So pretty much every time we go out in Dallas, we see a girl named Sally Glass walking around with a camera taking pictures of bands, DJs, and anyone else she finds interesting. And after seeing several of her photos over at the Central Booking website, we decided to ask her if she would take some pictures for us. She agreed.

Sally will be going to shows, parties and whatever else every week to take pictures, and we'll be posting some of them right here on this very blog every Tuesday. You'll also be able to check out all of her work any time right here.

Anyone who saw my camera phone pics from SXSW 2006 understands why this should have happened a long time ago.

Since there aren't really any noteworthy shows tonight, I would like you to tell us what you wish was happening in the form of anonymous comments. I'm really inspired by the parasitic role reversal in the form of "user based content" that many corporations have been pushing this decade. Hint: Try your hand at some fan fiction about how fun it would be to spend a Tuesday night with Stonedranger, Wildcat, Howard Bob Johnson, Dudes McRudes, Dudes Mctudes and myself. Guaranteed Laffs. You have no idea.

The folks at the Granada have hooked us up with a little package in celebration of Roky Erickson's highly anticipated performance this Saturday night, and they've asked us to hook you up. Fine, I guess we will, but I'd really rather keep this stuff for myself instead of giving it to you people. Anyway, if you'd like to win:

2 Tickets to the Roky Erickson show at the Granada this Saturday, July 14th

A DVD copy of You're Gonna Miss Me

A CD copy of the You're Gonna Miss Me soundtrack

All you have to do is email us at weshotjrtix@yahoo.com any time between now and 4pm on Thursday. Just add Roky Erickson to the subject line, and we'll pick a random winner and email them with the details Thursday afternoon.

And for our second giveaway of the week, we have a pair of tickets to the Centro-matic show happening this Friday, July 13th at the Granada. Again, to win the tickets, just email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com any time between now and 4pm this Thursday. Add Centro-matic to the subject line.

Don't have a lot of time today, so here:

Parts and Labor | Ghosthustler (Pastime Tavern)
Ghosthustler goes on at 10, P&L at 11, and show is done by 12. I'm really looking forward to this.

Koji Kondo | Attractive and Popular | Oberlm | Flea of the Century | Bring Back the Guns (1919 Hemphill)
Show starts at 6pm. Anyone who didn't see Koji Kondo in Denton on Friday night really missed out. They put on a 10 minute show that was one of the very best I've seen in a long time around here. Seriously. Watch out for these guys. One of the most intense and fun local bands around right now.

Also, the Cool Out is happening tonight upstairs at the Cavern, a dance night featuring Schwa and Big J on the decks playing lots of funk and disco, etc. And you might not believe me if you weren't there, but the first time I checked out this Monday night event, it honestly felt like a Friday night in the place: huge, lively crowd that was ready to have fun. Hopefully it will continue to be that way.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Harlem, White Drugs' debut full length, is how goddamn loud the thing is. And that's probably what everyone else who's heard it says about it too. It's loud. It's aggressive. It "rocks," dude. And all that is well and good. I can appreciate a bare bones, balls to the wall rock record as much as the next guy, and Harlem certainly qualifies as such. But as everyone knows, simply "rocking out" really isn't enough to make a record enjoyable-- in fact, it can sometimes be a real bummer. Fair To Midland "rocks." Burden Brothers "rock." Whatever annoying project Mike Patton is involved with right now probably "rocks." And although White Drugs certainly provides a bigger adrenaline rush than any of the aforementioned bands, what sets them apart from the majority of the hard/fast/loud army in DFWd is the respectability of their influences and the intelligence of their execution. Their take on early punk/trash glam/hardcore has already been done a thousand times, sure, but there hasn't been a local band that's made it sound this good in quite a while.

Drawing from the pantheon of bratty punk rock that takes the listener on a journey from the New York Dolls to the White Stripes via New Bomb Turks and Electric Eels, Harlem is a fast and ferocious ball of aggression that sounds like a locomotive rushing towards an inevitable derailing. But thankfully, throughout the album's short running time, it rarely does. Opening track "The Stinger" truly sets the tone for the rest of the record, bursting out of the gates with a split second of feedback before the band's guitar/bass/drums arsenal kicks in with full force while vocalist Jeff Helland quickly establishes himself as one of the most intense and unique singers in the area. His voice is truly a calling card for the band, landing somewhere between Jack White sassiness and Darby Crash recklessness with a shrieking, menacing presence that lands miles above most local rock singers in both brashness and charisma. The sound of a recently uncorked bottle of rage is probably the best metaphor I can locate to describe Helland's delivery, and White Drugs' ability to sound as though they've just stumbled across a good three chord punk tune with nothing but dumb luck provides him the perfect vehicle to go apeshit while maintaining enough control to keep the songs structured. We're talking about unchecked aggression here, dude, and it's nice to hear a local singer deliver it without sounding rehearsed.

