Tame...Tame And Quiet | Sweet Boys | Seth Sherman (The Lounge) Though tonight's show will definitely include music performances, it is also a photo exhibition for local artist and musician, Gavan Nelson, late of local group Heaven Is A Hotel and Las Vegas hardcore act, Curl Up And Die. Nelson's work is largely comprised of street imagery and stands out in the often-crowded realm of Dallas photography. He is no slouch as a bass player either and his music has been missed. Tame...Tame And Quiet and Seth Sherman round out this bill with tricky full-band indie prog and tricky solo folk prog, respectively. I don't who the Sweet Boys are, but I do know that this show will be sweet. And that a lot of boys will be there. (I hope.)
Detour featuring Blixaboy | Brent Bradford/Clinton Lynch (The Cavern)
Short Attention Span Theater (Rubber Gloves) Here's a good description of this event from SAST's Chad:
"I will be playing gross, inappropriate, mature, sexy, vile, drug fueled, violence ridden animation this week for Short Attention Span Theatre at Rubber Gloves. If you have never been to SAST before you have missed out! You watch shorts that I have collected over my years of geekdom, listen to music from same origin and DRINK A LOT! This time next week you are going to be stuck watching television yule logs burning while your mom hounds you about why you aren't married yet. So make the most of your holiday season and escape its noxious vice like grip around your soul and share some time with the ones who really love you.
Also if you had consignment CDs at Strawberry Fields I will have it up there that night and you can come get it! Its like an early Christmas!
There will also be a drawing for a free copy of denton Deluxe v. 4, makes a great stocking stuffer!"
(I know this is a little late today, but it's totally worth the wait, promise. Another edition of Not New Music Tuesdays from TC. Enjoy!--SR)
Pink Fairies - Kings of Oblivion (1973, Polydor)
Pink Fairies grew out of late '60s British weirdos The Deviants when their singer, Mick Farris, left the band and was replaced by ex-Pretty Things drummer Twink. After two records and an obscene amount of alcohol and drugs, Twink was out, replaced by guitarist Larry Wallis, who had just been kicked out of UFO for drinking too much. This was Wallis' only studio lp with the Pink Fairies, but his influence was overwhelming. In 1975 he befriended some guy named Lemmy and they started a band........
Paleo | The Heartstring Stranglers | Emily Stoker (1919 Hemphill) Paleo is a project from Brooklyn artist David Strackany, who made headlines in publications such as Paste, Magnet and USA Today back in 2006 when he began a year long project in which he recorded and released (for free) a new song each day for 365 days straight. Although this might come off as something of a cheap gimmick at first, those who actually listen to some of these songs will immediately recognize the guy's talents, particularly if said people are into songwriters like Destroyer, Devendra Banhart and Wooden Wand. Actually, Paleo's stuff is better that the first two artists I mentioned-- no overrated po-mo lyrics and a complete lack of cooky cutesy crap. Recommended.
Wheels on Fire | Silver Shampoo | Hoop Dreamz (818 Hickory St., Denton): Wheels on Fire are a solid power pop/punk band from Ohio that takes cues from the Kinks, 60's soul and various vintage garage groups, and they do it pretty well. I'd get there early though, as locals Silver Shampoo sound like they'll be the highlight with a minimal, lo-fi take on classic English punk and glam. Very good stuff.
Febrifuge (Lakewood Bar and Grill) Great band playing a show at a total bummer venue. Febrifuge is certainly worth checking out, though, so have some neighborhood pride, East Dallas, and head over to Lakewood Bar and Grill on one of the few nights that you'll actually have a reason to.
Out of all the new local bands I've heard this year, very few have struck a chord quicker than Fungi Girls, a Cleburne noise pop group that possesses musical taste and talent far beyond what is typical of their ages-- 14 and 15. Yes, you read that correctly. 14 and 15.
Of course, I realized that these guys were pretty young the first time I encountered their Myspace page, but I had no idea they were THIS young until I asked them a few questions for the first installment of a new feature, Local Q and A (something you'll be seeing here on a regular basis). If you head over to Fungi Girls' Myspace page and check out "Into the Cosmos" and "Crystal Roads," you'll realize just how surprising their ages really are-- the group's music calls to mind the Siltbreeze sound of bands like Psychedelic Horseshit, Times New Viking and U.S. Girls, as well as a bit of the shoegaze pop recently popularized (again) by Deerhunter, but they also pack their brief songs with a few charming touches of 90's slacker a la Dinosaur Jr., Yo La Tengo and Westing era Pavement (meaning Swell Maps by proxy), resulting in a batch of songs that are sloppy, noisy and chaotic while retaining a pleasant, poppy warmth that truly sets Fungi Girls apart from similar groups. We wanted to learn a bit more about how these dudes got to be so cool, and here is what they told us:
Could you give us some background info on the band? Names, ages, where you're from, etc.
