Last Friday's Party at Zubar marked DJ Nature's return to Dallas after more than six months in Puerto Rico and Indiana, amongst other places, touring and recording an album with Puerto Rican singer MIMA. After gaining some attention in Latin and South America with her self titled debut album last year, Mima, who has known Nature for a number of years, elected to come to Denton a couple different times in 2006 to write songs with Nature and a number of other notable locals, including Mike West (Violent Squid), Jeremy Schroder (NO2Self) and Shane English.

Utilizing some of the Denton birthed material, Nature and Mima traveled to a small children's music school near Nature's family home in Indiana to work out and record her second full length, which Nature recorded and produced over several months in the beginning of this year. Emerging from the frozen schoolhouse with roughly 18 tracks, the pair is now in the process of sifting through their material to determine which songs will appear on the record, and they have been nice enough to share two of the tracks with us for your downloading pleasure (below). Both are quite good, showcasing Mima's haunting yet highly seductive vocals and Nature's impressive ability to mold his musical influences into something that fits perfectly with the style of his subject, keeping his dub and latin dance influences while moving them into a more commercially viable but equally impressive and musically interesting place. To be honest, both of these songs are extremely catchy and well put together, but Nature's mix of "Ojo Avizor" is the one that got us going immediately. You can really hear the track going over well on just about any dance floor anywhere:

LINK "Ojo Avizor (DJ Nature remix)"

LINK "Damen"

Additionally, Nature and Mima have just completed a tour of Puerto Rico with Dallas songwriter Jonas Ra, who played keyboards and guitar with Nature (drums and bass) backing up Mima. Anyway, you can download one of his tracks below and get a better idea of the broad range of musical influences the trio drew from on tour.

LINK "Mississippi" by Jonas Ra

The Electronik Warfare show at House of Tinnitus the week before last completely exceeded my expectations. When I first heard about the group, I pictured the sometimes awkward on-stage marriage of a laptop and a vocalist, which is something that always seems difficult to successfully pull off in a live setting due to the typically numerous technical difficulties that tend to plague overly ambitious electronic shows. Needless to say, my expectations weren't extraordinarily high based on past experiences with such groups, even though I was intrigued by the musicians involved in the project. But instead of having to sit through an onslaught of awkward technical delays and misguided technique, Elektronic Warfare's set ended up being one of the best electronic performances I've seen in sometime.

Andrew Michael of Oveo started things off hunched over a mini-Korg playing a Handel piece that was completely warped by the synthetic strains of the faux symphonic setting. Michael's demeanor on stage appeared immediately to be the opposite of his low-key presence in Oveo, complete with sunglasses-at-night and audience interaction. As the Handel piece segued into the white-noise tinges of "The Requiem," Michael wandered into the audience passing out flowers to various female audience members. That sort of behavior usually screams dickery but Michael was just charming enough to not come off as an annoyance. This went on for some time until the stirring dramatics were completely interrupted by something else entirely. As I stood tip-toed to try to catch everything that was happening up front, I was pushed really hard from behind, and as I turned around to shoot a scowl at the offending party, I caught the dust of Lars Larsen storming to front of the room. And I mean storming, too, because he looked like a storm trooper with a massive motorcycle helmet, black gloves and a bull horn. Andrew Michael went into the first vocal track shortly after Lars' arrival, and when the Korg drum machine beat finally kicked in, the place went fucking crazy. The keyboard parts had the menacing groove of some of Tuxedomoon's darker moments without sounding overly cold, and the crowd's enthusiastic response to such unusual sounds was quite easy to get swept up in.

One of the most impressive parts of the performance was the simple fact that most of the music was performed in real time. I don't care if someone is singing along to a CD-R, but I enjoyed the organic lock of the drum machine beat over the keyboard parts, and the performance as a whole seemed to benefit quite a bit from the live set up. There were some pre-recorded bass sequences in there to, and much of they pay off came from simply watching the crowd as they waited for the minimal beats to collide with the intro for each song. As the music continued to impress throughout the set, Lars spouted off the kind of Post-Futurist lyricism that both he and Michael are known for through comments on We Shot JR and Andrew's New Century Media blog. These seemingly positive words either come off as a warning or a Utopian promise, depending on your personal view, but none of it would have mattered much if it wasn't for the excellent basslines, beats, and synth attacks tying everything together. I was expecting Electronik Warfare to be an interesting and predominantly intellectual exercise, but it was refreshing to see that people can dance and have fun without compromising either of those qualities. I'm looking forward to seeing what these guys do next.

EDIT: And somehow, we almost forgot The Willowz and Sarah Reddington tonight at Pastime Tavern, located at 1503 S. Ervay. The cover is $4.99 (independent contrator, tax purposes), and the bands are great. You might be quick to dismiss Willowz as one of those early 00's garage rock/60's pop throwbacks that everyone pretends they never liked, but there is a hell of a lot more going on in their music than all that stuff. The band has really evolved over the past few years, and you might want to hear the result.

