Some of our readers may have noticed the highly complimentary "Best New Music" review of Ariel Pink's latest record on Pitchfork this week, and if you've been keeping tabs on his career over the past several years, you might find the review pretty surprising given Pitchfork's luke-warm response to almost everything else the guy's ever done. Of course, it's just all too convenient that Pitchfork has finally come around to Ariel Pink now that he seems to be responsible for many of underground pop music's most important trends over the past couple of years, but I suppose such behavior is pretty typical of the site these days.
The reason any of this matters to us, however, is that there's a local connection-- the excellent first track on the new album, "Hot Body Rub," was recorded by Ariel Pink in Dallas with a group called Added Pizzaz, which features Aaron, Stefan AND Dennis Gonzalez (double/electric bass, drums/vibes and trumpet, respectively), as well as:
"Jim Lehnert on sax and trombone, Dennis Gonzalez on trumpet and Tamara Cauble on violin.. With the team of production and sound design by Vas Deferens Organization. Vas Deferens Organization is made up of Matt Castille, and Eric Lumbleau."
The group apparently worked on a number of other tracks with Pink as well, and we'll have more on that for you here as soon as we confirm all the details.
Update: We should mention that the track was recorded at Klearlight Studio, which has not only had a wealth of good local artists working there lately, such as Darktown Strutters, True Widow, the reunited and legendary underground metal act Divine Eve, and the excellent Berliner Eins, which features the studio's own Jay Jernigan and Jonathan Montpas; but also yielded the Ariel Pink/VDO collaboration Shits and Giggles and the Trick Or Treat LP, which was mostly overlooked after it was recorded nearly two years ago, and possibly even more music from Ariel Pink that may or may not ever see release. And as has been reported, the studio of course, also acts as a label, with releases on its own Restore Vinyl imprint.
I can't help but feel that Dallas is one of the only places where Ariel Pink recording in an actual studio and increasingly departing from his bedroom sound, which has been one of the most talked about and important narratives in music in 2010, goes largely ignored even though DFW is one of the actual settings for said narrative. And yet every painful acoustic troubadour project gets top billing. Hey, as some smart dead guy said, "That's the way of the world."
Correction: Earlier we had listed Jimi Bowman as being part of Berliner Eins, when he was in fact, the mix & mastering engineer on the duo's 7-inch release, which you should make every effort to hear, since there are very few things like it in the current local scene. We apologize for this very rare mistake. -DL
I bet you were creaming your jeans to see one of us jerks really rip into MGMT... Well we here at WSJR decided to take the high road and offer a guest correspondent, who has taken more time with the main attraction tonight than anyone here on staff, do the work for us. Without further ado here is a special guest write up by Jann Hammerpants. (FP)
Fashion-dandy/electro-pop duo MGMT's latest album Congratulations is a welcome curve-ball, an immediately engaging work with strong pop hooks and complex arrangements. The album is enveloped by a pall of weariness and paranoia, and it possesses a pleasing lyrical depth. The themes, while primarily dealing with the hangover of sudden incredible fame, are still vague enough to remain relatable.
The dense production, notably assisted by Sonic Boom, is tight and modern while employing effects and instruments – heavy reverb and the odd sitar, for example – from the heyday of psychedelia. These touches make the moody, stylistically-shifting 12-minute song-suite "Siberian Breaks" especially noteworthy.
In my opinion, the only negatives to be found on Congratulations are the occasional drum part obviously played by a non-primary drummer and the totally skippable instrumental track toward the end of the album. All things considered, this is a surprisingly masterful work of psychedelic pop and the rare "album experience" you sometimes hear bands talk about – but rarely pull off.
Here is a pretty expensive show ($100-$300) that I am sure is worth every penny. If for some reason you do have the 100+ dollars to throw towards Mr. Young and just missed out on tickets, might I recommend you check out the Archives 67-72 box set that goes for about the same price. An amazing collection of live performances complete with Young banter. In fact I have a question about one little story that Neil tells during a show in the early 1970's. He goes off on a tirade about the medical institution and drug companies and how they make tons of money off the American public and their love of easy fixes to life's ills. But then he begins to describe, which sounds to me in all earnestness, about how he went to a "doctor" who used no instruments and made no incision but cured him of some great medical problem. I'm sure you have seen videos of this type of procedure refereed to as psychic surgery. I want to believe that he was saying this with some very thinly veiled irony, but he sounded so sincere it threw me for a loop.
The other day in the comment section of my Of Montreal write up someone accused OM of being mid tempo indie dance rock. In common defensive music geek manner I wanted to respond with the calling out one of the many current band that fits that description more fittingly. I decided I would wait till one of those bands came threw town so I could use that line here. Just my luck I only had to wait a week! Have these guys been on a Twilight related soundtrack yet? If not I'm sure we can expect them to have a place on the Forbearing Midafternoon Naptime soundtrack (is that right I'm not up on the series) alongside Vampire Weekend, Muse and Metric. Sarah Renfro |Ryan Thomas Becker | The Hand Combine| Young and Brave (The Schoolhouse) Sonny & The Sunsets | Wesley Coleman (Dan's)
If you are a fan of the Dr. Dog style throwback sunny pop then the aptly titled Sonny & The Sunsets will be right up your ally. The music doesn't evoke that sense of faux-nostalgia quite as effectively as Dog but the laid back Grateful Dead by way of the Beach Boys sound is a perfect compliment for summer afternoons.
