Sorry, Blogger had one of their obligatory two hour shutdowns today, so not too much info here, but we'll talk soon.
Stay School Swag School (Roof of Cool Beans) Though it's long been my philosophy that alcohol and rooftops don't necessarily mix, this "Roof Jump Off Party" sounds like a pretty diverse show and who doesn't like hanging out on rooftops? The lineup features the reunion of In Dot Dat, as well as Yeah Def, and Young Doc Gooden. Topping it all off is Andrew Savage of The Teenage Cool Kids, who will be playing records. Mind your step and please recycle.
Plan B | Darktown Strutters (Rubber Gloves) Mismatched show featuring our new favorite local band. We're so fickle with our highly sought love and attention.
Faun Fables | Invincible Czars | The Chameleon Chamber Group (Lola's) Faun Fables makes unconventionally theatrical art rock, has toured as far as New Zealand, and records for Drag City. A little over the top in a Ren' Fair sort of way and certainly not for everyone, but if that doesn't bother you give it a chance.
I have been consistently impressed with the shows at Conduit, Holly Johnson, and PNDB since I moved to Dallas. If you haven't made it out to any of them, all three have openings this week.
THURSDAY
And/Or House of Dang Summer Smackdown (4219 Bryan St.)
The two things I love most in the summer: outdoor movies and breaking into apartment complexes for a late night swim. This week is Teen Witch, with a Most Popular Girl Contest. Everything goes down at 8:30. Bring some popcorn and a lawn chair.
Marill, Starr, and Iwasaki (Conduit) I have been excited about this show ever since I saw two Iwasaki pieces at the CADD Art Fair.
Margo Sawyer: Synchronicity of Color (Holly Johnson)5-8pm A continutation of the work that Sawyer did for Discovery Green in Houston.
Twenty-one (PNDB) 5-8pm So, I screwed up and posted this last week, but it is really opening this week. Twenty-one photographs will be up, including work by Mario Algaze, Mario DeBiasi, Chuy Benitez, John Herrin, David Johndrow, and Elliott Erwitt.
Also, PNDB is also the sole gallery in the States representing Chinese photographer Wu Jalin. I would highly reccomend checking out his work while you're there.
Jackson Hammack, Jason Brown, and Jeanie Gooden (Craighead Green)
Playboywill be filling in for Nature at Taxi Faretonight at Zubar. For those who didn't know, Nature is currently playing shows in his home away from home-- San Juan, PR. Cool people know that the guy was huge there a few years ago, and a decent argument can be made that his is a name that should be mentioned along with Diplo when discussing how the contemporary dance music of Puerto Rico made its way to New York and the rest of the United States a few years ago. Anyway, Sober tells us that this Playboy dude is pretty good, but that is all we know other than the fact that he spins reggae/dancehall.
Dance Your Face Offis at the Cavern tonight, and it's for people who actually like to dance to, you know, dance music and stuff. I stopped by to sample one of the sets a few weeks ago and heard a lot of solid house and disco grooves. Pretty good stuff, even if an empty upstairs Cavern can be a pretty lonely place to hear high energy dance music. Hopefully people will catch on to this sooner rather than later.
Death Cab For Cutie | Rogue Wave (Nokia) Re: Death Cab- Where are all the people who used to bug me about this band eight years ago? Did they escape to South America with all the other war criminals?
The Roots (House Of Blues) The Roots have had their moments here and there (mostly on Illadelph Halflife,) but I've never been convinced that mixing in jam band elements is the solution to saving the live Hip Hop show. Judging by the fact that they will perform sans opening act tonight, that argument is still being made.
?uestlove (Ghostbar) After-party for the Roots show, obviously.
Dysrhythmia | Broadcast Sea | Four Days To Burn (Bar Of Soap) I'm told this show is free, all the more reason to go see and hear one of the handful of anomalies on Relapse Records, Dysrhythmia. Dysrhythmia is an instrumental group of considerable technical prowess, but aren't as boring as other groups in the tricky riff and time-signatures genre. Perhaps this is due to several surprising turns in the music, from the incorporation of Norwegian Black Metal sounds to ambient influences and even some melodic material that could pass for a record on Thrill Jockey.
free times new viking and psychedelic horseshit tickets
Remember a few months ago when we brought you Times New Viking and Psychedelic Horseshit at Strawberry Fields for five bucks? Well, it'll be a bit more work (and cost a bit more money) to see these bands again this weekend, but it'll be totally possible to catch both, and certainly worth your time. Psychedelic Horseshit will be playing on Friday at the Chat Room in Ft. Worth, while Times New Viking will hit Club Dada on Saturday. Wanna go? Luckily for you, we have two pairs of tickets to give away to each show, and if you want to win them, please email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com before Thursday at Noon. Include the name of the show you want to see in the subject line and your full name in the email body.