Mom, Treewave at Urbano Paninoteca. This $40 per person wine tasting/3 course meal eating/music listening event is somehow affiliated with Good Records.

Paul Slavens at Dan's Silverleaf. I have no idea who this guy is, but evidently he's been involved with various local musical endeavors for quite some time. Sounds like this could be an eclectic jazz, spoken word affair that might be of interest to those of the UNT music literati ilk.

Bad Ass Jazz Night at Amsterdam.

Open Mic Mondays at Fallout.

Here's a recipe if you want to stay home and have your own wine tasting music event. You should invite all your crafty friends over and make stuff for this.

We had a lot of links to put together in a short period of time today, so please excuse the lack of description on some of these postings.

FRIDAY

The Party with DJs Nature, Sober, Select (Zubar)
DJ Nature is back in town after more than five months away recording an album, playing shows in Puerto Rico, and doing all kinds of things that beat "hanging around in Dallas," which is what we've been doing. Later this evening we'll have more details on what Nature has been up to, and we'll also debut a couple of the new tracks he's been working on recently. Check back some time around 6pm for that stuff. And oh yeah, expect the party to be on full blast tonight like usual. We've talked about the great diversity found at the party plenty of times before, but the last time we traveled to Zubar for one of these gigs, it was the biggest and best crowd we've seen yet. Even if you just like to sit in the corner and people watch, you'll be glad you went.

The Clientele | Beach House | Doug Burr (Hailey's)
The Clientele have honestly become one of my favorite bands to emerge from anywhere in the past few years. Their quiet brand of spacey psyche pop is English as fuck, but that doesn't stop their songs from really striking a chord with anyone who cares to listen. Their latest album, God Save the Clientele, isn't quite as immediately striking as most of their previous work (the early singles collection Suburban Light is still my favorite by far), and it contains a bit less of that stoned reverb feel that many Clientele fans love so much. However, the album is still very very good, and the heavier use of strings and generally bigger sound of the record as a whole actually goes a long way to showing that the band isn't hiding behind some cheap tricks. The fact that they're playing with Beach House makes this even better, as I've had the privilege of seeing a couple great sets from them in the past few months. Not sure how crowded it's going to be at Hailey's with all the Rubber Gloves stuff going on, but you should still consider checking this show out.

10th Anniversary Party (Rubber Gloves)
Doors are at five, show starts at 5:30, and each band goes on one after the other every 45 minutes to an hour. So, in case you're dumb: band #1 at 530, band #2 between 615-630 and so on and so on. Got it? The line up in order of appearance: Civilian Outbreak | Medicine Window | Handbrake | Violent-Oveo-Squid | Burnt Sienna Trio | History at Our Disposal | Blacksmiths | Chief Death Rage | Stumptone | The Baptist Generals

The Brewers | The XO | How Hard (SHQ Denton)

RTB2 | Daniel Folmer | Parata | Sparlin Jessels | Sailboat | Velouria (715 Panhandle)


Silk Stocking | Delphi | Esther Newell | Ribelle Scaltro | Chris Hamlett (8th Continent)

So in other words, Denton will be insane all over the place tonight.

SATURDAY

10th Anniversary Party (Rubber Gloves)
The Line up: RTB2 | The Swedish Teens | Bridges and Blinking Lights | Lo Fi Chorus | Shiny Around the Edges | Current Leaves | Jetscreamer | Undoing of David Wright | Lords | special guest... Riverboat Gamblers . We're not 100% sure about the Riverboat Gamblers thing because the person we talked to isn't formally connected to the club, but we're, uh, pretty sure.

Daniel Folmer | Current Leaves | Bridges and Blinking Lights (Fra House)

Minx Burlesque | Denton County Revelators | Sidecar Girls (SHQ Denton)

Lolliprom 2007 (Sons of Hermann Hall)

Lions/Red Fang | Amplified Heat (Doublewide)

Ghostland Observatory | Dr Jack (House of Blues)
I don't know what Dr. Jack is and I really don't give a shit. Ghostland Observatory are probably fairly close to being one of those watered down Rapture bands that Defensive Listening talked about in his post yesterday, but they aren't quite as bad as that other band, and some of their songs are actually solid takes on the dance rock craze that was supposed to have died down three or four years ago but never did. The Rapture was quite good at the Granada last night by the way, even if it happened to still be light outside during most of their set. "House of Jealous Lovers" was much better live than I thought it would be. I tend to agree with the person in the comments who said that The Rapture owes a lot of their critical acclaim to DFA, but they can hold their own live, apparently.

