Strategies of Beauty Profile: Eat Avery's Bones (By Defensive Listening)

I don't know what else I can tell you about this band other than that I choose them to be the best (or most entertaining, at least) act playing Strategies of Beauty. I know that's a pretty serious statement when made about such a young band, but I stand by it. They combine so many daring feats of noise and musical acrobatics that they could ride on just one of the many ideas they use to attack an audience. Eight-bit keyboard melodies, skeletal guitar shrapnel, frantic vocals, and a constantly shifting tempo that includes everything from disco beats to Ruins-like revisionist prog references, all played with genuine smiles, ridiculously irreverent banter, and not the slightest bit of pretentiousness. This band's youthful enthusiasm will melt your cynical heart. Well, I've gushed about them enough and I found their responses to my band bio request to be almost as entertaining as their onstage inside jokes. So here's Eat Avery'sBones in their own words...

On their humble beginnings:

"Did we mention our first show was at The Door? Well, it was a real testament to how bad [our] first band really was. We were more concerned with playing covers of "When Doves Cry" and "Summer Nights" from "Grease:the musical", and later, destroying The Door by booking ourselves as fake bands, playing 2 hour sets in the acoustic lounge and breaking every rule the club had laid out. Notable aliases we played under: The Taco Bell Explosion, Belzar, and Frau Junge."

Their sonic development:

"To skip ahead, the band broke-up since after a while fucking around and only playing noise gets old."

Influences:

"We really prefer not to pin down certain bands that we think had a great impact on the way we write music because we want people to make up their own mind on what we might sound like...Its kind of like having four chefs hovering over a pot and all trying to cook something together. You know that all the chefs have a different style and specialty, so in the end what they make is going to taste like shit...but it's going to sound pretty cool while they're doing it."

The Local Scene:

"Lucky for us theres a lot of new and exciting things happening to local music (amongst the piles of the same worn-out diarrhea) and if the trend continues there might be a place for us down the road, hopefully not amongst the diarrhea, though."

Their tender age:

"Obviously we're all pretty young. None of us are old enough to drink, two of us are still in high school. We have a really blatant sense of humor, mostly toilet and sexual humor that comes through in our live shows and in our songs. Costumes we wear on stage are tied to our sense of humor, too."

Overall Philosophy:

"Overall, we're only doing this whole band thing because we enjoy having fun. The entire process of creation to performance of music is a blast for us.The day it stops being fun and starts being unenjoyable is the day we sell our instruments and go have a feast of taco bell and black tar heroin, because that is fun."


(SR NOTE: Eat Avery's Bones' Myspace page is here.)

It List: Thursday 6/29/06

Ok- in the name of fairness, we'll give credit to Kate Mackley (spelling?) for the photo of Emil Rapstine below. And for the record, we got it off their myspace page and didn't see a copyright on it, so we didn't even consider crediting whoever took it. For future reference, if anyone has a photo that appears on here that we have mistakenly failed to credit or would like to have a photo removed, please email Weshotjr@yahoo.com and let us know. Music stuff:



FIRST: The wonderful people over at Clear Channel are sponsoring a WSJR contest for tonight's Scott Stapp show at Nokia or wherever it is... and this ones just for the ladies! And the gay gents! Anyway, if you want to win, post in the comment thread telling us which Creed song you find most inspirational and why, and the winner will get to blow Scott backstage, and then pray with him that the Republican controlled congress' approval ratings go up so that they can maintain control after the November election (this also happens to be in the best interest of Bush pal Tom Hicks, who is a major Clear Channel shareholder)! Sound sexy and fun? Well if that isn't enough, you'll get an autograph and a free t-shirt! Bonus!

1. Attractive and Popular/ Occasional Detroit/Juiceboxxx (J&Js Denton): So in case you've never witnessed the no wave dance attack Attractive and Popular, tonight would be a good night to do so considering that they are playing with the excellent OD and Juiceboxx at J&Js, where I have decided the pizza and pints rule just as much as anything else. Don't be dumb: go to this show. Starts at 9.


Attractive and Popular will also be playing @ the White House in Denton later tonight (I assume after their first show) with Chief Death Rage, which should rule. Its next door to the yella house in case you don't know.

2. Theater Fire/ Red Hunter/ St. Vincent (Double Wide): Like it or not, Theater Fire could be the best currently active Dallas based band around right now. And I said DALLAS, not Denton or anywhere else. And Theater Fire is actually from Ft. Worth I think, so forget it. And St. Vincent is a GVB fav, so if you're usually down with what Chris is down with, this would be a good reason to go early. Sorry, can't find the Red Hunter myspace and I gotta run.... it couldn't be that great anyway, could it?


3. Dj G 80's House and electronica (Hailey's)

Strategies of Beauty Profile: iDi* Amin (by Defensive Listening)

Idi*Amin is arguably one of the most experimental groups playing at Strategies of Beauty, but their experimental technique is nuanced and they don't sound as though they are out to simply punish you with pure noise, even though they could if they wanted to. The only thing keeping this band from being a straight instrumental group is the fact that "atonal" guitarist Nevada Hill ( a label he doesn't take as an insult, like the way it's sometimes pejoratively thrown around this very site) will let lose with an occasional scream or yelp. Meanwhile, "Tonal" guitarist Paul Overby balances out Nevada's formlessness while the Observer's most capable freelancer, Michael Chamy, plays the Sinewave Generator to undermine any and all attempts at balance.

