning documentary about the US military industrial complex and its implications on foreign policy, with a director q and a session to follow. No its not a music event, but if music is the only thing you care about then you are dumb. Here is more info and a preview of the film.

2. Good Records Good Mornings with Dj CEE PEE (Cavern)
Playing all the new indie releases for your ass.

This is a repost of a Myspace message that we got today. I believe that this is the same band that was charged for DMF tickets that THEY were supposed to sell for an event that they weren't being paid to play at. And if the fact that the entire festival was about as cool as Fred Durst's movie collection didn't leave a bad enough taste in your mouth... The Veldt had their instruments stolen from them. Something tells me that the organizers of this "festival" aren't going to feel that they are in any way legally responsible for this... So the next time this shit train comes to town, lets all make sure that no one jumps on board. At least no one we like.

SO, NOT ONLY DID THE VELDT PLAY THE DMFU,BUT WE HAD SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS WORTH OF EQUIPMENT LIFTED FROM US.IT FEELS GREAT TO GET FUCKED ROYALY AT AN EVENT WHERE WE WERE ALREADY GETTING SCREWED.WHAT'S GONE? WELL, HERE'S THE LIST...

ADAM'S FENDER AMERICAN STRATOCASTER
JEREMY'S THUNDERBIRD BASS
ADAM'S ENTIRE PEDAL BOARD (I'LL GET THE DETAILS)&
BRENT'S MIXER

Someone associated with the Doublewide emailed us to tell us that there would be a free Strange Boys surprise show at Doublewide tonight at 11pm. Um, its free, so you should go after the big game.

Hmm, not much going on tonight other than Wild in the Streets at Haileys, where they play mod, garage, soul, and other 60's stuff. I heard that there is some kind of sporting event going on tonight on the television.

So for the love of god we're finally done with all these damn record reviews for 2005. We never realized how difficult it is to talk about music that you love... but it is, and we hope that you have mostly enjoyed our thoughts on some of our favorite new music. Anyway, here is a full list of the albums we reviewed and the links to the original reviews, as well as some other records we liked this year that didn't quite make the cut. Oh, and for some reason our #1 post about Caribou was published down the page a little bit, so scroll down or just click the link to take a look.

1. Caribou: Milk of Human Kindness Review
2. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: s/t Review
2. Wolf Parade: Apologies to the Queen Mary Review
3. Animal Collective: Feels Review
4. The Clientele: Strange Geometry Review
5. Spoon: Gimme Fiction Review
6. Deerhoof: The Runners Four Review
7. Serena Maneesh: s/t Review
8. Broadcast: Tender Buttons Review
9. Mahjongg: Raydoncong Review
10. LCD Soundsystem: s/t Review

Some other records we liked, in mostly alphabetical order:

Akron/Family: s/t AND split w/ Angels of Light (These both would have been on the list if we hadn't got into them so late in the year. Groundbreaking stuff.)

Andrew Bird: The Mysterious Production of Eggs

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: Worn Copy

Bloc Party: Silent Alarm (we know, you're like SO over these guys)

The Boy Least Likely To: The Best Party Ever

Broken Social Scene: s/t

Castanets: First Light's Freeze

Clor: s/t

CocoRosie: Noah's Ark

Dead Meadow: Feathers

Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom: The Days of Mars

Devendra Banhart: Cripple Crow (good, but not as strong as the last two)

The Double: Loose in the Air

Doves: Some Cities

Dungen: Ta Det Lungt (actually came out in 2004, but we listened to it all this year too)

Engineers: s/t

Four Tet: Everything Ecstatic

Gang Gang Dance: God's Money

Jens Lekman: Oh you're so silent Jens

Jose Gonzalez: Veneer (probably would have made the top ten but we got into kinda late)

