So we're going to try doing things a little differently for the next month or so. Since some people have actually emailed us (I know dude, its totally NOT you, right?) to tell us that they would like a little more advance notice on shows, etc, we're going to start doing lists for the entire weekend on either Thursday night or Friday afternoon. It just seems easier. Of course, we'll post last minute concerts and stuff over the weekend, so feel free to check in with us on the weekends too. However, the big list comes now:

FRIDAY

1. Metrognome Collective Pop Festival ($5)
This is another big huge gigantic local music bash going on this weekend, with more of a focus on some of the better local Elephant 6 influenced and indie pop bands (organized by the Metrognome gang and Fishboy). I bet people will have some dumb things to say about this fest AND Strategies tomorrow, but I think there are some good bands playing at both. Our favorites at the Pop fest tonight are clearly: Teenage Symphony, The Shapes, and the Happy Bullets, and we sort of have a soft spot for the humor of Fishboy. Oh, and the whole night will be MCd by our friend Frank. The line up:

The Beatdown-8:00

American Werewolf Academy-8:30

Hardin Sweaty and the Ready to Go-9:00

Tha Bracelets-9:30

Maya Bond-10:00

The Shapes-10:30

Ballroom Dancing-11:00

Teenage Symphony-11:30

Man Factory-12:00

Fishboy-12:30

Happy Bullets-1:00am

Some of these bands are good, some are ok, and few are downright annoying, but this could be one of the most well attended events in the history of Metrognome, so it will likely be a show worth seeing. You'll at least like two or three of the bands there, right?

2. DJ Nature | Select (Monkey Bar)
Yeah, I know. It broke your little indie heart when Expo closed down. You had so many wonderful memories of bad service and bad attitudes that it just killed you to see the place go. Actually, I really liked Expo a lot, but this new place isn't all that different when you think about it. Sure, there are some tikis and crap lying around, but the outside is still cool, and the seating is way better. Not that its going to matter, because The Party will be there tonight, and you should be too if you like dancing and getting trashed without having to put up with all the dumb people that usually go hand in hand with that sort of thing. Smart, sharp crowd, baile funk, hip hop, reggae, and everything else you act like you know about in order to seem cool. Should be a great night with some of the best djs in town.

Also, you can stop by Club One between 9-11 for a few pre party drinks. You'll hear Stephen R, one of the more cutting edge electro promoters and party organizers in Dallas, spinning new wave, industrial and goth.

3. Theater Fire is at Dan's Silverleaf in Denton, and I listened to some Peter and the Wolf stuff today (members of which make up Red Hunter, who is playing with Theater Fire tonight), and it seems Ok I suppose, pretty trad indie folk pop.

4. Chris from GVB will be playing music upstairs at the Cavern tonight, while Sound Team will be downstairs. I'm not going to hate on sound team really, but I'm just not that impressed with their record, although they are a pretty good live band. Sue me.

SATURDAY:

1. Strategies of Beauty (Rubber Gloves $5)
This is the last mention of this fest that you'll see here until our comprehensive 86 page review on Sunday. Go HERE for the line up. Are all these bands the most earth shattering and brilliant you'll ever see? No. But there is some fantastic stuff on this bill that if you don't end up loving, you'll at least find interesting considering that DFWd was able to get something like this together in the first place. Something Defensive Listening said the other day really seems true to me: Dallas and the surrounding area seems to have a fixation with happy go lucky indie pop for some reason. Some of it I like, and a lot of it I don't, but the point is that this festival is a great way to showcase the simple fact that there are a lot of people that aren't completely satisfied with the local music business-as-usual status quo, and that they are ready to do something about it. Like have fun. The wonderful atmospheric noisefolk of Shiny Around the Edges, Chris Garver's outsider influenced country/folk, Stumptone's melodic and aggressive psychedelic, Eat Avery's Bones progpunk on meth, and the noise exploration of Notes from Underground, iDi* Amin and You Are the Universe should be just some of the highlights.

