Sort of a slow weekend... and we're sorry we were a bit short on content this week, but we'll have several features next week for you. And PS- checked out 80's night at Hailey's for the first time in a while, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there were more people there than at 90% of Hailey's live shows. Anyway, here are things:

FRIDAY

VHS or Beta DJ set | Roxy Cottontail | The Party (Palladium Loft)
This is a FREE party at the new Palladium loft venue organized by the Central Booking crew. VHS or Beta comes through for their second area DJ set in a month, and Roxy Cottontail comes back for another round in Dallas as well. Like I said before, VHS or Beta kind of blows as a band, but they seem like they might have decent enough taste in dance music to make their DJ set worth checking out (according to their Myspace page, they're into Justice and Kitsune and stuff like that). This will probably be the most fun thing you can do in Dallas tonight, even if Palladium has given in to the hippie-communist-west coast-liberal assholes that can't stand a little smoke in their venues. This is Texas damn it. We can leave the union ANY TIME WE WANT, you know. Roxy Cottontail even got her nails done to show her support.

Spitfire Tumbleweeds | The Silver Arrows | Tame...Tame and Quiet | Night Game Cult (Rubber Gloves)
Eclectic line up at Rubber Gloves, with the two opening acts serving as the major highlights. I can't decide exactly what to think of the Silver Arrows... pretty goofy lyrics and a stylistic range that's all over the place- bits of shoegaze, AOR inspired indie pop, and avant rock loosely inspired by early Pink Floyd and Beefheart (check "Parade" on their Myspace page.) The recordings aren't as interesting as all that, however, even if their live show might be worth seeing.

Nouns Group | Dust Congress | Seth Sherman (Secret Headquarters)
Everyone knows that Nouns Group has developed a reputation for great live shows (I've seen a couple of them myself and agree), but I do want to say something about Dust Congress: if you live in Denton, you're probably overloaded with folk or country influenced beard bands and Josh Pearson disciples, many of which are good at little more than boring me to tears... but to me, Dust Congress stands out in the pack, effectively utilizing their Americana influences to create songs that are rough around the edges and intense enough to make hearing them anything but a boring experience.

Soft Environmental Collapse | Pretty Vacant (Liquid Lounge)
The people behind the excellent first edition of our We Shot A Mix will be playing records tonight before a set from Dallas' Soft Environmental Collapse... some of their tracks kind of remind me of The Verve or Starsailor if they were fronting an early 90's Warp Records ELM/space disco influenced British synth pop band... pretty safe and standard I suppose, but certainly different from most of the Dallas local music douche sound- the well put together tracks are leagues above most in area, even if you could call it "chill out." As commercially friendly as they sound, I'm surprised they haven't found more success in the area. Could be a good show.

SATURDAY

The Frenz | Kneepad (Secret Headquarters)
I've seen two performances from Wanz Dover's Frenz, and had completely different reactions to each. The first show at Doublewide a few months back was fantastic, with hard driving Kraut inspired rhythms, space/ambient influenced drone electro and a supreme confidence in the material. The second show I saw, also at Doublewide, was much more of a mess. The songs seemed a bit meandering a little uninspired. But the recorded material I've heard from this project has been great, and you have to cut them a little slack due to a revolving line up and the newness of the project itself. I'm looking forward to seeing where Wanz takes this next. Check the song "For the Seducer" on their Myspace page. Good stuff.

Cindi Lauper/Erasure/Debbie Harry/Dresden Dolls (Smirnoff)
I'm only listing this due to some stupid loyalty I have to to Debbie Harry. She could be doing ballads with Clay Aiken these days for all I know. And I'll keep pretending like I don't like a couple Erasure songs... shut up dude, I'll kick your ass!

Discover America | State Bird | The Winston Jazz Routine | Vandeventer's Grants (Hailey's)
Fans of folk inspired indie cuddle pop will probably dig this show... some of it is ok, but Discover America needs to discover a way to shut the fuck up. Thanks.

Coolio/Tone Loc/Color Me Badd (Lakewood Theater)
Movin' 107.5 put together this little ditty in the neighborhood for everyone thats into I love the 90's or whatever... two things- 1) "Fantastic Voyage" was a skateboarding in the summer jam for a lot of people, but Coolio can probably die already.... 2) I heard that "sex you up" shit the other day and I was like "hey, this is kind of cool." Seal got all the credit for this kind of music, but I don't remember making any mixtapes for girls with "kiss by the rose on the grave." I was more on the "I Adore Mi Amore" tip. Tone Loc can also die.

SUNDAY

Nothin'

The Silver Arrows kicked the shit out of any Nouns Group show that i've ever seen. So stick that in your fucking pipe and choke on it.

wow! hi!

So it's "S.D." as in . . . Stone Dranger?

I did the so-called reverse musical tourism, from Austin to Denton. A vacation, with a long drive and a hotel room. The itinerary went: museums in Fort Worth, ballgame in Arlington, rock in Denton. I've lived in Austin just a year, via Baltimore and Chicago. I go to a relatively lot of shows, at least 100 a year. Never went anywhere else in the state, but have long been meaning to. I heard about a lot of Denton bands playing in and/or moving to Austin. I did see Ghosthustler at Beerland a few months ago. So my curiosity was piqued.

