We might have a surprise guest-- I won't say who because I'm honestly not 100% sure it will happen, but I'll give you a hint: Vice Magazine hates them. Come to Fra House tomorrow and find out.

After a few of the normal struggles, we have the party ready to go for you guys on Saturday, and we have a weekender for you to. Expect us to return to our normally stellar content next week: CD reviews and interviews to come. Here we go:

FRIDAY

Hands Up wit Yo Majesty | Nature | Sober | Select (The Loft)
I've decided that I'm not a big Yo Majesty guy, but I do have to say that it's great to get a chance to hear Nature, Sober and Select at a big place like the Loft (as long as their security doesn't act like a bunch of doucheholes again). The Loft has a lot of downsides as well, but the balcony is a great place to hang out, the sound system is solid, and there will probably be a lot of drunk party chicks there hanging out tonight. Uh, thats a cool Friday in my book.

The Undoing Of David Wright | The Frenz | Electronik Warfare | Florene (Hailey's)
So, awards sweeper Shane English is playing in Electronik Warfare now as well as The Undoing and various other projects. I guess you'd be in demand too if you won something as relevant and important as the We Shot JR popular vote. Keep dreaming, Guitar Center. Anyways, this show is definitely the best live show tonight and even though an A-Trainless Undoing worries me, I've heard they pull it off. This is a thematically coherent lineup, with The Undoing and EW sharing some traits, and The Frenz and Florene being a little milder and generally more influenced by the gentler side of electronic infused rock music. As with any show where this crowd's involved, expect some surprises.

Dub Assembly (Green Elephant)
The one year anniversary for the criminally underappreciated Unit One dubstep night. Not that people at SMU give a shit whether or not Mundo has received positive reviews in Wire magazine, but I hope the people of Dallas start to notice the great dubstep we have here before the people in London forget that they ever started it.

Long Attention Span Theater (Strawberry Fields)
At 8pm, they'll be showing German film Der Wald Vor Lauter Baumen, which translates to "the forest for the trees." Don't know much about it other than the fact that it's about the struggles of a young teacher.

SATURDAY

WSJR Awards Party with Nature/Sober/Select | Ghosthustler | Farah | Prince William | Akkolyte | Koji Kondo | Angry Businessmen | Lebanon | Zanzibar Snails | Douche (Fra House-FREE)
In case you're a total dork and you don't already know, this shit is free and all ages, and there will be free beer for those who are 21 and up. And if you're lucky, we won't get all "Suite" on you and turn away everyone who isn't a hot chick after midnight. Just depends on how sassy we get. You can see we added the mighty Prince William to the list of DJ performances as well. Big thanks to Pancakes for Mattie Records and Strawberry Fields for helping us out btw... many of the bands and entities involved with the party will have CDs and stuff to give away and sell, so you should consider buying something since you won't be paying for cover or drinks.

Sean Kirkpatrick | The Great Tyrant | Silk Stocking | Will E. Lee (Club Dada)


So The Observer's Jesse Hughey commited a total "bro pax" by not realizing that Sean Kirkpatrick's cover of "Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down" was, well...a cover and even went so far as calling it cliche without realizing it was kind of the source material for cliched drinking songs around the world. In his defense, maybe he only received the album in MP3 format and those don't come with liner notes. I mean, why would anyone in Texas be familiar with Merle Haggard? Kirkpatrick's playing the last of twenty CD release shows tonight with a great lineup featuring the always punishing and powerful Great Tyrant as well as new Denton residents Silk Stocking. Singer/songwriter Will E. Lee opens the show.

Mom | George Neal | Jen Seman | Delphi | Tame...Tame and Quiet | Florene (Secret Headquarters)
Fundraiser show for indiewriter.net.