The band has had multiple drummer syndrome in the past, but they are currently backed by Boyd Dixon of Tame, Tame and Quiet. Boyd brings a more direct drumming style to the push and pull of Idi*Amin, and it's very entertaining to hear the band rise and fall between droning, complete chaos, and...rocking. Finally, all the musical contrasts are topped off by the loop-like saxophone work of Mike Forbes. His repetitive phrases and hypnotic melody shards dart around Idi*Amin's live eruptions and at times recall Philip Glass. And no, I'm not talking about the Kundun soundtrack. Honestly, a lot of Forbes' sax parts remind me of the opening sample on Devin the Dude's "I-Hi," and that's not a bad thing. And if you can't remember the complex names of any of Idi*Amin's improvisations, just request that they do their"microphone trick". It's a local legend.

Strategies of Beauty Profile: Samantha Moss and Emil Rapstine (by Defensive Listening)

Saturday's Strategies of Beauty performance featuring the duet of Samantha Moss of Jetscreamer and Emil Rapstine of The Angelus will be their second performance together, and like the first, it will likely result in some combination of haunting atmospheric music and spoken word performance. In their first performance, Emil played a bastardized wind organ to accompany Samantha's recital of passages from"Dakota: A Spiritual Geography," a non-fiction tome written by Kathleen Norris that includes a topical mix of weather reports, spirituality, and monasticism in the American Midwest. Sounds like Spin Magazine wasn't kidding about this being one of the "101 Wildest Parties" of the summer! But don't let the reading scare you, Mr. or Ms. Less Adventurous, because Emil Rapstine's accompaniment will be a sonic fit to the heavy subject matter, and will probably resemble his moody work in The Angelus. Unfortunately, Rapstine's wind organ died an untimely death, so he'll be forced to improvise other ways to embellish Sam's speaking. The two might also treat the crowd to duet vocals, but no promises. One thing I was promised by Samantha: this will sound nothing like Jetscreamer.

No It List Today

To everyone that came here from the Myspace bulletin: FOOLED YOU!

It appears that two of our favorite weekly Wednesday night events, The party @ Rubber Gloves with DJ Nature and DJ G's 80's house night at the Cavern are not going down this week. And to top it off, nothing else worthy of any time or attention ( that we know about) seems to be happening tonight either, which is the first time in a while (Other than a random Sunday or Monday here or there) that its been quite this dead.

So maybe you should sit back, relax, have a few beers, and get ready for the weekend. Sorry. I can't wait for someone to bitch at us because nothing is going down tonight.

However, later tonight we will have more posts on some of the Strategies bands ( a concert, in case you hadn't heard, that is expected by Spin to be one of the 101 best parties of the summer), an MP3 or two from other bands, and more details about our "best of" local podcast, which seems to be coming together quite nicely. We've got the playlist picked out and a good host, so we're on our way.

100% Funny

So are the 90's the new 80's or something?

It List: Tuesday 6/27/06

1. Occasional Detroit/ Kidko (Metrognome): Don't be like me. Don't miss another great show at Metrognome because you can't make it out to Ft. Worth tonight. I can't make it for various reasons, but if I were going out tonight, this is where I would be. OD is I guess what you would call "avant hip hop," but I would just call it some great beats and efficiently utilized noise parts. I've never really heard anything quite like it, but I guess you could maybe make a Suicide comparison, if only slight. And don't be afraid of the IDM label (I often am), because Kidko is one of the better electronic artists in DFW right now. I think Juiceboxx was supposed to play this show too, but I don't think they are on the bill anymore.

2. Lost Generation with Wanz (Cavern Upstairs): Heres what he'll have tonight. Sounds good:

"Tonight's theme is nostalgia. I am gonna time warp back to the listening habits of my group of friends duringb the early to mid 90's. MBV, The Darkside, Spacemen 3, Slowdive, Laika, Seefeel, Squarepusher, Stereolab, Silver Apples, Pale Saints, Tortoise, Yo La Tengo, ESG, Bark Psychosis, Pram, Slint, Public Enemy, Atom Heart,Kraftwerk and much much more. I'm diggin deep into the vault for this one. Have you ever heard The Velvet Underground legendary Guitar Amp Tape? Do you know what Narcotic Guitar is?When was the last time you listened to the 1st Suicide album? Remember SST records? Anyone remeber Mark Ibold's pre-pavement(and far superior) band "The Dustdevils"? When was thge last time you dusted off a Gastr del Sol record? Remember the Denton house parties with The Boredoms, Blues Explosion and Mouse and Mars? A few of you out there may even remember freaking out The Swirlies when they came to Denton when everyone kept trying to get them stoned..........oh the days. It's nostalgia night at Lost Generation."


I would have loved to try to get the Swirlies stoned. I can't believe they wouldn't.


Also, Eat Avery's Bones is playing with the Peelers, The Future Unlived and Polio=Feet at Dada tonight. I'm not a big "garage" guy, and I can't stand rockabilly, so I can't really recommend the Peelers... Future Unlived's myspace page is fucked up so I can't really hear what they sound like, and I can't really find anything about the feet dudes, so sorry Surly.

