Lost Generation w/ Wanz (The Cavern Upstairs)
Wanz will be playing some Syd Barrett and some of his contemporaries (Silver Apples, Hendrix, etc.) Soft Machine, Diplo, a lot of cuts from the new An Albatross record, and a bunch of other stuff too.

So Many Dynamos | Everything Looks Better Upside Down | Plastic Assassins (Metrognome Collective Ft. Worth)
So Many Dynamos describes their own sound as Dismemberment Plan meets Les Savy Fav, and I'd say thats just about right. And despite the fact that they might not have the most original sound in the world (they sound A LOT like LSF, perhaps a bit rougher) they write good songs and will be good live. They'll be playing with the excellent and eclectic ELBUD. Plastic Assassins are one of those bands that have a horrible song on their Myspace page ("Certaphone"), and a couple ok ones. So I don't know what to tell you about them, but I wouldn't get TOO excited.

And Chris Garver is playing at Club Dada with Domenic Ferraro (who provided the very disturbing photo above and plays with Eaton Lake Tonics). Ferraro plays slightly above average indie folk I guess you could say. Kristin Allen Zito also plays.... I guess her songs are like cutefunny, which I guess makes her like the Jill Sobule of Dallas or something? I don't have the energy.

Sad day. We were all really big fans. But unlike almost every article we've read about it today, we're not going to say "shine on you crazy diamond" at the end. We'll just say that we loved the strange innocence and genius of his songs and persona.

GuardianUK (Interview with their first promoter, credited with "discovering" Pink Floyd)

MSNBC quick rap up

NME

And the sound quality isn't good, but it is kind of haunting:

Been a bit slow around WSJR HQ for the past few days, but we've got some good stuff for you this week, including some MP3s, interviews with local bands you might care about, interviews with touring acts you may care about, and um, probably some other shit too. Wait and see.

HEY, EVERYONE SHOULD NOT GO TO THE SHOW AT J&Js BECAUSE WE JUST FOUND OUT FROM ED THAT IT WAS CANCELED A WHILE BACK. THE TUCSON BANDS STILL HAD IT LISTED ON THEIR MYSPACE PAGES, HOWEVER, SO WE DIDN'T KNOW. SORRY.

Fra Pandolf | North | Notes(J&Js- Denton)
We were going to tell you to go see the off the fucking hook live spectacle of Notes from Underground, but they aren't actually playing this show. What we thought was a new cool slang name for Notes from Underground was actually meant as an indication that Tucson's Notes is playing this show. Notes does a pretty low key southwest neofolk influenced ambient electronica, and seem to be pretty effective in their attempt at putting across a creepy, isolated front to serve as a thin veil for underlying layers of fairly warm textures and melodies. It might be kind of "head scratcher," to borrow a phrase from one of the other WSJR crew members, but very good atmospheric stuff. They will also be joined by North, which leans more to the metal atmospherics, although they stay far away from the drone of bands like Sunn0))). Its kind of boring, but might be a different deal in a live setting... and there are certainly some very strong peaks and valleys on the recorded stuff. And I bet you thought all Tucson bands sounded like Calexico, didn't you?

And I'm just not sure what all the mini buzz (consisting of two Observer staff writers) is surrounding Comrade, who plays tonight at the Cavern with Seattle's Unwed Sailor (perhaps a bit similar in sound but MUCH more interesting). Now don't get me wrong, I would certainly say that they are quite a bit better than the average ready for KDGE Dallas "Indie" group, but I'm just not sure why we are supposed to be excited about a Travisesque post-Radiohead band that isn't actually from the U.K. They've got a diverse and technically strong singer, and they sound like they know how to play their instruments, but it doesn't make up for the same old same old song structures, trite lyrics, and rehashing of everything that Nic Harcourt thought was cool in 2001. And although comparisons to Pleasant Grove are understandable, I just don't think they have the emotional unsteadiness, intensity or inventiveness of most of Pleasant Grove's strongest material. Again its not terrible, but nowhere near great. If you're planning on going, be prepared to sort of enjoy it.

