1. Joanna Newsom - Ys
2. Benoit Pioulard - Precis
3. The Polyphonic Spree - Wait
4. Damien Rice - 9
5. Demetri Martin - These are Jokes
6. Radiant - We Hope You Win
7. Annuals - Be He Me
8. Tenacious D - Pick of Destiny: Deluxe Version
9. Bright Eyes - Noise Floor
10. Decemberists - Crane Wife
11. Icy Demons - Tears of a Clone
12. Akron/Family - Meek Warrior
13. El Perro Del Mar - El Perro Del Mar
14. Jeff Tweedy - Sunken Treasure Live (DVD)
15. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
16. Califone - Roots & Crowns
17. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
18. Pavement - Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
19. Baboon - Baboon
20. Skeletons & the Kings of All Cities - Lucas LP

Nothing really going on tonight except Dallas Bad Ass Jazz Night at The Amsterdam. One of our longest running weekly recommendations.

FRIDAY

Gil Mantera's Party Dream | Grand Buffet | Faux Fox | Dj Gorilla vs Bear (Cavern)
Man, these Gil Mantera guys look like jerks. Big jerks. But the good kind, you know? The kind you might want to see live because they're just silly enough to possibly piss everyone off, completely rock the house, or some combination of the two. Their video below is pretty funny, and the cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" on their Myspace page is nothing less than the shit. Throw in Faux Fox and you've got yourself a show. I think I can do without the joke hip hop of Grand Buffet, but their set might be a good time to head upstairs and see what Chris from GVSB has going.

Wax Fang (430 pm)- Free Good Records In store: Like I said the other day, I don't know much about Wax Fang, but I got my hands on some of their stuff the other day and I like it a whole hell of a lot. Their singer sounds like something in between David Bowie and Billy Joel, and thankfully their music falls much closer to Ziggy era Bowie rather than the latter. But I'm just saying its closer to Bowie than Billy Joel, which isn't really saying that it sounds much like Bowie at all. But it does a little. And what the hell do you care? Its free, and theres free beer, and Wax Fang is good... whatever their influences.

My Morning Jacket | Wax Fang (Gypsy Tea Room)

Islands | Subtitle | Blueprint (Hailey's)
As I'm sure most of you know, Islands are basically a reformed and more pop-minded Unicorns, and like the Unicorns, they can be a lot of fun to listen to or extremely annoying, depending on your mood. For a couple of months earlier this year, I was concvinced that Islands' debut would be one of my favorite records this year. I still really like it a lot, but for some reason it just didn't have the kind of shelf life that you would expect from an album that is so pleasing at first... I saw the Unicorns live once a couple years ago and wasn't very impressed, but I'm willing to bet that these guys have improved a little since then. Basically what I'm trying to say is that I like Islands and I bet this will be a good show. I'm just not that excited about it.

ADD: Dj Nature will be spinning records at Minc tonight with Daz-I-Kue

The Good Sons (Wanz and Aaron Gonzalez Birthday Party/Scratch Acid Tribute)/ White Drugs | Liz MacGowan | Stag Film (Amsterdam Bar)
Based on what I saw of the Good Sons performance a few weeks ago, I kind of wish that they would just be a Scratch Acid tribute band because they play those songs much better than the Birthday Party selections. Still a good time for the most part, though. White Drugs' live show should be well received by almost everyone who reads this blog, so I'd give it a shot if I were you.

The Angelus | Amanda Leggett | The Dust Congress (Doublewide)
Dust Congress is a Denton band that I don't really know too well, but I like what I hear. Maybe someone call fill us in on who the are, but in the meantime you should listen to "inuvikyellowknife" on their myspace page... they play very strong, creeping front porch folk, and they sound well worth showing up early to see.

The Who (American Airlines Center)
52 bucks gets you in the door. $202 gets you one of the good seats. Pete Townshend should start doing Viagra commercials and spare us whatever bullshit has driven these prices so high. Is there a puppet show or something?