SUNDAY

Early Lines | Blank Blank | Tyrannosaurus X (Aboca's 100 S Central Expressway #63 Richardson, Southwest corner of Central and beltline)
The much loved and respected Early Lines will be reuniting for a quick tour starting this evening at this small pizza/Italian place in Richardson. Strange place to have a show, but then again, those are often the best kind. Its $5, and the first couple dozen people to show up and pay admission will get a free copy of what I believe is the second Early Lines full length. Show starts at 6pm and ends at 9.

YACHT | Tha Bracelets | Hardin Sweaty and the Ready to Go (Rubber Gloves)
Yacht is Jona Bechtolt, a guy who has been getting a lot of positive press lately, both at the Yacht and a member of the Pitchfork approved Blow. If you were asked to imagine what a "K Records indie dance group from 2006-07" sounded like, you would probably hum most of the Blow's record. That isn't to say it's predictable or bad, it just sounds exactly how you might think it would, surprises and all. Anyway, it kind of sucks that this show is on a Sunday night after what will probably be a pretty crazy weekend for Denton folks, but YACHT shows are rumored to be highly energetic and a lot of fun. Although "cute pop dance music" might not be an appealing label to you, just go listen to the songs. Yes, you will like it despite your best instinct.

Bad Ghost | Bob White and the F Electrics | Black Wizardz (SHQ Denton)

Rubber Gloves kicks off a two night celebration this evening to commemorate their 10th anniversary. They’ve had a great run, filling the considerable void left after The Argo closed and writing their own history with the kind of quirks and humbling predicaments that endear a venue to people like us. The free festivities continue tomorrow night and are making the Weekender a real bitch.

To mark the occasion, we invited some locals to share some of their experiences at Rubber Gloves. Several responded with some great stories.

Peter Schmidt:

i'm sure i'm a little older than you guys and the drive to Denton has gotten a little less appealing with each passing year so i'm afraid i haven't been out to Rubber Gloves in quite a while.

but i have seen some great shows there. Enon, Melt-Banana , Ted Leo (minus one Pharmacist that night for some reason)... even Trail of Dead managed to impress the first time i saw them there. and i don't really care for Low but hearing them duet with the passing train was something special. tons more but the recall isn't what it used to be.

as far as shows that i've played there, two stand out:

1) Rock Lottery, i'm guessing about 8 or 9 years ago. i can't remember the names of everyone in my band (Joe Butcher for sure though) or even the name that we chose for the band but i do remember that by about 2 o'clock that afternoon i was seriously regretting my decision to participate. the rehearsal was sucking and i was preparing myself for major embarrassment. but as practice time was winding down we mysteriously started to gel. the songs were pure noise but a pretty rockin' noise. at show time everyone actually remember their parts, we played better than we had all day and we seemed to go over with the crowd. my favorite part though was after about 15 minutes of atonal discord we somehow managed to pull off a semi-credible version of Miles Davis' `Round Midnight. in my memory at least, the crowd got very quiet and we achieved a couple of minutes that approached genuine beauty. one of my favorite music memories bar none.

2) Four or five years ago The New Year (with whom i play guitar but don't sing) started a week long tour at Rubber Gloves. the band all live in different parts of the country and we were glad to have a show in familiar territory before we headed out to the west coast. we had two days of practice before the tour and on the second Matt, the main singer, lost his voice. we debated canceling the Rubber Gloves show and just starting the tour in New Mexico but eventually we decided to heavy-up the set with songs that Bubba sang and have a couple of us who didn't normally sing (in the New Year anyway) tackle a few of Matt's songs. the show must go on and all that ya know. now i've been in the New Year since the beginning of the band and i've known the Kadane brothers since the very early 90's but i am still a HUGE fan of the Kadane brothers songs. so it was pretty surreal for me to sing my favorite New Year song "Newness Ends" on the Rubber Gloves stage while Matt just sat back and played guitar. i was still trying to memorize the lyrics and trying to think of excuses to not sing until the minute we went on. it's a testament to the Kadanes strong writing that even my poor voice couldn't do too much damage to the song.



Shiny Around the Edges:

What sums up RGRS best for us is when Heather took a chance on us promoting one of our first shows a few years back. We invited our friends The Hex to come down from Oklahoma City for a show as they had just set up this really successful one for us up there. Unfortunately, despite a ton of promoting, the resulting turnout for our show was roughly eight people, maybe a few more... maybe a few less. The Hex were great, but it was a real downer that not many people were there to see it. Jen and I felt horrible at the close of the evening because Heather (and Brett, Josh, and all the others involved in RGRS) took a chance on us, and, well... eight people does not pay the rent, much less the lights, A/C, etc. Despite the poor turnout, Heather came to us and expressed her thanks for putting the evening together, and then said how bummed she was that more people didn’t show up for a show she liked. We were amazed. Since then, we have worked with Heather, Brett, and Josh to put together evenings at RGRS that have hopefully helped to continue the venue’s legacy as an indie-rock corner bar that takes risks and helps to develop local artists. For this, we are ever thankful to the kind folks at RGRS - past, present, and future.

