Nothing today, except Disqo Disco at Fallout and Minimal Techno at Moosh. The Observer also wants everyone to know that they totally aren't falling for the hype on this Vega track, ok? They're just "dutifully spreadin' the word" by reporting on it. Look, if you're just doing your duty, no need to sound so threatened.
One of the things I really liked about Alan Palomo's work with Ghosthustler was that the guy just sounded so self assured and comfortable with what he was doing. A lot of these "blog house" or hipster dance or whatever you call them groups (even some of the better ones, too) feature some of the biggest lame asses of all time as vocalists or frontmen, but I always thought Palomo was leaps and bounds above most of them as far as style, delivery and lyrics. Well, as happens anywhere from 10-30 times a day every day, I've been proven right once again. Palomo's solo project, Vega (I'm guessing its an obvious nod to you-know-who), has just released its first single, "All Too Vivid," and yes, its quite good. The guy is playing to his strengths and putting his vocals front and center in front of some glossy ass synths and infectious dance beats. I don't think you could even really call this "blog house," it's probably more just a great pop song with an impeccable set of influences that Palomo discovered before you ever heard that Cut Copy record. Alan was nice enough to share this with us and a couple other blogs, so listen to it:
Nine Inch Nails | A Place to Bury Strangers (American Airlines Center) Trent Reznor re-emerged back into the American underground's line of sight briefly this year when he pulled a Radiohead and released not one but five albums independently via download and several other formats from his website. The first was a four CD set of 36 instrumental tracks, and the second was a more pop affair with vocals that has been downloaded for free nearly 2 million times since it was released. This is quite an accomplishment on many levels, but hardly surprising given the fact that 1) Nine Inch Nails is by far the most popular industrial group of all time and 2) dude has enough money to try whatever the fuck he wants. You know? Anyway, be sure to show up early and catch the set from NYC's A Place to Bury Strangers, who's industrial, shoegaze and noise influences came together perfectly on their uncomfortably loud debut record several months ago. People seem to throw the name Jesus and Mary Chain around most often when talking about this group, and although the link is clear, you won't find any of the latter group's subversively bubble gum vocal melodies hidden beneath the noise... this stuff is darker and even less organic. Highly recommended.
From The Depths | The Doomies | Maruta | Cult Ritual | Ippur | Division of Power (1919 Hemphill) Politically charged grindcore/metal/hardcore show with some fairly tight groups. The real attraction for me, however, is tonight's interactive workshop that features step by step instructions on how to crash the major national Parties' conventions this year, complete with advice on creating blockades and defending yourself against 5-0 when they start trying to fuck with you.
DJ Holla (Hailey's) Holla is a New York based DJ who seems to play (if his Myspace is any indication) some of the most stereotypical hipster dance mixes you could ever imagine. Daft Punk's "Around the World" mixed with Rye Rye? Yessir! Stardust's "Music Sounds Better with You" mixed with Simian Mobile Disco's "Hustler?" Check. Kavinsky and MSTRKRFT? As the Olsen twins would say, "you got it, dude!" I guess you could do a lot worse than this on a Monday night in Denton, but shit, its like this guy went back in time to Spring 07 so that he could give us 1.21 Jigowatts worth of no surprises. Expect a sizable crowd!
MON: Nine Inch Nails/A Place to Bury Strangers (American Airlines Center) WED: Greg Ginn (Lakewood Bar and Grill... not kidding) THU: Flosstradamus/Cool Kids/The Party (Granada) THU: Intronaut/Mouth of the Architect/Behold... The Arctopus (Club Dada) THU: Steely Dan (Starplex) FRI: Judas Priest/Heaven and Hell/Motorhead/Testament (Starplex) SAT: Melvins/Big Business (House of Blues) SAT: My Morning Jacket (Palladium) SAT: Yells at Eels/Silk Stocking/Darktown Strutters (Rubber Gloves)
Hands UP with DJ Craze | Dave Nada | The Party | Keith P (the Loft) Pretty big time show at the Loft tonight for anyone who knows shit about shit. Dj Craze has made quite a name for himself over his ten year career (he was even named "Best DJ of the Year" by TIME FUCKING magazine for God's sake) , but his most high profile gig came earlier this year when he began working as Kanye West's touring DJ. Aside from these claims to fame, this Miami based DJ has been running a record label and producing drum n bass tracks for a number of years, as well as working with the heavy blogged about A-Trak. Craze's remix work certainly leans heavily towards early Euro electro, classic house, 80's synth dance and Miami bass, and it's all very solid and well worth checking out. Although I hear the guy plays a lot of hip hop during his sets, I really hope he sticks with stuff similar to his remixes this evening, because Dallas could use a dose of it. Dave Nada is another highly respected DJ who recently joined the Am Only Roster along with Crookers, Richie Hawtin and MSTRKRFT, and he's considered one of the main figures on the Baltimore dance scene. Congrats to Central Booking for a very solid show.