VCR | Ballroom Dancing | Oh No Circuitry! (The Eighth Continent- 731 Texas St. Denton)
VCR is a band that will be perfect for the 8th continent: loud, catchy, energetic danceable punk slop that sounds like it was made for a video game... in a good way. Its a new wave take on no wave. Ballroom Dancing, who recently played at the metrognome Popfest, is probably the poppiest band to play 8th Continent. And although we heard some mixed reviews of their live show (as in some good and some bad with few in betweens), we think this will be a great venue to see them in if you like the songs you hear on their Myspace. Circuitry seems to be a punk influenced take on proggy postrock/shoegaze and sounds like they could pack a punch live, which gives you a good reason to get there early, even if the 8th might force you to take a few heat wave breaks during the show. Should be good times, and I think its five bucks.

An excellent show going on tonight that we missed on the weekender post: Chief Death Rage and The Night Game Cult will be playing @ the Amsterdam in the patio area. The Amsterdam is on Exposition near Avenue Arts and Minc... this will be a kick ass show. Thats all.

Not the most SUPER exciting weekend that a Dallas or Dentonite could ask for, but there is some good stuff going on:

FRIDAY


Chris from Gorilla vs Bear will be playing some records upstairs at the Cavern tonight. And while there seems to be two contingents of people on this site (one that digs GVSB and another that doesn't) I think Chris probably has the best American MP3 blog going right now, and I especially dig some of the stuff he's been getting into lately (Os Mutantes, Liars, The Knife, Tropicalia). He'll be playing all that plus some hip hop, electronica, psyche, old school, and some new music that you probably haven't heard unless you check his blog regularly. Should be a cool time for cool kids.

And I'm guess I'm not sure what all the fuss surrounding Crushed Stars (who will be playing downstairs at the Cavern tonight) is all about, but I suppose they are a pretty decent quiet indiefolk group with a couple of standout tracks. Could be worth checking out if you're in that sort of mood. They'll also be playing with the Paper Chase's strange and intriguing Sean Kirkpatrick and New Science Projects, who seem like they should be the most entertaining live show out of the three. They switch between lo fi junkyard folk and grinding noise/beats... and sometimes combine the two to produce god knows what... fans of Bumblebeez 81 and people that like M Ward and Eat Avery's Bones equally will like this a lot. I'm surprised we hadn't heard these guys until today.

Gorch Fock and Snake Trap will be @ DoubleWide tonight as well if you didn't get a chance to check them out last night.

SATUDAY

First of all, Danielson will be playing a free in store at Good Records at 4pm Saturday. When I first heard the new Danielson record a couple months back, I found it really annoying, but somehow (probably based on the recommendation of Defensive Listening) I've gone back and managed to find out that I dig some of the songs, and have even started to really like a few. So if you're like me and you're not sure what you think of this band, I would check out the in store, and if you like it, maybe make your way to Rubber Gloves in Denton to see them play with Pilotdrift and Houston's rockin' Bring Back the Guns later Saturday evening. Will be a good one.

Stephen Ruiz, a DJ and party promoter who has been putting together many of the most cutting edge electronica and experimental music events in the area recently will be having a house party at his place, featuring performances by the excellent ambient/experimental/ sound collage group One Umbrella from Austin and Wanz Dover doing some of his solo electronica stuff. He doesn't want to give out his home address, but he says that absolutely everyone thats willing to act like a decent human being is welcome and encouraged to come out and see a great show in an intimate setting that will also happen to be a house party. He asks that you simply RSVP with a Myspace message to his page (click the link above) and he will respond with directions and info. Shit goes down starting at 10pm, and goes till whenever.

Saturday will also be the Summer Soulcial @ Avenue Arts (825 Exposition) featuring a performance by the Strange Boys and Dj sets from Lollipop Shop, the Smoke, Wanz Dover, Wild in the Streets , Marcos Prado and DJ G. I'm guessing this will be the other good party on Saturday, and theres no reason not to hit this after one of the other shows.

And the excellent iDi* Amin will be playing the Denton Cohesion fest with a bunch of other bands at Texas Jive for five bucks, starting at 2pm. I think iDi is worth the five bucks alone. Click the Cohesion link for more info.

1. The Great Tyrant | Gorch Fock | Snake Trap (J&Js- Free)
Austin's Snake Trap plays a sort of Slint/Fugazi/ Les Savy Fav influenced instrumental progpunk that sounds a bit boring on the old Myspace page, but also sounds like it could be damn good live, especially in a dank little basement like J&Js. They're surely tight with their playing too: check out "28 and 78th demo" on the myspace. Gorch Fock reminds me of a heavy metal Fishbone on acid, which is a good thing, and also of GWAR, which is an I don't know thing. They too sound like they could be a great live band.... check out "scott jernigan" on their myspace page. Finally, our own Great Tyrant is probably not for everyone, but their live show is "Off the hook" for all you kids out there, and frightening and well executed in a Bauhaus meets Cannibal Corpse southern lord type a way. So yes, this is about the closest thing to an all metal show that you'll see on this blog.