Even if you don't dig some of these bands, haven't heard some of these bands, or think noise rock is crap, I would suggest that this could be one of THE events in local music in 2006, and you should at least shell out the whole five bucks and head up to Rubber Gloves to drink with some drunkards and perhaps meet some like minded musicians, artists, etc. Because if this thing works out for everyone's benefit, whats not to say that more of these will start popping up around the area with different bands, new ideas, and something a bit different from rockabilly and the other typical Dallas shit that has bored us all to tears for years now. I'm sure stuff like Strategies has happened in the past, and thats fine, but I don't really care about the past... and considering the state of local music at large these days, none of us can afford to. Go see a preview of what Dallas and Denton could become in the foreseeable future.

2. Those that can't make it up to Denton should check out Pleasant Grove and Jack with One Eye @ The Cavern. Pleasant Grove might be the only remaining member of the Dallas "old guard" music scene that I like. I saw them end a show with a glorious 20 minute noise marathon a couple months ago, and I thought it was insanely brilliant. Their songs are delicate and blurry and mostly really good.

I don't know what else I can tell you about this band other than that I choose them to be the best (or most entertaining, at least) act playing Strategies of Beauty. I know that's a pretty serious statement when made about such a young band, but I stand by it. They combine so many daring feats of noise and musical acrobatics that they could ride on just one of the many ideas they use to attack an audience. Eight-bit keyboard melodies, skeletal guitar shrapnel, frantic vocals, and a constantly shifting tempo that includes everything from disco beats to Ruins-like revisionist prog references, all played with genuine smiles, ridiculously irreverent banter, and not the slightest bit of pretentiousness. This band's youthful enthusiasm will melt your cynical heart. Well, I've gushed about them enough and I found their responses to my band bio request to be almost as entertaining as their onstage inside jokes. So here's Eat Avery'sBones in their own words...

On their humble beginnings:

"Did we mention our first show was at The Door? Well, it was a real testament to how bad [our] first band really was. We were more concerned with playing covers of "When Doves Cry" and "Summer Nights" from "Grease:the musical", and later, destroying The Door by booking ourselves as fake bands, playing 2 hour sets in the acoustic lounge and breaking every rule the club had laid out. Notable aliases we played under: The Taco Bell Explosion, Belzar, and Frau Junge."

Their sonic development:

"To skip ahead, the band broke-up since after a while fucking around and only playing noise gets old."

Influences:

"We really prefer not to pin down certain bands that we think had a great impact on the way we write music because we want people to make up their own mind on what we might sound like...Its kind of like having four chefs hovering over a pot and all trying to cook something together. You know that all the chefs have a different style and specialty, so in the end what they make is going to taste like shit...but it's going to sound pretty cool while they're doing it."

The Local Scene:

"Lucky for us theres a lot of new and exciting things happening to local music (amongst the piles of the same worn-out diarrhea) and if the trend continues there might be a place for us down the road, hopefully not amongst the diarrhea, though."

Their tender age:

"Obviously we're all pretty young. None of us are old enough to drink, two of us are still in high school. We have a really blatant sense of humor, mostly toilet and sexual humor that comes through in our live shows and in our songs. Costumes we wear on stage are tied to our sense of humor, too."

Overall Philosophy:

"Overall, we're only doing this whole band thing because we enjoy having fun. The entire process of creation to performance of music is a blast for us.The day it stops being fun and starts being unenjoyable is the day we sell our instruments and go have a feast of taco bell and black tar heroin, because that is fun."

(SR NOTE: Eat Avery's Bones' Myspace page is here.)

Ok- in the name of fairness, we'll give credit to Kate Mackley (spelling?) for the photo of Emil Rapstine below. And for the record, we got it off their myspace page and didn't see a copyright on it, so we didn't even consider crediting whoever took it. For future reference, if anyone has a photo that appears on here that we have mistakenly failed to credit or would like to have a photo removed, please email Weshotjr@yahoo.com and let us know. Music stuff:

FIRST: The wonderful people over at Clear Channel are sponsoring a WSJR contest for tonight's Scott Stapp show at Nokia or wherever it is... and this ones just for the ladies! And the gay gents! Anyway, if you want to win, post in the comment thread telling us which Creed song you find most inspirational and why, and the winner will get to blow Scott backstage, and then pray with him that the Republican controlled congress' approval ratings go up so that they can maintain control after the November election (this also happens to be in the best interest of Bush pal Tom Hicks, who is a major Clear Channel shareholder)! Sound sexy and fun? Well if that isn't enough, you'll get an autograph and a free t-shirt! Bonus!

