Tapes N Tapes | Wild Light | Les Americans (Club Dada) I believe there was a time when Tapes N Tapes would have to play a bigger venue when they'd come through town, but that's how things go in the current cannibalistic world of the blog/indie/record industry; a sinking ship where one day you're all the rage with the stay-at-home journalists, only to wakeup and find you can't even get a lousy Myspace message returned. Don't sweat it, dudes. We're all in this together!
The Hex Dispensers | Fungi Girls | Occult Detective Club | Bad Sports (Bunker Hill, 2614 N. Elm St., Denton) The Hex Dispensers are an Austin garage rock band that sound like a less-quirky version of The Spits. Their sped-up, dumbed-down version of paranoid Waver classic "Down In The Park" is definitely fun. Somehow missed Fungi Girls last weekend even though I went to the show, as I forgot that some venues actually operate in a timely fashion. Better luck this time.
Mount Righteous | Drug Mountain | Fishboy | Mr. Troll (Rubber Gloves) Hats off to whoever added Mr. Troll to this show. I hadn't heard any of this man's music until today, and was surprised at the plain, unaffected vocal delivery improbably emanating from behind this snow-white beard and sunglasses. I hear a lot of singers on a weekly basis, and it's a rare occurrence when I actually stop what I'm doing and sit thinking to myself, "That's it. That guy's definitely not faking or trying to shove some forced sentimentality or sensitivity down my throat. Finally." Some of his arrangements also have a nice torch singer quality that you rarely hear from today's song-writer. A very good addition to an already healthily diverse lineup.
Los Campesinos | Titus Andronicus (Club Dada) Los Campesinos sometimes sound like the Wedding Present after they signed to Island, only that band managed to retain some of their charm whereas this group might not have any to lose. Sounds pretty harsh, but you could do a lot worse than to be compared to The Wedding Present. Extra points for making their accents so prominent.
Titus Andronicus is the kind of group you're just ready to despise after reading over some gushing press blurbs (Cobain and GBV comparisons?), but they redeem themselves by coming off as a pretty believable take on the kind of impassioned blue-collar rock that The Reigning Sound, The Replacements, and The Rock*A*Teens made famous, if not in sound then at least in effort.
Lewd Acts | Scumrush | Dark Forces | Trifle Tower (Exploding House) California's Lewd Acts are a surprisingly harsh and instrumentally impressive new school hardcore scream group that sounds sure to put on the kind of live show that you'd like to see at Exploding House, even if they aren't exactly "your thing." The rest of the line up, all local, follow suit. And props to Dark Forces for one of the most goofily cool logos I've seen in a while (pictured to the right).
Doug Burr | Daniel Folmer | Burntsienna Trio | Glen Farris (Hydrant Cafe, Denton) Daniel Folmer, the Dallas Observer's favorite indie "songwriter," has a new full length record coming out, as does the widely acclaimed Doug Burr (who received a set of solid reviews from respected publications for his last release), and both will be hosting this joint CD release tonight at a place in Denton I've never heard of. I'm guessing CDs will be available for purchaes if you're into that sort of thing.
Musee Mecanique | C. Johnson from Telegraph Canyon (The Chat Room) Free show featuring the cinema obsessed, pillow-soft sounds of Portland's Musee Mecanique.
Lost Generation with Wanz Dover plus Farah | Slackbeat (The Lounge) Wanz has a new strategy for Lost Generation where he is going to start hosting different guest live acts and DJ's along with his own sets. He has some pretty interesting lineups scheduled with acts such as Big Elf, Rooftop Vigilantes, and local record collector and ex-Robo-Gnostic member, Jason Cohen. He also used to run Forbidden Books, and according to my dealer at one of my favorite hidden-gem record shops, he was just a few hours ahead of me on a recent record-shopping excursion in middle-of-nowhere, Llano, TX, one day after New Year's. Definitely a coincidence but, man, I hate competing with fellow North Texans in my sweet spots.