Of course, there is also the time we were playing with a band called Les Masseurs Du Rock. For some reason, a wheelbarrow appeared, and as this was back when they had the Big Ass Beer plastic cups all the time, we all were well on our respective ways to being fairly loaded halfway through the evening. Hijinks ensued and everyone had wheelbarrow rides through the bar while slurring French obscenities in faux accents until they politely kicked us all out at some point past 2 AM.

Aaron from Tame Tame and Quiet :

My top five favorite memories of Rubber Gloves:

5) My first two visits there consisted of some combination of these bands, playing on the outdoor stage. My introduction to Denton's live music scene. I think it was:

The Gunga Din Royal Trux Jetscreamer Mandarin Low (a train went by at some point and drowned them out beautifully, and they kept playing)
Hot Water Music (some guy hung from the rafters taking photos throughout the show)

4) The Boy Division reunion show with Hogpig. Security escorts with Mag-Lights led the Boys through a crazy throng of fans to woo everyone in the sexy way that only they can.

3) Security Breach!!!
a) Finding out what sort of hand markings RGRS was giving for a sold out Modest Mouse show. Going to the grocery store for orange highlighters to put an "X" on my hand and sneak in. Very sweaty, very packed, very awesome.
b) Driving my ass out to Denton to see a sold out Unwound show. No chance of sneaking in, so we partially scaled the back fence, held ourselves up, and watched and listened through the opened back door. Incredible!

2) The Microphones | Calvin Johnson | Get The Hell Out Of The Way Of The Volcano (now the much more succinct, The Blow)

This show had theatrics (I got to be a blood covered plane crash victim), costumes, song trading (including the greatest cover of Beat Happening's "Grave Digger Blues" by The Blow), and when Phil Elvrum took over for a while and led everyone present into the parking lot out back for a campfire sing-along, everything was going well. Then a seemingly endless train rolled by, but the only visible cargo was a continuous series of tanks, one after another. The songs stopped. Everyone just turned and stared. When it had passed, though everyone felt a little taken aback by the absurd surrealism of what we just saw, it was back to what we were originally there for. To hear songs. But that image really stood out to me. Songs being sung out into the night for no one in particular, with a succession of tanks floating by.

1) Lightning Bolt/Yeti...I don't know how long ago:

I had heard about the greatness of Lightning Bolt from a friend, so with Fort Worth greats Yeti opening, it was an easy sell. As Yeti performed, their overpowering drone apparently made me oblivious to the fact that Lightning Bolt was setting up on the floor beside me. As Yeti's set faded out, a rumbling erupted from the floor beside me, and I turned to see a circle forming around where LB had clandestinely set up. All I saw once they launched into their first song was a wall of Dentonites, densely packed and bouncing like I've never seen Denton kids bounce. My wife and I repositioned ourselves to stand, first up on the stage, then we moved up to stand on the merch booth to get a better view. It was this night in particular that I saw evidence of life and excitement present in live music again.

Here's Chris from The Baptist Generals:

Hmm --recollections and ruminations -- a list:

1. Since the demise of the Argo there wasn't really a place for indie or punk music for quite a while. There were house shows, but there wasn't a place for bigger touring bands to play. There were some businesses in Denton that helped pick up the slack giving local bands places to play but they weren't spaces best set up for music. Other than that you had to tread your way into Rick's (now the Inferno)--which was fratboy hell most nights except on the occasions when they would book something alright. I remember this period being really dark for music in Denton. How could Denton begin to claim a scene when it couldn't even support a respectable alternative venue?

2. A very early memory of what would later become the show room: Jason Wortham and his wife Memory were renting this old concrete factory to live in. I'd been hired by Slobberbone's label to produce a promotional video for them. I'd just gotten to know Jason and Memory and they let us use that room to shoot some fancy footage of the band practicing. That room was fucked up. Conduit ran everywhere up and down and across the cinder block walls. There were power boxes, odd gauge boxes and meter boxes everywhere, yet there was no power to tap. Still, I was still worried I was going to get fried. We all figured it had been a machine room. The whole point of me explaining all this is if Jason had told me he was going to turn that place into a room for shows I think I would have laughed at him in his face. The room needed lots of work.

3. The first show I went to in there was a Good/Bad Event. Baboon played on the floor. I remember it was this room without a stage and there was a glass-front coca-cola fridge and you had to bring your own beer and you could keep it cold in there. The room kind of felt like a church basement.

4. My favorite shows in no order:
Will Oldham on the Patio. I finally got to see that freak.

The night the Riverboat Gamblers played and Woebe did a ceiling walk and effectively disconnected a gas line on the wall. Everyone got out of the room, real, real quick.