1. Attractive and Popular | Occasional Detroit | Juiceboxxx (J&Js Denton)
So in case you've never witnessed the no wave dance attack Attractive and Popular, tonight would be a good night to do so considering that they are playing with the excellent OD and Juiceboxx at J&Js, where I have decided the pizza and pints rule just as much as anything else. Don't be dumb: go to this show. Starts at 9.

Attractive and Popular will also be playing @ the White House in Denton later tonight (I assume after their first show) with Chief Death Rage, which should rule. Its next door to the yella house in case you don't know.

2. Theater Fire | Red Hunter/ St. Vincent (Double Wide)
Like it or not, Theater Fire could be the best currently active Dallas based band around right now. And I said DALLAS, not Denton or anywhere else. And Theater Fire is actually from Ft. Worth I think, so forget it. And St. Vincent is a GVB fav, so if you're usually down with what Chris is down with, this would be a good reason to go early. Sorry, can't find the Red Hunter myspace and I gotta run.... it couldn't be that great anyway, could it?

3. Dj G 80's House and electronica (Hailey's)

Idi*Amin is arguably one of the most experimental groups playing at Strategies of Beauty, but their experimental technique is nuanced and they don't sound as though they are out to simply punish you with pure noise, even though they could if they wanted to. The only thing keeping this band from being a straight instrumental group is the fact that "atonal" guitarist Nevada Hill ( a label he doesn't take as an insult, like the way it's sometimes pejoratively thrown around this very site) will let lose with an occasional scream or yelp. Meanwhile, "Tonal" guitarist Paul Overby balances out Nevada's formlessness while the Observer's most capable freelancer, Michael Chamy, plays the Sinewave Generator to undermine any and all attempts at balance.

The band has had multiple drummer syndrome in the past, but they are currently backed by Boyd Dixon of Tame, Tame and Quiet. Boyd brings a more direct drumming style to the push and pull of Idi*Amin, and it's very entertaining to hear the band rise and fall between droning, complete chaos, and...rocking. Finally, all the musical contrasts are topped off by the loop-like saxophone work of Mike Forbes. His repetitive phrases and hypnotic melody shards dart around Idi*Amin's live eruptions and at times recall Philip Glass. And no, I'm not talking about the Kundun soundtrack. Honestly, a lot of Forbes' sax parts remind me of the opening sample on Devin the Dude's "I-Hi," and that's not a bad thing. And if you can't remember the complex names of any of Idi*Amin's improvisations, just request that they do their"microphone trick". It's a local legend.

Saturday's Strategies of Beauty performance featuring the duet of Samantha Moss of Jetscreamer and Emil Rapstine of The Angelus will be their second performance together, and like the first, it will likely result in some combination of haunting atmospheric music and spoken word performance. In their first performance, Emil played a bastardized wind organ to accompany Samantha's recital of passages from"Dakota: A Spiritual Geography," a non-fiction tome written by Kathleen Norris that includes a topical mix of weather reports, spirituality, and monasticism in the American Midwest. Sounds like Spin Magazine wasn't kidding about this being one of the "101 Wildest Parties" of the summer! But don't let the reading scare you, Mr. or Ms. Less Adventurous, because Emil Rapstine's accompaniment will be a sonic fit to the heavy subject matter, and will probably resemble his moody work in The Angelus. Unfortunately, Rapstine's wind organ died an untimely death, so he'll be forced to improvise other ways to embellish Sam's speaking. The two might also treat the crowd to duet vocals, but no promises. One thing I was promised by Samantha: this will sound nothing like Jetscreamer.

To everyone that came here from the Myspace bulletin: FOOLED YOU!

It appears that two of our favorite weekly Wednesday night events, The party @ Rubber Gloves with DJ Nature and DJ G's 80's house night at the Cavern are not going down this week. And to top it off, nothing else worthy of any time or attention ( that we know about) seems to be happening tonight either, which is the first time in a while (Other than a random Sunday or Monday here or there) that its been quite this dead.

So maybe you should sit back, relax, have a few beers, and get ready for the weekend. Sorry. I can't wait for someone to bitch at us because nothing is going down tonight.