Dub Assembly with Southern | Mundo | Royal Highnuss | Soy Capaz and Dragonman (Green Elephant) Another strong Texas centered line up at Dub Assembly that will surely be highlighted by Mundo. How do I know this? Well, we attended Dub Assembly's 2 year anniversary with a pretty big group of people, and pretty much everyone I was with remarked seperately that while it was a thrill to see Hatcha, it was actually Mundo's set that stole the show. I think they were right actually. Maybe it was just the fact that dude was playing in front of his home crowd, but the audience was completely into what he was doing, and I bet a lot of them would agree with my earlier statement. And oh yeah, Hatcha was great... if that tells you anything. It's also nice to see that the Dallas Observer finally heard about this dubstep thing and did a little interview with Mundo and gang some two years after the first Dub Assembly. Too little too late? Probably. Next week in the Observer: so what's the deal with this electroclash stuff everyone's been talking about lately? (side note, check out some of the insane stuff on Dragonman's Myspace)
Television City | The Scandals | Warcola | Youth Aggression (Eisenberg's Skatepark, Plano) I don't know much about this lineup, besides I think that Warcola is cool and seeing a hardcore show at Eisenberg's is cooler. What's more punk than the suburbs, right guys? You have no idea how serious I'm being. Note: This show is right next to a court house and Police Station. Tread LIGHTLY.
SATURDAY
Darktown Strutters, Possibly (Amsterdam Bar) So the big show at Amsterdam with Frenz, etc. was canceled due to double booking. However, Darktown Strutters want to play so bad that they are going to go down there and try to do so anyway. If you're interested in seeing if they can pull it off, check back with us before Saturday night and we'll provide you with any updates we may have.
Yellow Tears | Ahlzagailzehguh | Black Leather Jesus | Concrete Violin | Aphonic Curtains | GOAT(House of Tinnitus) If you caught the Halflings show at HOT last year, you could certainly understand why Yellow Tears will probably be an intimidatingly devastating show. This promises to be less structured than that laptop duo with a sound that is more guitar-based resulting in a freer, sludgier sound. AHLZAGAILZEGUH takes a stab at making a name harder to pronounce than a black metal logo is to read, and have released records on Prurient's respected Hospital Productions label. This project continues (as does the entire lineup) down the darker, more aggressive path of noise, lots of feedback, house leveling rumble, tape cutups and all other manner of sonic chaos. Black Leather Jesus is the project of Houston's venerable Richard Ramirez, considered to be a pioneer of Harsh Noise music for embracing the largely Japanese aesthetic way ahead of the curve in North America. Leave it to a fucked up musician to give you some Texas pride. Maybe the obvious respect Thurston Moore has for him will bring out a couple extra chin scratchers tonight, of the sort that used to infect the staff of 33 Degrees. The rest of the lineup is a rough collection of other Lone Star noisemakers who we have mentioned and enjoyed before. PS-- Just kidding, I really miss 33 Degrees.
Cex | Best Fwends | Stove Blow (Rubber Gloves) Cex is a pretty strange dude to say the least. One of the founders of the Tigerbeat6 record label (along with Kid 606), the guy ventures into all kinds of strange places with his avant hip hop and broken down beats. We caught him a while back around town, and the only thing stranger than his music was the mystery of how someone could smell as bad as he did without wanting to clean up a little. OMG take a bith or something! Just kidding, he really did fucking stink. None the less, I wouldn't worry about it too much, especially if you're into see Best Fwends piss everyone off in an entirely different way than they ever have before. I'm into it. Seriously, this band might be the least likely Texas music success story of the decade. Don't believe me? Just as go to a party and ask Bacardi.