It List: Monday 6/26/06

Band of Horses/ Mt. Egypt/ The Can't See (Hailey's $10): Even though I've poked fun at them before, I don't really think Band of Horses suck. In fact, I think they are pretty damn good at what they do, which is combining The Shins and My Morning Jacket. But thats not even fair, is it? I mean, they do have some qualities that neither of those bands have, and they are a pleasant listen, and perhaps a bit more challenging and dark than the Shins. And they're actually pretty good songwriters too, but I just don't feel like I can buy into all the hype surrounding these guys yet, even if there are a couple of songs on Everything All the Time that I like quite a bit, especially "The Funeral." I wonder how they'll be live... probably a good time. Mt. Egypt sounds like a slightly less dense, um, Band of Horses, and The Can't See, well, I can't hear the can't see now, so see you later.

Strategies of Beauty Profiles

Like we said last week, this week we'll be profiling some of the bands playing at the Strategies of Beauty festival on Saturday at Rubber Gloves in Denton. We think this thing could be one of the local music highlights of the year, so we'll be giving it a little more coverage than we usually do for most concerts. Since we're lazy, and we've already done profiles on two of performers, we'll start by linking back to those. You can expect handful more of them this week:


HERE: Shiny Around the Edges

HERE: Chris Garver

Last Week's Good Records Chart

1. Nobody & Mystic Chords of Memory - Tree Colored See
2. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
3. Danielson - Ships
4. The Paper Chase - Now You Are One Of Us
5. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
6. Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope
7. Frank Black - Fast Man Raider Man
8. Small Sins - Small Sins
9. Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
10. The Futureheads - News and Tributes
11. Wolfmother - Wolfmother
12. Daedelus - Denies the Days Demise
13. Jose Gonzalaz - Veneer
14. Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
15. Astronautalis - The Mighty Ocean and Nine Dark Theaters
16. Juana Molina - Son
17. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
18. The Stills - Without Feathers
19. Hot Chip - The Warning
20. Be Your Own Pet - Be Your Own Pet

Maybe I'm dumb, but what the hell is Nobody and the Mystic whatever?

Sonic Youth and the List

I should tell you that although I do like Sonic Youth quite a bit, I'm not one of these SY groupies that has every single piece of music they have ever released and can speak intelligently about Thurston Moore's guitar tunings for every show they played in New York in 1983. That being said, I thought last night's show at the stuffed Gypsy Tea Room (it was the most crowded I've EVER seen the place, although the temp inside was surprisingly cool) was completely captivating, and the band looked and sounded fresh, energetic, and relevant. A couple of friends and I spent a bit of our drunken evening discussing how different the Sonic Youth show felt compared to the Dinosaur Jr. show we saw a couple months back. Both bands were favorites of ours back in the day, and we all still listen to both on a regular basis. And although this might be obvious considering that Dinosaur was simply on a reunion tour playing old hits, it seems that nostalgia was the primary motivation that guided us to the Dinosaur show at Gypsy, while a genuine curiousness and anticipation to hear new material is what primarily motivated us to go see Sonic Youth. None of us had seen them in what seems like a very long time, and although it was nice to hear some old stuff ("Kool Thing," "Eric's Trip," and "Catholic Block" among others), the new material seemed as timely and relevant as anything else Sonic Youth has ever done, and many of the songs off their latest album made it on to our list of favorite songs of the night. I continue to be impressed by how challenging and artistically valid Sonic Youth still is after all these years, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if I went to see them the next time they came through Dallas in support of yet another pretty fantastic record.

And what was close to being the absolute highlight of the night for us, despite all the great music we heard? It would have to be the fact that Pavement's Mark Ibold was touring with them on the bass. How fucking cool is that?


As for today, Theater Fire is playing at the Fort Worth Weekly Music award show at the 8.0 Bar at Sundance Square, and Doublewide is having its anniversary party starting early this evening. The line up:

6:00 - Pinebox Serenade7:00 - The Strange Boys8:00 - Saboteur9:00 - Lions10:00 - Max Cady11:00 - The Golden Falcons12:00 - Skeemin No Goods

In the Courtyard:

6:40 - not confirmed yet7:40 - Travis Hopper8:40 - Laura Palmer9:40 - JC10:40 - Emil Rapstine (The Angelus)

Not that all of these are our favorite acts or anything, but it should be a good time if you just want to relax a bit on a Sunday afternoon. Be sure to check out Emil Rapstine.

It List: Saturday 6/24/06

1. Sonic Youth/ Awesome Color (Gypsy Tea Room Ballroom $30): I figure you have an opinion on Sonic Youth one way or another and you're stickin to it, so I won't even bother. Awesome Color is from Bushwick, and their hipster points are on full display on their Myspace page. They sound like Sabbath and MC5 with Thurston Moore and the guy from Dead Meadow for singers. Its pretty decent I supposed.


2. Last Generation Concert (Darkside): See below for more info on this show

3. I Love You/ Peel/ Chaos v. Caverninha/ You Are the Universe (Metrognome $5): Another great show @ Metrognome tonight. I Love You and Peel played last night (see descripton below or click the link), and Chaos is a noise side project from two members of Austin's excellent Hotel Hotel. And you know the deal on Universe already.