Tonight's show is a great start to Lost Gen's new set-up with the always great Farah, and Denton's Slackbeat, an unpredictable mix of acoustic instruments, turntable clicks, noise, and other random surprises. They rarely play in Dallas so definitely make it out.
Movie Premier: Macaframa at Angelika Film Center (Dallas) I know a lot of people have been excited about this movie focusing on the world of fixed gear and track biking. Film at 7:30.
Faust - So Far (1972, Polydor) I'll start off by saying that the opening song on this album, 'It's a Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl,' is one of the best opening songs ever. Put it up there with Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia," AC/DC's "Highway to Hell," the Stones' 'Rocks Off," or Budgie's "Breadfan." Damn, I may make a compilation of best first songs on records...
Faust actually got their start as an experiment conducted by german producer Uwe Nettelback for Polydor Records. He hand-picked the musicians, built a studio and started rolling tape. Never satisfied with conventional rock, Nettelback and Faust constantly pushed themselves to be innovative in both their recording and songwriting techniques. Nettelback once said of the group "The idea was not to copy anything going on in the Anglo-Saxon rock scene – and it worked..."
'So Far' was their second and final release for Polydor, who were kinda pissed that they refused to make any commercially viable music. Nettelback then signed the group with an upstart British label, Virgin Records, where their debut (the Faust Tapes) sold over 100,000 copies (at a price of only 49p!) in just a few weeks in the UK. The group also recorded the critically acclaimed 'Faust IV' for Virgin before calling it quits in 1976. They did get back together in the mid 90s and have toured and released several albums since then, including one in 2007 with Nurse with Wound.
Before we get started, I want to point out how great these two covers are for the upcoming 7-inch releases from Teenage Cool Kids. They are watercolors, beautifully painted by TCK member, Andrew Savage. The first one, "Speaking In Tongues," is available for pre-order here, at Copper Lung Records. All pre-orders come with a free T-shirt. The second record, "Poison Sermons," will be available soon through Michigan-based Leroy St. Records.
Disqo Disco (Fallout Lounge) Special guest tonight is DJ Teenage Wolf, founding member of The Culnsweet Collective that regularly throws parties in Austin and Mexico, and I can only imagine what a party in Monterrey is like, but according to the DJ, it sounds like an experience. Teenage Wolf also helps run the highly trafficked Tejano Bounce blog and more info available in this Central Booking interview.
Aside from the Cool Out and Paul Slavens at Dan's Silverleaf, nothing much seems to be going on tonight, which is good because it's supposed to ice over (95% of native Texans will cry and refuse to go anywhere). Luckily for you, we'll get to spend this evening working on features, and you might even see one posted later on, so hold your breath until it's up!
FRI: Tapes N Tapes/Wild Lights/I Love Math (Club Dada) FRI: The Party (Zubar) FRI: Broken Social Scene/Lymbyc System (House of Blues) SAT: The Hex Dispensers/Fungi Girls/Occult Detective Club (Bunker Hill, 2614 N. Elm St., Denton) SAT: Mount Righteous/Drug Mountain/Fishboy/Mr. Troll (Rubber Gloves) SAT: Los Campesinos/Titus Andronicus (Club Dada)
First of all, swing by this Vice post that links to a blog started by a rather sleazy associate of We Shot JR, and while you're there please feel free to have a few laughs at the parade of douches you'll find and the captions below their pics. Even though this is NOT a local blog, you might even recognize a couple of them! We can't reveal her identity, but that makes it more fun, you know? Now for shows, hos (and sorry we're late and short today, but without our jobs, we couldn't pay to go to all these shows and cover them for you, you know? Oh wait, we never pay to get into anything. sowwy)
FRIDAY
Fungi Girls | Electric Vengeance | Scoff (Cleburne Skate Center) I know you probably aren't going to drive to Cleburne for this, but considering that Fungi Girls have received more national press than any other local band so far in 2009, we had to put this up here, right? Apparently these dudes got played yesterday afternoon on XM satellite radio, which is just the latest in crazy things that have happened to them over the past couple weeks. Anyway, if you're interested, Fungi Girls go on at 715 PM apparently.