For Your Pleasure with DJ G and Gabriel (Hailey's) New weekly featuring glam, funk, krautrock, and dancefloor jazz.
DALLAS! You are boring the ever loving shit out of me lately. Get venues please. Denton:
Harlem | Street Hassle | Rocket for Ethiopia (1508 Broadway St., Denton, 9pm) Fun Denton house show probably just got a buzz bump thanks to a Gorilla vs Bear post concerning Austin's Harlem, a swaggering garage punk band that isn't half bad if you're the kind of person who doesn't get sick of this stuff. It's pretty standard garage pop for the most part, sort of similar to Black Lips but less sloppy and more sing songy. I usually hate seeing these kind of garage rock dudes walking around Austin like they're the first people to figure out who the 13th Floor Elevators and Wolfmother are (and there are a TON of them down there), but 940 will keep those attitudes in check tonight. Dallas' Street Hassle are quite similar in style, but seem to explore quite a bit more within the realm of psychedelic garage, even leaning more towards fuck all glam a la New York Dolls and T. Rex at times. They are much improved band compared to the Street Hassle that emerged a year ago or so, and I'm guessing their sets are sloppy, loud and fun. We've also talked a bit about Rocket for Ethiopia lately, and the band has just recorded an excellent new EP that we'll tell you about very soon. Oh, this shit has a free keg too, playas.
Boyz II Men (Six Flags) Which one of their songs would you recommend if I were to put one on a mix CD for a girl I like? I was thinking about that "Bended Knee" one, but it sounds too much like a "break up" song, you know? All of them kinda do. Maybe I'll just go with Jodeci instead.
ADD: Oh yeah, almost forgot, Movie Night at House of DangAnd/Or feat. the film Class of Nuke Em High. Starts at 830, BYOB and FREE. At least I have ONE thing to do in Dallas now.
New Science Projects | Chris Flemmons | RTB2 | Kaleo Kaualoku (Rubber Gloves) I heard this RTB2 song once that sounded like Led Zep III, and I saw this video once of New Science Projects getting in everyone's face at a show in the middle of the day. I'm not sure if there is any connection between these two statements.
So after Sally left for Israel last week, we all decided it would be best for us to completely move on with our lives and forget about her all together... omg, jk! :-) We did, however, go out and recruit two new photographers to capture shows and parties for us in Dallas, Denton and elsewhere -- the first is Kidd Rae (pictured to the right), who has been taking pictures around Dallas for some time, and the second is Mattie Stafford (pictured below), who is way cooler than anyone else who works for WSJR. You'll see these kids around quite a bit in the coming weeks and months, so say hello, and feel free to pass any death threats directed towards myself or DL through them. Thanks!
Two good shows this Saturday, both at the same time. It will be a tough decision...
SATURDAY
The Program (Conduit) 6pm Week 4 of the video art series will feature a special presentation of Yang Fudong's An Estranged Paradise at 6pm, followed by the seated screenings at 7:30pm that will include two more Nathalie Djurberg videos. Click the link to the gallery for a full schedule.
Geomorph: Rethinking Landscape and Introducing Sunny Sliger (Centraltrak) 6pm-8pm Two shows in one! Peter Ligon, Mark Schatz, Lisa Nersesova, Lanie DeLay, Mike Westfried and Jim Malone are showing some interesting works exploring the concept of landscapes. Sunny Sliger makes sculptures with shredded fabric, one of which will be Centraltrak director Dr. Charissa N. Terranova's outfit.
Mount Righteous | Andrew Hammond Kendall | Mr. Dale & JT Mudd (The Cavern) I think Mt. Righteous has had its share of publicity, good and bad, so I wasn't going to add much but then I saw that they are opening a show I will definitely go see, Danielson at The Granada in November. I don't know if opening for a band that you're so obviously inspired by is a good thing. Should Oasis have opened for Paul McCartney? Coldplay and Radiohead? How about The Rapture (early in their career) opening for The Pop Group? Come on, help me think of some other ones. Anyway, I should mention that Andrew Hammond Kendall will be showing his prints, and I have a fond memory of seeing his work at The Metrognome Collective a couple of years ago.
