We meant to have some stuff for you this week that we couldn't get done, so you people will just have to wait. For now, read this post and get ready for a busy week around here next week. Cool points:
FRIDAY
Ariel Pink | Chairlift (Hailey's) I've seen Ariel Pink play live several different times, and he's put on quite a different show each time. The first one was during SXSW 2004, and he basically improved a bunch of noise and irritated the living shit out of pretty much everyone in the room. The second time he played an immaculate solo set at Hailey's with a lot of pre-recorded material and some charming visuals. The third time he played with a full band and somehow managed to sound exactly like his records, which as any fan would know, is quite an impressive feat. Anyway, I'm not sure what we'll get from him tonight, but it will be entertaining for sure. Howard Bob Johnson asked me whether I thought the show would be crowded considering that Pink has basically "spent the past year farting around," and I'm guessing it will, because most people who listen to Ariel Pink are totally in favor of farting around at all times. By the way, Ariel Pink> R. Stevie Moore. Sorry. Openers Chairlift are a pretty interesting group from Brooklyn who sort of sound like a slow song on the Top Gun soundtrack, but like way better and not all ironic-- influences range from Grace Jones to Til Tuesday to Cocteau Twins with a decidedly darker and more psychedelic streak throughout. And yes, that's them in the picture to the right, and yes, they look like jerks. Great stuff though.
Vorvadoss | Kill the Client | Warcola | Lychgate (Bar of Soap) Punishing show at a venue that is perfect for punishment. While everyone roots for the Deep Ellum comeback, I'm going to root for the Bar of Soap comeback.... can I have a shitty place to watch scuzzy punk shows in Dallas again, please? Anyway, Kill the Client is a fucking intense grindcore group that shouldn't be missed, so you might want to get there in time to check them out. And I didn't find Lychgate's Myspace page, but I did find out via Wikipedia that a Lychgate is "a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance of a traditional British church yard." Do these guy know how to party or what?
The Frenz | Yells at Eels | Rocket for Ethiopia (Lola's) You should really keep your eyes pealed for the mid cities group Rocket for Ethiopia, as they play a sloppy and ferocious version of American hardcore that combines tasteful influences with fuck all energy and aggression while managing to never take themselves too seriously. It's quite good, dudes. Interesting line up all around.
Schwa | Violent Squid | Small White Door (907 Denton St.) Nice free BYOB dance party house show that I really hope is going on after the Ariel Pink show gets out. Make it happen dudes! It's great to see Schwa playing a party like this too-- I've always thought that Cool Out could kick ass in Denton.
Valient Thor | Early Man | Skeletonwitch | Golden Axe (Club Dada) Valient Thor sort of sounds like early 80's Hollywood and Vine heavy metal mixed with an obvious Motorhead influence and nods to punk rock (turns out they are playing with Motorhead and the Melvins later this year). It's solid hipster metal with sufficient doses of irony to ensure that you don't feel like a shitbag when you're watching them, and I'm sure its a lot of fun live if you get wasted. Early Man is a much more satisfying thrash group with Ozzy vocals that actually rocks quite a bit harder than the headliners. All of this shit is pretty derivative, obviously, but people considering going to this probably don't give a shit about such things, and I suppose you could enjoy all the groups if you can take as many solos as they'll be dishing out. Early Man has a song about Aqua Teen Hunger Force too, and that actually really sucks.
DFW Synth DIY Meet Up (2 PM, Bar of Soap) The first meeting of a group of people interested in constructing their own synths. Musicians from all over will be discussing this construction and probably demonstrating some of their creations (Lars from Undoing of David Wright will be showing some of his and Shane English's handmade synths I believe). If you are as big of a dork as we are, you'll like this.
The Points | Unrestrained | Secret Bangs | Run Riot | Guilty Faces | TV Dads | ANS (715 Panhandle) Big show with a lot of nationally touring acts followed by a midnight projection screening of Wet Hot American Summer, which rules. The Points are a very solid garage punk group that you should check out for sure. ANS starts things off I believe, and the start time is 7pm sharp. OH, ANS rules.
ADD: Hotflash Party with Schwa | Genova | Killtronix (Fallout Lounge)
Titus Andronicus | Death is Not a Joyride | Tiger Moth (The Lounge) This is a free show that serves as a pre-opening party for the Lounge, a new Deep Ellum venture that has opened in the space that formerly housed the Darkside Lounge.
Dead Child | The Spectacle | Magnum Octopus (Rubber Gloves) Metal project from Slint's David Pajo... and I just can't dig it for some reason. I never liked Slint either, so go figure. I actually think Arlington's the Spectacle is a lot better.
Wax Museums | Teenage Cool Kids | Straight Paint (715 Panhandle) Tonight kicks off a four day mini festival at 715 Panhandle and 907 Denton st, which have become the most pleasant and reliable DIY venues in Denton over the past several months. This four day affair, called "Phat Camp," consists of a series of shows and events, and tonight's activities begin with a parade starting at 630 at 715 Panhandle (you can ride bikes, dress up, ride in the back of a truck or all 3, I suppose) followed by Wax Museum's tour kick off show, which should be great-- if you haven't ever seen Wax Museums or Teenage Cool Kids at Panhandle, you really should, because both bands are in their element any time they play there. Straight Paint is a drums/sax combo featuring members of Koji Kondo, and I believe tonight will be their first performance. Keep an eye on these two houses all weekend, as good stuff will be happening every night. We'll have more details on this for you tomorrow. And who knew that Payton from Wax Museums looked so much like Weird Al?