SATURDAY

ADD: Denton's excellent Zanzibar Snails will be playing what they term a "multimedia warehouse art happening" from 7-10pm at 1837 Corinth St. near downtown... just south of 30 and west of 45. I heard there are a lot of neighborhood toughs around there. Anyway, the art show, which will be going on all day starting at 10am, will feature the work of the Snails' Nevada Hill along with several other Dallas area "outsider" visual artists. The Snails will be playing the reception from 7-10pm, and will feature a five person line up with more live electronics and homemade microphones than they usually play with. The whole thing is going on at some place called Park in the Cedars... not sure what that is, but I think this will be a good time. I'm assuming its free.

Beach House | Over the Atlantic | The Spores (Amsterdam Bar)
I think we've said enough about Beach House this week, so go check out their songs for yourself if you haven't already. And attention Indie Bros: girl show alert. Its a good thing.

The Melvins | Big Business (Gypsy Tea Room)
I've been rocking out to the Melvins' 1993 classic Houdini for the past 30 minutes or so as I've been writing this... in fact, I've been listening to it on and off for the past four or five months as part of my great Melvins revivial, and I can't really explain why. Its funny, because describing the album can really be a matter of simply saying "grunge as fuck," but somehow it doesn't sound dated in the least bit. I'm actually pretty torn between this and the Beach House show, but I have a feeling that the Melvins will be playing shows for the next twenty years, and not having to park in Deep Ellum on Saturday night is a bonus. Big Business sounds pretty fucking good too, however, so who knows. I guess its hard to be in the mood for BOTH shows, isn't it?

The Elected | Margot and the Nuclear So and So's | Whispertown 2000 (Hailey's)

SUNDAY

Les Georges Leningrad | Dutchess Says | Eat Avery's Bones (The Cavern)
Yeah, if you've seen LGL live like I have, then you know that this is going to be a great show. They kill it live, and their upbeat, no wave influenced noise/dance punk will translate very well in a small room like the Cavern as long as its loud. And I'm pretty sure it will be. Eat Avery's Bones are the natural local choice to open this show, and you really might want to get there early enough to see their 20 minute opening set.

Pilotdrift | Pattern is Movement (Hailey's)

Lots of stuff going on tonight so we'll get right to it:

Assdroids | Chief Death Rage | Christian! Teenage Runaway (House of Tinnitus-Denton)
This would be a good and very cheap chance (donations requested) to see what you think of this week's feature band, C!TR. Its hard to tell what to think from the poorly recorded songs on their Myspace page, but from what I have been able to gather about them, I'm willing to bet that they are far from boring at the very least. And hey, if you don't like noise rock, you should really check out the Assdroids too! I don't exactly know what to make of their loopy free form electro noise, but it sounds like its either going to kick my ass or drive me crazy in a live setting. And thats the kind of bet I'm usually willing to take. There are a lot of goofy moments throughout the songs I've heard, but there are also many moments that seem to hit you across the face in just the right way. We'll see.

Strange Boys | Teenage Symphony | Lindby | Wild In the Streets (Rubber Gloves)
Although they sound nothing alike, the Strange Boys and Teenage Symphony seem to be a great pairing for a live show. I guess the fact that both of them are so heavily influenced by the 60's is what does it, but the huge differences in their respective sounds just seem like nice compliments to one another. Add Wild In the Streets into the mix and you've got a great night. Lindby is a teenage indie pop band from Flower Mound that I don't think I've ever heard before... and despite how terrible that sentence makes them sound, they actually sound pretty good to me for what they are. They're obviously pretty decent songwriters, and I doubt from the sound of things that they'll really piss you off, even if you hate indie pop.

My Morning Jacket | Wax Fang (Gypsy Tea Room)
The first of what I'm sure will be two really good shows. I've seen My Morning Jacket live before and they're very very good. Wax Fang is a band I don't know much about, but I like the little bit I've heard from them.

The usual stuff: Zoo upstairs at the Cavern, old school hip hop at Slip Inn, and Metro will be starting a new night at Monkey Bar.