2. Ghostcar | The Ebb and Flow | Chao/ Linea Triste (The Cavern)
Shit we love Ghostcar, and if there is a relatively difficult band in DFWd that is actually really easy to get into, its these guys. They're jazz, they're funk, they're hip hop, they're avant garde, they're noise rock, and they are even a little Kraut. And oh yeah, they are completely bad ass. Check out "earthman's overture." Ebb and Flow lean towards the indie side of prog... and I can't seem to find exactly which Chao will be playing tonight... if its the one from Denton, they are pretty good. If anyone knows, post a comment or email me. Linea Triste might be a good reason to show up early and find out for yourself, however. This should be another excellent show on a Thursday night.

3. Dj G's 80's house/electro (Haileys- free)

I'm not sure what I thought Strategies of Beauty would be other than an above average local rock show, but I suppose that I expected it to serve as a microcosmic snapshot of local music, a chance to take the pulse of musicians, scenesters, and anyone else that gives two shits in order to see where this area is musically, and where it might be headed in the near future. Some might respond that this is an overly dramatic, unrealistic and misguided calculation considering that many of the bands that played Strategies have gone more or less unnoticed by 90% of Dallas' local music scene participants, and an even smaller percentage of DFW residents that might consider going to a local show every now and again. But aside from the (only half joking) response that if the majority of Dallas music fans don't dig it then it must be good, I would suggest that the Strategies line up was comprised of a larger percentage of interesting DFW bands than any other show I can think of in recent memory, and despite the relative lack of attention that most of these bands have received thus far from local fans and media, several of them are part of a short list of local groups that actually have a chance to make an impact outside of the area at some point in time.

I think people often forget that while some of the more popular bands in Dallas right now (The Valentines, Deathray Davies, Belafonte, Chemistry Set, etc.) might have sounds that are more commercially viable than the Strategies gang, their chances of going very far outside of being cool on lower Greenville probably aren't very good. Why? Well, its not so much that they're just completely terrible (which several of them are), but more because there are similar bands with very similar sounds in pretty much every large to mid sized city in the United States, and they're all fighting for that one Volkswagen commercial, or that one opening slot on the next Death Cab tour. And while the Dallas version of a watered down Strokes might not be much worse (and could be much better) than the Kansas City or Sacramento versions, it just seems that the competition to reach the markets they are aiming for is much tighter than that for the market that say, Notes from Undergound, Shiny Around the Edges or Eat Avery's Bones might be able to interest. In short, many of the Strategies groups ( and a handful of other local acts) seem to offer something relatively unique, something that might actually catch a Matador rep off guard at SXSW next year. I guess that is why I thought Strategies was sort of a big deal.

And while it might not have been one of the 101 WILDEST parties of the summer in the United States (unless this is an off year for "wild"), the festival was very well attended for a ten hour all local show in a really hot bar (Rubber Gloves: turn on the damn air conditioning!), and most of the acts that the WSJR gang saw were quite solid if not earth shattering, while a couple were extremely captivating.

The show marked the first time I had ever seen Shiny Around the Edges live, and it was really quite impressive. Although it seemed that they were unable to capture some of the doom and gloom ambience of their recorded material (which I'm not even sure is possible in a rock club), they were quite effective in creating tension on stage, building a thin wall of separation between performer and audience that was intense but vaguely welcoming in that it exposed their fragile yet confident personas as they played sparse, minimal songs that built up slowly and broke down quickly. As much as I liked their music (along with the backing pedal steel by Adub), which seems to exist somewhere one the warmer side of Portishead, Broadcast, Palace Brothers and Leonard Cohen, I enjoyed their vocal delivery and subtle stage presence just as much, as it seemed a bit more artistic and thoughtful than most of the Carlos Ds and Karen Os that have come and gone over the past five years, rendering neo post-punk swagger about as boring and predictable as a garage rock yelp. Overall, they are one of the more exciting bands in the area, and their live performance just added to that notion.