Sarah Jaffe CD Release Party with Thao and the Get Down Stay Down | Horse Feathers (Club Dada) There has been a lot of debate around here lately concerning the merits (or lack thereof) of Sarah Jaffe's music, and much of it has been misguided and downright silly. There's a shock, eh? First of all, the discussions concerning whether or not Jaffe is a "hot piece of tail" or whatever have been pretty ridiculous-- no, hot chicks succeeding just for being hot is NOT the totality of how the industry works, pal, at least not the sector of the industry that Sarah Jaffe would find success in, and that whole part of the discussion really isn't worth responding to beyond dismissing it as boring... which it is. The more interesting discussion concerns her music itself-- is Jaffe a "talented songwriter?" Sure, I suppose she is. Her music is certainly well crafted, intricate and tuneful, and her backing musicians are pretty solid in any traditional sense of the word. In fact, Jaffe's combo of confessional lyrics, a solid singing voice and competent playing sounds like a winning recipe for commercial success in the world of indie pop, and I wouldn't be surprised if she found such success outside of the DFW market. However, two things must be said: first, the number of other Sarah Jaffes scattered around the United States acquiring "buzz" in their respective towns has to be pretty large, doesn't it? There are a lot of intelligent female vocalists with solid backing bands who produce music very similar to Jaffe's, and at least thus far, nothing she has done really separates her from the pack. When you listen to her songs, you hear indie folk done well, but little else. Second, the potential for commercial success has nothing to do with the merit of the music in question, and despite the aforementioned strengths, Jaffe's initial output sounds extremely safe and marketable, taking hardly any risks musically, lyrically or otherwise. Not that everyone needs to "take risks" with their music, but "talent" is a lot more plentiful than most people care to admit, and it often isn't enough to be inspiring on any level other than a commercial one. Potential is an important quality when it comes to local music, and Jaffe certainly possesses it, but lets call this what it is-- relatively safe music for indie rockers to chill out to. Sarah Jaffe will open the show, so get there early if you want to see her. Portland's Horse Feathers plays similar string heavy folk stuff that sounds a bit more interesting.
Tonybones: A solo exhibition of new work (Public Trust) 7-9pm I think he hit on me once.
The Program (Conduit) 7pm This is week three of the five week video art series from the Video Association of Dallas. You can see this weeks schedule and upcoming screenings here.
Good and Gooder: Polly Perez and Erik Tosten (Mighty Fine Arts) 6-9pm
SUNDAY
The Program: Panel Discussion (DMA) 1:30pm It may be a little early in the morning for some of you, but this is definitely worth checking out. The lecture will feature screenings of films from Alfred Guzzetti, John Pylypchuk (he did the great hot dog videos from last week's Program), and Guy Ben-Ner.
Not really much going on tonight besides the usual Taxi Fare at Zubar, and The Scoop at The Fallout. The only other things really worth mentioning are that Cygnus is at The Cavern as part of the weekly Detour Series, and Weird Al is at Nokia. We should have considerably more for you in the coming days.
Black Cobra | Slough Feg | The High Cost Of Living | Children Of The Grave (Club Dada) Black Cobra is a metal duo that has been compared to Torche, are definitely better than their tour-mates The Sword, and get the usual write-up about how "all this noise is being made by only two people." Can we get over that already? Of course a lot of noise can made by two people, as anyone who has ever lived in a rough neighborhood can attest. Children Of The Grave is a Black Sabbath cover band fronted by a child, and I'm sure it rules live. The High Cost Of Living get extra credit for the Sandman reference.
Jay Reatard | Cheap Time | The Strange Boys (Club Dada) Jay Reatard is the current king of cartoonish garage punk, due to a decade's worth of hard work and relentlessly reinventing and refining his style through various groups. He has finally hit some significant pay dirt under his solo project and a series of seven inches leading up to a debut album for Matador Records. Even with a name like "Jay Reatard" and some truly boneheaded lyrics and titles, he always manages to avoid the truly annoying trappings of many lesser garage-o-philes. Speaking of another group that gets it right, why aren't Wax Museums playing this show?
Wealthy Whore Entertainment | Rival Gang | Swamps Of Sadness (Wisconsin) Wealthy Whore Entertainment is a bizarre mix of glam punk, decadent theatrical vocals, and...cello. Swamps Of Sadness is a distorted, poppy new duo I hadn't heard of before this show, and Rival Gang is as foul mouthed and confrontational as ever.
Let Down | Swamp Thing | Decades (House show: 8621 Tamar Trail in Fort Worth) Last minute house show for touring acts Let Down and Swamp Thing. Five dollar donation recommended.