Centro-matic | Tre Orsi | Bridges And Blinking Lights | Handbrake (Rubber Gloves-FREE)
I bet it's weird for Dentonites when they realize that the free Centro-matic show is the SECOND best thing going on Saturday night. J/k y'all! Love ya :) I'm not the world's biggest Cetro-matic fan, but they are obviously well respected and good at what they do, and I'm sure this will be a fine show. But other than this free week finale, the RGRS free week has been pretty weak compared to last year's, hasn't it?

Red Monroe | Baboon | Saboteur | Jonathan Tyler And Northern Lights | Odis Odis (Granada)
CD release show for Red Monroe, who seem to be making a play for the big time with the release of their sophomore album. We got our hands on an early copy and you'll probably see a review early next week.

SUNDAY

Wild in the Streets (Hailey's)

You know those dudes Nature, Sober, and Select, better known as the Party? Well in case we haven't told you, they're playing our party at Fra House this Saturday, and in case you hadn't already heard, they've just put out a great new mix that you can download here. It's exactly what you'd expect from these guys: rude, sweaty, and stylish. The perfect soundtrack for the end of the summer.

Tracklist:



1. Mima - Ojo Avizor (DJ Nature Remix)

2. Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (Eli & Diplo rmx)

3. Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (d.i.m. remix)

4. Yelle - À Cause des Garçons (Sta Remix)

5. FAM-LAY - Let it Drop (Red Foxx rmx)

6. Pase Rock - Lindsay Lohan's Revenge

7. Armand Van Helden - Playmate (Featuring Roxy Cottontail & Lacole 'ttigga' Campbell)

8. Dave Nada - Pump it up

9. Blaqstarr - Tote It

10. Blaqstarr - Hands Up Thumbs Down

11. Krames - Oh my god

12. M.I.A. - URAQT (Luvtek rmx)

13. B - Easy - Bongo Joint rmx

14. Lil Mama - Lip Gloss (Krazy Fiesta rmx)

15. Bonde Do Role - Gasolina (Crookers rmx)

16. Bonde Do Role - Melo Do Tobaco (Radioclit rmx)

17. Natalie Storm - Hot Fuck

18. Youngbloodz - Don't Start No Shit (Klever rmx)

19. Soulja Boy - Crank Dat

20. Cool Kids - Gold and pager (Klever's Ride Big Mixxx)

21. Eazy E - Boyz -N- The Hood (Cumbia rmx)

Have to be super short today people, got some shit to take care of:

Stereo On Strike (Fallout Lounge)
Wanz' special guest will be Prince William.

Select will DJ at Obar as part of some fashion show after party. 10-2

80's Night at Haileys with DJ G.

Pleasant Grove, one of the few Dallas bands that just about everyone seems to like, will be at Doublewide tonight with the overrated Sara Jaffe. It's like all the "proper music critics" in town got together and just picked some random singer/songwriter chick to talk up. Or maybe not. I don't really care either way.

Old Canes | Dust Congress | Parata | Glen Farris (Rubber Gloves)
Old Canes features Appleseed Cast frontman Chris Crisci playing some emo-tinged folk music with an overzealous strumming style that recalls Bob Mould's solo career at its worst. The real highlight tonight is local band Dust Congress, a good live act to counter all of the neo-folk gimmicks from crowd participation ("Here, have a triangle") to the overabundance of animal costumes. Didn't Animal Collective more than obviously corner the market on all of the animal imagery shit? The lone Dust Congress gimmick is that its main songwriter has taken the challenge of playing the percussion himself, utilizing a bass-drum and hi-hat while he plays guitar, accordion or banjo simultaneously with the kit. So the gimmick is the added actual substance, somewhat of a rarity lately. If his songs were God-awful (they aren't) then I probably wouldn't mention any of this. I'm just surprised that someone who has such a daunting stage-setup can actually take the time to write nuanced and memorable folk songs on top of everything else. Marimba, trumpet and upright bass (sometimes played by Baptist Generals' bassist Ryan Williams) all make appearances and are brilliantly understated enough to add something to the songs without overshadowing anything. Glen Farris is one of the Spune Productions people that is bringing you the Wall of Sound Festival and is also late of Current Leaves, who are playing one last show opening up for Midlake as part of a pre-party for the festival later this month. Glen's music sounds pretty different from his work in Current Leaves, there is a definite lack of 60's jangle-folk worship, and the songs sound more like traditional folk, save for the way the vocals are layered. I don't know much about Parata other than that they seem to be very different from all of the other acts tonight.