It's been nearly a year since our infamous Matthew and the Arrogant Sea article was published, and despite some of the negative implications of that experience, I'm still somewhat intrigued by the group of musicians involved in the project. After spending a couple weeks interviewing with us and sharing the details of a phony record deal that turned out to be either a fragment of one person's imagination or the centerpiece of one of the most dumbfounding publicity stunts in recent local music history (depending on who you ask), Matthew and the Arrogant Sea and its related solo and side projects simply soldiered on during and after the "phony record deal" fallout in the local media, producing a constant stream of material under a handful of different monikers that has been a bit inconsistent at times, but generally more interesting than most of the "indie" folk fodder that passes for "buzzworthy" in DFW/Denton these days. In the process, the group noticeably raised their profile, playing frequent gigs with larger, more established acts while attaining greater recognition in the media and cementing their reputation as a band or group of bands that people tend to take interest in. Dismiss this modest rise in popularity as fickle, flavor of the month favoritism if you must, but it is difficult to deny that MATAS and its many offshoots have produced some solid material here and there, and their prolific recording tendencies and constant reinvention and exploration certainly have to be admired on some level.
One of the most impressive talents to emerge from Matthew and the Arrogant Sea is J Gray, a 16 year old songwriter who, at times, quite honestly soars above any similar recording artist in the area, including his MATAS band mates. His debut full length, J Stop Playing Those Sad Songs, is a consistent and imaginative collection of haunted, touching songs that reveals both the surprising strengths and predictable shortcomings of a young yet highly talented musician who is just finding his bearings as a recording artist.
Gray's debut is truly an article of the Myspace/bit torrent era in the sense that it plays like a collection of individual tracks rather than a work created as a coherent, multi-part whole. This isn't to say that the whole thing isn't worth listening to, but rather an observation concerning the stand-alone, isolated feel of most of these songs. This tends to work against the album a bit in the sense that some of the songs flirt with repetitiveness and redundancy by the time you get through with them, but the fact that it doesn't end up being much of a problem really says something about the strength of Gray's songwriting and the highlights that make his debut a relatively impressive achievement, particularly for a self released, home recorded offering.
The record's obvious calling card is Gray's emotive and highly distinctive vocal performance, stylistically hinting at a diverse array of talents like the Fleetwoods' Gary Troxell, frog-in-the-throat Nashville Skyline era Bob Dylan, and even Scritti Politti's Green Gartside, all the while managing to avoid sounding enough like any of the aforementioned vocalists (or anyone else, for that matter) to garner any straight up comparisons. Gray appears to be well aware of this strength, as his vocals are positioned front and center on each and every track, highlighting his soft, sad croon and the thoughtfully abstract lyrical content that often provides these songs with a level of intensity that is impressively literary at times.
Starting with the title track, an improved and slightly tweaked version of a song that appeared on our most recent Projection compilation, the album commences on an immediate launch to a lonely, introspective headspace that it proceeds to occupy for its duration. Most of the tracks here are minimal and sparse in their construction: clean, simple acoustic strumming and Gray's reverb heavy vocal tracks comprise most of the material, with occasional touches of drums, bass, layered backing vocals and additional guitar parts that simply add to the album's dreamy, desolate tone of longing and resigned curiosity. The minimal arrangements work especially well considering that Gray doesn't seem to need much help in making these rather traditional folk/country songs sound mysterious and heartbreaking, and one gets the sense that anything more would undermine the record's overall feel while simultaneously reducing its charm.