And my dumbass almost forgot:

Tim Sweeney of DFA fame will be Djing at Minc tonight (813 Exposition in Expo Park, $5 b/f 11, $10 after). Go here to check out some of his podcasts, or go to the Myspace page. If you're into anything like DFA, Optimo, How To Kill the Dj, Tigerbeat, or space disco, then you REALLY should check this guy out. His podcasts are fantastic and there won't be anywhere in the state of Texas where you'll hear a better DJ set tonight, I bet. This will be going on till late, so you can make this an after show stop if you want.

It List: Friday 6/23/06

Don't have a lot of time to write a bunch about these shows right now, but here is the list with a bit of commentary and the links you need:


1. Everything, Now/ La Subida (Metrognome Collective $5): A venue at the top of a short list of places that are booking shows AND have an interest in art. AND know what they are talking about.

2. Teenage Symphony/ Peel/ Tame Tame and Quiet/ I love You (Cavern): Teenage Symphony is getting better and better all the time. Go see them before all your dumb friends hear about them. Austin's Peel lists Pavement as an influence on their Myspace page, and it shows (or sounds.) But they are really pretty damn good, I'm shocked we've never heard of them before. Ft. Worth's Tame Tame is always worth checking out, and I love You is almost too "indie pop heard it all before," but they aren't, and they are good too. I bet this is going to be a fun night, even if they have to compete with Theater Fire.

3. Theater Fire (Sons of Herman Hall): Benefit for Kinky Friedman, I'm sure you all know the deal on this.

4. Octopus Project/ Dutch Treats (Hailey's)

5. Denton's Drunk Talk Show (Rubber Gloves): Here is the info they sent me on this. Sounds fun, and its free:

Tonight, on stage at Rubber Gloves... NO COVER. Cheap booze. Show starts PROMPTLY at 11:30. SEATING IS EXTREMELY LIMITED. Get there a little early iffin you know whats what.. What is WHAT IT IS IS? Its a live talk show, ya fug. Complete with a Desk, a couch, a coffee table, a Host (Scott Porter/Record Hop/Spitfire Tumbleweeds), a Sidekick (Kody Jackson/Spitfire Tumbleweeds), an Announcer (Colin Carter/Hogpig), and a Band (Duane Deering/Tendril). All that shit. TOTALLY pro. Tonight's guests? I'm glad you asked. We have the comedy of Frank Hejl (ex-Frequency Down/Mix tapes and Babyfights). We have Mr. Chris Flemmons (Baptist Generals) joining us on the couch to talk about what the Save Fry Street battle is REALLY all about. We have two budding film makers, Ryan Barbonne and Allen Traylor, who will be showing clips from their hilarious, sexy, and racially charged internet series "Hello Optimism" And if that wasn't enough, we have the music of Brent Best (The Drams/ex-Slobberbone)! Add an installment of America's favorite new game TASTE THE POWDER and you have a night that is DEFINATELY worth the ZERO dollars that you will be paying to EXPERIENCE HISTORY IN THE MAKING. FUCK. Seriously, seating is available and limited. Show up early and get blotto. We'll do the rest! If you get there late, youre gonna miss it. The show runs somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half.

Heavy Rotation

Here are some records we have been listening to lately at WSJR HQ, with a couple MP3s just for you:








Brightblack Morning Light s/t (this is a fantastic record that is pretty perfect in almost any setting. I'm sure that some people will find it boring, but I think it recalls Spacemen 3, Primal Scream, and elements of jazz and soul. What the fuck is boring about that?) "Friend of Time" MP3

Johann Johannsson Dis (Christ this is a really beautiful album. Check out the way this track goes from soft bedroom pop fragile to bold psyche rockin and back again in a completely seamless sequence.) "Efripides Og Nearipidel" MP3

Sly and the Family Stone Theres a Riot Going on (Listen to this record if you want to find out how dark a summer can be. And also where Ariel Pink came from.)

My Bloody Valentine Glider EP, Tremolo EP, You Made Me Realise EP (A lot of the stuff on these EPs doesn't sound much like Loveless, but sometimes thats a good thing considering what a powerful yet draining experience listening to Loveless can be. These also reveal another side of the band that is compelling in its own right.) "Slow" MP3
Feathers s/t

Thom Yorke The Eraser

Six Organs of Admittance The Sun Awakens ( yet another strong effort) "Bless Your Blood" MP3

Excepter KA

Joy Division Closer (Oh, have you guys ever heard of this band before? Seriously, its honestly been a couple years since I sat down and listened to Joy Division, but I started listening to Closer again a couple weeks ago and it now blows me away even more than it used to. I don't know how its possible, but it does, especially opener "Atrocity Exhibition.")

Defensive Listening's List:

Wuhling Extra Six
Orange Juice The Glasgow School
Finally Punk "Missile" (from their Myspace page)
Loincloth "Church Burntings" (from Southern Lord seven inch)
Delta 5 Singles and Sessions
Nikki Sudden/ Jacobites The Ragged School
Massacre Killing Time
Ancient Chinese Secret Caveat Emptor


(we were gonna post more MP3s, but file sharing is being a bitch today. If bands, labels or management want any of these songs removed, please email weshotjr@yahoo.com and we will take them down immediately. )

Don't Fight This Generation: Saturday @ Darkside Lounge

We figured we'd try to alert everyone about the OTHER concert going on Saturday night. Yes, we'll be at Sonic Youth for a good portion of the evening, but some of us are going to make it over to Darkside later in the evening after what we are guessing will be an early end time to the show @ Gypsy. We think all of you people should probably stop by Darkside too (especially those that can't afford Sonic Youth), and there are several reasons for this:

1. Because we said so
2. Because it will be a good show
3. Because its $5 and Sonic Youth is $30
4. Because its at Darkside Lounge, which seems to be the only place in Deep Ellum that might possibly become a refuge for good booking in the neighborhood.