Of course, after reading some of these descriptions, the phrase "garage rock" is probably popping into your head. And you probably have a point. You can certainly hear some stylistic similarities between White Drugs and bands like Hot Snakes, The Hives, and early Mooney Suzuki, but most of that seems simply incidental, likely due to a mutual love of The Stooges rather than any attempt at highly belated bandwagon jumping. Besides, who's going to make a crude garage influenced record in 2007 unless they actually mean it? White Drugs definitely mean it, and they sure as hell know what they're doing.

After it's opening track, Harlem continues to pack punch after punch of concise, stripped down gems that mostly find a healthy balance between punk abandon and pop accessibility. "Kleaning Kru" takes a bouncy, blues influenced rock riff and adds a crunchy three chord guitar backing to highlight the improbable catchiness of a chorus that commands you to "wipe that fucker clean." Elsewhere, "Heil Vacation" locks on to a choppy guitar groove and rides it to an explosive chorus while showcasing small pieces of distorted surf guitar parts that add an element of atmosphere to a song that is much more of a rush than a mood.

Much of the second half of the record showcases the vocals of Christian Breit, who ventures more to the Iggy Pop | Richard Hell side of the mic with a deeper, more stylized delivery that juxtaposes nicely with Helland's. And although it's probably just a coincidence, Breit's songs, especially the quick one-two punch of "Born Long" and "Dig a Hole," seem to bring out the Dead Boys | Voidoids/Heartbreakers influences that give most of the album a jolt of intelligence and authenticity lacking in similarly heavy local releases. Breit is quite the compelling vocalist as well, giving White Drugs not just one but two competent frontmen who both seem to have studied their history books in order to craft highly distinctive styles that couldn't compliment the music better.

The only sense in which the album falters is the slight feeling of overload one gets after listening to several ferocious, similarly styled songs one after another, resulting in a sense of fatigue that sometimes makes it a bit difficult to listen all the way through. Additionally, the inclusion of "I Hate Your Face (Deprise)," a remake of the album's second track that appears as the album's fifth track, comes off as redundant, even though the remake is performed in a completely different manner than the original. Those concerns aside, Harlem is the rare local record that comes off as smart without ever sounding smart, reminding us that a tasteful set of influences doesn't necessarily equal an overly academic or audibly inauthentic approach. White Drugs is as gritty and powerful as any rock band in the area, and they're intelligent enough to realize that it takes a bit more than that to make a record worth talking about.

I know we just featured Bowie on here a week or two ago, but you have to see this one if you haven't already. Watch until the very end if you want to see the creepiest thing he's ever done:



SHOWS OF NOTE THIS WEEK

MON: Parts & Labor/Ghosthuster (Pastime Tavern)
MON: Koji Kondo/Undoing of David Wright/Attractive and Popular/Oberlm/Flea of the Century (1919Hemphill)
FRI: Starlight Mints/Robert Gomez/The Separation (Hailey's)
FRI: No One Conquered, Wyoming (715 Panhandle)
FRI: Centro-matic/Pleasant Grove/Sarah Jaffe (Granada)
SAT: Roky Erickson (Granada) HELL YEAH!

According to an article in the Denton Record Chronicle, Denton Fire Marshals have obtained an arrest warrant for this dude in connection with the Tomato fire. Apparently the guy is some kind of singer-songwriter or something.

FRIDAY

Christian! Teenage Runaway Release Party with Koji Kondo and Kaboom (1007 Oakland St. Denton)
This sounds like it's going to be a blast. A house/record release party for C!TR, who will be starting their set some time around 10, followed by performances from Koji Kondo and kaboom some time later in the evening. According to a post in one of our comment threads, the current incarnation of CTR won't be around for long, so you might want to see them while you still have a chance. Two great live bands plus Kaboom, who I wouldn't call "great" just yet, although they seem like they might be on their way to something good.

St. Vincent | Scout Niblett (Hailey's)
I'm not sure if St. Vincent's moody, dramatic pop is exactly my thing, but I guess if that kind of thing is your kind of thing then you might dig her kind of thing. She reminds me a lot of Tori Amos, but that's probably just because I'm an asshole.

DJ Battle with Select, Prince William, Big J and more (Absinthe Lounge)
These are usually a pretty good time, although Absinthe Lounge would be doing everyone a favor if they got a bigger sound system. The excellent Select and Prince William should keep things interesting.