However, later tonight we will have more posts on some of the Strategies bands ( a concert, in case you hadn't heard, that is expected by Spin to be one of the 101 best parties of the summer), an MP3 or two from other bands, and more details about our "best of" local podcast, which seems to be coming together quite nicely. We've got the playlist picked out and a good host, so we're on our way.

So are the 90's the new 80's or something?

1. Occasional Detroit | Kidko (Metrognome)
Don't be like me. Don't miss another great show at Metrognome because you can't make it out to Ft. Worth tonight. I can't make it for various reasons, but if I were going out tonight, this is where I would be. OD is I guess what you would call "avant hip hop," but I would just call it some great beats and efficiently utilized noise parts. I've never really heard anything quite like it, but I guess you could maybe make a Suicide comparison, if only slight. And don't be afraid of the IDM label (I often am), because Kidko is one of the better electronic artists in DFW right now. I think Juiceboxx was supposed to play this show too, but I don't think they are on the bill anymore.

2. Lost Generation with Wanz (Cavern Upstairs)
Heres what he'll have tonight. Sounds good:

"Tonight's theme is nostalgia. I am gonna time warp back to the listening habits of my group of friends duringb the early to mid 90's. MBV, The Darkside, Spacemen 3, Slowdive, Laika, Seefeel, Squarepusher, Stereolab, Silver Apples, Pale Saints, Tortoise, Yo La Tengo, ESG, Bark Psychosis, Pram, Slint, Public Enemy, Atom Heart,Kraftwerk and much much more. I'm diggin deep into the vault for this one. Have you ever heard The Velvet Underground legendary Guitar Amp Tape? Do you know what Narcotic Guitar is?When was the last time you listened to the 1st Suicide album? Remember SST records? Anyone remeber Mark Ibold's pre-pavement(and far superior) band "The Dustdevils"? When was thge last time you dusted off a Gastr del Sol record? Remember the Denton house parties with The Boredoms, Blues Explosion and Mouse and Mars? A few of you out there may even remember freaking out The Swirlies when they came to Denton when everyone kept trying to get them stoned..........oh the days. It's nostalgia night at Lost Generation."

I would have loved to try to get the Swirlies stoned. I can't believe they wouldn't.

Also, Eat Avery's Bones is playing with the Peelers, The Future Unlived and Polio=Feet at Dada tonight. I'm not a big "garage" guy, and I can't stand rockabilly, so I can't really recommend the Peelers... Future Unlived's myspace page is fucked up so I can't really hear what they sound like, and I can't really find anything about the feet dudes, so sorry Surly.

Band of Horses | Mt. Egypt | The Can't See (Hailey's $10)
Even though I've poked fun at them before, I don't really think Band of Horses suck. In fact, I think they are pretty damn good at what they do, which is combining The Shins and My Morning Jacket. But thats not even fair, is it? I mean, they do have some qualities that neither of those bands have, and they are a pleasant listen, and perhaps a bit more challenging and dark than the Shins. And they're actually pretty good songwriters too, but I just don't feel like I can buy into all the hype surrounding these guys yet, even if there are a couple of songs on Everything All the Time that I like quite a bit, especially "The Funeral." I wonder how they'll be live... probably a good time. Mt. Egypt sounds like a slightly less dense, um, Band of Horses, and The Can't See, well, I can't hear the can't see now, so see you later.

Like we said last week, this week we'll be profiling some of the bands playing at the Strategies of Beauty festival on Saturday at Rubber Gloves in Denton. We think this thing could be one of the local music highlights of the year, so we'll be giving it a little more coverage than we usually do for most concerts. Since we're lazy, and we've already done profiles on two of performers, we'll start by linking back to those. You can expect handful more of them this week:

HERE: Shiny Around the Edges

HERE: Chris Garver

1. Nobody & Mystic Chords of Memory - Tree Colored See
2. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
3. Danielson - Ships
4. The Paper Chase - Now You Are One Of Us
5. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
6. Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope
7. Frank Black - Fast Man Raider Man
8. Small Sins - Small Sins
9. Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
10. The Futureheads - News and Tributes
11. Wolfmother - Wolfmother
12. Daedelus - Denies the Days Demise
13. Jose Gonzalaz - Veneer
14. Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
15. Astronautalis - The Mighty Ocean and Nine Dark Theaters
16. Juana Molina - Son
17. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
18. The Stills - Without Feathers
19. Hot Chip - The Warning
20. Be Your Own Pet - Be Your Own Pet

Maybe I'm dumb, but what the hell is Nobody and the Mystic whatever?