I'm Skyler Salinas. 14. From Cleburne, Texas, although I grew up in California and Nevada half of my short life. My bandmate is Jacob Bruce. 15. Grew up in Cleburne, Texas all his life. Somehow, we've mastered the "art" of being able to play scene metal and terrible radio country songs, jokingly of course. This goes on a lot during practice. It'll even go on for hours if we feel like it.
Fungi Girls is a duo, right? I just wondered because I saw three people playing at the Muscle Beach show. If you guys are in fact a duo, what made you want to do it that way? Was it just necessity, as in you couldn't find anyone else you wanted to play with in your town, or was it a purposeful decision that less is more?
Yes, we're a duo. That third person was our ex-bassist, Barrett Green. We kicked him out due to some personal conflict between him and I, in addition to him starting to lack in dedication. After we kicked him out, we ended up being good friends again, but Jacob and I decided to stay a duo. Jacob and I are more so on the same page of what we want in our sound, and we both have nearly identical taste in music. Besides that, us two just work together much better as a two-piece.
How long have you guys been playing music? Did you play in any bands before Fungi Girls? If so, what were they like?
I've been playing music since I was 10 or 11, starting in school band. About a year after that, I started playing the drums in addition to that and it took off from there. Jacob has been playing music since he was 12 or 13, starting on guitar. I played in two bands before Fungi Girls, a punky math rock band called Lego Theory with my buddy Deryck, and then Jacob, Deryck, and I were in a improvisational noise rock band called Zooz. Neither bands played any shows nor were there any releases or anything.
Could you tell us a little bit about your songwriting process?
It usually starts with me coming up with a drum rhythm, then Jacob adds a guitar part to go along with it, we decide on the song structure, then afterwards add vocals. Very simple. Our songwriting process ends up being very slow, though, because we usually end up fucking around a lot.
Your recordings are very noisy and lo-fi and raw. Is this a stylistic or aesthetic choice, or is it just the result of recording a quick demo? Or to put it another way, are you recording the way you would if you had an actual "budget" to spend money at a studio?
It's both stylistic and aesthetic. We both love lo-fi recordings, whether they be from newer bands or older bands. We don't ever plan on changing that characteristic. But in addition to that, we are in fact on a budget. Neither of us are old enough to get jobs yet, so we have to bum money off of our parents. That's kind of out of the question if you're wanting studio time.
I enjoy pretty much every single band that you list on your influences section on your myspace page. Can you discuss some of your favorite bands and the ways that they might have inspired you to start a band and play the kind of music that you do?
Psychocandy-era Jesus And Mary Chain, Henry's Dress, Times New Viking, You're Living All Over Me-era Dinosaur Jr., and Psychedelic Horseshit are our probably our main influences. We both LOVE anything that could be considered noise pop. Whether it be melodic/harmonic noise or atonal noise and feedback, there's just something about blending noise with pop music that really gets us off.
I think its interesting that you list John Coltrane as an influence. Obviously you aren't playing jazz, but I wonder what kind of influence he has on you guys musically?
I was the one that listed him and Art Blakey as our influences, as they're more so mine. Jazz drumming really influences me and makes me strive to be the best drummer I can be. But yeah, obviously we're not doing anything complex or jazzy, but I try my hardest to incorporate small amounts of jazz drumming into our songs. Usually it's just little drum rolls that are barely noticeable. Besides that, though, Jacob and I just really appreciate the brilliant musicianship of jazz and hope to show good musicianship in our songs. Although we do love the newer, noisy pop bands like Psychedelic Horseshit and Times New Viking, sometimes we get agitated with their lack of good musicianship, especially the former.
It seems like you have a knack for writing pop songs and burying them underneath everything else you do musically. Do you aim to write catchy pop tunes, or does it just come out that way?
We definitely aim to write catchy pop tunes. As stated before, we're huge on noise pop, as well as just pure pop music like The Beach Boys or The Mamas and Papas.
Who are some of your favorite local groups? What do you think of the local scene in general?