Akkolyte | Vorvadoss | Fighting Change | Scumrush | Enemies of Inertia | Blood OV (Reno's) Pretty brutal show at a pretty brutal venue. In the first instance, brutal means fierce, harsh and fun. In the second, it means "Why am I in Deep Ellum on a weekend night? Get me the fuck away from this rockabilly convention." JK guys, Akkolyte and Vorvadoss are worth braving most shitty crowds in order to see.
Matthew and the Arrogrant Sea | RTB2 | The Beaten Sea (1207 Annex Ave., Dallas) Now that Swiss House is more or less gone, Dallas pretty much has a total of zero regular locations for house shows. Maybe this could end up being the first.
Some Jerk Off | Orange Coax | Geistheistler (Majestic Dwelling of Doom) You know what the best part about being me is? I can tell you that two really great bands are playing at Majestic Dwelling of Doom on Sunday, and then I can just ignore the other crap that may or may not be occuring at the same place around the same time. Way to go Potato, your publicity scheme worked like a charm!
KRS One (Minc) Co founder of the legendary Boogie Down Productions and one of the most respected political voices in hip hop, KRS-One will be dropping by Minc Lounge in Dallas tonight on his Stop the Violence tour. We don't have a lot of other information on the gig other than that since promotion for it has been rather, uh, light to say the least, which is a shame considering what a legend KRS One really is.... but it's Dallas, so no one is surprised.
John Legend | Vaughn Anthony (Nokia) The least annoying adult contemporary R&B singer of the decade. The Central Booking crew will be hosting an after party for the show at Aura Lounge on McKinney, and you can RSVP here if you want to. Warning: possiblity of the place being a bottle service douche hole joint appears quite high based on the website. Apparently you have to "call for reservations" if you want to hang out with these Dallas "vips." Ha. If you're a big John Legend person, however, get excited and shit because he WILL be there.
The English Beat | Bad Manners | Eleven Fingered Charlie (Granada) The Beat has toured with David Bowie, The Clash, Talking Heads, The Police, and the Specials, meaning that if Jeff Liles were in charge of the world, they would probably be considered the best band in the universe by decree. I mean, they make a living as musicians and you don't, right? In real life, however, they're just a solid ska band that began to adequately explore westernized African pop music later in the career with a good deal of success. Honestly, if you had to go listen to an old English Ska revival band from the 70's, they're certainly the least offensive of the bunch other than the Specials, and they're often better than them too. Really, the aforementioned list of touring partners is a pretty great indicator of what they sound like--- often more Police and Talking Heads than Reel Big Fish or whatever the fuck you're thinking, it's probably unfair to even refer to them as a ska band since they rarely ever sound like one. I've been listening to their greatest hits for the past half hour and I've decided that I like it. Ok? It couldn't possibly be ska, right?
THURSDAY Erik Lee Thompson: Black Jesus & Others (Magnolia)7-10pm Closing tonight
SATURDAY Show # 21: Protagonist (And/Or) 6-9 pm Including artists Kara Hearn, Jonn Herschend, Wendy Red Star, Alex Clausen, Victor Offen, Raymond Uhlir, and Susan O'Malley- check out RH's piece below.
Inaugural 09 (Barry Whistler) 6-8 pm An inaugural celebration show! Inlcudes artists Kirsten Macy, John Pomara, Lorraine Tady, Allison V. Smith, Andrea Rosenberg, John Wilcox, Michael Miller, and Leslie Wilkes.
Judith Lea Perkins: Empire of Belief (Kettle Art) 7-10 pm A show from one of the original founders of Kettle Art.
Christopher Blay: Microaudiotellarevolution (Gallery 414) 6-9 pm
Susan O'Malley is an artist based in San Jose with a piece in the next show at And/Or Gallery, opening this weekend. She sat down to express some hard-hitting art opinions for this week's Greatness.
Richardson Heights: What do you do all day?