It's What We Get (Hailey's) Alan Palomo is apparently back from his summer in New York, and we hear that he'll be playing some new tracks he made while he was there.
The pseudonym Tony Bones (a.k.a. Soler, Soyler, and/or Goya) currently represents the story of a petty criminal emerging from the streets of East Dallas to rub elbows with the Dallas art elite. He has spent a day in jail and donated a ton of money to the Dallas Police Pastry Fund for his crimes against humanity, and he's now attempting to make it good as a gallery artist. For years, Bones has skirted the line between tagging and true graffiti, but can his gallery work cross another line and evoke enough of a response to force open the pocketbooks of Dallas art collectors?
Bones' street trademark is a spindly stick figure with arms creepily reaching out towards the viewer, sometimes subtly depicted with broken handcuff chains dangling from its wrists. His graphic world melds the bland surface value of Keith Haring with the playful chaotic genius of Bill Watterson, both influences Bones has admitted in interviews. He has wielded his artistic skill while ruining people's property from here to Brooklyn, and is currently on probation for his crimes, leaving him technically unable to venture out of Dallas until 2009. The Public Trust is currently hosting a solo exhibition of his work at their gallery space in Deep Ellum, on view through September 6, 2008.
I started off really wanting to hate this show. I have mixed feelings about graffiti art and have no respect for someone who would ruin other people's property in the name of self-promotion. I somehow thought Tony Bones was going to be displaying chunks of concrete and brick forcibly removed from the external wall of a family-run dry cleaners, but it turns out Bones isn't all that bad, and he does generally have some scruples about whose property he'll destroy. And what this particular show turns out to be is the harmless commercialization onto canvas of Bones's trademarked stick figures. It really wouldn't be surprising to find some of these images on a t-shirt at Target some day, and there's a sense of humor pervasive throughout the collection that makes it hard to dislike.
The drill for the whole exhibition is as follows: A brightly colored solid background with an engaging stick figure and other whimsical objects are arranged playfully on the support. There might be some funny or poignant text included. A lot of the canvas foreground is empty and the arrangement of objects is suitably reminiscent of a graffiti wall, mimicking areas that can't be reached with a spray paint can. All of the pieces are immaculately executed with invisible brush strokes -- if they aren't air brushed or otherwise sprayed in the first place, and on several of the canvas backgrounds, you can see hints of initial subject outlines that have been corrected in the final paint layer. These corrections lend an additional dimension to some otherwise very straight-forward paintings. There were also three pieces done in neon tubing that would go great in an artsy downtown loft's romper room, possibly next to an ironically placed glowing Schlitz Beer sign.
It's great that Bones and The Public Trust include some cheaper screen prints in the show to cater to the drove of youngsters that showed up at the Saturday night opening to support him. The more expensive pieces (City Smash Pt. 1 and Take Me Home) were well chosen since they seem to contain some deeper meaning that helps qualify them as the kind of art that the people with money would pay for. A smaller canvas titled Ancient Gods of Blood & Fire fits as well into the latter category, but was priced for us poor folk, making it a possible steal for someone wanting to take an investment risk on an artist that could seriously prove commercially viable in the future.
It sounds like this "Mr. Bones" is a good guy. He doesn't sound like a jackass in his interviews, and he seems to be genuinely fond of Dallas even though The Man around here has put him under city arrest for his previously destructive artwork. One has to award major points to his former street work for its playfulness and humor, but in essense it really doesn't accomplished much artistically beyond self promotion. Really, it is tagging pretty much by definition. And tagging isn't enough to qualify as true art.
Of course, there is inherent social criticism behind tagging & graffiti. Bones himself said perceptively that it makes the haters feel "that they don’t have control over their city." The fact that an art form can evoke that kind of reaction is pretty awesome. But without the inseparable strength provided by his previous media, will his new paintings as a gallery artist have any weight in the real art world? What exactly will his artistic purpose be? Bones's work currently lacks the conceptual complexity of a Barry McGee, or the artistry of an Ed Templeton, and with a few more gallery shows along these lines, he'll probably exhaust his market.