SATURDAY

Shearing Pinx | Eat Avery's Bones | Nouns Group | Christian! Teenage Runaway | Koji Kondo | Icarus Crane (UTD Campus-Richardson)
Probably the biggest bill of the week, and it will be a good one. I've never heard Shearing Pinx before, but they sound pretty good, and I bet anyone who is into any of the other local acts on this bill will probably enjoy them. This show is going on at the UTD campus in Richardson just outside the student union near the tennis courts. Go to Radio UTD's website for more info. If it rains, they have a plan to move everything inside. Starts at 8pm and serves as a charity event for Operation Kindness, which helps baby puppies and lil' kittens and shit.

Zanzibar Snails | Cue | Balmorhea (Hailey's)
Cue and Zanzibar Snails sound like quite a perfect pairing to me: while Zanzibar might just cause massive paranoia with their nervous and violent build ups of ecstatic noise, Cue seems to be quite good at playing up the calmer, more "post-rock" chamber music influenced side of things, keeping you nice and calm before ZS knock you down.

The Night Game Cult | Angry Businessmen | Ribelle Scaltro | Delphi
(8th Continent)
I believe these shows usually start around 9 or 10, and they're always free. Go see what kind of show Kyle from Night Game decides to put on, because you never know what you're going to get. UPDATE: THIS SHOW IS CANCELED DUE TO WATER DAMAGE AT 8TH CONTINENT.

Voot Cha Index | The Happy Bullets | Hardin Sweaty and the Ready to Go | Chris Garver (Rubber Gloves)
This is both a reunion show and a countdown to the inevitable end for Voot Cha Index, as the band gets together for the first time in a while before most of their members move off to college at the end of the summer. Fans won't want to miss this show.

Dj Pierre (Minc Lounge)
Surprised there aren't a few more people talkin about this show. DJ Pierre was a major figure in the original wave of Chicago acid house, developing some of the first tracks to prominently feature the Roland 303 as a member of Phuture, who released one of the most important acid house tracks in history ("Acid Trax"). Pierre has also worked with or received props from such DJs and producers as Carl Craig, Bob Sinclar and Michael Mayer. Some people would even say that the guy INVENTED acid house, although there were obviously a lot of other producers involved. Anyway, a true dance music legend at Minc for a $10 cover. Sounds worth it to me.

Sorta | Current Leaves (Dan's Silverleaf)
Go see Current Leaves open for Sorta, and maybe try to track down some of the Hardline dudes while you're at it. Do they go to Danny's shows? I have no idea. And Sorta has a fairly decent cover of Pavement's "Stop Breathing" if you care to listen.

SUNDAY

Violent Squid | Koji Kondo(Rubber Gloves)

The Beatdown | Thee Finelines (SHQ Denton)

As I made it clear with a previous review of the Koji Kondo | Eat Avery's Bones split, I love the 7-inch format. I mean who doesn't, even if it's just a novelty to you or part of the tacky silk-screen image on a ruined vintage button-up from Counter Culture? However, if there is one digital format that can rival the 7-inch for me it's the 3-inch compact disc. How damn cool are these things? They're humorously tiny and the brief statement an artist or band can make with one is oftentimes an integral part of the art.

Take for instance the new 3-inch release by local duo, D and N. The statement here seems to be a challenge of sorts for the artists to transcend the limitations of this particular format. The disc comes with two folded little sheets of artwork and the imagery is more intricate and rich than you might find on a double gatefold vinyl LP. The duo consists of Nevada Hill (of Idi*Amin and Zanzibar Snails) and David Price, a collaborator of Hill's in the visual project Corn Kit Dot Not, the hard copy of which I enjoyed more than most of all of the work I've seen hanging in galleries in the past 12 months. David has also played some random percussion in live Zanzibar Snails' performances.

The music itself seems to be one slowly flowing piece that is segmented across eight concise tracks that collect new bits of sonic debris with each numerical passage. For instance, the warbling ambient tone that starts the CD still continues in track 2, but an added desolate minor-key melody is picked on an acoustic guitar. Distant percussion disrupts the serenity of this brief folksy respite and welcomes an onslaught of alienating buzzing sounds, while the percussion only gets louder and more industrial. There really aren't any actual jarring moments on the disc and the music overall seems subdued and subtle, especially when compared to Hill's other projects, including a much-discussed five minute performance on improvised guitar and saxophone opening for Deep Snapper at the Fra House last weekend. This might be one of the most accessible pieces of music released by local noise artists that I've heard and it would probably make a good introduction to those who are wary of improvised or experimental music. There are even outright pretty passages with lowly humming keyboards and the aforementioned acoustic guitar.