And it seems that the other, um, publications around town missed the boat on what should be the best local show of the weekend, meaning that going to this show would be a good chance to show everyone how far ahead you are. The line up:

The Falkon (the Falkon's original line up, back together to play just a couple shows. People will surely blah blah blah about Wanz on the comment threads, but I think you'll have a hard time talking shit about "Death to Sally" on their Myspace page. Go see what I mean.)
The Great Tyrant ( I think fans of Sunn0))), Cabaret Voltaire, and Silver Apples will really dig these guys. Not that they sound much like any of those bands, but they seem to have the same, you know, thing going on.)
Silk Stocking
Notes from Underground
Low Line Caller (from Austin- shoegaze influenced instrumental pop that could either be one of the great live experiences of the summer or a disaster, depending on whether these guys are capable of pulling their sound off live)
Various members of the Laptop Deathmatch squad

It List: Thursday 6/22/06

Shit. I don't know what Beck was like at Snorekia last night (I heard it was good and that there were performances conducted by dolls), and I haven't heard much about The Walkmen show, but neither of them could have been BETTER than Man Man last night, because they were completely lights out at the Cavern. Although I wish it would have been just a bit louder (a common complaint at the ol' Cavern), the stage presence of each and every face-painted member of Man Man, along with their complex pounding rhythms and vocals that somehow sounded as good live as they do on the record, made it one of the better shows I have seen this year (still can't touch Ariel Pink, The Books, or Liars). The house was mostly packed (unfortunately with a whole lotta men, man), but the crowd's energy was pretty high level for a Dallas show (usually takes an out-of-towner to inspire that), and Man Man didn't miss a beat all night. It was one of those sweaty, high energy, bratty and infectious live shows where the band LOOKED completely chaotic but somehow managed to play really tight all night long (Undoing of David Wright is pretty good at pulling that trick off too). I hope Sonic Youth is HALF that fun on Saturday.

Of course, as is often the story in Dallas, one night of high profile shows is followed by a night of relatively few noteworthy shows:

1. DJ G 80's Night (Hailey's): Every time I see this guy spin, I hear at least 10 tracks I know and love, and at least 10 that I've never heard but make me say "does anyone know who this is?" Most people that read this blog have probably checked him out at some point, but if you haven't, you should head to Denton to see what you're missing. You'll hear a lot of rare 80's electro, great mid to late 80's Chicago house, some Italo, etc.

2. Zoo (Cavern Upstairs): A night of mostly great music along with hard to find music videos and other interesting visuals. You'll go for the sounds but stay for the sights, because the videos are as carefully selected as the music here. You should try it, because everyone needs somewhere to go on Thursday nights once they have realized that hipster karaoke is the beginning of the end for you and your friends.

3. Strange Boys/ Tah Dahs/ Sparklepussy Barbie (Gypsy Tea Room): Strange Boys and Tah Dahs are good bands that you should go see tonight if you haven't seen them 5,000 times. But I have, and I'm taking a break for a while. And I can't believe I typed "Sparklepussy Barbie." I'm never doing that again unless its in a "Warning: members of the Deathray Davies" kind of way.


Also, I forgot:

Your Heart Breaks/ Karl Blau (Rubber Gloves): Some of that old school, lo-fi indie pop stuff that might remind you that you still kind of like pop music. Is K Records retro cool now?

Last Week's Radio UTD Charts

Looks like we've got some new readers this week, so this is for all who don't know: Radio UTD is the University of Texas at Dallas' online radio station. They feature live programming from Monday- Friday from noon to 10pm, and it is now the ONLY place in the Metroplex (other than Meat Radio at times) to hear some music thats actually good and, you know, relevant. Its just too band that you can't, you know, listen to it in your car. Here is their play chart from last week:

1 MISSION OF BURMA The Obliterati
2 MOJAVE 3 Puzzles Like You
3 BLACK HEART PROCESSION The Spell
4 OAKLEY HALL Gypsum Strings
5 DANIELSON Ships
6 LANSING-DREIDEN The Dividing Island
7 MINMAE Le Grand Essor De La Maison Du Monstre
8 WALKMEN A Hundred Miles Off
9 WILDERNESS Vessel States
10 SHEARWATER Palo Santo
11 CAMERA OBSCURA Let's Get Out Of This Country
12 SNOWGLOBE Oxytocin
13 OPPENHEIMER Oppenheimer
14 THEATER FIRE Everybody Has A Dark Side
15 SONIC YOUTH Rather Ripped
16 JOLIE HOLLAND Springtime Can Kill You
17 PHOENIX It's Never Been Like That
18 JUANA MOLINA Son
19 LEGENDARY PINK DOTS Your Children Placate You From Premature Graves
20 SERENA-MANEESH Serena-Maneesh
21 SPACE NEEDLE Headquarters Recordings 1994-1997
22 HELVETIA The Clever North Wind
23 MICAH P. HINSON The Baby And The Satellite [EP]
24 MATMOS The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast
25 BEN VAUGHN Designs In Music
26 BEDROOM WALLS All Good Dreamers Pass This Way
27 CARLA BOZULICH Evangalista
28 HIGGINS Dear Higgins
29 COUCH Figur 5
30 HOT CHIP The Warning

Adds:

# ARTIST Recording
1 WIRE Pink Flag
2 LADY AND BIRD Lady And Bird
3 TOMIHIRA Play Dead
4 HYLOZOISTS La Fin Du Monde
5 AWESOME COLOR Awesome Color

And I'm tellin' you people, the new Lansing-Dreiden and Wilderness records are pretty fucking great. If you haven't heard them, then get with it you loser.