The first time Jonathan Richman played--I think it was a Valentine's day show. The room was packed out but people got very, very quiet.

The night Lil' Grizzly played their last show. The place was packed and everyone was in a sad but familial mood.

From the hassles with getting the drink licenses, to the dynamic, explosive fallout of the different personalities that have gone through that place, man I'm glad Rubber Gloves has weathered all that. When that little club started it was still questionable whether one live independent music venue could survive in Denton. Ten years later it appears on better nights Denton could support 3 or 4 venues of the type. This is no knock against Denton's other established venues, but Gloves has an identity that would be difficult for any other venue in town to come close to touching. The place embodies the rich culture of original music here. It has remained scrappy, and hungry, and low-rent. Affordable and approachable. Best of all--in all the club's ups and downs Gloves has stayed young and supportive of the new bands that emerge in town each year. Maintaining that kind of relevance has got to be the best kind of suspended animation for a local music venue, and Rubber Gloves has oozed with that kind of relevance for so, so many years, simply because it has had to live so lean for so many years. Here's to 10 more reasonably lean and healthy years.

As for me (Wildcat), I used to love the open-mic big-ass-beer nights. I spent a lot of time in Denton during college summers and big-ass-beer night is the reason I now like to drink beer out of plastic cups even when I’m at home. The hands-down most peculiar memory I have is, ironically, characteristically typical of the kind RGRS has churned out over the past 10 years: watching Will Oldham pause mid-show to call someone—a friend or relative?—with a speaker phone on the old outdoor stage. The person he called just got out of jail, so the audience was treated to this phone call in which Oldham congratulated some guy on his first night out of jail.

Damn it. They even made the cowbell cool again.

The Rapture | Shiny Toy Guns (Granada)
A lot has happened since 2002. Some people made the argument that The Rapture were just following in the footsteps of fellow revivalists Radio 4, but when a limited edition single called "House Of Jealous Lovers" became a somewhat unlikely club hit in Summer of '02, a definite line seemed to have been drawn in the sand. You no longer had a group that was just hinting at dance music with the occasional disco bassline or dance beat. You had a group that was making a legitimate attempt at releasing a single intended for club-play, with tongue extremely removed from cheek. If you're a scraggly indie rocker wondering where all the pedal-hopping J.Mascis solos went, this is the group and single to blame. The minute I heard it, I remember thinking: "This is it. These guys aren't kidding. A lot of things are about to change." And boy, have they ever. Keep in mind that this was less than a year after The Strokes were somehow "saving" Rock and Roll. Nowadays, The Rapture seems like a needle in a stack of needles. It's hard to stay relevant when your revolution goes so smoothly, but they certainly have come a long way since releasing an EP of Cure rip-offs. By the way, the opening act is a prime example of the Rapture's blueprint completely watered down and done all wrong. They sound like Maroon 5 with a vintage synth. Actually, I bet even Maroon 5 already has a vintage synth. Thanks, Rapture.

Lost Generation With Wanz Dover (Fallout Lounge)
Tonight's set is supposed to be heavy on Soul Music with a guest spot by DJ Panda Flower of Lollipop Shoppe.

Emil Rapstine | Stanton Meadowdale | Glen Farris (Rubber Gloves)
I thought I had already made up my mind about Stanton Meadowdale, but I don't remember their recordings sounding as good as they did when I checked them out again today. Pretty mournful sounding stuff, but really aesthetically nice and slightly-murky recordings. Emil Rapstine will be backed up by a group of capable musicians featuring members of Current Leaves, Baptist Generals, and Raised By Tigers.

Violent Squid | Will E. Lee | Sinevil (Cool Beans)
On the roof of Cool Beans tonight, an interesting little show that begins with Violent Squid playing a short set followed by the quick-tongued folk ramblings of Will E. Lee. Denton's Sinevil of Burnt Sienna and Brokenizer will play a set of improvised banjo music accompanied by a drummer. This show starts at 10 pm sharp.

80's Night WIth DJ G (Hailey's)
Even your little sister knows about this shit.

July 12th at the Rose Marine Theater in Ft. Worth. I've heard mixed reviews of his recent live shows (as in some very positive and others a bit unimpressed), but this is a MUST SEE in just about every sense. More info here.

Black Angels | Strange Boys (Dan's Silverleaf): This new Austin band called Strange Boys will be coming to town tonight to open for The Black Angels, this other Austin band.