All three parts of the itinerary were great. At the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, I caught the “Pretty Baby” exhibit, which was just closing. And I snuck peeks at the Ron Mueck exhibit that was being readied for opening. (Now I can say I’ve seen an actual Yoshitomo Nara – they’re huge and f-*ed up.) At the Kimbell Art Museum, I checked out “The Mirror and the Mask: Portraiture in the Age of Picasso.” In both cases, the buildings themselves were amazing to behold, and I got there late enough for the admission to be half-price.

The ballgame was cool. I’m a ballpark snob (Wrigley, Camden), but it was pretty OK. And the home Rangers thumped the visiting cross-state “rival” Astros. It was a high-scoring affair, which is always more exciting for the average fan.

It was a miracle that I found my way to Denton and to Rubber Gloves, at night and for the first time. GPS would’ve helped, and I’m saving up to get it 5 years from now.

In real life conversation, it takes me ages to get to the point, and this hasn’t been any different. It was pure chance that I picked that night, and even that club – this very blog listed other options around town. If I had made one or two more wrong turns near DFW airport or in Lewisville, I wouldn’t have gotten there in time. But I rolled up pretty near the start of the Silver Arrows set, not knowing and therefore not expecting anything.

They were unbelievably awesome. I got that rare high of, oh, the feeling of the top of my head being torn off. I ended up standing directly in front of the saxophonist, so I wouldn’t lose her parts – which were essential – in the mix. Eventually I learned that they’re trying their luck in New York. Which would set up the lead guy to be feted as some kind of chicken-fried Malkmus?

These are issues that don’t involve me, even as a new Silver Arrows fan. In the end, I was lucky enough to be the proverbial “guy walking in from the street” who catches one of the best shows he may ever see.

And I’ma come back to Denton, soon.

Luke

wish i could have been there. i miss hanging out with those dudes. corp 40oz was cool i heard as well.
adam plays in some crazy marching band in brooklyn. suppose to be very cool too.

The Silver Arrows fucking killed.

Wow, Johnis. What a gay name. Life must suck for you.

TONIGHT (sunday)

VIDEO NIGHT AT THE 8th CONTINENT

screening of PAUL BAKER'S new DVD
"ENERGY PATTERNS"

+ some other crazy shit

9 pm

free

wanz + kneepad = really good material for jokes that haven't been posted yet by anonymous.

That was hands down the best Silver Arrows show ever. Thta was one of the best shows i've seen in a long time. And Oh my GOD Adam tore up the drums! I'd really like to see him in a drumming contest up against the best drummers in the area. I think he would emerge quite victorious.

I've been watching Adam and JR play in bands for over 10 years and that was hands down the best performance they're ever had. Great show!

The House Harkonnen and The Lights Of Dragna @ Darkside Lounge tonight.

Stephanies afternoon birthday fest

RAW SEWAGE
POOLS
BLEACH BOYS
TOLAR
BLANK BLANK

TODAY AT XDM - 4 pm
3 bucks for the touring bands and the keg

we played with Eyes Wings and Many Other Things at the Cavern last night and it was awesome. They had some really ambient lounge type songs that made me kneel down in front of them and wish that they played in my living room all the time.

RE: 3:48 am. You should think about moving to Brooklyn to.

Tonight at SHQ, Knee Pad will give away copies of their latest full length release, "robotic" for those that pay the 3 dollar cover.

Good lord, The Silver Arrows showed us all how it's done. What a loss that they left us for Brooklyn. I guess that's what it takes sometimes.

"And I'll keep pretending like I don't like a couple Erasure songs... shut up dude, I'll kick your ass!"

haha!! I'm with ya! I fucking LOVE erasure.

I wish i had some Real Silver Arrows to take that band out with because the suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck and the music is bad to.

plus adam 'legohead' loudermilk is one of the most fucking amazing drummers to ever bang skin around dfw.

Hmmmm.....well stonedranger, you do think that Tame...Tame and Quiet is one of the highlights of this show, so.....there you go..........

Yeah, The Silver Arrows are really amazing! A perfect blend of Pixies/Sonic Youth power pop with a touch of Roxy Music and a sprinkle of My Bloody Valentine. JR Thomason is Denton's version of Brian Wilson, except he's got a fuckability rating of 9.5. The boy models for DNA for God's sake!

That J.R. from Silver Arrows is a PEACH

GLEN REYNOLDS WILL PLAY THE HARLEY BOUSE ON SUNDAY.

silver arrows has put on some of the best live shows i've seen by a denton band. it was at a house party and venues take a lot of the energy away and the line-up has changed but everytime i've seen them it is still some super badassness. awesome.

Yer selling the show at Gloves tonight a little short, dude.
Not that it's yer job to sell. Just saying I disagree.
Silver Arrows' music is some of the most interesting I've heard from people I have met in real life.
Spitfire Tumbleweeds is mostly good for drunk butt-fucking your flanneled friends though.

SARAH REDDINGTON AT THE CAVERN TONIGHT

there ARE shows in Fort Worth on Sun night- all the peeps who were nominated for the FW Weekly Music Awards are playing (check out the newest ed of FW Weekly for venues & times.)

this is SD in rare form.
i hope you people appreciate it.

At The Cavern, Friday night
9 - Alex Dupree & The Trapdoor Band
10 - Eyes Wings and Many Other Things
11- Tim Seely
12 - Sarah Reddington

the silver arrows are fucking awesome. no question.