Social Junk | Big Nurse | Voyant | Dirty Diamond | Wu Fru De Lu & Ruuu P. vs. Space Dragon Killah (907 Denton St.): Returning touring act Social Junk is a duo that has been compared to Savage Republic as well as The Dead C, though I certainly hear much more of the latter in their open rumbling, with various electronics and more traditional instruments creating a purposefully elusive atmosphere. Big Nurse has a simple enough setup consisting of drums, guitars, and sax, but create long-winded psyche noise passages of feedback and distortion. Voyant is a one man "anti-digital age" harsh noise project, while Dirty Diamond combines various local musicians behind the Denton legend known as Sloan, and if his show (and post show) antics are any indication, he could very well go down as one of the area's most anarchic front-men since Bobby Soxx. Dirty Diamond plays a sublimable mix of disco and metal, with the music shifting in and out of the sonic signposts of each genre, while manipulating their cliches. Wu Fru etc. still has the toughest name I've ever had to decipher in many days of writing.
Hands Up! with LA Riots and The Party (The Loft) Central Booking welcomes LA Riots to the Loft this evening. LA Riots seem to spin this sort of unclassifiable hipster driven twist on the often misunderstood concept of Balearic, which was originally understood as a complete disregard for genre constraints. They'll play everything from Weezer mash ups to Hot Chip remixes, with a heavy emphasis on pop.
The Smoke 5th Year Anniversary (Sons of Hermann Hall) The smoke Mod dance night has been around for five years, which is longer than any other monthly music event in Dallas I can think of. And seeing as how most people have trouble getting Dallas crowds to go out to one single event no matter what it is, you have to tip your hat to these guys. The music and DJs are great, even if the crowd can be a little, how should I put this, effete.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (Club Dada) Get ready everyone. Some people around town have predicted that this will be the night Deep Ellum comes back and returns to its former glory, all because a washed up group of has beens is playing an all acoustic set for $20 just a couple months after they played for free a few blocks away. I think my favorite part of Deep Ellum is the shithead parking lot owners who still position guys with flags in their lots to attempt to charge people $10 to park when 75% of all the meters on any given Deep Ellum street are open. As Jerry Seinfeld says, "good luck with alllll that."
Will Johnson | Chris Flemmons | Michael Hill (Dan's Silverleaf) I used to know this chick who had a crush on Will Johnson and often commented on the fact that she liked the way he rolled up his jeans. Apparently her boyfriend at the time started trying to roll up his jeans too in order to score some cool points, but she hated when he did it because, in her words, "it's only cute when Will Johnson does it." Is that weird?
Coheed and Cambria | Secret Machines | Russian Circles (House of Blues) If someone forces you to go to this show tonight, I have a little game you can play in order to pass the time: decide who is the bigger douche-- the afro guy from Coheed or those brothers from Secret Machines. I'm sure Coheed is a lot worse to hang out with, but Secret Machines bros are in the running because they actually think we respect them, you know? I used to think I liked that first Secret Machines album for a little while too, so I guess everyone makes mistakes.
Reverse X Rays | Farah | Disqo Disco(Swiss House) I'm glad Evan Horn realized how much Tommy Boy's outdoor set contributed to the proceedings at the last Swiss House party, because it was the best show I'd ever been to at that place by far. Lot's of other people seemed to agree with me too, because it was probably the most crowded and lively I've ever seen it over there. Should be another good one tonight with Disqo Disco spinning outside and Farah playing some of her new material inside (Check out "Sinned" on her myspace). Headlining the show is popular Austin DIY act Reverse X Rays, who might remind you of groups like Pere Ubu, Liquid Liquid, A Certain Ratio, and maybe a little of early Talking Heads and James Chance. Pretty good.
Phantastes | The Frenz | Florene | Darktown Strutters (Hailey's) The Frenz are playing the first of a handful of shows outside of Dallas, and this is a solid, diverse lineup of Denton's most challenging artists sharing the bill. Florene (in a split with Verulf) recently got knocked pretty hard in an online review, that was actually a pretty interesting read. Don't sweat it guys, those collective ego bruises build character, though in some cases they turn you into crying manchildren. Depends who you are. Um, either way, support local music!
Fight Bite | Nouns Group | Fake Blood (Good Records) I'm sure everyone knows about the two bigger groups playing this show by now, but I'll tell you that Fight Bite is celebrating their CD release, and stuff starts at 6 pm. I also hear very good things about Fake Blood (quite noisy from what I understand) but I haven't had the chance to listen myself.
Violent Messiah | Tolar (Traphouse, 4610 Bradshaw, Dallas) We don't know a lot about this show, other than the fact that Ft. Worth's Tolar plays sort of a strange mixture of grindcore and who knows how many different subgenres of metal. They're pretty good too. Hey, at least we gave you the address. Starts at 7pm, and rumors of keg(s) are spreading.
Yo... we're still recovering from the ridiculous Sally Glass going away party last night at Moosh, but our friends at Radio UTD have hooked us up with a pair of tickets for Ariel Pink's performance at Hailey's next Friday, August 8th, and we thought we'd share them with you. If you want to win them, email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com any time between now and Tuesday at Noon. You know the deal... Ariel Pink as the subject line and your full name in the body. I'm gonna go puke now, mkay?