Orange Coax, Silver Shampoo, Wax Museums, Scoff, and Landon's (from Muscle Beach) drone project Glazed Glitter. I personally don't think the local scene is all that great, but it is very homey and tight knit. More particularly the Denton scene that is associated with Muscle Beach, 715 Panhandle, Bunker Hill and the like. As for Dallas and Fort Worth bands, I really don't think there's much hope for either city at the current time. I haven't heard (of) any decent bands coming out of either city in a while.
Do you feel like there are really very many limitations to starting a band in a small town like Cleburne these days? It's not as if you have to travel far to find good music anymore, so other than obvious logistical concerns with playing shows, etc., is anything else holding you back there, culturally or otherwise?
No, not really. We get uhhh...persecuted occasionally, I guess, for being quite different than the mass amounts of rednecks, Abercrombie guys and girls, and scenesters around here. But, it doesn't bother us all that much. The only big downfall of living here is we don't really have any supporting people if we want to set up a show here. We have a small group of ten friends or so that supports us, but that's about it. The rest of the kids here are into shit like Lil' Wayne, Toby Keith, and Bring Me The Horizon.
Paleo | New Science Projects | Heartstring Stranglers (Fra House) Though the volume level will be much lower than the average Fra House show, the in-your-face antics of locals, The Heartstring Stranglers, and especially New Science Projects, will see to it that this event will still be intense. Depending on your view of artist and audience interaction, this style of folk will either be your performance art cup of tea, or the musical equivalent of a very intrusive waiter. Enjoy.
Last Men | Red Faced Laughter | Bad Sports | Attractive and Popular | Ginsu Wives (Majestic Dwelling of Doom, 731 Texas St., Denton) So you've known this venue as The Eighth Continent, Wisconsin, and now under this new mouthful of a moniker. The Red Faced Laughter will probably always remind me of SHQ's peak, when an unknown band from middle-of-nowhere Texas could come in to that welcoming little place and knock everyone out. There's a lot of talk about the seven-inch that RFL has completed with Last Men, who also split the bill. I'm hoping they actually have some for sale tonight. Attractive And Popular make the best case for themselves in the live setting, making this a solid bill all around.
Uptown Fridays with Select (Zubar) So we've known about Uptown Fridays with Select for a long time, but unfortunately, we've never really had the chance to make it out. However, Select sent us some info describing exactly what he does on Friday night, and we were pretty impressed. Here is some of what he said about Uptown Fridays--
"magine walking into a club...not any where in TX ...maybe like 10 years ago..maybe even later. Imagine the vibe with a dj playing dancehall from the 90's, classic house, hip house, new jack swing, and etc...with a little twist of now.... a mixture of a house night back in the 90's with the mixture of a house party. A night of solid grooves, classic disco sounds with emerging house music. Basically the night is about good times and good music."
Sounds good to me. Maybe there IS something to do in Dallas tonight.
The Polyphonic Spree Christmas Extravaganza (Granada) To quote Norm Macdonald, "Happy Birthday, Jesus. I hope you like crap." That doesn't necessarily apply to this show, but to Christmas shows in general. Christmas shows are the opposite of what rock shows should be. If you want to have a holiday theme, okay, whatever. But if you actually cover a Christmas song, well, you're just hopeless. Unless you cover "Nothing But The Best" by Frank Sinatra. I heard that at Nordstrom Rack the other day, and it's fucking hilarious.
SATURDAY
Fight Bite | Nouns Group | Eat Avery's Bones | ZZZ... (Chat Room) Nice to see Eat Avery's Bones on a bill again. This show is also the debut of Zzz..., a project featuring members of Yay! Telescopes, Boddicker, and Teenage Symphony. The band melds Gene Clark styled chime with bummed-out 80's underground sounds. Kill yourself.
Sarah Jaffe | Astronautalis | Boom Boom Box (Rubber Gloves) The PAperChase canceled and was replaced with Astronautilus. I had a joke about the Spawn soundtrack to make here, but I'll spare you.
Crystal Method (Lizard Lounge) One time I was at my friend's house and his redneck dad was walking around looking for something. All of a sudden, we hear him scream "Damn it!" and we're all "what's wrong?" The guy turns to us and says "I can't find my goddamn techno CDs, damn it," and we started laughing and making fun of him. Eventually, he found his Crystal Method CD and went on his merry way to Arby's. The End.
Ice Cube | Trick Trick | Awkquarius (The Door) If you go to this show, you might be able to catch AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted sippin on a smart drink with a guidance counselor in the back near the "bar." And for a mere $40, how can you NOT go?