Stumptone followed with a capable and at times exhilarating set of shoegaze influenced neopsyche and a slide show background that set a similar mood. How the names Catherine Wheel and Janes Addiction have not been mentioned in a Stumptone review (to my knowledge at least) is a bit of a mystery since they seem to be heavily influenced by both bands, but they don't sound too much like either one to start calling bullshit on anyone. Instead, they really seem to have a good grasp on the shoegaze wall of noise thing, and although the Rubber Gloves mix made it a little difficult to distinguish what they were doing at times, it was clear that they have the capacity to mold and control tuneful noise in a pop context, which to me indicates that they could very well end up being quite successful on a large scale if they can continue to refine and improve on their approach.

The set that seemed the most problematic of the ones we saw came from Fra Pandolf, but it wasn't because the band doesn't have its shit together. The first thing I noticed about them was that their lead singer (Is it Ed? I can't remember) had an exceptionally strong and interesting voice, particularly for a smaller local act. The second thing I noticed was that they didn't emphasize this distinguishing characteristic nearly enough. Maybe it was the fact that the vocals were a bit too low in the mix, but it just seems like their songs would benefit in terms of immediacy and effectiveness if the focus was shifted more towards a structure that centered more around the vocals. Another problem that we noticed right away were the drums: they were simply too busy to accompany what the band seemed to be trying to do otherwise. The drumming was quite good from a technical standpoint, but that was part of the problem: it was much too slick, tight and roll happy for a band that seems to be searching for a little more space in their aggressive guitar layering and impressive starts and stops, which sort of reminded us of Refused with a dose of Chapterhouse and Sunny Day Real Estate. The good news is that these kinds of problems are fixable because the band is obviously more than capable of changing it up and doing less or more where necessary, although the set we saw certainly left something to be desired.

For us, the clear highlight of the night was the closing free jazz/noise explosion set of Notes From Underground, which in about 25 minutes became one of my favorite local live bands, even though I'm not the kind of person that gets easily excited by either noise or free jazz in a live setting. Of course, telling some people that they should totally go check out this noise band with a sax is like telling people that they should go check out getting some dental work done, but I would venture to say that just about anyone with a brain and even the slightest sense of adventure would have been moved by Notes' performance at Rubber Gloves on Saturday. Their free form compositions combined many of the best elements of the other bands that we saw and often took them to new heights. No, it wasn't pop, and you really couldn't tap your feet to it, but I somehow found myself swaying back and forth a bit to songs that didn't really have any kind of constant rhythm, and I was continually impressed with the way they were able to reach ear bleeding levels of noise while still maintaining some kind of melodic element, proving that yes, it can be done. It was one of those rare instances where noise sounded emotional, purposeful, and downright easy to like. And although you can't tell from the picture of them below, they played in an almost completely dark room with a lone white light set against a white sheet in the background, allowing only a slight glimpse at the outlines of the band members as they played. Not only did this add to the effectiveness of their set, but it reminded the audience of the purely abstract nature of their expression, basically leaving well enough alone. I'm sure they're great looking dudes and everything, but I'm glad that all I could do was listen.

I don't know if I was able to pick up on much context surrounding the festival (considering that outside forces caused us to miss half of it), but if local music fans are indeed waiting around for something to happen, I think its safe to say that Strategies at least provided us with something to listen to in the meantime, and who knows: with a little luck, some of these bands could have bright futures in DFW and possibly beyond.

Look... its bands on a stage! (review coming this afternoon)

This one is actually useful if you were at the show and wondering what the hell Notes from Underground actually looks like

The exploding plastic Stumptone


Shiny Around the Edges... I wonder if this is what their living room looks like.

Saw about half of the well attended Strategies of Beauty fest last night, and enjoyed it quite a bit for the most part. We're doing a review on it and stuff, but several members of the WSJR crew are out of town today, which means that we'll have to continue with regularly scheduled programming (including the review) on Wednesday....

and by the way, anyone that didn't stick around for Notes from Underground's finale set last night really missed out.... they completely killed, and have got to be one of the best local live bands that I've seen this year.

And despite blowing out a fucking amp, Nature and Select's set at Monkey Bar on Friday was completely fucking on all night. There was a HUGE and diverse crowd in attendance (the biggest I've ever seen at that place) that consisted of punk rock kids, hipsters, the house crowd, art girls, strippers (or girls that at least looked like strippers), uptown preps, the hip hop set, any other person that you can slap a label on and everyone else in between. Good times for pretty much anyone that isn't completely lame.