Although the standout tracks are many, a trio of songs with similar titles collectively provides perhaps the best indication of Gray's talents, as well as many of the album's emotional high points. "You Are the God of Sounds" is certainly the strongest track here, and it is a truly stunning thing to hear on a self released local album. Starting off with simple acoustic strumming, Gray's vocals come in almost immediately and proceed to steal the show with a beautiful, lost highway country influenced melody that sounds distant and almost ghostly in its sweetness. When the rest of the band comes in and joins Gray at the 1:00 mark, it becomes apparent that the song is something special, revealing Gray's impressive ability to come off as damaged and thoughtful beyond his years. "You Are the Golden Child" similarly combines quiet, full band accompaniment with a gorgeous, reverb heavy vocal melody for optimal effect, while "You Are the Stars" drops the rhythm and utilizes a drier, clearer sound that presents a textbook argument for "less is more."
Missteps such as the overly long and repetitive "Mr. James" hold things back a bit, and the album itself is not void of scattered, minor flaws-- errant lyrical goofs and overzealous use of vocal effects emerge from time to time, demonstrating that Gray certainly has some room to grow as a songwriter. But these issues pale in comparison to the record's strengths, and they are easily overlooked as Gray's talent and potential continually reveals itself throughout. It seems almost impossible to predict success in our fickle and downright confusing regional music scene, but a few listens to J Stop Playing Those Sad Songs will likely leave you confident that on his own, J Gray likely has a shot at turing a lot of heads and creating enough of a stir to attain some kind of record deal in the near future. For real this time.
Sorry Im late, but luckily, there isn't anything going on tonight other than the usual... we'll have at least two features this week that will make you want to kiss us, so stay tuned for those. One might be up tonight. And in case you forgot: Cool Out, Jazz at Amsterdam and Paul Slavens @ Dan's are all happening tonight.
1. Centro-Matic/South San Gabriel - Dual Hawks 2. Mount Righteous - When the Music Starts 3. Matthew LaBrot - Someday EP 4. Old 97's - Blame It On Gravity 5. Stumptone - Gravity Suddenly Released
GOOD RECORDS OVERALL TOP 20
1. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges 2. Centro-Matic/South San Gabriel - Dual Hawks 3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes 4. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (LP) 5. Weezer - Red Album 6. Cool Kids - Bake Sale 7. Mount Righteous - When the Music Starts 8. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs 9. Samamidon - All is Well 10. National - Virginia EP/A Skin, A Night 11. Spiritualized - Song in A&E 12. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us 13. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson 14. Santogold - Santogold 15. Ting Tings - We Started Nothing 16. Black Keys - Attack and Release 17. Mudhoney - Lucky Ones 18. Samamidon - All Is Well (LP) 19. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours 20. Via Audio - Say Something
RECYCLED TOP LOCAL AND NEW ARRIVALS
1. Delmore Pilcrow - Worn to the Weft
2.Daniel Folmer - A Leaf Dust Congress - Egg Tooth Stumptone - Gravity Suddenly Released LP Theatre Fire - Everybody Has a Dark Side
New Arrivals this week:
Fab Deuce - MumboJumboGumboGrooves Forbes, Young, and Gonzalez - Six Hands, Five Voices Ghosthustler - Cassingle New Science Projects - Crocodile!
TUE: Death Cab For Cutie/Rogue Wave (Nokia Theater) TUE: The Roots (House of Blues) FRI: Psychedelic Horseshit/Teenage Cool Kids/Fabulous Diamonds (Chat Room) FRI: Dosh/Anathallo/Listener Project/The Boat Lights/Sunnybrook (The Prophet Bar) SAT: Times New Viking/Record Hop/Teenage Cool Kids (Club Dada) SAT: The Great Tyrant/Fight Bite/Koji Kondo/Blank Blank (Chat Room) SUN: Grand Archives/Sera Cahoone/Sarah Jaffe (The Cavern)
Frog Eyes | Evangelicals | White Hinterland (Club Dada) The first in a series of upcoming shows that might do a bit to help put Club Dada back on the map as a relevant venue that people actually give a shit about. The highlight of this show for me will be the chance to hear some of the solid new Evanglicals album in a live setting. I believe they and Best Fwends were the first two bands I ever interviewed for this blog, and two years later, both are finally starting to become "cool." I win again.