Susan O'Malley: I am the Assistant Curator at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, a mid-sized non-profit organization. Day-to-day I am usually doing things related to our exhibitions and programs: scribbling on post-it notes, making to-do lists, calling and emailing, writing, meeting with artists, reading and looking on the internet.
RH: What is your favorite basic shape and why?
SO'M: A circle of course! Because they are so cute!
RH: So, then, what is it, more or less, that you're trying to do as an artist?
SO'M: It often depends from project-to-project. Generally I hope that the work shifts the weirdness of our everyday lives into something more poetic. Lately, I've really been into making inspirational buttons and posters.
RH: You've taken the idea of "artist in residence" a step further by using your own neighborhood as a canvas, kind of Andy Goldsworthy style. How did you develop this idea?
SO'M: I love that framing things as art gives permission to do things that I may otherwise not do (but really want to). I wanted to do a project with people's front lawns in suburban San Jose but I also didn't want to invade their spaces. Distributing flyers in the neighborhood to announce my residency allowed people to opt-out if they were not interested. It also gave me the confidence to do what I wanted to do in their yards. I was really hoping that if neighbors saw something out-of-the-ordinary on their block they would wonder if it was art (whether or not it was something I did).
RH: Could you describe your latest Pep Talk Squad event?
SO'M: Since Christina Amini (my Pep Talk Squad collaborator) and I have not given official pep talks for some time (with the typewriter, jackets, buttons and brochures) we like to think of ourselves as undercover pep-talkers, providing encouragement and pep wherever we happen to be. We both work in office-type situations, a landscape always in need of some pep.
RH: Do you have an actual studio, or are you more of a movable artist?
SO'M: No official studio, I'm movable.
RH: Can you tell us a bit about how you created the piece you've got in the show at And/Or this weekend?
SO'M: Yes! This is a project I did with another Bay Area artist, Alex Clausen, about an eccentric and inspiring bike shop owner named Alexander LaRiviere. LaRiviere has rented a crooked Victorian bike shop in downtown San Jose for the past 30 years and the future of his business and home is uncertain. In spite of all of his obstacles, his belief in the bicycle keeps him going. There will be a short video and images at And/Or about him. We really hope you like it.
O'Malley's and Clausen's video Desire To Fly will be at And/Or Gallery through February 28th. The opening reception for the whole show is this Saturday, January 24th, from 6-9PM. Images courtesy of Susan O'Malley.
Man, I almost forgot to do the It List. I hate it when that happens. I even got text messages about it. Anyways, just have a couple of weeklies to report:
Detour with Slider Pines | Ishi (The Cavern) Featuring artwork by tattoo artists, Chandler Foley, Sam Yamini, and Josh Williams.
While I'm still thinking about it: The terrorist, I mean, blogger chatter is really picking up over South By Southwest. I get new emails about it everyday. What do you guys think? Looking forward to it? Do you even give a shit? Please let us know.
Here is another installment of Blog Swap, a monthly feature in which we exchange articles with two other great Texas music blogs, Austinsound and Skyline. This month, Austinsound sent us the following interview with Lions, and we'll be sending one of our pieces to Skyline. Anyway, check it out:
Last month, the Lions rereleased their 2007 onslaught, No Generation. We took the opportunity to speak with head Lion Matt Drenik about their success in 2008, which included opening tours with the Toadies, signing with management firm Uppercut, and getting songs placed in everything from the TV shows "Californication" and "Sons of Anarchy" to "Guitar Hero." Latter in January the quartet, which now features brand new bass player Mike Sellman, will head to LA to record their next album with Matt Hyde, and are planning to finally hit a European tour in the Spring.
Austin Sound: Did you guys just get back from doing a European tour?
Matt Drenik: No, we just signed with a European agency group called Helter Skelter, and they kept trying to get us to go over there but every tour that was coming up, there was always something conflicting over here. So we're kind of here until we finish the new record.
AS: But y'all are planning on heading over there in the Spring, right?
MD: Yeah. Pretty much we're on call at this point. Whenever it comes up, they're going to bring us over to London right away. Which is cool; I've never been over there. I have no idea what to expect.