The Joggers: With a Cape and a Cane

The Juan MacLean: Less than Human

Konono No. 1: Congotronics

Koushik: Be With

MIA: Arular

Maximo Park: A Certain Trigger

The National: Alligator

Of Montreal: The Sunlandic Twins

Old Time Relijun: 2012

Oneida: The Wedding

Out Hud: Let Us Never Speak of This Again

The Ponys: Celebration Castle

Rogue Wave: Descended Like Vultures

Russian Futurists: Our Thickness

Sigur Ros: Takk

Six Organs of Admittance: School of the Flower

Skeletons and the Girl Faced Boys: Git

Super Furry Animals: Love Kraft

Tapes N' Tapes: The Loon

The Warlocks: Surgery

We Are Wolves: Non Stop Je te Plie en Deux

A good set from the boys last night and a great crowd. Although the sound system at Avenue Arts sometimes leaves something to be desired in the mixing and volume departments, Strange Boys used it to its fullest potential last night as they played both new and old songs. One song in particular really kicked my ass, about mid way through the set, but I'm not sure of the name. Lots of stops and starts and build ups always seem to result in a good live show, don't they? In this world of a million genres, Strange Boys just seem like a good ROCK band. Whatever that means.

We were able to stick around for some of DJ G's set after the strange boys, and it was fanfuckingtastic. A really great mix of obscure disco, house, and just a bunch of cool dance floor tracks that we've never heard before and aren't really sure what to call... except awesome. The packed room full of people shaking their shit also helped. And although we had to leave to stop by a friend's birthday party, we came back around three and people were still going at it. All in all, it was probably the best Dallas party that we've been to so far this year. Good stuff.

Lots of stuff to do tonight. Here we go:

1. Strange Boys (Avenue Arts- 825 Exposition)
If you haven't had a chance to see the Strange Boys live yet, this might be a good opportunity to do so, being a small non traditional venue. They go on at 11:30 in the middle of some kind of party hosted by the Melissas (who might they be?) and also featuring a set from DJ G of Wednesday night at the Cavern and Thursday at Hailey's fame. For more info call 214-827-0351. Its usually 5 dollars to get in and always BYOB.

2. Shiny Around the Edges | Evangelicals | Hotel Hotel (Rubber Gloves- Denton)
We can't believe we missed SATE last night. Its mostly because we didn't hear them until today. Great experimental folk that reminds us of the Castanets covering Leonard Cohen and Massive Attack songs. Also Hotel Hotel are an interesting experimental instrumental band from Austin, and the Evangelicals do some solid spacey-twee pop. All are more than worth checking out. Click on their names for a link to their respective Myspace pages.

3. The Hourly Radio (Cavern Adventure Club Showcase)
Yes the Edge sucks, and yes even the Adventure Club sucks a lot of the time. Do we REALLY have to hear the new fucking Deathcab for Stupid cover of blah blah blah? The answer is no, but you might want to say yes to Hourly Radio. They do some pretty solid Echo influenced Brit pop.

4. Dj Nitwit Psychic Drive In (Fallout)
Before or after the Strange Boys show, you should check out some good music and interesting videos next door at Fallout. Always a good place to relax on a Saturday evening.

First of all, people all over DFW and especially Tarrant County will probably keep hearing about the Metrognome Collective and Untitled 1518 again and again this year, and for good reason. Not only is the space fantastic, but the organizers have ambitious plans to make it one of the centers for art and music in DFW. The 11,000 square foot space is huge, with room after room being renovated in order to house artist studios, concert spaces, film screening rooms, band practice spaces, and a place for lectures and community meetings. Not only will they have all of these things going on at the space, but they will also be releasing a quarterly journal to document all that they do over there, in addition to hosting semi regular open houses to showcase artist works and host concerts on site, which we are also told will eventually be completely green powered with solar energy and other environmentally friendly energy sources. The space isn't close to being finished yet, but when it is it will certainly be impressive.

And the concert space is great. Its probably a little bigger than the Tea Room, and has a big enough stage and strong enough p.a. system to accommodate just about any band that would want to play there. It also has a comfortable and inviting design that only these kinds of unique spaces can provide. Organizer James Watkins is a really nice guy that not only has a genuine interest in developing an artistic and musical community in Fort Worth, but also seems to have the business know-how to get things done, which is something that is often sorely lacking in such endeavors. This means that the place has a great chance of getting off the ground and really going somewhere. We hope it does.