Goth Valentine's Day with Night Game Cult | Phantastes | Return of the Crud (Cool Beans) Hmm... interesting line up. I'm really excited about the first two bands, have no idea what the third band is, and, well, the fourth one is that Admiral David V dude. Phantastes is a project from Shane English and Lars Larsen, and it's honestly quite unlike anything else I know of in the metroplex. Taking early 80's European industrial electronic influences as a starting point, the group throws in bits of avant industrial noise a la Cabaret Voltaire and various other early electro (we're talking Suicide, not Moby) and Detroit touchstones such as Cybotron to create tough yet mesmerizing synth/drum machine grooves that are quite easy to get lost in. I'm also happy that Night Game is back with a brand new batch of songs that show continued growth in whatever, uh, vision its namesake has. A lot of the stuff currently on the Night Game myspace page is all over the place, from quiet and apparently sincere covers ("The Velvet Underground's "Jesus") to minimal synth/dance tracks like "This Party is Fucking Over" that often come off as John Maus reinterpretations of Daniel Johnston songs. A few tracks inspired by whimsical New Romantic influenced dream pop add another special touch to the arsenal. All of it is pretty great if you want to know the truth. And finally, everyone's favorite real AND fake commenter, Dave Virden, is, well, uh, is playing this show too, mkay?
Teenage Cool Kids | Vacation | Boats (715 Panhandle) Vacation is a group that doesn't have any music on their Myspace page (I hear they are a pop band of some sort), and Boats is a Sacramento garage/punk power pop combo that has been gaining a bit of buzz within hardcore circles in various locales recently, and if you're into that kind of thing, I think you'll find that they are more than worth checking out, especially for a grand total of zero dollars at a great house venue.
Joan of Arc | Tame...Tame and Quiet | Yellow Fever (Lola's) No telling what kind of show Joan Of Arc will put on, it all depends on the current lineup. They have never exactly floored me with what seems like mostly conventional song-craft and a forced, anemic experimentalism lightly drizzled over the pouty post-emo end result. Something tells me they still have a significant following if some of those closet old school Cap'n Jazz fans can leave the dance floor long enough to watch a boring rock show. Yellow Fever's lack of pretense and enigmatic influences have made them one of the most intriguing pop groups in recent memory. Too sophisticated to truly be considered twee, and yet too precious for some fans of the noisier acts they often play with, I hope the group finds their deserved niche high above the polluted sea of pop song-writing that they dominate. I haven't heard much out of Tame...Tame And Quiet lately and wonder if they have new material.
R9 | DJ G (Rubber Gloves) These guys will be playing a lot of dark late 70's stuff, goth, and 80's industrial in celebration of Friday the 13th.
SATURDAY
Night Game Cult | Darktown Strutters | Life Functions Terminated | Voyant (J&Js) We already talked about Night Game in this post, and DL's write up on Darktown Strutters last week probably helped explain why we're excited to hear more from what sounds like a potentially great band. Life Functions Terminated is a new solo project from Shane English featuring his new homemade synth, and Voyant is one of Andrew Michael's many interesting projects.
Skarp | Akkolyte | Blood OV | Burn the Witness (Red Blood Club) Skarp is a grindcore act on the venerable Alternative Tentacles, a label that will hurt your brain if you try to really fathom how long they've been around. Thirty years next year! Skarp apparently impressed label owner Jello Biafra enough in an opening slot for the Melvins that he invited them on board. They sound like a decent enough grind band, and they'll have their work cut out for them sharing the stage with Oak Cliff's Akkolyte.
Cats and Dogs Benefit (Rubber Gloves) Sheesh. What did you think, I was going to list this whole fucking line up with all the links and stuff? Forget about it. Click the link for a line up that inclues highlights Record Hop as a headliner. starts at noon.
Fight Bite (Space Studio) I believe this art show starts promptly at 8pm with music at 10pm, and maybe, since it's in Dallas at like a "real" venue or something, Pete Freedman will take a break from Forever the Sickest Kids and check them out. We can only hope so for the sake of Fight Bite's career.
Hot Flash with guest DJ Genova (Fallout Lounge) You know the deal with these-- eclectic DJ sets covering everything from blog house to 70's funk to crunk. Usually pretty fun.