Bones has set himself on the right track and has a lot of potential. He has a baited audience that obviously really loves him as a person and as an artist. This solo show should inject him with some legitimate financial reward for his risky past work, and I hope he'll take advantage of this opportunity and focus on expanding the emotional impact of his pieces.
Yndi Halda | Florene | Here, In Arms (Hailey's) Tonight's headlining act is yet another group mining that tricky territory between modern composition and regular old instrumental rock bands with tunes so stretched out and unimaginative they border on becoming a planned, collective, somnambulism featuring guitars. The recent glut of instrumental rock music has left me sadly convinced that it is usually better off in the hands of a select few, akin to being a professional gymnast or something even more esoteric. It can work really well but more often than not it's a couple of open chords with a violin, piano, or accompanying guitar thrown over it for cheap effect. We can thank Godspeed and Explosions In The Sky for a lot of it, but I'm hoping to hear some new instrumental bands wipe this tired shit off the map and prove me wrong. Which reminds me, you know who's pretty killer? Lychgate.
The Faint | Jaguar Love | Shy Child (The Palladium) Though I've heard several of The Faint's fans proclaim that their new record is somewhat of a return to form, I would argue that the form isn't necessarily something worth returning to. The Faint are largely for to blame for the often hated 80's revival that they helped usher in around the last gasp of the 90's. The resurrected Reagan Era brought its share of horrible music, as has any era, but I have found that The Faint are one of those groups who are actually worse than the groups they inspire, which is not usually the case. Speaking of groups they inspire, they luckily don't have to worry about being out-performed by either of tonight's acts. If someone hasn't made this joke yet, here it goes: their new album should have been called "Fasciinatiion Street."
Young Jeezy (House Of Blues) I really like that Young Jeezy's new album is called "The Recession." Hell, yeah. Fuck a hedge fund.
Ok, so over to the right there, below our videos section, you'll find the MP3 section we started a couple months back. Admittedly, most of us have been more than a little lazy as far as posting tracks, etc., but we're going to start changing that starting.... NOW! That One Guy has been making pretty regular track selections over there for the past few weeks, and in addition to his stuff, you'll start seeing regular posts from various WSJR contributors (myself included) over in the MP3 section beginning this week. New stuff, old stuff, whatever we feel like posting. Below is a sample of some of the stuff That One Guy has been writing about, and you can find all of his picks, and a lot more, in the MP3 section. Sample:
Leonard Cohen - The Traitor Running across a copy of Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man in my local Blockbuster's $3.99 bin a few weeks ago has had me on an extended Cohen kick of late, especially this tune off of 1979's Recent Songs. Arriving half way through the album that saw Cohen return to a more initmate (some would say less adventurous) folk sound after the widescreen, spunk-sozzled Wall of Sound experimentation of his Phil Spector collaboration, Death Of A Ladies' Man, "The Traitor" stands as Recent Song's beating heart, a six and a half minute mini-epic of enigmatic romance. I'll keep my obsessive gushing to that in order to escape sounding like a college freshman deep in to my "reading Rimbaud and smoking overpriced, novelty cigarettes" phase, but listen to the song and watch for Cohen's description of it in I'm Your Man. If it doesn't have you perusing the intertrons for a closer look at the lyrics, your jaded cynicism just might not be a phase after all.
Malente & Dex - Hyperactive Another strong entry in the ever so fashionable rave revival sweepstakes, this upcoming release from relative newcomers Malente & Dex on Shir Kahn's ever so fashionable Exploited label practically reeks of pill sweat and VapoRub and should bring tooth-grinding grins to pie-eyed faces on international dance floors all summer. Turn this one on loud in your room, flip the lights on and off, and the next thing you know you'll be making the "big fish - little fish - cardboard box." In a nutshell, it's an illegal early 90s warehouse party to go. No taking eggs to an undisclosed location required.