And finally, Chelsea's birthday party at Doublewide will feature a couple good bands, and all the proceeds will go to Amnesty International, which is obviously a good thing. We'll let you guess who the good bands are: Record Hop | Lions | Saboteur | 100 Damned Guns

One of the most pleasant experiences I've had listening to rock music this year was discovering how much I liked Beach House'sself titled debut the first time I heard it. What I heard that first time was clearly something special: quiet, dreamy music that doesn't seem to come from any particular time or place but somehow sounds very familiar almost right away. Victoria Legrand's dark organs serve as a simple and powerful atmospheric backdrop to Alex Scally's gorgeous slide guitar parts that always seem to start off hidden beneath a fog of ghostly reverb but somehow manage to slowly find their way into the light, creating many of the album's most striking and memorable moments with restrained, surf influenced shimmers. Victoria's vocals, although not exactly precise or traditional, are extraordinarily effective in lending soul and sorrow to songs that often sound so detached that one might imagine them fading away into the distance at any moment. Basically, the contributions of both members stand out in different spots but come together seamlessly to create a series of very distinct moods that are pretty much perfect for this time of year.

I called Alex and Victoria tonight, on the eve of a show they were playing in Los Angeles with Ariel Pink, to ask them some questions about their band. I first spoke with Victoria when they were on their way to a hotel, but after a few interruptions caused by bad reception and the chaos of arriving in a new town, I picked the conversation back up with Alex once they settled down. Beach House is playing a Gorilla vs. Bear show at the Amsterdam this Saturday night, and although you might not have heard about it in the local "alternative" paper (at least I didn't see anything about it) , I'm sure you'll want to consider going once you've heard their music... if you haven't already. Here is our conversation:

What are you guys doing out in LA... playing shows I'm assuming?
We're playing a show tomorrow at Echo with Ariel Pink.

Oh cool. I've seen him live twice. Once he played a lot of album cuts and put on an amazing performance, and the other time he did improv for 45 minutes.

Yeah, it can kind of go any way with him. He's unpredictable.

So I guess I'll start with the usual stuff... how did you guys meet and how did the band come together?

Alex and I met about three years ago through a mutual friend. I had just moved to Baltimore from Paris where I was studying music and acting, and I picked Baltimore to live in because the rent was cheap and I already had some music connections there. We were in another project together before Beach House, which never really added up to anything, and one day we just started writing and Beach House was born shortly after that. We've been doing it for about a year and a half now.

And had you guys just been playing locally in Baltimore for most of that time?

Yeah, we were playing locally in Baltimore for most of that time. We played in New York and a few other places once and a while, but primarily stayed in Baltimore. We started getting some attention because of our local shows, and we actually recorded our album very quickly, several months into the existence of the band. The album was recorded in February and was mastered and done in March. We were signed a couple of months later.

So everything happened pretty fast?

Beach House moved gradually, but the process of actually getting a record out happened very quickly. We were very lucky.

Would you attribute that (the speed of the records release) to anything in particular? Did someone catch notice of you early?

I would attribute it to a lot of work and a lot of dedication to our stuff, as well as our energy and desire to put our record out as quickly as possible because we were already writing new material and we thought fall would be the best time to release it. I attribute a lot of it to our own ambitions to get our material out. If we hadn't been signed we probably would have released it ourselves, but as it turned out, Carpark records was looking at artists in our area and they just got a hold of us, which is how it all happened.

I've noticed that a lot or reviews of your album make reference to your name and use visual descriptions of beaches and the fall and things like that to describe the sound. Does any of that have anything to do with what you were writing about or thinking about while you were writing these songs?

Well, obviously its all related, but its not like the name Beach House guided what we would sing about. Its just that the name was a way we were trying to describe what we felt like when we were playing the music, like we were in another part of the world, on the beach or something, and the word Beach House just sort of popped out one day. Its all very naturally fallen into place, which I guess is what happens when you're trying something that makes sense to you. You find a sort of language that you can cultivate in a musical sense. I don't really think much about what I'm singing or how its going to end up, it sort of all comes out naturally. All our processes are very organic and we always just let every idea go.