Jello Biafra Spoken Word (Granada)
There's no denying it: in my early teens, Jello Biafra was something of a hero to me. The Dead Kennedys were one of the first punk bands I ever listened to, and they quickly became one of my favorite groups after a friend let me borrow his Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death tape.... Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables followed soon after. Truth be told, I haven't listened to a DK album in years, and I really haven't listened to A LOT of Jello Biafra's solo spoken word material, but I have heard enough to know that a lot of it is funny, intelligent, confrontational, and very very left. I like it. The guy puts out Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn records for Christ's sake (two of the most important intellectuals in American history), so I guess I'll continue to side with him in his little dispute with East Bay Ray or whatever the fuck is going on with those guys these days. We were supposed to have this bad ass interview with him this week, but before we could get it together his, um, "publicist" wrote us an email stating that Jello had a sore throat and couldn't aggravate it or something. Cool dude. A simple "no" would have worked too. We won't hold it against him for too long, however, since it will be a rare treat to see him speak this evening. Sore throats aren't very punk rock though.

Sticky Buns Dance Party (Rubber Gloves)
These are always fun, whether two or 50 people show up.

In case you haven't heard the recent rumblings, it appears as though venue starved Dallas will be getting itself a new (as in really old) place to see a few rock shows: The Pastime Tavern at 1503 S. Ervay Street, just south of 30 near downtown and the Ambassador Hotel. I'm not sure about the history of the place, and a Google search didn't really produce too much information, but what I can tell you from personal experience is that Pastime is a pretty cool little bar: serves cheap beer, allows you bring your own liquor, and is just about as relaxed an atmosphere as you can find in Dallas. The building itself is split in half, with a small, sparsely decorated bar on one side a pool room on the other (which is where I assume shows will be held). The neighborhood is, um, sketchy (have you ever noticed S. Ervay's army of zombie crackheads on the way to Lee Harvey's?), but then again so is every neighborhood in Dallas, and at this point I'm excited to try any new venue that doesn't involve a trip to Douchebag Greenville or lame duck Deep Ellum. Not sure about the sound situation (as in there wasn't one the last time I was there), but I bet about 100 people could squeeze into the place if they wanted to, and I'm interested to see what the owners can do with the space.

The first show at Pastime will be a good one, and it appears that a group of people called Parade of Flesh have handled the booking:

The Willowz and Sarah Reddington play next Monday, May 21st. We'll have more details on the show later.

Angry Businessmen | Static Radio (1919 Hemphill)
Angry Businessmen will have copies of their NPNR self-titled cassette at this show, which features 16 songs in 20 minutes. I'm sure the tape will consist of their brand of bass and drums-only surf rock mixed in with liberal doses of blast beats and shouting. Unlike anything else in the 'Plex right now. You should pick one up and support the unique NPNR project. Static Radio is from New Jersey and I'm always scared away by the words "melodic" and "hardcore" when they are side by side. The dichotomy of the yelling over the happy sounding major chords really throws me off.

First, congrats to Dirk on winning MVP. He might have had a shitty playoffs this year, but the award was well deserved. I saw an interesting statistic today: this season, Dirk Nowitzki was the only player in the NBA to make at least 50% of his field goals, 40% of his 3-pointers and 90% of his free throws. When you consider that stat along with the fact that he was the best overall player on the best team (in the regular season anyway), I think it's hard to deny Dirk the MVP this year. Congrats to a good guy. I don't know if we can win a championship with this current line-up, but Dirk is here to stay and that is a good thing.

Oh, and I won't be shedding a tear over the death of this piece of filth. It's too bad he left three kids who are just as bad (if not worse) than him.

If I was going to go out to a show tonight, I'd probably go to Bad Azz Jazz at the Amsterdam because it's Monday and I just want to relax.

However, if I lived in Denton, I might consider going to the free J&Js show featuring Sparlin Jessels, Parata and My Son the Astronaut, but I would probably have to be really hungry for pizza.

If I was lame, I would try to find a way into the sold out Ben Gibbard/David Bazan/Jonathan Rice show at the Granada, but I'm cool as hell so you know that's not happening.

And If I had a first date, I would consider seeing John Legend at Majestic Theater if she was into that sort of business.

What would you do?

LOCAL TOP 5

1. Voot Cha Index - The Talking House/Cradle 7"
2. St. Vincent - Paris is Burning
3. Mom - Mom (edition is now sold out)
4. Last Ones On Earth - Last Ones On Earth
5. J.D. Whittenburg - J.D. Whittenburg

OVERALL TOP 20

1. Elliott Smith - New Moon
2. The Clientele - God Save the Clientele
3. Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
4. The Sea & Cake - Everybody
5. Feist - The Reminder
6. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81
7. Mice Parade - Mice Parade
8. Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
9. Travis - The Boy with No Name
10. Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities - Lucas
11. The Innocence Mission - We Walked in Song
12. Dntel - Dumb Luck
13. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
14. Frog Eyes - Tears of the Valedictorian
15. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
16. Rosebuds - Night of the Fairies
17. Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings
18. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
19. Cocorosie - The Adventures of Ghosthorse & Stillborn
20. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