If you haven't heard, The Pixies will be performing Doolittle in its entirety, Sunday, September 19th at Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie in continuing to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the landmark album's release. Tickets go on sale, Monday June 14th at 10 am, but thanks to our pals at AEG Live, we will be giving away a pair of tickets to one winner randomly between now and Friday at 5 PM. This is your chance to get a couple of guaranteed seats before they're even available; just email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com with your first AND last name (and not a DJ name or a nickname) in the body of the email, and "Pixies" as the subject. You would not believe how many times I've wanted to give away tickets to someone and that minimal criteria wasn't met. Please, help us help you!
MON: Blissed Out/RUN DMT/Eyes, Wings and Many Other Things/Zanzibar Snails (Lounge) MON: The Hand Combine/Young and Brave/Ryan Thomas Becker/Sarah Renfro (The Schoolhouse) MON: Sonny & The Sunsets/Wesley Coleman (Dan's) MON: Miike Snow (Granada) MON: Neil Young (Meyerson) TUE: Foundation / Backtrack / Results / Harms Way / Hard Side (1919 Hemphill) TUE: MGMT (House of Blues) TUE: Split Lip Rayfield/The Heelers/Burnt Sienna Trio (Rubber Gloves) WED: LCD Soundsystem/Holy Ghost (Palladium) WED: Akkolyte/Brainsore/Enemies of Inertia/Dead Heroes/Self Inflicted (Phoenix Project) THR: Adaje / Close To Me / Innards / Decades (1919 Hemphill) THR: Woodsman/Shellshag/Tjutjuna (Cavern) THR: Record Hop/The Gary/Deep Snapper (Dan's) FRI: The Buzzcocks/The Dollyrots (The Loft) FRI: Dead Politiks / Electric Vengeance / The Horrifics / Tatterd Flag (1919 Hemphill) FRI: Yells at Eels (Kessler) FRI: Shiny Around The Edges/The Diamond Center/Dust Congress (Hailey's) FRI: Yellow Fever/Bizzaro Kids/Peopleodian (Dan's) SAT: //TENSE///Corporate Park/Vulgar Fashion/Tommyboy/DJG (Rubber Gloves) SAT: Little Black Dress/Magnet School/Til We're Blue Or Destroy (Double Wide) SAT: Yells at Eels (Tex Gallery) SUN: Anal Cunt/Cunthammer/Akkolyte (Reno's Chop Shop)
Before we get started, I would like to propose something to the staff that runs the Texas Theatre : to let me host "Defensive Listening's Emotionally Shattering Movie Night." I'm kind of tired of the tradition of midnight movies always having to do with Indonesian vampires or zombie call girls or whatever, and I would like to counteract the overabundance of B-movie junk with a sobering, painful, overlong drama once or twice a month. How 'bout it? I'll pass out tissues, just like they have on the pews at funerals. Let's party.
Naxat | Tiger Thrust | Hawk VS Dove (Pastime Tavern) I visited the Pastime Tavern this past week, and was immediately struck by how much the place seemed more alive than on previous visits. I think the recent booking situation there is definitely going to help make it a much more visited destination than it has perhaps been in the past. This show is another good example of why that is exactly.
Florene | Missions | Lovelife | DJ G | Discipline (Rubber Gloves): This is Florene's cd release show for "Homemade Extacy," and I bet we may even have a review of that soon, though just saying that might curse it altogether. I'm looking forward to hearing this and be sure to come early for Discipline, which is the DJ project of local record experts Shane English and Jonah Lange.
Screening: Amores Perros (Texas Theatre) Just another example of the great new flurry of activity out of this historically significant spot. This is another in a series of "Latin themed" films the Texas Theater has been showing, and it's one of my favorites. As a personal aside, and being a little "Latin Themed" myself, the aging Zapatista Guerilla in this movie totally reminds me of my late grandfather, who was only slightly more badass than the character in this film. Ambitiously tackling many different takes on the consequences of "love" and all of its inevitable shortcomings, the film deals with so many realistic and uncomfortable situations and hones in on them rather precisely, whether through the eyes of an estranged father or the sorrowful upward gaze of man's best friend after he's literally ripped apart several of his peers. I would love to see this movie in an actual theater; somebody was giving me shit as recently as Wednesday at the Pastime Tavern for quoting it (DL, ten years later and you're STILL quoting Amores Perros?!). Anyways, just to be annoying, I'll do it right now: "If you want to make God laugh...tell him your plans." How good is that? I'm getting goose bumps just thinking about it. Go to this. Movie starts at 3 pm. Five dollar donation gets you in.
PS- I can't believe they recently showed Sin Nombre as well, and I missed it. These folks have the right idea.
The first show at The Pastime Tavern under the new bookage of Kara Howell, one half of Darktown Strutters and previous booker of Tradewinds Social Club. We asked Kara a myriad of questions which we will be posting up tommorow, hopefully there will be some answers too. If you haven't picked up the best local release so far this year, the new Darktown Strutters album - released this week - will be available for purchase. Also on the bill is the one man band with three first names Daniel Francis Doyle visiting us from Austin.
exclusive-- free backstage passes to erykah badu @ nokia theater
So as many of you have probably already heard, Dallas' own Erykah Badu recently launched an international tour in support of her latest record, New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh, which has earned a good number of positive reviews. Anyway, she'll be stopping through Dallas on June 14th at the Nokia Theater, and our friends at Giant Step have given us a nice little treat to pass along to you: two tickets to the show that include backstage access and admittance to a post-show meet and greet with Erykah. If you'd like to win them, just email us at weshotjrtix@yahoo.com by Friday at noon (with Erykah Badu as the subject line and your full name in the email body) or retweet this. We'll select a winner at random. Good luck!