Balmorhea | Mom | Hotel Hotel/Geistheistler (Hailey's) Austin's Balmorhea is actually becoming one of the more nationally buzzed about groups hailing from our vastly overrated neighbor to the south, and although their sprawling instrumental pieces are well constructed and somewhat interesting at times, I just can't say that it really inspires me to drive 35 miles. And I still have yet to hear Geistheistler, so it would be nice if a Dentonite who actually knows what they're talking about would leave a comment explaining their sound to us. And I have to say that I was a defender of Pitchfork long after it was cool to be, but I really just can't read that shit anymore. I mean, look at this review. I'm no Lester Bands, I know, but could you at least tell me what ONE of the songs on an album sounds like without making me want to kill myself for caring enough to find out? Thanks guys!
Jukebox the Ghost | Via Audio | Verulf (Swiss House) Depending on the weather conditions on a given night at Swiss House, it seems that the majority of people who attend events there simply pay five bucks to hang out in the back and drink keg beer. This isn't a bad thing at all, but rather an indication that no matter who is playing, most Swiss House regulars will show up and have a good time. The two touring bands on this bill are fairly boring to me, personally, but when you look at the online press they've received and the fairly impressive venues they'll be playing on their current tour, it becomes apparent that a lot of people disagree with me. Basically, they are both competent indie pop bands that actually just sound like "indie rock" in a "know it when you hear it" sense.... you know, Wolf Parade covering Maroon Five songs and shit. However, Jukebox the Ghost didn't really piss me off when I listened to them the other day, so I'll probably go and hang out or whatever.
Screening of The Holy Mountain (4-7pm, at Alton House, 1005 W. Hickory, Denton) Free.
RZA | Stone Mecca (The Palladium) RZA with Stone Mecca: Ok, so I really shouldn't have to say anything about RZA to get you to go to this, and he really shouldn't have to do anything to cement his status as an icon. He produced Wu Tang's debut 36 Chambers, an indisputable, paradigm shifting revolution in hip hop, as well as the vast majority of anything else ever released by Wu Tang or any related solo project that is worth your time or trouble. Oh, and he also had a hand in producing that forgotten little gem known as the Gravediggaz. The thing that was so great about Wu Tang was that they were artisitically adventurous, musically challenging and always relevant in a "thinking man's hip hop" sense while remaining decidedly street (i.e. violent, dark and a little insane), preventing asshole middle aged white liberals from using them as a prop for their purported images as people who are "open to hip hop culture." I hope all this provides more than sufficient motivation to go to this show, but it should also be noted that RZA will be performing as his thugged out space funk loving alter ego Bobby Digital, who will apparently start in an uncoming film that will coincide with the release of the first new Bobby Digital album since 2001's slightly disappointing Digital Bullet, which is an album I forgot I used to own until a few seconds ago. Extra credit is due for the killer artwork by the legendary Bill Sienkiewicz on that Bobby Digital debut.
Weird Weeds | Shiny Around The Edges | Fight Bite | Verulf (Rubber Gloves) Weird Weeds' desolately expansive songs and creaky, scraping performance style makes them a perfect fit with Shiny Around The Edges, as they are two groups that often sound improvised but are predominantly premeditated. Fight Bite is a band we first discovered on a corporate news weekly's blog, one month after we wrote about them, and only to find that we had been misspelling their name as "Fight Bite." Are local music writers paid by the mistake?
Party at the Moontower (Road Agent) Celia Eberle, Margaret Meehan, Raychael Stine, Ludwig Schwarz, Kevin Todora, Vance Wingate, and Sean Dower.
SATURDAY
ech-o (Centraltrak) A group show including work by Paul Slocum, Max Kazemzadeh, and an outdoor video installation by Jeanne Cassanova.
Pluto Is Not a Planet (Hal Samples) Features the photography of Dylan Hollingsworth, Desirae Embree, and Fred Holston and the sculpture of Sergio Garcia and Shayne W. Ridenour. Fight Bite is playing at 10pm.
Twenty-one (PDNB) The photography of Mario Algaze, Mario DeBiasi, Chuy Benitez, John Herrin, David Johndrow, and Elliott Erwitt.
ADD: Trashcan Punch (5847 Llano Ave) 3-7pm An outdoor art show, with work from A. Carson, Asteria, Bandage Trash, Emily Eeik!enberg, Monique Janette, and Aaron Romo.