It List: Wednesday 6/21/06

1. Man Man/ Lovely Feathers (The Cavern- $8): We're idiots. We pretty much had a phone interview with Man Man set up for yesterday afternoon, but Mavs games and blog designs and work and life and crap got in the way of what we were hoping would be a completely chaotic phone interview with a really great band. Yes, we're big Man Man fans, and their show at the Cavern tonight should be a real treat, considering the size of the venue and the potential for destruction that the band seems to possess. If you've read anything about them, you've heard all the proper comparisons: namely, to Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart. And while these comparisons are valid, the band also seems to bring their own elements of theatrical, post-punk silliness to the table that truly add to the whole thing. Their songs are sort of eastern folk influenced, a bit trashy ragtime, highly percussive, and addictive. Montreal's The Lovely Feathers also kick much ass, in case you didn't know, even if they do pretty much sound like a Montreal band (that also reminds me of the Dead Milkmen for some odd reason). I guarantee that they will be an opening band worth seeing. Shouldn't miss this one.

2. The Walkmen/ Richard Swift/ Talk Demonic (Granada $12): The new Walkmen record: I guess its pretty good, although its certainly not blowing me away after my initial excitement about it. And I've never seen the Walkmen live, but I've heard that they can be assholes on stage, which is fun. Their first record was especially fantastic in my mind, the second was very good, and the third is pretty good. I'm intrigued to see them live, and I might just do so in order to catch their wall of haze in person. Richard Swift writes some really great offbeat piano/guitar pop songs. Nothing fancy, but quite good (he's also playing a Good Records in store at 4pm today). Talk Demonic should also be worth seeing.


And something about the prospect of paying $40 to see Beck and Jamie Lidell at Nokia makes me yawn and say "who gives a fuck?"

Intelligent Design

We'd like to give a special thanks to Garrison Reid of Indieinterviews.com for helping us make this blog look quite a bit better. Actually, he pretty much did everything for us, and should be commended for putting up with our web design incompetence alone. He also had to deal with sending 8,000 emails back and forth in order to get this done, which was probably beyond annoying. Thanks Garrison. Check out his site to hear some quality interviews with several of the national indie darlings of the moment.

Also, the new logo was designed by a member of the WSJR crew, demonstrating that we are good at something other than being really cool and writing amazing blog posts. Cheers.

Current Leaves: Pastense

There are a lot of reasons that I don't want to write this review right now, including the fact that I am depressed over a heartbreaking, season ending Mavericks loss. But I suppose that this might actually be the best time to do it, since being depressed and heartbroken seems to compliment the sad and dreamy songs on Current Leaves' impressive debut quite well. And although my depression might be useful for writing this piece (see, I wrote a whole paragraph about it), I didn't need the Mavericks to lose in order to appreciate just how good this record is.

In an attempt to find a "theme" or something to tie this review together (other than the game), I decided to try to read as much as I could about Current Leaves, including Noah Bailey's review of Pastense for the Observer. In it, he makes several references to Gram Parsons' apparent influence on Current Leaves' sound, which was initially annoying because I had planned to write about the same thing. For some reason, the name Gram Parsons came to mind upon first hearing this record, and I figured it might be a pertinent comparison to make, even though I didn't think much about why. Luckily however, a few subsequent listens revealed that Pastense doesn't actually sound a whole hell of a lot like Parsons (at least his solo work) at all, and frankly I'm happy about that, because there are enough Parsons imitators in Texas to keep us all happy.

Current Leaves' music is certainly country influenced, but they aren't really a "country band" by any measure beyond their basic set of underlying influences. Sure, there is a good deal of lonesome highway heartache and even a few slide guitars present throughout many of their songs, but this aspect of their sound doesn't ever seem to take center stage or get in the way, as it often does with "alt country" groups that utilize their influences in an overly academic or tongue in cheek manner. Instead, Current Leaves' shimmering, 60's psyche influenced guitars (yeah yeah, I know, the Byrds) and Aaron White's confident yet fragile vocals immediately stand out and steal the show, pushing most comparisons and spot the influence games out the window. Yes, the twang is there, and those that like such things will truly enjoy the restrained and simple way in which Current Leaves present it. Those that don't really care for country, however, will likely not think too much about it once they dig into these songs a couple times, considering that they are primarily psychedelic pop tunes that merely nod in country music's general direction with a self awareness that lends them emotional depth instead of taking it away.

