Daniel Francis Doyle | Drug Mountain | Stoned Men/Geistheistler (1919 Hemphill) This is where I would be tonight if I still lived there-- we're also quite happy about the fact that our first pressing of Daniel Francis Doyle's record SOLD OUT a couple months back. Selling out is the new buying in.
Don't Look in the Basement (J&Js) The first in what the organizers (Shane English and Jonah Lange) hope will be a regular film screening event, tonight's spaghetti horror double feature will include the films Opera and Stage Fright.
Reiko Kudo - Rice Field Silently Riping In The Night (2001)
Reiko Kudo has been hovering around the Japanese underground music scene since the late 70s in various bizzaro music cults that have been so prevalent over there. I believe some of her best and certainly most accessible work has been recorded solo including this her second album from 2001. The will be a refreshing listen for those of you looking for some sparser, might I even say gentler music that does not get hung up on wimpy sentimentality. Rice Field Silently Riping In The Night takes the same approach to dissonant art pop that John Cale did on his equally bleak Music For a New Society. The album has a sparse and simple sound, the whole thing might have been recorded with one microphone plugged into a karaoke machine. The hypnotic repetition of rapping piano keys is Kudo's choice to accompany her beautiful, paper thin voice. There are a few other musicians present on the recording but only the slightest violin prick or whimper from a cymbal can be heard. The other players seem to walking on eggshells the entire album, as if playing anymore than two instruments at a time might be too much for Kudo's soul to handle. What it lacks in studio wizardry it makes up for with beautiful melodies and earnest musical exploration. Interestingly enough this album sounds VERY similar to The Pastels/Tenniscoats collaboration Two Sunsets which was featured on my end of the year best of for 09'. In case you may have forgotten Stephen McRobbie of the Pastels signed Kudo and her husband Tori Kudo's band Maher Shalal Hash Baz to his Geographic label which you could say attributed to their acclaim reaching outside of Japan. So if any of you actually heard that one and enjoyed it, you can see some of it's very obvious influences here.
I would like to take this time to congratulate Gorilla VS Bear and Weekly Tape Deck on their new label venture, Forest Family Records. I think it's a great thing, and I could care less about whether or not they're doing it "for the community," or whether or not they're going to have local bands, or whatever altruistic and noble reasons people try to egocentrically attach to putting out records. You know, it's really hard work no matter whose record it is, or where the artist is from, so I think it's commendable, period.
The thing is, they are actually donating part of the proceeds to the Humane Society, so there's that. A start-up label donating proceeds on their very first record is actually pretty unheard of.
Something tells me that these guys are going to have an easier time than most, and that's going to make any act lucky enough to put out a record with Forest Family in very good hands indeed. Again, congrats to all involved.
Querencia Community Bike Shop Presents Goldsprint/1670 AM (Rubber Gloves) Interesting description from the Rubber Gloves website:
A Goldsprint is a bicycle rollers racing and social event. Riders on stationary bikes compete against each other in front of a crowd of cheering friends.
While roller racing in general can use any type of bicycle and there are variations on the set-up depending on the type of rollers used and whether the front wheel is engaged or fixed, goldsprints generally use one form of setup. As with roller racing in general, the rollers are in turn attached to a device that measures distance and can display the progress of the riders. Goldsprints also feature modern 2D and 3D visualizations.
Everyone's freaking out about the new Glass Candy, and I think it's great, but did you also know that Farah has a new single? It's called "Gay Boy." Look it up on her Myspace page and then order the 12". I can not believe that there aren't seven page cover stories about what a genius she is after hearing this thing. She eats Midlake for breakfast and has St. Vincent for dessert. And that's exactly why you and I will never get along, DFW music fans and press.
FRIDAY
Dear Human | New Science Projects | Geistheistler | Handbrake | Babar (Rubber Gloves) Math Rock, who needs it, right? Anyways, whatever you feel about the genre is going to determine what you think of Dear, Human, and I have to admit: These aren't kind times for math rock fans. It was largely absorbed into the overall sound of hardcore from ten to twelve years ago and then quickly shunned after that, when all of the early 2000's kids learned to dance. Like any genre, it has its moments, and Dear, Human seems as capable as any. 80% of it is being really fucking good at your instrument, and they certainly do that. But Math Rock is kind of like being an Olympic Gymnast. I mean, yeah, everyone here can do flips and shit, but who among them is truly incredible? Who will surpass all expectations and transcend the genre's cliches? There's just so much DAMN PRESSURE. Also, why don't girls have math rock bands? Now some local scene misogynists will tell you it's because girls "can't play" or drum or have "girl rhythm." The real answer is that girls are too smart to play Math Rock. It's true.
Florene | Diamond Age (Tradewinds) Florene's sound has changed considerably since their inception, and there were times during their recent NX35 set where I wondered exactly who the band on stage even was. They have definitely lost a lot of their original freeform static passages and replaced them with more structured thump and straightforwardly accessible beats. I don't know when these changes came about exactly, but it was definitely good timing when you consider they are on a label now and look, Florene has got some mouths to feed and Daddy has to get paid, ok? One minute your pedals are sliding off of a rickety card table at Eighth Continent, and the next you're counting blog dollaz with your fellow Chillwave and No Fi Dance peers, sipping fancy drinks at Baby Acapulco's.
Nice surprise to see Diamond Age pop up on this bill, which is the very interesting project of North Texas' M. Leer. Let me see if I can break this down, since it's a little confusing. M. Leer is a member of History At Our Disposal and The Diamond Age is his side-project. At some point in the last few years he did a note-by-note reinterpretation of Flaming Tunes, which was a side-project that Gareth Williams of This Heat was involved in, along with Mary Currie. I have been meaning to shed more light on this for years, since it's one of the most obscure reworks I've ever heard of by a local musician. Both the original and The Diamond Age version are great. This show is worth your time and effort.