ADD: Cathy Miller (Kettle Art) Sorry I forgot this one.
The New Bloods | Hornet Leg | Daniel Francis Doyle | Nouns Group | Rival Gang (Rubber Gloves) Hornet Leg is comprised of drummer Claudia Meza and guitarist Chris Sutton, who has more or less used the name for what has basically been his solo project. Sutton also plays in Dub Narcotic Soundsystem, Nudity, Spider And The Webs, and C.O.C.O. Meza has played and recorded with Japanther, with a memorable contribution to their best album, "Master Of Pigeons." Hornet Leg's music is a distorted, bluesy garage punk with Moe Tucker like pounding.
The New Bloods were the highlight of SXSW '08, and that included some surprisingly strong competition. The group's setup is guitar-less save for the bass, with violin and drums and all three members singing. The tumbling rhythms, soaring and stabbing violin, and deep rolling basslines are finished off with pleading vocals that vary from harmonies to group shouts, and make the group a unique and unforgettable live experience. The deceiving simplicity of their stark, stripped approach reveals a stunningly endless range of emotion and complexity that never dissolves into the cheap anger of complaining merely to hear yourself complain. Every second of the band's performance seems imbued with a heavy sense of purpose and you never get the feeling that this is just another touring act tossing off another road show. Their debut album for Kill Rock Stars was released last month and I would recommend it just as much as this show.
Taxi Fare (Zubar) Dear Dallas scenesters-- Thank you for continuing to NOT got to Taxi Fare. The crowd is big enough without you, and it's already one of the best overall dance nights anywhere in Dallas. I need a fucking vacation from you people sometimes anyway. JK love ya! :-)
ADD: Corima | The Great Tyrant | Swirve (Red Blood Club) One of your last chances to ever see good bands at Red Blood Club.
DETOUR with Blackheart Society | Big J | Zoo DJs | Milan Bender (The Cavern) This is the start of a new regular event in Dallas, and we'll have more info on it soon.
It's What We Get with YeahDeaf and DJ Panda Toes (Hailey's) After the departure of Alan Palomo for New York, It's What We Get will be working with some guests for their Wednesday night residency at Hailey's. Tonight they'll be joined by YeahDeaf, who's Myspace page almost gave me a seizure, and DJ Panda Toes, a sometimes DFW resident who appears to be as good a source as you'll find on all the new, blog friendly dance stuff from Australia, Europe and the like. If you're into FluoKids or Spank Rock, I promise you'll dig these sets. And if you're simply into looking like you're into FluoKids or Spank Rock, you'll dig being seen at Hailey's during these sets.
Well, we're officially 2 for 2 this summer. The only way I could feel any cooler is if I had actually put these two mixes together myself. Shane English was nice enough to round up this stellar selection of tracks for us, and I'm going to go ahead and guess that it will end up being one of the most diverse and adventurous downloads we'll share with you all year. And I bet if you actually have good taste in anything, you'll agree.
Starting with a mysteriously ominous and decidedly UNdanceable track from American jazz great Dick Hyman and cherished collaborator Mary Mayo, Shane takes us on an adventure through tons of rare, mostly European tracks from the early 80's that shoot off in so many different directions that I won't even bother trying to explain them. Let me just say that there are some real gems on here, and I'm not sure if anyone else in town would turn out a selection like this-- both highly challenging and highly listenable. Be sure to keep tabs on Shane over at his blog, Soundhead, where he has written about some very interesting projects he's been working on lately with Lars Larsen, including constructing their own synthesizers. Here is the download link, and here is the tracklist:
Natasha Bedingfield | Kate Voegele | The Veronicas (House of Blues) I remember it was a huge deal when Amy Grant went completely down the dark path of secular pop in the early 90's and started singing "Baby Baby" instead of "Sing Your Praise To The Lord" or "El Shaddai." I guess it takes a little more for today's Contemporary Christian singers to garner such attention, as in the case of Natasha Bedingfield. She's putting a little more distance between her and recent holy past for her pop departure. So take some time to check out, "I Wanna Have Your Babies," one of the most sophisticated, subtle pieces of pop music I've come across in some time. That's a little still from the video next to this post, and I recommend checking out these amazing lyrics as well, to behold the ultimate triumph of abstinence only education.