I think you record is one of the few that has gained a lot "indie" buzz this year that really doesn't sound a whole hell of a lot like anything else from the past. Were there any strong, direct musical influences that you guys had in mind when you were writing this record?

I would say no, we don't have any particular or deliberate specific influences that we were trying to imitate when we were writing our songs. Alex and I loved the sounds that we created and found, and we sort of followed our instincts. We do share musical tastes, we both love music from the 60's and Motown and all that stuff obviously, so if there are any kind of influences brought to mind by our music, its just mostly referential without really being super conscious of anything. Its sort of just a big collage of all of our tastes. We weren't trying to sound like any specific artist at any point, and neither of us believe that that is how music should be. It shouldn't begin as an imitation. If it ends up sounding like something else, then thats the way it is, but in order to write songs, you can't think about what it sounds like or who it sounds like while you're writing. It has to remain somewhat innocent and protected. You can keep the things you like, but keep them in the background.

So are you saying that even if you had wanted to approach writing and recording songs with direct influences in mind, maybe you couldn't have even done it to begin with, or at least not as effectively?

No, when we write our material, we don't want to sound like any specific artist, and when we record, we don't look for a sound that sounds like any certain album. We say, when we write and record our music, "this is Alex and Victoria writing songs, we are just doing this and these are the sounds we like." We're not trying to imitate anyone. Inevitably, we're going to be put in some genre, like we're already being put in with shoegaze, and thats totally fine, but we're just trying to not let that affect how we approach our music. We' re trying to guard it a little bit. Labeling and all this stuff is fine if people need to do it, but for the artist, its very destructive and it actually creates too many thoughts in your mind where you become too preoccupied with what you sounds like and who you will appeal to. We try to very much remain in a more innocent place.

(This is the point where Victoria had to hang up because one of the other bands they were touring with needed directions to their hotel. I called back a few minutes later and talked to Alex, who answered the rest of my questions.)

What was the recording process like, and where did you record your album?

We recorded the album in my basement but with two very well trained and experienced recording people setting it up with appropriate microphones and stuff like that. We just kind of set up a studio in my basement and did it at home.

How did you guys get that faint drum sound? I'm curious because it really stands out to me throughout the record.

All different ways really. Some of them were recorded on to tape first and played like that, to get a sound that was very filtered. All of the drum sounds are filtered in one way or another, either by effects or recording process. We played all the songs live, or at least did the recording live. The drums were recorded before, by themselves, and were their own recorded part. Some of them are hand played, some are made using machines, and some were played on organs.

How important was it to you to record the album in the way you did? Was recording technique a big part of your vision for the record itself, or did it fall into place later as you were going about it?

I think production is 90% of making a record. I think tons of bands, in fact, most bands don't get a good recording. So it was really really important to us to get a recording that sounds like us or expresses our character or how we feel as we're writing our songs.

You guys have been getting a lot of press lately, and I wanted to ask you about the big Pitchfork review since people love to debate about how Pitchfork reviews affect a band's career in the short term. I was wondering if that review changed things for you, or sparked a lot of new interest in your band.

I don't know. I have a hard time answering that question. I don't know what attention was there, and I don't really monitor it. I'm on tour, and not around a computer a lot, so I don't keep track of that kind of stuff. Pitchfork seems to help. When bands get good reviews from them they end up getting a lot of attention, so I'm sure it helped us, I just don't know exactly what role it played. It also seems like Pitchfork fans are very fickle, like they like whatever Pitchfork says and then move on to the next band. Its like they like Pitchfork more than the bands almost. Hopefully that won't happen to us because we don't want to be a five minute band. We want people to just like the music and not think of it as some "new" thing.

People seem to put a lot of importance in Pitchfork reviews.