Freeway - Hip Hop Lives If you keep up with these little "tracks of the week" missives with any regularity (Hi, Mom!), you may have gotten the impression that I find hip hop nostalgia, true school-style throwbackisms, and modern day East Coast rap in general to be the definition of boredom. I applaud your insight. Nothing gets my eyes rolling and gag reflex working over time like some dude in his 30s (or even worse, young kid) blathering on about how great hip hop used to be when it was run by the East Coast and how East Coast rappers are all about lyricism over lifestyle and how hip hop today (i.e. Southern and West Coast rap) is just style with no substance and blah blah sore ass blah blah blah. Maybe it's reverse snobbery, but I'd much rather bump the new David Banner in my truck than watch Peedi Crack "spit hot sixteens" a cappella in some shitty YouTube video. With that said, this new teaser for Freeway's upcoming Freedom Of Speech album jumps a number of my personal hurdles (a "grimy" street rapper from Philly raps about hip hop over a no-name, near hookless track - snooze) on the strength of what might be termed Freeway's balls and his word. An audaciously joyous ode to hip hop's strength and staying power as one of the defining worldwide cultural forces of our era (No, that's not hyperbole.) over a spartan, trunk banger of a beat, this is what I dream of East Coast rap being, swagger and substance, floss and brains, penthouse and pavement - exciting, basically.
Van She - Virgin Suicide It might come as a shock to those who noticed the internet ripples Australia's Van She have been making over the past couple of years with their Van She Tech remixes and brief run of singles ("Kelly," "Sex City") that basically stood as little more than jumping off points for a much longer run of much drooled over remixes by higher profile artists, but there is next to nothing blog and/or house about their upcoming album V. Harkening back to that brief moment a decade or so ago when being French and owning a copy of Supertramp's Breakfast In America was a sure pathway to a record deal and model ass, "Virgin Suicide" (along with the rest of the album) sounds like it could slip easily in to the Air-penned score or 70s soft rock soundtrack of Sofia Coppola's similarly titled film. They may amount to little more than an Antipodean version of Phoenix, but I can definitely see this being a movie kiss soundtrack placement away from annoying ubiquity in a few months. Enjoy it while you can.
Bird Peterson - Hunger Strike 5000 I've had a musical brain ache for the last few days courtesy of Austin's Bird Peterson (who also has a great remix on the previously mentioned Malente & Dex single) and this track he claims to have made on a dare from Dave Nada. Is it great? Is it awful? Is it grawful? I leave it to you and your god to work out. If you're lucky (or not), Bird might slip this in to his set at The Loft anniversary party on Friday.
Young Doc Gooden (Hailey's) So are all these local emo/pop punk bands like Christian or something? Is it cool to be Christian in high school now? Are jocks allowed to be in bands these days? Are these little crybabies even IN high school anymore? No, I'm not talking about the opening of Young Doc Gooden's weekly residency at Hailey's, which should be a lot of fun (he'll be playing his dirty krunk and chopped and screwed stuff along with ghetto house and other party people shit). I'm talking about the all ages Emo show going on at Hailey's before he plays. I'm not giving you any links because who the hell cares, but if you want to see what I'm talking about, cruise by Hailey's website and check out tonight's line up. I'd really love it if someone would attempt to explain what the hell these kids are thinking in the comments section or something, because the whole thing sort of reminds me of this book I'm reading right now (I picked the band Color of May's shitty promo pic because they are the cutest). Anyway, I'm sure Hailey's will kick all their asses out before YDG's set at 1130, but I'd make sure and wait until they leave before you even THINK about going over there.
1. Fight Bite - Emerald Eyes 2. Centro-Matic/South San Gabriel - Dual Hawks 3. (tie) Koji Kondo/Eat Avery's Bones - Split 7" Record Hop - Record Hop Mom - Little Brite Shibboleth - Experiment in Error
OVERALL TOP 20
1. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst 2. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst (LP) 3. Fight Bite - Emerald Eyes 4. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes 5. Faint - Fascination 6. David Bowie - Live in Santa Monica '72 7. Neil Halstead - Oh! Mighty Engine 8. Dr. Dog - Fate 9. Centro-Matic/South San Gabriel - Dual Hawks 10. Hold Steady - Stay Positive 11. Faint - Fascination (LP) 12. Ratatat - LP3 13. Sigur Ros - Med Sud i Eyrum Vid Spilum 14. Foals - Antidotes 15. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes/Sun Giant (LP) 16. Samamidon - All Is Well 17. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours 18. Lackthereof - Your Anchor 19. Beck - Modern Guilt 20. One Day As a Lion - One Day As a Lion