As for the show, Bosque Brown was less than amazing, and had some early sound problems that caused a pretty long delay before their set began. They also seem like they simply haven't been playing music together all that long, which obviously is unavoidable for relatively new local bands. However they are unquestionably talented, and lead vocalist Mara Lee Miller has "Indie star" written all over her. Her vocals were terrific, and her stage presence was compelling.

Overall a fun night in Fort Worth, and one that seemed to be a preview of what might end up being a regular stop for bands, indie kids, and this website.

I bet you probably thought #1 was going to be Sufjan Stevens or that Antony guy, didn't you?That isn't entirely unreasonable given that you probably haven't read very many year end lists that put this album at or near the top (lord knows you've had the chance to read every one of them, this being February 5th and all), or very many that DIDN'T include one or both of those albums. And if we were basing our judgment on this record and this record alone, we might not have put it so high up on the list, even though it surely would have cracked the top ten. However, when we include the band's Marino DVD and Audio, also released this year, along with the two Caribou live performances we caught in 2005, they all add up to 2005's most inspiring and important package of music with a damn good record as a centerpiece.

Wait, thats not fair is it? To judge all the other records on their own merits while factoring in live shows and videos and a whole other CD with this release? Ok Ok. Even if you take away the excellent Marino Audio AND the live performances, we would still put this record at #1 on our list as long as we get to keep the Marino DVD videos, which are mostly original video pieces produced to play along with the songs on this record anyway. The reason we must insist on this course of action is that Caribou truly is a multimedia group that thrives on the ability to warp your mind with sights AND songs. Just check out one of their trance inducing live performances and you'll understand: Dan Snaith and the rest of the band take a backseat to the music as well as the videos, all of which are collected on Marino and displayed on a large screen during their shows. Get lost in the videos for a few minutes and you'll forget that the guys are even there, playing live in front of you. The interesting part is that aside from the live drums, they probably don't even have to be.

The closest reference points to describe this band would probably be the Silver Apples and Can, although Eno and even the Super Furry Animals (whom they opened for this year) also come to mind. Opener "Yeti" starts off as quiet synth pop and stays that way until about half way through when the drums kick in and everything explodes. Really, if you haven't heard Caribou yet, just listen to this song and you'll probably be sold entirely. If not, you can move on to the blues of Velvet Undergoundy "Bees," or the machine gun percussion of "Brahminy Kite," which is probably the most Silver Apples sounding track on the record. If none of that pleases you, you're probably dead... but you can check for signs of life by listening to the insanely intense build up of "A Final Warning," where bouncy beats and prog rock keyboards turn into third world percussion breakdowns and noise right before your very ears.

And right before your very eyes, if you're watching the Marino DVD, you'll also see a tense peak in "A Final Warning," which seems to be the centerpiece of a loose conglomerate of videos that all revolve around some kind of concept involving an alien and some guy doing, um, something. Even though its hard to follow the storyline of these videos, they really are a terrific companion to the songs on this record, as well as a few of the older songs released under the band's former moniker Manitoba. Most of the videos are animation or some combination of animation and film that leave you with a feeling of happiness mixed with a slight, vague paranoia that is usually induced by certain psychedelic drugs that you may or may not have done in your past or present. And although the best way to experience Caribou is their live performance with two drummers, the videos, and the music at once; the Marino DVD and Milk of Human Kindness record will do just fine until the next time they come to town. And again, its not that the record isn't incredible on its own. It is. Its just that we felt the need to tell you about all the parts of our 2005 experience with Caribou, since they all had something to do with making this record and this band our new favorites.

Blow one up yourself, bitch. Heres how.

Busy night tonight, so here we go.