I should tell you that although I do like Sonic Youth quite a bit, I'm not one of these SY groupies that has every single piece of music they have ever released and can speak intelligently about Thurston Moore's guitar tunings for every show they played in New York in 1983. That being said, I thought last night's show at the stuffed Gypsy Tea Room (it was the most crowded I've EVER seen the place, although the temp inside was surprisingly cool) was completely captivating, and the band looked and sounded fresh, energetic, and relevant. A couple of friends and I spent a bit of our drunken evening discussing how different the Sonic Youth show felt compared to the Dinosaur Jr. show we saw a couple months back. Both bands were favorites of ours back in the day, and we all still listen to both on a regular basis. And although this might be obvious considering that Dinosaur was simply on a reunion tour playing old hits, it seems that nostalgia was the primary motivation that guided us to the Dinosaur show at Gypsy, while a genuine curiousness and anticipation to hear new material is what primarily motivated us to go see Sonic Youth. None of us had seen them in what seems like a very long time, and although it was nice to hear some old stuff ("Kool Thing," "Eric's Trip," and "Catholic Block" among others), the new material seemed as timely and relevant as anything else Sonic Youth has ever done, and many of the songs off their latest album made it on to our list of favorite songs of the night. I continue to be impressed by how challenging and artistically valid Sonic Youth still is after all these years, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if I went to see them the next time they came through Dallas in support of yet another pretty fantastic record.

And what was close to being the absolute highlight of the night for us, despite all the great music we heard? It would have to be the fact that Pavement's Mark Ibold was touring with them on the bass. How fucking cool is that?

As for today, Theater Fire is playing at the Fort Worth Weekly Music award show at the 8.0 Bar at Sundance Square, and Doublewide is having its anniversary party starting early this evening. The line up:

6:00 - Pinebox Serenade7:00 - The Strange Boys8:00 - Saboteur9:00 - Lions10:00 - Max Cady11:00 - The Golden Falcons12:00 - Skeemin No Goods

In the Courtyard:

6:40 - not confirmed yet7:40 - Travis Hopper8:40 - Laura Palmer9:40 - JC10:40 - Emil Rapstine (The Angelus)

Not that all of these are our favorite acts or anything, but it should be a good time if you just want to relax a bit on a Sunday afternoon. Be sure to check out Emil Rapstine.

1. Sonic Youth/ Awesome Color (Gypsy Tea Room Ballroom $30)
I figure you have an opinion on Sonic Youth one way or another and you're stickin to it, so I won't even bother. Awesome Color is from Bushwick, and their hipster points are on full display on their Myspace page. They sound like Sabbath and MC5 with Thurston Moore and the guy from Dead Meadow for singers. Its pretty decent I supposed.

2. Last Generation Concert (Darkside)
See below for more info on this show

3. I Love You | Peel | Chaos v. Caverninha | You Are the Universe (Metrognome $5)
Another great show @ Metrognome tonight. I Love You and Peel played last night (see descripton below or click the link), and Chaos is a noise side project from two members of Austin's excellent Hotel Hotel. And you know the deal on Universe already.

And my dumbass almost forgot:

Tim Sweeney of DFA fame will be Djing at Minc tonight (813 Exposition in Expo Park, $5 b/f 11, $10 after). Go here to check out some of his podcasts, or go to the Myspace page. If you're into anything like DFA, Optimo, How To Kill the Dj, Tigerbeat, or space disco, then you REALLY should check this guy out. His podcasts are fantastic and there won't be anywhere in the state of Texas where you'll hear a better DJ set tonight, I bet. This will be going on till late, so you can make this an after show stop if you want.

Don't have a lot of time to write a bunch about these shows right now, but here is the list with a bit of commentary and the links you need:

1. Everything, Now | La Subida (Metrognome Collective $5)
A venue at the top of a short list of places that are booking shows AND have an interest in art. AND know what they are talking about.