Also wanted to mention that Strawberry Fields will be doing Short Attention Span Theater tonight at Hailey's, showcasing Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job, which might just be the best show on television right now.

Sally Glass has pictures from last night's Cool Out, last week's Hot Flash, and some other stuff on her site.

LOCAL TOP 5

1. Mom - Little Brite
2. The Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army
3. Salim Nourallah - Snowing In My Heart
4. Shock of Pleasure - This is a Test
5. The Happy Bullets - The Vice & Virtue Ministry

OVERALL TOP 20

1. Mom - Little Brite
2. Liars - Liars
3. M.I.A. - Kala
4. Okkervil River - Stage Names
5. Blockhead - Uncle Tony's Coloring Book
6. Caribou - Andorra
7. The Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army
8. Flaming Lips - U.F.O.s at the Zoo
9. Odd Nosdam - Level Live Wires
10. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
11. Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals - Lifeline
12. Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight
13. Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This
14. New Pornographers - Challengers
15. Josh Rouse - Country Mouse City House
16. Brunettes - Structure & Cosmetics
17. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
18. Salim Nourallah - Snowing In My Heart
19. Eisley - Combinations
20. Justice - Cross

The new Caribou is off the chain if you know what I mean.

Mom | Douche | Dirty Water Disease | Matthew And The Arrogant Sea | Raised By Tigers (Rubber Gloves)
This is the second night of Free Week at Rubber Gloves and I have to hand it to them for booking pretty varied and interesting lineups whenever they do this, though this Free Week is a little heavy on the Gutterth stuff. Mom continues to be a local favorite with their light airy instrumentals, in contrast to Dirty Water Disease, who have a darker and more imposing style. Douche is the highlight of this show, in spite of the fact that they have only four or five songs, they're four or five really good songs and we're glad to have them play our awards show this Saturday. Their cover of "Jordan, Minnesota" is spot-on even sans drum machine, and their understanding of dynamics accompanied by their overloaded tube attack makes for a startlingly focused show for such a young group. I haven't really heard much about Matthew And The Arrogant Sea...today.

Druggist | A Childlike Fear | Matthew And The Arrogant Sea | Eaton Lake Tonics (House Show: 2253 5th Ave. in Fort Worth 76110)
This is a house show with the touring act Druggist (from San Antonio) and features other local songwriting-oriented bands. Starts at 7 pm.

We're back after a nice relaxing holiday.... we're putting the finishing touches on our show (this Saturday at Fra House), and we'll probably have a feature or two for you this week as well. It's cuz we're cool like that.



SHOWS OF NOTE THIS WEEK:

TUES: Mom/Matthew and the Arrogant Sea/Raised by Tigers/Dirty Water Disease/Douche (Rubber Gloves-Free)
FRI: Undoing of David Wright/The Frenz/Electronik Warfare/Florene (Hailey's)
FRI: Hands Up with Yo Majesty/Nature/Sober/Select (The Loft)
FRI: Dub Assembly (Green Elephant)
SAT: WSJR Awards Party with Akkolyte/Koji Kondo/Angry Businessmen/Lebanon/Zanzibar Snails/Douche/The Party (Nature/Sober/Select)/Ghosthustler (DJ set)/Farah (Fra House- Free, all ages, free beer for 21 and up)
SAT: Sean Kirkpatrick/The Great Tyrant/Silk Stocking/Will E. Lee (Club Dada)
SAT: Mom/George Neal/Jen Seman/Tame...Tame and Quiet/Florene (Secret Headquarters)