FRIDAY

Violent Squid | Bird Names | The Carnys | Black Wizardz | Boids (8th Continent-Denton): This is certainly one of the more interesting line ups I've seen anywhere (DIY venue or otherwise) in DFWd in quite a while, and the great thing about it is that there will be something at this show to appeal to just about anyone. Boids is honestly one of the loudest, harshest bands I've ever heard. Taking cues from hardcore punk (the singer sort of sounds like homeboy from The Exploited), avant noise and bands like The Locust, the group shoves an assault of feedback and angry, explosive rhythms in your face that are as chaotic as you'd imagine but somehow held together before the songs spin completely out of control. The Carnys are another interesting band that utilize rudimentary keyboards and drum machine loops to produce, well, kind of a carnival like pop that reminds me of a lo-fi, slightly more adventurous mix of bands like Man Man and Beirut with a nice off-key slacker take on the Magnetic Fields bedroom aesthetic thrown in for good measure. And of course, you've heard us give enough praise to Black Wizardz and the unpredictable Violent Squid, but the band we're looking forward to seeing most of all is Chicago's Bird Names, a group that somehow combines noise, lo-fi slop folk and 60's bubblegum pop to produce a truly unique and highly accessible (if not fairly strange) sound that truly sticks with you right from the start. Go check out the lonely nights folk-pop of "New Mexico" on their Myspace page and see what I mean. We're really looking forward to this show.

Select/Sober (Urbano 2533 McKinney Ave.)
Not sure what time this gig starts or ends, but maybe someone can fill us in.

Clint Niosi | Warren Jackson Hearne | Jacob Ide (SHQ Denton): A solid folk/singer-songwriter night at SHQ. And I usually hate anything having to do with the phrase "singer-songwriter." I think fans of The National would probably dig Clint Niosi a bit, and dude obviously pulls off the Leonard Cohen meets Ian McCulloch thing pretty well, so this could be an enjoyable performance if that's your kind of thing. Warren Jackson Hearne is quite a compelling and haunting vocalist as well, and although I don't know if I'm crazy about Jacob Ide (lyrics are a bit too outwardly political for my taste), this should be a chill way to start the evening.

Bright Eyes | Oakley Hall | McCartney Trenching (Palladium)
Oakley Hall does a pleasant enough Brooklyn hipster take on americana pop (and that isn't a backhanded compliment), but what I really want to talk about is Bright Eyes. Not his music. Most of it I can take or leave, and in fact, I'm willing to admit that I think some of his older stuff is fairly interesting. And furthermore, I do kind of admire his politically outspoken behavior, because when you think about it, using fame to push for something constructive isn't an inherently bad thing, and I suppose it's good that at least some people try to do what he's trying to do. However, aside from the fact that people like Conor Oberst are probably a big part of the reason why George W. Bush won re-election in 2004, I just can't get over the shitty comments he made about Texas the last time he came through. Look buddy, there are some shitty things about Texas. We know that. Hot as fuck, Bush family, Enron, Baby Jessica, etc. The list goes on. But we've also got 13th Floor Elevators, Butthole Surfers, Townes Van Zandt, and Mexican Food. And not everyone from Texas is a racist Republican, and besides: you're from Nebraska for Christ's sake. Go husk some fucking corn, and quit alienating me from my own politics. Thanks bro.

Baboon | The Beautiful Disaster (Wreck Room- Ft. Worth): You probably know that I'm not the biggest Baboon guy in town, but every time I go to their Myspace page and listen to the song "Saturday," I like it more and more. This then causes me to listen to some of their other songs and kind of dig those too. Good live act as well. I guess the Wreck Room is closing down soon, but seeing as how I haven't been there in God knows how long, I can't say I'm all that emotional about the whole thing.

SATURDAY

Eat Avery's Bones | Koji Kondo (Good Records In-store 3pm): Credit where credit is due: Hats off to CJ and the rest of the Good Records crew for putting this show together. Its not the normal Good Records in-store performance to say the least, but it should come as quite a surprise for that dude who will be in there looking for a Sufjan Stevens CD just before 3 o'clock. This is a good indicator that despite the "Good Umbrella" brand image, the staff at Good Records has diverse tastes. Should be a lot of fun, and a good excuse to pick up the EAB/KK split seven inch.

The Frenz | Ghosthustler | Laptop Deathmatch (Doublewide): Big show at Doublewide from The Frenz, who happen to be the most compelling project Wanz Dover has been involved with since we started this blog. Also on the bill are Denton's Ghosthustler, who have a new track for download in the post just below. And to top it all of, we'll get a full scale Laptop Deathmatch before, between, and after the two band sets, making this an eclectic evening to say the least (you'll hear all kinds of space rock, IDM, minimal, glitch, house, synth and just about anything else you can think of). The last time we saw Frenz at Doublewide, the place must have been oversold, and such a scene could happen again considering the early (and justified) buzz Ghosthustler has received. But of course it's Dallas, so great attendance is no guarantee for anyone these days.