SUNDAY
PVC Street Gang | Cocky Americans | Teenage Cool Kids | Florene | Top Secret Robot Alliance/The Teeners (the Lounge, 3PM) Obviously, White Denim canceled, which is a drag, because I'm sure the next time you can see them it will be at a much larger, less intimate venue.
Josh Fletcher: A Retrospective of Illustrative Influences (Brooke Berman Gallery),6-10 pm The final exhibition at Brooke Berman, before they close their doors for good.
The Gift Show (F6), 7-11 pm One night only holiday show.
Margaret Meehan: On Sugar Mountain. Up Shit Creek (Road Agent), 6-8 pm
On Solid Ground (Public Trust), 6-9 pm Kevin Bell, Colin Chillag, Christi Haupt, and Steven Larson
Akkolyte | Darktown Strutters | Lychgate | Hawk vs. Dove (Rubber Gloves) Quite an impressive all local line up tonight at Rubber Gloves. I don't think I've ever had a conversation with anyone who's heard Akkolyte's grindcore perfection that didn't involve said person describing the band using some variation of the phrase "fucking awesome," and I always agree with them, because let's face it-- Akkolyte is one of the most powerful live bands in the area. Maybe THE most. Furthermore, I've pretty much experienced the same phenomenon as applied to Lychgate-- everyone I know raves about their "grim electronics," and again, I have to agree. The group features House of Tinnitus' Rob Buttrum, and their sounds is pure brutality at a level that many of the best Texas harsh noise acts don't ever reach. Truly outstanding. You can also check out three new excellent Darktown Strutters songs recently posted on their Myspace page, and be sure to sample the excellent, Sleep-esque stoner sludge of Dallas' Hawk vs. Dove. Quite good. This kind of quality on an all local bill is rare people, so go totally support your local scene brah.
Nobunny | Uptown Bums | Rival Gang (Bunker Hill) Tucson's Nobunny comes through town with some fairly classic influences to peddle, most notably the New York Dolls, Ramones and T. Rex. Their stuff is quite catchy, and although they certainly aren't doing anything new with this all American, anthem heavy punk rock, most of it works quite well. Should be a solid party tonight.
Eugene Chadbourne | Dennis Gonzalez Yells At Eels | Tid-bits Double Trio | DJ Wanz Dover (The Lounge) First, I want to let you know that the new Dennis Gonzalez album, "Renegade Spirits" is now available to order online, and at Yells At Eels and Akkolyte shows. Featuring the Gonzalez brothers on rhythm section duties, as well as Tim Green on sax and Famoudou Don Moye on percussion, you can order a copy here.
Eugene Chadbourne is one of those great, geeky figures in music that seem to be less and less commonplace: A category-defying virtuoso that has never turned his nose up at playing with a wide variety of people with less chops than he has, the results usually being far more interesting than what either party would attempt alone. Out of every artist on an oft-mentioned resume, the most impressive by far must be The Legendary Stardust Cowboy. A lot has been made of how weird he is, but Chadbourne's recent music is a little more straight-forward than some of his past work and collaborations, so those fearing a full-out free jazz/noise freakout probably shouldn't worry.
Art Show: "A Semester's Weight In Paper" and music by Doyen | Eyes And Ears | Magnets (Rubber Gloves) Gutterth sponsored event with prints and buttons for sale, as well as "live screen-printing." Dirty. Artists include Justin Jones, Mark Raymer, Adam Palmer, Julie Anderson, and many more.
Milwaukee-based painter Peter Barrickman is on his way to Dallas for an opening of his paintings this weekend at And/Or Gallery. He was kind enough to sit down with WeShotJr this week for some bone-crushing art opinions.
Richardson Heights: The press release for your upcoming show says that you're presenting "a series of paintings where both the laws of physics and conventional painting have been reinvented". How so?
Peter Barrickman: To be honest I never made this claim about my work because I'm not doing any reinventing. I'm more into repeating things. Somebody may have said that to just try and get a bunch of people to show up for the opening. Although maybe Petra [Cortright]'s reinventing stuff with physics. She probably is...
RH: What is your studio situation like?
PB: Up until about a month ago I was working in an attic across the street from a bowling alley. On warm nights I could listen to the pins lazily tipping over. Then one day the landlord decided to install a new heating system exactly where I was working so I had to abandon the space. Nowadays I'm working at my apartment on a desk. It reminds me of making art projects for high school. I'm making 'visual aids'. I'll probably move into a new studio in a month or so.
RH: Please describe an unusual or unique studio process you currently use or have used in the past.