2. Teenage Symphony | Peel | Tame Tame and Quiet | I love You (Cavern)
Teenage Symphony is getting better and better all the time. Go see them before all your dumb friends hear about them. Austin's Peel lists Pavement as an influence on their Myspace page, and it shows (or sounds.) But they are really pretty damn good, I'm shocked we've never heard of them before. Ft. Worth's Tame Tame is always worth checking out, and I love You is almost too "indie pop heard it all before," but they aren't, and they are good too. I bet this is going to be a fun night, even if they have to compete with Theater Fire.

3. Theater Fire (Sons of Herman Hall)
Benefit for Kinky Friedman, I'm sure you all know the deal on this.

4. Octopus Project | Dutch Treats (Hailey's)

5. Denton's Drunk Talk Show (Rubber Gloves)
Here is the info they sent me on this. Sounds fun, and its free:

Tonight, on stage at Rubber Gloves... NO COVER. Cheap booze. Show starts PROMPTLY at 11:30. SEATING IS EXTREMELY LIMITED. Get there a little early iffin you know whats what.. What is WHAT IT IS IS? Its a live talk show, ya fug. Complete with a Desk, a couch, a coffee table, a Host (Scott Porter/Record Hop/Spitfire Tumbleweeds), a Sidekick (Kody Jackson/Spitfire Tumbleweeds), an Announcer (Colin Carter/Hogpig), and a Band (Duane Deering/Tendril). All that shit. TOTALLY pro. Tonight's guests? I'm glad you asked. We have the comedy of Frank Hejl (ex-Frequency Down/Mix tapes and Babyfights). We have Mr. Chris Flemmons (Baptist Generals) joining us on the couch to talk about what the Save Fry Street battle is REALLY all about. We have two budding film makers, Ryan Barbonne and Allen Traylor, who will be showing clips from their hilarious, sexy, and racially charged internet series "Hello Optimism" And if that wasn't enough, we have the music of Brent Best (The Drams/ex-Slobberbone)! Add an installment of America's favorite new game TASTE THE POWDER and you have a night that is DEFINATELY worth the ZERO dollars that you will be paying to EXPERIENCE HISTORY IN THE MAKING. FUCK. Seriously, seating is available and limited. Show up early and get blotto. We'll do the rest! If you get there late, youre gonna miss it. The show runs somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half.

Here are some records we have been listening to lately at WSJR HQ, with a couple MP3s just for you:

Brightblack Morning Light s/t (this is a fantastic record that is pretty perfect in almost any setting. I'm sure that some people will find it boring, but I think it recalls Spacemen 3, Primal Scream, and elements of jazz and soul. What the fuck is boring about that?) "Friend of Time" MP3

Johann Johannsson Dis (Christ this is a really beautiful album. Check out the way this track goes from soft bedroom pop fragile to bold psyche rockin and back again in a completely seamless sequence.) "Efripides Og Nearipidel" MP3

Sly and the Family Stone Theres a Riot Going on (Listen to this record if you want to find out how dark a summer can be. And also where Ariel Pink came from.)

My Bloody Valentine Glider EP, Tremolo EP, You Made Me Realise EP (A lot of the stuff on these EPs doesn't sound much like Loveless, but sometimes thats a good thing considering what a powerful yet draining experience listening to Loveless can be. These also reveal another side of the band that is compelling in its own right.) "Slow" MP3
Feathers s/t

Thom Yorke The Eraser

Six Organs of Admittance The Sun Awakens ( yet another strong effort) "Bless Your Blood" MP3

Excepter KA

Joy Division Closer (Oh, have you guys ever heard of this band before? Seriously, its honestly been a couple years since I sat down and listened to Joy Division, but I started listening to Closer again a couple weeks ago and it now blows me away even more than it used to. I don't know how its possible, but it does, especially opener "Atrocity Exhibition.")

Defensive Listening's List:

Wuhling Extra Six
Orange Juice The Glasgow School
Finally Punk "Missile" (from their Myspace page)
Loincloth "Church Burntings" (from Southern Lord seven inch)
Delta 5 Singles and Sessions
Nikki Sudden/ Jacobites The Ragged School
Massacre Killing Time
Ancient Chinese Secret Caveat Emptor

(we were gonna post more MP3s, but file sharing is being a bitch today. If bands, labels or management want any of these songs removed, please email weshotjr@yahoo.com and we will take them down immediately. )