I'm sure we've had a lot better attendance at shows because of Pitchfork and everything, but everyone has been really nice so its hard to tell. I don't like to think about it too much because it kind of freaks me out. I just want to play and make music and let the press do what it does. I just want us to be ourselves.

So obviously we're doing this interview because you're playing Dallas on Friday. Have you been to Texas before? Do you have any impressions of it?

Yeah, I was in Austin recently. I liked it a lot.

Have you been to Dallas?

Just the bus station.

Any funny stories?

No, Texas looks wonderful. Everything looks big. Big cars. Big cities. Big freeways. Big people. I don't know.

Anything else you'd like to talk about?

No, we're trying not to think about things too much. We just want to make music and not plan too extensively, because it seems with all the things that have popped up recently, there are a lot of opportunities to lose your way and get very caught up in the meaningless bullcrap of the music world.

Is that something you feel a lot of pressure or anxiety over?

No, thats my point exactly. We're feeling no pressure, we want to keep doing exactly what we've been doing which is just making music and not trying to make the "right moves" or cater to anyone's opinions to get attention.

So one of the most popular questions I've received via email over the past six months is "when are you idiots going to get a P.O. box?" Well my friends, that day is today. So now you can feel free to snail mail us CDs, press kits, and whatever else you want. Just don't send us any Anthrax. or Anthrax.

We Shot J.R.
PO Box 721261
Dallas, TX 75372-1261

We'll add this to the blogger profile as well.

Looks like everything that you might want to do tonight is going on up in Denton....

first, as usual, Dj Nature's the Party will be happening at Rubber Gloves. I don't know what the crowd has been like for Nature up in Denton lately, but last Friday's Party at Zubar was seriously off the fucking hook. Another huge, random crowd with lines forming around midnight, tons of people dancing like you don't normally see outside of one of the big downtown clubs, and Nature, Select and Sober all playing fresh sets that kept everyone guessing until closing. If you like to dance and didn't show up, I feel bad for you. Central Booking basically owns the Dallas party scene right now.

Elsewhere in Denton, Mom will be making a rare live appearance at Andy's on the Square in Denton tonight with In Dot Dat. Mom's complex electro soundscapes are at times gorgeous, meditative and swirling, but at any moment can be overtaken by rougher, noisier parts that will throw listeners off almost completely... in a good way. Their songs build up slowly before they blast off, making you wonder how they got from point A to point B. Toe tapping music its not, but anyone who digs thought out, well put together experimental electronic music needs to hear these guys. They're a gem right in our own backyard.

And finally, for those looking for some metal/math rock stuff, Hailey's has a pretty decent show: These Arms are Snakes | Mouth of the Architect | The North Atlantic | Handbrake . We're not big fans of any of these bands, really, but These Arms are Snakes and Handbrake sound decent enough to at least do a little Myspace listening if this is your kind of thing.

So I've heard various talk in recent weeks about the rising profile of Dallas' Hourly Radio, and until this point I've pretty much ignored it. I had heard them before here and there, and I thought their music was decent if somewhat forgettable. "Another post-punk revival band," I thought, "I can probably do without it." For me, the jury is still out on the band because I haven't had a chance to listen to all of their new material, but I have to say: their latest single, "Crime Does Pay," is pretty fucking right on.

I don't remember exactly where I downloaded it from, but I've listened to it several times this week and I'm really digging it. The song draws from a wide range of influences, but it has a predominant disco vibe a la Donna Summer's "I Feel Love," and also seems to take from New Romantics like Gary Numan and Thomas Dolby, as well as some of the less hazy moments of contemporary actually-worthy-of-the-buzz band 120 Days. Sure, its poppy as hell, and there is apparently some video floating around of a five year old girl singing it at a talent show or something, but the stomping disco drum beat and spaced out funk guitar should catch most of you weary local music observers by surprise if you haven't already heard it. Its much more of a dance song than a rock song, and its one of the most immediately catchy local tracks I've heard all year. And I've heard a lot of local tracks this year. I don't even know if Defensive Listening and Howard Bob Johnson are going to agree with me, but you should give it a try:

Hourly Radio "Crime Does Pay" MP3

VietNam | Current Leaves | Emil Rapstine (Rubber Gloves-Denton)
This will be an excellent chance to catch two of the area's most accessible and intriguing acts, as both the psyche rock country pop of Current Leaves and the dark, spaced out americana of Emil Rapstine's The Angelus seem to appeal to broader categories of people in the area than many of the other local bands we discuss on this site. The best part is that both of them are actually quite good. Vice Records' Vietnam is a bit difficult to put your finger on, but they seem to be mainly influenced by bluesy 60's hard rock and Velvet Undergound. I remember reading a Pitchfork review claiming that they sound like Spacemen 3, but I absolutely dont hear any of that on their self titled debut full length, which is due out next year. The tunes I've heard are solid if a bit too straight forward at times, but I like most of the tracks. And no, they're not a typical Vice Records band, although they are from New York.

Originating in The Church Of Latter Day Saints, the philosophy known as "Choose the Right" utilizes the Mormon concept of free will to explain the importance of earthly actions and the ways in which one's choices on Earth will affect their ultimate destiny. I'm not going to pass judgment on the concept in its religious context, but I do have something to say about how it might be applied to the often tedious exercise of forming a band. New bands almost always seem to "Choose the Right" when they start off, hoping that their safe choices in substance and aesthetic will affect their ultimate destiny in a positive way. You know the setup: Find some like-minded and similarly dressed dudes. List the "right" influences on your Myspace page. Use the "right" equipment. Assign each player to a position as if everyone was trying out for a sports team. Take few risks. Stay up to date with "trends." Play by the rules. This recognizable approach is taken by a wide variety of start up bands regardless of genre or place of origin, and the near religious rigidity of the process might be part of what makes many of the local shows I attend so completely predictable.

Fortunately, there is a new group from Denton that has momentarily saved me from the been there/ done that structures of local rock bands. They are doing all the "wrong" things so to speak, and I'm really thankful for it. They are Christian! Teenage Runaways.

The all female band's three members, Sashenka Lopez, Julie Mckendrick and Leanne Macomber have known each other for some time. Mckendrick and Macomber have played together since the late Nineties, and Lopez and Mckendrick started a Riot Grrl cover band last year with MacComber joining later. The band started writing and playing original songs and the concept for Christian! Teenage Runaways was born shortly after. I would name off the respective instrumental duties in the group, but the first time I saw them live they were trading off instruments back and forth in a flurry of onstage rotation that prevented me from figuring out who was supposed to be playing what role in the group. Turns out, no one plays a single defined role.

The times I've seen Christian! Teenage Runaways perform since that first night have been some of the most rewarding live experiences I've had in what has personally been a record breaking year for local show attendance. The band seems to be consistently and organically reinventing itself mid-performance, and when you see them, you almost get the feeling you're watching three really different bands that all happen to be great.

There are traces of the group's Riot Grrl Cover band beginnings in their sound, but that doesn't begin to cover the sonic territory that they've started to map out since. Spiky little guitar lines crawl in and around the nuanced and melodic bass playing which, especially in the higher register, is reminiscent of Galaxie 500's Naomi Yang or even the originator of the style, Peter Hook. There are louder more chaotic moments too, where barre chords come crashing through with all the subtlety of a nail bomb, and a brief instrument switch might immediately lead into a song that finds the band playing a keyboard beat laced with the gooey sweetness of a 60's girl group's collective coo.

Girl groups are counted as a definite influence on the band's music, and names like the Shangri-Las, Ronettes, and Supremes come to mind as particularly prominent. One big advantage of a revolving group of lead singers, drummers, bass players and guitarists is a constantly evolving spontaneity, and CTR is able to effectively utilize their ever rotating line up to produce unexpected surprises. I've seen the group dismantle the drum set for a song while Lopez stands on stage, plaintively singing her guts out while steadily keeping a snare beat. Sashenka has an exceptionally strong voice with a recognizable syllabic curl that carries with it the history of everyone from Lora Logic to the androgynous shrieking of the men and women of No-Wave, late 80's group UT, early Nineties Olympia and contemporaries such as Finally Punk, Mika Miko, and Animental. Basically, the influences come from all over the place.