AS: How did the deal with Helter Skelter come about?
MD: Well, as I recall, we were in New York City and we belonged to a local agency at the time. We played in Brooklyn and a bunch of labels came out to see us, and one of them was Columbia. Columbia was pretty hot the band for a while, and the A&R rep that was kind of scouting us was friends with the guy that owns Helter Skelter, so he kind of turned him on to us.
AS: Are there any labels interested now?
MD: Well, first there was the Road Runner thing and that kind of fell apart, but as of right now, no. But we're also not really that interested in doing anything right now. It's a bad time to do something, especially with a big label. We've got these friends that were on Warner Brothers for a couple of years, and now they're on Reprise, and their record hasn't even come out yet. We're nervous about shit like that happening.
AS: You guys have had a lot of success in getting your songs placed on TV and in video games, so I was just wondering y'all's take on if licensing was a big part of the new musical economy.
MD: I do. I think it's one of the only ways that you can actually make money, besides playing live. The main thing about TV is it's so diverse. The "Sons of Anarchy" thing came up, and that is such a niche program about a motorcycle gang, that our music kind of fit well with it. I think for us, it gives us a lot of exposure, and for them, they get to kind of try out new bands that either production guys or musical directors like, and that's how we got hooked up with a lot of that stuff, the music directors would come out and see our band.
AS: As some advice for other bands, how do you recommend getting those deals and getting the directors out?
MD: Get a manager. We signed with a guy named Steve Hutton [of Uppercut Management] over SXSW. We already had a manager in New York at the time that was doing a lot of day to day stuff, and then once Steve kind of came on board, he had a huge roster at the time and we were kind of his baby band. I mean, he was Kid Rock's old manager. But he's managed a lot bands before, big bands and indie bands, and he's gotten us a lot of things. "Sons of Anarchy" actually contacted us about doing the theme song for the show, so we took a shot at it and didn't get it. I mean, we were doing it, but then all of the sudden they were calling us up and said "You know, Slash wants to do a version. What would you guys say about playing with Slash?" So for that two hour period, at least, we thought we were going to play a track with Slash, but then they were like "Slash doesn't want to do it. You guys aren't big enough." [Laughs] Whatever.
AS: Do y'all have a lot of control or say over what your songs get used in?
MD: We get final say on everything. If a show wants to license it, they come to us and we approve. Now, however they want to do it in the show, we don't get any approval over that. Like "Californication" used one of our songs during some blowjob scene. It works I guess. I haven't seen it yet.
AS: Do you think that in the music industry, more of the emphasis and control is tilting towards managers and figures like that?
MD: What's really weird is that all of the sudden there are these 360 deals that have been going on, and to me it's a total conflict of interests. You want your manager to fight for you. Your manager's supposed to go out there and if they offer you 2 grand, he's supposed to go, "No, 4 grand." That's his role, to just kind of be the dog. These 360 deals totally take that out, because the manager is working for the label and what's the incentive? They're basically just taking cuts out of everything, and a lot of labels are kind of going in that route. So some labels won't even touch us because we already have a management team. I think that having a good manager is as strong as anything else. You don't need a major label to get placement in television shows if your songs are good enough, or to put on a great tour. We've been touring over the past year without label support and selling everything out of our van. I don't know, if your band is good, people will probably pick up on it.
AS: Well, we hope anyway. Tell me about the re-release of No Generation. What's new with it, and why are y'all re-releasing it?
MD: Well, we knew that we were going to go in and do a new record with Matt Hyde in January, and the record had come out in October of last year and we didn't really do much with it in the sense that it was kind of getting shopped around. When we lost the deal with Road Runner, we kind of didn't know what to do with it and waited till SXSW. Then we signed the management contract, and then the UK thing happened, and then the "Guitar Hero" thing happened, and by the time everything started happening, we really hadn't done anything with the record. We thought that that there were some good things about it and some good songs, but nobody had really heard it. So we got a pretty big national PR team behind it to do the re-release. There's new artwork, and we have a new member in the band.
AS: Mike Sellman, right?