The album begins with two of its three strongest songs, as opener "13 Hours" sets the tone with lush, airy and bright guitar parts that float in a sea of reverb but stay bold enough carry the rhythm, while "Easy to Leave" establishes the band's ability to write instantly accessible and memorable pop songs without compromising one bit of the emotion that is found in some of their slower, less straight forward numbers. Really, "Easy to Leave" is pretty much an instant classic, with its chorus of "Its easy to leave/ but its hell to stay gone" assuring its presence in your head for days. It is the most straight forward country track on the album, but it is also the most effective because it touches on Americana without surrendering to its constraints.

Elsewhere, "Fought A Bear" recalls Pavement's "Father to a Sister of a Thought" with haunting echo slide guitars and thoughtful but controlled vocals, which reminds me: as a vocalist and lyricist, Aaron White is quite compelling if not exactly groundbreaking, with a range and tone that falls somewhere between Stephen Malkmus and Stephen Merrit, and a streak of lovesickness, regret and introspection that certainly leans more towards the latter. All of the qualities that make Current Leaves (and White) effective seem to come together almost perfectly in "Kill All Your Babies," which starts off as a dark, minimal and hollow sounding ballad but builds ever so subtly into a subdued but inspiring fortress of sad reverb and religious lyrics that instantly strikes a bittersweet chord as the album's emotional and musical center. Like many of the songs on Pastense, it is easy to listen to but never becomes boring because it isn't straight forward enough to immediately run its course.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this record is that just about anyone can enjoy it, and since Current Leaves are starting to get a little more press these days, just about anyone might actually find this out for themselves. It is a great reminder that there are in fact local bands out there that are capable of making records that are enjoyable because they are accessible, but also because they are well crafted, exciting, and artistically sound. Country, psyche, sadness, memorable lyrics, Byrds comparisons, and music that is compelling without being all that innovative. Shit, I guess it kind of does sound like Gram Parsons. And I guess I kind of sound like Noah Bailey.



"Easy to Leave" MP3


(FYI, our rating system is based on a total of five possible stars)

I Don't Want to Talk About It

But I guess you can if you want to

It List: Tuesday 6/20/06

After what will hopefully be a night that consists of a Mavs win and me winning free tickets to game 7 (which better happen), it might be a good idea to head over to the Cavern, either upstairs, downstairs, or both for a night cap or six.

UPSTAIRS:


The Lost Generation w/ Wanz: Always a great place to hear music that won't be played in any other bar on any other night in the metroplex, tonight's Lost Generation will feature:

" good stuff. You should come listen. No music until after the mavs game. so feel free to come early and watch the game with us. I scored a bunch of rare diplo shit and shitload of Kompakt records stuff recently. I also got a new nouvelle vogue disc with some really good cuts. We will get back to theme nights next week. I have been putting off my "all things german must be good" night. Maybe next week.If the mavs win we are gonna throw down. If they lose ..........Nick cave b-sides and rarities may be more appropriate. They better not lose. What I play tonight really depends on the crowd. If the crowd is good we will jam if it is lame like the other nights when the Mavs lost then who knows."


DOWNSTAIRS:

Sybris/ Backsliders/ Blonde Girls: Hmm... Sybris. I wasn't expecting much when I heard this band for the first time. I don't know why, but I think I was expecting O.C. style indie girlpop or something. And thats kind of what it is. But before you puke, you should go check out some songs on their Myspace page. If you do, there will be a certain point in time (probably within a couple minutes) that you realize that there is one indie girlpop band that you actually like, and you won't even be sure if thats what they are at all. Singer Angela Mullenhour seems to be quite the front woman, combining some of the best aspects of Bjork's range and Hope Sandoval haunt in front of a shimmering wall of noise that often appears to be bordering on out of control but never falls outside the lines of its pop oriented structure. In short, its good stuff. The DNA/ Black Eyes influenced Blonde Girls might be a pretty decent reason to show up early as well.

7 1/2 Questions with: Gorilla vs. Bear

Gorilla vs. Bear's Chris Cantalini seems to be a pretty busy guy these days. Not only does he run one of the most highly acclaimed "tastemaker" MP3 blogs in the U.S. right now, but he recently began hosting his own SIRIUS radio show with fellow bloggers Brooklyn Vegan and Productshop NYC. He also lives here in Dallas in case you didn't know, which probably makes him, in terms of impact and influence on underground music, one of the most important figures to come out of the Dallas music scene in a very long time (although he obviously hasn't had much competition over the past decade).

We're pretty sure that you've had your fill of think pieces on the power of MP3 blogs in the music business these days, so we'll spare you. However, we thought it might be interesting to get some thoughts on the matter from one of the bigger players in the game, someone that actually sees what these blogs are and are not capable of on a daily basis. We give you 7 1/2 questions with Chris Cantalini:

I bet you probably weren't expecting this, but we wanted to ask you some questions about music blogs and their influence. Shocked? It seems that before the "blogging" age, whatever that means, the tastemakers of the underground or "indie" music industry were a small group of writers at influential publications, college radio DJs at big college stations, certain record stores, and New York trust fund kids with art degrees. Now it seems that a small group of bloggers have joined that elite group, or maybe even replaced it a bit. Do you think that blogs really have changed that much in the business? Why or why not?

I think it's still a little early to say how they've changed the business, if at all. I think one function the blogs serve is that of a filter for more traditional media. I mean, you're seeing these virtually unknown bands like Beirut, Tapes 'n Tapes, etc. showing up in the New York Times, and they never fail to mention the "blog-hype", so I guess there is some impact, I just wouldn't know how to measure it. Plus, I'm more of a fan than anything else, and my site wasn't originally designed to be some tastemaking force, so I don't really care if I change the business or not.