To understand the band's bravery is to see Sashenka proudly proclaim that a turn on drums is the only the second time she has ever played drums, and then to suddenly hear the melodic finesse of Julie's bass notes locking in with a deceptively simple beat that wins over an entire uninitiated audience. Julie seems to be the anchor of the group, tackling the bulk of drumming duties and exuding the most confidence on the various instruments. Macomber usually sings the softer numbers with a detached yet haunting vulnerability, making it all the more entertaining when you hear her having a screaming contest with Lopez like she does at the end of the song "Isle 9". And when I say "scream," I mean actual banshee-like wailing where the ends of your mouth curl as opposed to the much more rehearsed kind that you'd expect from more "ambitious" local rockers.

Being an entertaining live band is a stated goal of CTR, and they are just as adventurous with their visual presentation as they are with their setup. There is definitely some humor involved in the decision to wear a bee hive wig in front of an audience, and when it's actually donned at the beginning of a song as if it were as important to the performance as a capo or a special tuning, it becomes even funnier. There has been some debate on this site concerning bands dressing up and their motives for doing so, and in this case I'm told that CTR is motivated by a mix of Glam-Rock influences, a desire to play with visual identity and the possibility of liberating themselves from shyness. When I think of other local bands that have unique approaches to onstage attire, I think of The Undoing Of David Wright and Eat Avery's Bones, and with company like that, the debate is all but settled for me. Some of our readers seem to assume that if a band spends time on having some sort of costume onstage, they must be skimping on their musical output. But I would counter that if a band is meticulous enough to worry about their live image in such detail, then they've probably put as much or more into their music. CTR is a band that pays attention to details, all the way down to the humorous little exclamation mark after the word "Christian!" This, in my book, is a good thing.

And speaking of their memorable band name, it was explained to me that it is a substitutional parody on the "Choose the Right" abbreviation or "CTR", which has been plastered on everything from Latter Day Saints neck ties to toe rings and socks. CTR take the joke further by pretending to be "Christian Teenage Runaway Whores...transients and what not.". This is a send up of the whole concept of choosing the right, and I want to express my gratitude to CTR for bucking local convention and making so many "wrong" choices in just the right ways.

For those that are too lazy to look themselves, It List is below. We also wanted to let you know that Good Records will be hosting an excellent in store performance this Friday with Islands at 2pm and Wax Fang at 430. Keg. Heres the list:

1. Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope
2. Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch (CD+DVD)
3. Pavement - Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
4. Joanna Newsom - Ys
5. The Polyphonic Spree - Wait
6. Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope: Special Edition
7. Regina Spektor - Live at Bull Moose EP
8. Annuals - Be He Me
9. Beach House - Beach House
10. Icy Demons - Tears of a Clone
11. Peter & the Wolf - Lightness
12. Skygreen Leopards - Disciples of California
13. Tokyo Police Club - A Lesson in Crime
14. Red Monroe - Red Monroe
15. Dosh - The Lost Take
16. Jeff Tweedy - Sunken Treasure Live DVD
17. Willie Nelson - Songbird
18. Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch:Baby Pack
19. Voxtrot - Your Biggest Fan
20. Fair to Midland - Drawn & Quartered EP

So I bet you're sitting around saying to yourself, "hey, I have 28 bucks to flush down the fucking toilet tonight, but what the hell am I going to do with it?" I guess one answer would be to go to Gypsy Tea Room and see Joan Jett and the Blackhearts with Eagles of Death Metal and Riverboat Gamblers. Can you think of a more annoying thing to do on Monday night? Whenever Eagles of Death Metal are BY FAR the best band in any given line up, I would suggest literally flushing your money down the toilet rather than figuratively doing so by going to the show in question. If you actually feel like experiencing a Joan Jett performance for whatever reason, I bet you can turn on VHI Classics right now and see one within the next 30 minutes... either way, I'd suggest not putting another 28 dollars in Joan Jett's jukebox, baby.