Gordon Grdina Trio/Ingebrigt Haker Flaten/Nick Cabrera/Jason Jackson/Stefan Gonzalez (Pheoenix Project) Lollipop Shoppe 6 Year Anniversary Party (Sons of Herman Hall)
Kilowatts | Aligning Minds | The Great Mundane (Cold Fusion Lounge) DJ Killowatts has been making music since the mid-90's and actually hails from Plano, though he's now based in Philadelphia. His is a mix of deep bass, IDM, and ambient sounds, and he's pretty renowned internationally, which is something I never imagined when I remember hearing about him playing a show at Eisengberg's Skate Park. Unfortunately that may be preferable to "Cold Fusion Lounge." Full anonymous disclosure: I distinctly remember arguing about the origins of Industrial music with this guy in fifth period gym class, circa 1996 or so.
Dutch Treats | D. Wayne Grubb featuring Cutthroat Thompson | Billy McGee (Tradewinds) John Freeman makes a rare local live appearance, and I know everyone will be happy to see him with his Dutch Treats project, surely one of the more well-liked comedic rock acts to ever come out of DFW. It's all about personality when you're trying to be funny, and obviously Freeman isn't lacking in that department. D. Wayne Grubb is the side project of Daron Beck, and that will surely be worth catching considering Beck is one of the few musicians around here with a flawless output over quite a number of years now. Recommended.
Here are some videos from The Paperstain Showcase which happened at The Little Guys Movers warehouse last Sunday. There are a couple more videos that will go up later today including performances from Red Faced Laughter, Shiny Around the Edges and Piccline. If you like what you hear check out Paperstain's website for more information and rawk.
We've been fans of Dallas based electronic producer Cygnus for quite a while, and it seems that a lot of other people on the other side of the Pond have taken notice of his music as well, and likely in much greater numbers than in his own home town. Most recently, Cygnus got a nice boost when his track "Tis Thine The Kingdom" made an early appearance (19 minutes in) on Autechre's much buzzed about 12 hour radio broadcast from last week, and he appears to be the only unsigned artist to make an appearance in the excellent set (check it out, some big names on there). You can download the whole thing by clicking on the link above and moving your cursor over the photo up top for streaming and downloading options.
No time for the usual long-winded background info today, but I'm certain that most music fans that read this site are familiar with Alex Chilton's work, so it's not really that necessary. I just wanted to share this in the wake of his death, an event that has affected me much more than I ever though it would have. It's not that I'm some Super Fan of his or anything; hell, I don't even own any of his solo records, but I do believe that the three Big Star records are life changers, whether subtle or profound, for nearly everybody that hears them and that's more than you can ever ask for from an artist.
This recording was heavily bootlegged for years after it's taping before Rykodisc released it officially in 1992. It's live to two track at a radio station, so it doesn't sound great at times, but the acoustic section in the middle of the set, which includes a killer cover of Loudon Wainwright's "Motel Blues," more than makes up for the lackluster mix of the earlier songs.
This is by no means a definitive recording, just an interesting, and at times very pleasing, alternative to the albums that many of us love so much. Enjoy!!
If you like inoffensive folk-pop, Daredevil Christoper Wright fits the bill. I have not been to The Schoolhouse but I hear that it is really hot and muggy. Can I get some confirmation on that?
Well let's see, if the above does not tickle your fancy, some new DVD's came out today as they do every Tuesday. Perhaps you would like me to recommend a couple that I might be checking out, i.e. watching in my room alone in the dark. I'm going rogue here so if you want to see another Tuesday movie recommendation again let me know so I can tell SR and he will sign it into law. Not New Music Tuesday coming up later too.
Without a doubt one of the grooviest movies ever made and this is the fist time it has been available (legally) in the U.S. thanks to those great people at Shout Factory!. The movie is basically The Jonas Brothers in 3D but not in 3D and featuring circa 1964 performances from The Beach Boys, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Rolling Stones,Chuck Berry and many more!
There was a DVD release of this already but it was cropped terribly and the transfer sucked. This is a Criterion release so you know all that will be fixed, and rightfully so because this movie has some damn pretty cinematography and close-ups of Richard Gere's face. This was directed by Terrence Malick who also made that love on the run romp Badlands.
Jessica 6 members Andrew Raboso and Morgan Wiley have collaborated with the DFA collective and most notably did production work with Hercules & Love Affair. Though they mainly helped out with the tour, they did contribute to the remix album that was released last year which was pretty solid. Understandably Jessica 6 sounds very similar to Hercules. The revved up dance pop sounds soulful and danceable enough but lacks the accessibility of their work with Hercules. This sounds like dance music for people who really care about dance music, not us quick time Charlies looking for ditties to hum in the car on the way home from work. It still sounds very similar to H&LA which I believe to be one of the best dance albums released in the last decade so who knows what will happen.
An Horse were "discovered" by Tegan and Sara and recently toured with Silversun Pickups. I'll leave it at that. But if this type of stuff does tickle your fancy and you haven't seen On After Dark I bet you will have a new favorite local band.
MON: Pocahaunted/Wet Hair/Eyes,Wings and many Other Things (The Lounge) MON: An Horse/On After Dark/Big Science (Rubber Gloves) TUE: Leatherwood/Daredevil Christopher Wright/The Polycorns (The Schoolhouse) WED: Coscientious Projector/The Century of the Self (1919 Hemphill) THR: Billy McGee/The Dutch Treats (Tradewinds) THR: Stoogeaphilia/The Black Dotz/Bastardos De Sancho (Lola's) FRI: Dear Human/New Science Projects/Geistheistler/Handbrake/Babar (Rubber Gloves) FRI: Florene (Tradewinds)