MD: Yeah, Mike. He's awesome. Basically we had a pretty bad break up with our old bass player, but it was all for the best. But we wanted to keep the band rolling full steam, and we called up our friend from Kansas City to do this Toadies run on the west coast with us. And then Mike called us up and he was a guy that I had known for a little while. He's from Cleveland and I'm from Cincinnati. He had read that we had lost a bass player and he wanted to come down and join the band, full steam! He had seen one of our songs on some show, and said, "Dude, I want to join your band right now." And he nailed the audition, so we gave him the gig. So he went up to Cleveland, packed up a U-Haul and put his motorcycle in it and he's on his way right now. It wasn't the ideal time to do what we did, what with writing the new record, but sometimes things happen and you just got to roll with it. He sings too, he's a great singer, so he'll be doing a lot of back up vocals and adding a lot more to the band than we thought.
AS: What can you tell me about the new record? When are y'all heading out to LA?
MD: We're heading out there in January, leaving on the 26th and are out there until the first week in March. We were playing the Roxy with the Toadies and we had a great show, the turnout was excellent. So Matt Hyde comes up to me back stage and says "Hey, I love your band. Come in the studio and let's do a track!" So we went to the studio on Sunset Boulevard, and it totally worked out. I mean, that guy's got a Grammy on his console! That's fucking crazy!
AS:: What would y'all say y'all are trying to do with this record?
MD: It's definitely more song oriented. We've been writing a lot quieter, if that makes sense. And then we turn it up loud. So in essence, it feels a little bit more structured and balanced than the other one. I don't know, probably like growing up a little bit, getting out of southside Trophy's hangouts, and move up a little bit. But [Hyde's] going to give a big production type sound. He's done some pretty cool shit, so I imagine it's going to be pretty pumpin'.
AS: About No Generation, to me that album really felt like a kind of call against a generational apathy or malaise.
MD: Yes! That's exactly what it's meant to be and nobody got that. It's always been disheartening to me when I would like pick up a review and somebody would talk about it being like KISS or some dumb Seventies rock thing. I really felt that all of us, in a conscious effort, were trying to speak something a little more loudly than "I want to rock and roll all night, party everyday." We're not like that, really, as guys. We're pretty mellow dudes. We get up and go to work and watch MSNBC. I'm not like sitting there partying at strip clubs or something.
AS: So with the election, do you feel like there was that kind of awakening, especially among younger people?
MD: Yeah, it was great to see a candidate come out and offer something to kind of believe in. It felt nice to kind of wake up and watch a magnificent orator inspire people to do something better. In the end, they all seem kind of the same, but that's just how it kind of works.
AS: Well with that change, is there still that kind of urgency or edge to your songwriting?
MD: Well, I think once you say something once, you don't really need to say it again. I'm kind of into that philosophy. So we said what we wanted to say, and the record was more that we felt left behind. When the Road Runner thing happened and it took two years for that to kind of play out, there were these bands that came up and all of the sudden it was like I was too old to be in the bands that were coming up. I don't know, it felt like there was this kind of generation of music that got left behind, that was like, "Where are the bands that are speaking for me?" At the time, I think a lot of bands were referencing stuff like the Stones, and our influences were like Jane's Addiction and bands we grew up listening too, and I felt that that kind of voice in music got lost a little bit. First the emo thing came about and then the modern rock radio agenda with squashed guitars and really bad vocals.
But I like pretty much everything, and I kind of have to because I book a club, and I've watched a lot of these great bands grow up. Like Trophy's was the first club to have the Black Angels, and White Denim, that was their first gig. So in that sense, I really just like to see bands be happy doing something that they really dig. But there are also some other bands that kind of just ride coat tails a little bit and don't really have a vision of their own.
Lots of inaugural parties, etc. to go to this evening, and really, that's probably what you SHOULD be doing tonight, if for no other reason than to celebrate the end of the most incompetent presidency in American history. Looks like there is a pretty good one at Hailey's tonight if you want to stop by... other than that, not much going on. Check here for stuff.