Tonight, the truly prudent music consumer would go to the always great and always FREE jazz night at the Amsterdam Bar and save their cover charge allowance for some of the good shows coming up the rest of this week.

AND I almost forgot, you can head up to Denton's SHQ tonight to check out a screening of the film Before the Music Dies, a documentary on the ways in which major record labels and corporate media have been destroying the music business over the past few years. The film was purposely held back from release at major theaters, and is instead being show through a network of independent and DIY hosts such as the good people at SHQ. Mike Seman and the SHQ crew will be hosting the screening, which takes place at 8pm. Its free, but they ask kindly for donations.

We've gotta give a shout to our friend Justin of Hardin Sweaty and the Ready to Go for suggesting the following Monday Morning Rock video:

FRIDAY:

The Party w/ DJ Nature/Sober/Select (Zubar)
The monthly Dallas version of Nature's Rubber Gloves Party is always packed and loud and a whole lot of fun. If you want to hear the latest in just about every relevant genre of dance music, this is the place you need to be tonight. Bmore, dubstep, one drop, electro pop, hip hop, grime, and just about anything else you can think of. You will be hard pressed to find a more forward thinking DJ night in town. And its free, bitches.

The Pink Spiders | Strange Boys | Chief Death Rage (Doublewide)
This of course is the good rock show in big D tonight... not only will Dallasites get a chance to see Chief Death Rage, one of Denton's best bands as of right now, but you can also check out the Strange Boys's new material for yourself. The Pink Spiders sound like pretty generic pop punk to me, but whatever.

Unknown Pleasures w/ DJG (Cavern)
Dj G spinning underground 80's electro, goth and everything else.

SATURDAY:

The Willowz | Jack With One Eye | Prayer for Animals (Club Dada)
We've never had the chance to see the Willowz live, but I've dug em ever since their appearance on the soundtrack for Eternal Sunshine. I really think they'll put on a good live show since you just can't go wrong with loud, bratty psyche influenced garage rock. I'm also looking forward to seeing what Jack With One Eye has been up to.

Sean Kirkpatrick | Will E. Lee (SHQ Denton)

Dub Assembly (Wax-2653 Commerce)
A solid all dub event featuring several different DJs that we just don't have time to link right now.

Tilly and the Wall | Pony Up | Ashburne Glen (Hailey's)
I mention this show mainly because I'm pretty sure a lot of people reading this blog are into Tilly and the Wall... I'm not, but I'm doing this all for you! Pony Up is another one of those bands that can only be described as "Tampax Commercial from the early 90's" music.

Jolie Holland | Bosque Brown | Sonny Smith (Sons of Hermann Hall)

SUNDAY:

Ghostcar (Windale Tavern)
Show starts around 930 at Windale, an infamous Greenville dive bar just south of Whole Foods, and is free as far as we know. Ghostcar is one of the few long running gems of DFWd music, and you absolutely have to see them live in order to know what I mean.

Be Your Own Pet | Awesome Color | Red Monroe (Gypsy Tea Room)
I guess this is the Thurston Moore understudy tour or something, but I have to admit that I probably like Be Your Own Pet more than I should... yes, they kind of sound like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and yes, most of their songs take from the most obvious dancepunk/post-punk references that you can think of. And yes, I still like them enough to give this show a shot. They do what a lot of other people are doing with an intensity and precision that your little brother's favorite MTV2 band couldn't imagine. Pretty much the same logic applies to Awesome Color, except you can just plug in "Thurston Moore's vocals" and "70's hard rock" into the appropriate places in the first sentence. I have also heard that they are very engaging live. Guess we'll see. Props to Red Monroe for getting on the bill of such a high profile show.