ADD: And going on right next door to Double Wide at the Loft Space (3612 Commerce Ste. 101) is the Neva Dug Disco Party featuring DJ sets from Rebelz and Subchronicles. Its BYOB (and I believe its free), and the Neva Dug Disco stuff is ALWAYS a good time, so I'd say you've got a pretty good chance of enjoying yourself at the corner of Commerce and Expo on Saturday. For those that don't know, Neva Dug Disco is an art collective and music crew that usually play hip hop sets. Should be fun.

Boids | Cry Blood Apache | Electronik Warfare (House of Tinnitus)
Jesus. Do I have to consider driving up to Denton two nights this weekend? Electronik Warfare is a new project from Andrew Michael, a guy who's involved with all kinds of adventurous electro and noise projects in Denton and elsewhere. None of EW stuff I've heard features vocals, but I've learned that he'll be playing with Lars from Undoing on the mic, and who knows what these guys are going to come up with. Whatever it is, I really dig the material on Myspace: a lot of layers of electro noise, some compellingly harsh industrial beats and a really pretty symphonic intro on the track "the Requiem." We talk a bit about Boids above, and Cry Blood Apache never seems to disappoint. They also never sound the same from one show to the next, but its always good. The last incarnation I witnessed, where the band seemed to take cues from Suicide and Cabaret Voltaire, was probably the best I've seen from them yet.

Forbes-Gonzalez-Young/Modern History Duet/Nevada Hill/Justin Lemmons (J&Js Pizza-on the square in Denton)
All kinds of local avant noise mixing and matching going on at this under publicized FREE show at J&Js. In fact, I've had such a hard time keeping track of who's who and whats what that I'll just let Michael Chamy explain everything for you, aside from the fact that this will be the last Forbes-Gonzalez-Young show ever. A last gasp for a group of great talents. First, Chamy says about Modern History Duet:

" I want to mention that the set Justin Lemmons & Mike Forbes played at the Fra House (Baptist Generals/Shiny show) was the most amazing thing I've witnessed this year. At least equal to any of the great shite I saw at SXSW Reason being, I dunno if you've seen Mike really stretch out outside of Notes & Zanzibar, but he cuts loose with the most abrasive crazy twisted dirty mangled free playing this side of Coltrane's "Ohm". I was lucky enough to have seen both Euro titans Peter Brotzmann and Evan Parker down in Austin a few years back, and Forbes is the only person I've heard who can play their firebrand style. The ever-dangerous Lemmons is a master of his trademark ominous cold-steel guitar playing, using metal-on-metal and insane sheets of sheer volume to frenzied effect. Somebody asked on the board the other day what danger is. This duo is danger.

And of Nevada Hill's stuff:

And ... if there is any local guitarist more innovative and outside-the-box than Lemons, It's Hill. Well, OK, in terms of thinking outside the box, it's definitely Nevada. He said something about using an ebow on an acoustic guitar and running it through a microphone w/ effects? Who knows. He definitely said he would be doing a solo piece of Keith Rowe (AMM) style prepared guitar (i.e. using foreign objects).And he and Justin have a special duo set planned as well. As you know Justin has played w/ Zanzibar before, but you may not know that Nevada was in the earliest incarnations of Notes From Underground (pre-gigs, pre-name). Anyways this will be a special treat for sure. Mike and Nevada will be playing a duo piece as well (they have gone by the Zanzibar Duo).... they recently cleared out some Christian-leaning art gallery in Dallas with an awesome, abrasive and relaxed incidental 10-minute set a few weeks back.

That works.

Peter and the Wolf | White Denim | Bosque Brown (The Cavern)
I have to admit that I haven't had the chance to see a full set from the Gorilla vs Bear approved White Denim, but considering all the good things I've heard about them (along with the fact that this is their CD release party), I'd expect a good show. Just don't let those Cavern bartenders "accidentally" overcharge you for your drinks.

Be/Non (SHQ Denton)
Yes, damn it. I might just have to drive up to Denton on Saturday too. Listen to this band right now. I honestly didn't know anything about Be/Non until I saw them listed on SHQ's Myspace page, but shit they're good. Some prog and post rock moments can be heard in their sound, but the overall presentation has such an appealing pop bend to it that I can't believe Be/Non isn't playing a larger venue when they stroll through town. But you know what, I'm glad they aren't. SHQ will be the perfect place to see these guys. give them a listen.

Delphi | Silk Stocking (8th Continent)

SUNDAY

Peter and the Wolf | Cartright | Tame...Tame and Quiet (Hailey's)

Kings of Leon (House of Blues)
I sort of like Kings of Leon. Sorry.