1. Bosque Brown (Metrognome Collective's Untitled 1518- Fort Worth)
We wrote about this yesterday(scroll down, lazy ass), and this is probably where we'll be tonight. Looks like a really cool space run by some cool kids, not to mention the fact that they were able to land one of the DFWD "buzz" bands for their first show. Its located at 1518 Lancaster in Fort Worth, and you can get directions and more information here. Should be interesting to see how they do it over in Ft. Worth tonight. We'll try to find out the times for you and add them on to the list later today. (the above photo is of their space, which is now much more finished according to our friend over there.)

(HERE IS AN UPDATE, with DIRECTIONS and STUFF: "A Childlike Fear will go on around 10:00, Shiny around 11:15, and BB at 12:30 or so. it is all ages, and BYOB. Cover is $5 and will be split between the NFP and the bands." AND:

Dallas: are you coming out I-30 from dallas? if so, exit riverside, turn left, go under the fwy and take a right at the light, which should be Lancaster. pass under hwy 287, and the collective building will be about two blocks down on the left.

Denton: If you are coming down 35 from denton exit 30 east towards dallas and take the first exit for 180/Lancaster West, before you actually get on 30. that will split into three little ramps, take the first one around, and you will come out on lancaster heading toward downtown. it is a half block down on the left

The building is in between cypress and pine, with a large, tall hexagon shaped blank sign; and across the street from Andy's orange motorcycle shop. there is a large penner and cheney paint company sign painted on the building next door. turn in the gate on the right of the building if there is any parking left in the back and come in through the back entrance. we are woking on the front part of the building, eventually everyone will park across the street and come in through the front door into the gallery. ")

1. (Tie) Undoing of David Wright, Zom Zoms, Eat Avery's Bones (Rubber Gloves Denton)
This is our first official It List tie because although we really want to go check out the space in Fort Worth, we also wish we could be in Denton to see two local bands we like, along with another interesting group from Austin. The crowd will probably be great, and I'm sure there will be some good after parties and whatever going on in little d after this show, so theres no reason not to go to this. Not to mention the show will be great. Stop by early to check out Eat Avery's Bones.

3. Octopus Project (Hailey's- Denton)
A great Austin instrumental band. Check out their Myspace page and see for yourself. Sort of reminds us of DJ Shadow for some reason.

4. Up! at the Cavern: A pretty good eclectic selection of music for those in Dallas that don't feel like driving to a show. Usually a pretty good time.

So, a gentleman by the name of James Watkins sent us an email to turn us on to some new shit going down in Ft. Worth. Yes, that Ft. Worth. We told James that we really hadn't ever hung out there, and didn't know much about our neighbor to the west... but we really like the sound of what he's saying. Here is part of his email to us:

"in a nutshell, Aaron Bartz, several other artists, musicians, and myself have joined forces to try to put some zing into Cowtown. We are putting together a DIY non-profit community arts and performance space, the Metrognome Collective. We are in partnership with the not-for-profit that runs Untitled #1518, an 11,000 sf warehouse in the mission district on Lancaster that rents out studio space to artists and musicians for $0.50 per square foot per month. Our organization is currently subleasing a 2500 sf room in the building. We built a 16'x20' stage, we are wiring a nice sound system, and soon we will be trying to get a video projector and some lights. We are also working on our website and a couple of press releases"

Hmmm... interesting. So far so good. Next, he tells us this:

"Our first show is tomorrow night, Bosque Brown and Shiny Around the Edges are playing, and Zest of Yore is playing on Saturday. Over the next month, we plan to finish out another 800 sf room to make a gallery space for visual artists. We are planning to open the gallery for Fort Worth Gallery night April 1, and we are on the tour bus route for that. We are also in production on our first quarterly arts journal that will profile DFWD Artists, Musicians, Filmmakers and Writers, and we plan in the next few months to start doing regular independent, student and experimental film screenings, writers workshops, and instructional workshops for artists on getting grants, promotions, agents, booking, and all of the industry skills necessary to make the difficult transition into being full-time artists."