So I recommend the less-is-more ideology behind the D and N project and I'd like to see an entire series of similarly terse statements by other local artists. It seems that the limits of such a small format can be unexpectedly liberating. Just don't try to put one of these motherfuckers in your Mac Mini.

The Undoing Of David Wright | Attractive And Popular | Prostitute (Rubber Gloves)
Attractive And Popular and The Undoing are a pretty classic pairing, with both acts giving fairly different takes on some similar influences. Attractive And Popular are touring endlessly to support their GSL debut "Money Equals Magic", and I hear it's pretty good. The Undoing will be playing the first of many shows this month, now that Chief Death Rage is back from a long tour and I don't recommend missing them even once.

UPDATE: Undoing of David Wright has canceled tonight, and Christian Teenage Runaway will be taking their place. And it looks like Shane and Alan from Ghosthustler will definitely DJ records in between sets.

Daniel Folmer | Naptime Shake | RTB2...and Special Guests (Double Wide)
Folmer has had some pretty good press from The Dallas Morning News and Quick recently. As far as "special guests" are concerned, I don't know. Usually a case of special needs.

Lost Generation with Wanz and Ineka (Fallout Lounge)
Guest DJ's include Robert Taylor and DJ Panda Flower.

80's Night With DJ G (Hailey's)


Klickitat (Tipperary Inn)
Klickitat will be playing two sets this evening.

Wanz Dover has been playing great records at Fallout Lounge on Thursdays for months now, and he recently decided to take the concept just a bit further by forming Stereo On Strike, a new dj crew/blog/event promotions group with some big plans.

Wanz' weekly Lost Generation set will be just one small part of the Stereo on Strike umbrella, which will also consist of all future laptop deathmatches as well as a monthly Friday night show at Minc featuring dance music inside and IDM/laptop performances outside. As the dance/electro scene in Dallas continues to grow and prosper, we're expecting Stereo on Strike to bring something quite different to the table, with an emphasis on European electro, glitch, minimal house, dubstep, and a lot of other sounds that you can't find in too many places in Texas these days. You can keep tabs on Stereo on Strike by visiting their blog, which already has some great stuff posted including a live performance from The Field (who has released one of my favorite records of the year so far) as well as the Simian Mobile Disco interview below:

We'll back tomorrow.

Canada | New Science Projects | El Yankee Fantastico | Matthew And The Arrogant Sea (Hailey's)
The local acts on this bill will probably hold your attention better than the rather bland Canada. No matter what you think of New Science Projects, that singer is hard to ignore during a performance. Matthew And The Arrogant Sea also writes some pretty memorable folk-influenced songs in a style that lends well to the haunting recordings on the page. By the way, what's with bands always writing tour blogs? I mean let's see, what did you do? Eat vegan food and buy stupid souvenirs from gas stations in the middle of nowhere. Wow. Ya don't say. Your dog wouldn't even care about that shit if it could read.

Klickitat (Balcony Club)
I believe it's open mic night at the Balcony Club, but Klickitat promises to perform tonight. The piano based songwriting is very pop-oriented (almost Tin Pan Alley territory) and these are without a doubt some of the most original vocals in DFW.

Forgot to add this to the Monday Morning Rock post, so I thought I'd mention it here:

FUZZ BALL
Saturday, July 7th @8pm on UTD Campus

Shearing Pinx

Eat Avery's Bones

Nouns Group

Christian! Teenage Runaway

Koji Kondo

Icarus Crane

One of the biggest shows of the weekend and I forgot about it. Dumb.

Death Set | Abe Vigoda | John Thill | Eat Avery's Bones (Hailey's)
I was actually pretty impressed with a couple of the songs I just listened to on John Thill's Myspace. Structurally, most of it is fairly straight forward indie folk pop, but it's the little things that make it stand out above the vast majority who might fit such a description. Nervous lyrics and vocal delivery as well as a messy approach to recording makes these songs exciting despite the many conventional elements contained within. The song "Girls of Meth" is a particular stand-out, and I'm hoping this guy can pull this stuff off live. Baltimore's Death Set share their hometown with Dan Deacon and Video Hippos, and they also seem to share the same passion for the kind of fuck you punk silliness that has turned so many people on to their hometown peers. They're almost a guaranteed good live act too if you're interested in seeing the full embodiment of the Descendants' classic "Kids on Coffee" with enough pop hooks and math infused punk ferocity to go around for everyone, including drum machines, keyboards and samples being abused in just the right way. Since tonight's actually like a Thursday night for most people, you might want to go out tonight, have three Saturday nights and then come home.... and start it early bro, since this is about as perfect a show for EAB as you'll see.