PB: OK, In Laziness-Flavored Refusal I obstruct a practical urge with what I simply feel like doing. So I forget that I'm trying to do anything and just fumble into what I feel like doing. Then I put away what I felt like doing when it's done. When I pull it out in a year it effortlessly serves a logical end....as if I couldn't have focused my intentions any better than I did by ignoring them. This game is all an afterthought. I never set out to trick myself too much but it comes up all of the time.
RH: How do you know when you're finished with a painting?
When I feel like I'm wasting time I stop. This is usually not a negative feeling. It becomes apparent when an authentic minute has jumped onto something else.
RH: How would you describe the art scene where you live?
PB: Storefront performance spaces, a few good bands, craft movement, filmmakers shooting stuff in the snow, nice galleries, shoddy galleries, shoddy bass playing... The art scene in Milwaukee is small, open and interconnected. There are a number of channels through which one could enter it. If these channels were caves or subterranean passages then the most traveled, best lit and cleanest ones (carpet, muzak, etc) would be those called Film, Video and Performance.
RH: What do you bring to the world of contemporary art that no other artist does?
PB: I don't think there is a world of contemporary art... it isn't that clear to me. And again, I don't think I'm doing anything in a very new way. I think that craftsmanship in the arts is overrated.
RH: Please describe a favorite piece of art in your personal collection.
PB: Well, I borrowed some swimwear from a friend of mine in India. It's just these batiked trunks with a sort of Marlboro cigarette logo [image above]. I put a beautiful shell in the pocket when I was in Puerto Rico and the zipper's been stuck shut ever since. I can feel the shell in there and I kinda remember what color it is but I'll probably never see it again. Finally one day I spilled coffee on the bottom part of the shorts and now I can never wear them again as it would appear that I had completely crapped. For some reason I treasure these shorts but also I wish I could just throw them in the garbage...
Mr. Barrickman's art wares will be on display starting this Saturday at And/Or Gallery along with art by Petra Cortright. Opening reception December 13 from 6-9 PM including a screening of the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. The show will run through January 17. Image courtesy of Pater Barrickman.
Well, Lo-Fi Chorus is playing at Dan's Silver Leaf, and I remember them being generally well-liked from the "Denton Band Kits" days. By the way, the Shiny Around The Edges Bakesale show at Dan's last weekend was not only good, it was also a little frightening. I thought that a riot would erupt at any moment towards the end there. But, it did raise $490 for the Denton Community Center. Sometimes, to make an omelette, you've got to break a few eggs. Unless you're a vegan, in which case you have to make some strange-tasting desserts and make everyone eat them.
PS- I just found out that Tommyboy will be at Disqo Disco tonight, so that should be really good.
Tonight is the first "90's Night" at Hailey's.
I was just joking about the vegan desserts. Spiral Diner's brownies are just about the greatest I've ever had.
(Another presentation from TC, who will have a separate log- in soon, I swear.--SR)
Pere Ubu - The Hearpen Singles
As far as I'm concerned, "30 Seconds Over Tokyo b/w Heart of Darkness" is the most riveting debut single by any band that I've ever heard. Shit just didn't sound like that in 1975. I could expound on the details of their greatness forever, but I once saw a copy of the "Final Solution" 45 on ebay that was (allegedly) autographed by late guitarist Peter Laughner and the inscription read something along the lines of: "We do it, others just talk- Peter Laughner." That kinda sums them up for me...
Anyway, these are their first 4 singles, released on Hearpen records, a label the band started themselves. 1975-1978. Enjoy!
30 Seconds Over Tokyo -link Heart of Darkness - link
Hey guys, we're having a little trouble with Blogger today, but here's what we got:
Peter and the Wolf | The Days Are Night | Daniel Folmer (the Cavern) The story on Peter and the Wolf is kind of a strange one, but if you know anything about keepin' Austin totally weird, then I guess it makes sense. Red Hunter, the man behind the name, arrived in Austin almost three years ago and started playing around with a group of musicians that called themselves the Tonewheel Collective. This group included members of Sound Team and Voxtrot among others (although I haven't really been able to determine exactly how this was a "collective"), and after a while, Hunter ventured out to record his debut record, which included guest vocals from Austinite Dana Falconberry. Anyway, Hunter's stuff certainly has a 70's AM gold slash 60's folk pop feel to it, and most of it is actually quite strong, even if the prospect of hearing some Austin dude sing indie folk tunes sounds like kind of a bummer. Trust me, I'd be the first to tell you if it was. Looks like the Cavern might be a good place to go tonight, and if you don't want to pay cover, try Cool Out upstairs.