Yes, their first show is with Bosque Brown tomorrow night at what looks like a really cool space. I think we're gonna stop by and say hello tomorrow night. Its nice to see this going on in Ft. Worth. We're also looking forward to the art and film things. This is the kind of shit that will make DFW a place for good music again. Cheers, guys. Oh, heres their Myspace page if you want more information, like their address and stuff. We'll post more in tomorrow's It list.

1. DJ G 80's Dance (Hailey's Denton)
Go see this guy's set if you like 80's synth, house, etc. Good stuff.

2. DJ Wild In the Streets (Cavern Upstairs)
60's soul, pysche, garage, etc.

3. Dj Laureen's Mile End (Fallout)
Brit pop, shoegaze, indie, screamo (Just kidding.)

Lots of different places to hear lots of different kinds of music tonight in the DF to da W. And didn't you hear, Thursday IS in fact the new Friday.

First things first, we stopped by the Cavern tonight to check out DJ G's set, and we've gotta say it was pretty goddamn solid. It is 80's music, but its not lame flashback cafe crap. In fact, we have never heard most of what he played before, and the stuff we had heard before was right on the money. Just really good dance synth new wavey house music that was a pleasure to listen to. And although the crowd was small, most of the people who were there were attractive, dancing their asses off, and seemed to be having a blast. Lets hope that the crowds get bigger, because this could be a pretty fun excuse to show up to work hung over on Thursday morning.

Also, theres a pretty good discussion about Dallas music going on in this here comment thread, and we were hoping that some other people would join in.

We'll give you our #1 album of 2005 some time tomorrow, along with some other stuff. CYA

1. The Party w/ DJ Nature (Rubber Gloves, Denton)
As if the music he's playing isn't enough reason to check out this night, Nature will be passing out free mix CDs tonight, mostly consisting of stuff he's been playing on Wednesdays. Heres the track list:

1. Sex in the Kitchen - R.Kelly 0:52 2. Tiger in Harlem - Nick Dewitt 3:11 3. Welcome to Jamrock - Damian Marley 1:22 4. Still Tippin inst. - Mike Jones 0:37 5. Hater - Vars007 2:51 6. P's and Q's (diplo mix) – Kano 2:24 7. They Dont Know - Paul Wall 1:05 8. Idioteque – Radiohead 2:38 9. Back it up Boys – Peaches 1:50 10. Me So Horny - 2 Live Crew 2:12 11. Popuzuda Rock n' Roll - De Falla 1:46 12. Injecao - Deise Tigrona 1:57 13. Bucky dun Gun - M.I.A. 2:08 14. Bochecha Ardendo - Os K-rrascos & Vanessinha de Picatchu 3:00 15. Push It - Salt n Pepa 3:05 16. Shorty Swing My Way - Kp and Enyi 3:22 17. Rize to the Occasion – Sizzla 2:35 18. Nomad for Love – GangGangDance 2:04 19. Combustivel - Arto Lindsay 2:37 20. Dil Lena Khel Hai Dildar Ka - R.D. Burman 1:59 21. Galang 05 feat. Cham - M.I.A. 3:11 22. Random - Lady Sovereign 2:13 23. Hey Girl - Busy Signal 2:56 24. Notorious – Turbulence 2:19 25. Lucky You – Nanko 2:54 26. That Day Will Come - Capleton 0:54 27. Jah is Worthy - Chuck Fenda 1:14 28. Lonely Girl - Bosom X 1:38 29. Living in Love - I Wayne 3:47 30. Thanks and Praise - Fantan Mojah 2:12 31. No Ordinary Love – Allain 1:29 32. How Come - Morgan Heritage 0:51 33. Falling - Mr. Easy 0:45 34. Far From Reality - Natural Black 1:07 35. Never Gonna Be The Same - Sean Paul 1:30 36. Tears – TOK 1:29 37. Love Is - Jah Cure 3:43

Um, thats good party stuff.

2. 80s Night with DJ G (Cavern)
So we hear that this isn't just some Tainted Love, Walkin' on Sunshine 80's night, but instead that early Chicago acid house, no wave, good new wave, and all different kinds of stuff gets played each week. Sounds good to us.