When did you start your blog? Why did you start it? How long did it take to build up an audience? How large is your audience today?

I started it back in March of '05 out of sheer boredom. I hated my job, so it gave me something to do at work. It took probably 6-8 months before people started paying any attention, and now I get somewhere between 5 and 6 thousand unique visitors a day, which is crazy to me.

How do you go about finding some of the bands that a lot of people are unfamiliar with? Do you seek things out, do people send you stuff, etc?

I spend a good part of my work day listening to submissions and checking out band websites, and I also read a lot of blogs. I'm pretty much tied to a computer all day for work, so it gives me something to do. Out of the stuff that makes it onto the blog, I'd say maybe 20% is sent to me, and the rest I seek out on my own.

What does it feel like to now have the ability to help launch the careers of musicians that you like?

That's such a new phenomenon with me, I haven't really decided how I feel about it yet. I mean, it's fulfilling to see bands I love getting more attention based on something I wrote, but at the same time, it makes me a slightly uncomfortable to be "attached" to these bands' success. It makes me cringe when i see terms like "blogger darlings", because that is so condescending in a way, and it just means that the backlash is inevitable. You're already seeing backlash, people saying certain bands don't live up to the blogger-hype, which is just ridiculous. Blogs are a such a personal medium. People talk about shit that resonates with them. No matter what I say I like, I'm going to get like half the people saying I'm overhyping it.

Do you have relationships with label and PR people? If so, what is the general nature of these relationships? Do these people often offer you favors in exchange for favors?

For the most part, I tend to ignore most label and PR people, just because I don't have time to wade through all the shit they send me. I pay more attention to submissions coming from the artists themselves. But yeah, I do have some relationships with a couple labels and PR people that I like and trust, and who try to send me stuff that they feel will align with my tastes. They'll send me "exclusives" or ask me to run contests, but that stuff generally tends to be crap, so I never end up using most of it.

What is the single greatest thing that has happened to you as a result of Gorilla vs Bear?

I'd have to say getting my own show on SIRIUS satellite radio, which people probably view as far more legit than just running a blog. At least to my family and friends, the fact that I've joined the ranks of Howard Stern, Mark Cuban, and Richard Simmons as SIRIUS radio personalities sort of validates what I'm doing to a small extent.

How is the satellite radio thing going? What do you hope to accomplish with your show? How did you land the gig?

The show was just sort of handed to me by one of the format managers over there. I guess he was a fan of my blog, and blogs in general, so he hooked me up, along with Brooklyn Vegan and Productshop NYC.It's been a lot of fun so far. I still sound sort of clueless on air, but I've had some bands help me out as guest DJs, which has been cool. Tapes 'n Tapes co-hosted the last show, and I got Mike Skinner of the Streets to do a couple drops for this week's show. And I'm going to hopefully be doing a couple things with some local-ish bands in the near future, like Midlake and Sound Team. I have no idea what I hope to accomplish, I haven't really thought about that yet. I guess it's basically just a real-life extension of the blog.

If musicians get laid for being musicians because musicians are cool, and bloggers play a role in deciding WHICH musicians are cool, will bloggers ever be.... we already are, dude. No seriously, I know what you're getting at, and no, I've never had sex with any of the guys in Birdmonster.

Strategy Report

As many of you know, the Strategies of Beauty Festival Vol. 1 will be going down on Saturday July 1st at Rubber Gloves, starting at 4pm ($5). Although some people seem to think that we coined the phrase "new weird Denton" to describe a noise/experimental folk "scene" that many of these bands may or may not be a part of, we actually didn't come up with it at all. Some guy (or girl) in one of the comment threads did, and I think it was a joke. But what the hell do I know?

We're not sure if there is actually one of these "scene" things in Denton, and we're also not sure if any of these bands would consider themselves a part of one if there was, but we do think that many of the bands playing this festival are part of a short list of musicians that are doing creative, exciting, and forward thinking things in the metroplex right now. Are we saying that all of them are the second coming or something? No. But we are saying that this festival will provide a good opportunity to check out a group of bands that not only sound pretty different from everything else going on in DFWd, but could also end up having a sizeable impact in the area in the not too distant future. And did we mention that a lot of them happen to be a lot of fun to listen to?

The whole thing costs five bucks, and a part of the proceeds will go to the People's Clinic of Denton County (click,) which helps provide health care to poor and uninsured residents of Denton County. There aren't too many bad things you can say about that. The festival might also be a good opportunity for likeminded fans and musicians to get together and drink, exchange ideas, meet new friends, start new musical projects, drink, etc. In short, it could be a pretty damn good way to spend a Saturday afternoon/evening. We think you should give it a try.

The following is a list of the bands playing the festival. We'll be doing profiles on some of our favorites over the next week and a half for your enjoyment:

Ribelle Scaltro (Denton)
Eat Avery's Bones (DFW)
iDi* amin (Denton)
Chris Garver (Denton)
Cue (Austin)
You Are the Universe (Denton)
Hotel Hotel (Austin)
Samantha L. Moss (Jetscreamer) and Emil Rapstine (The Angelus) (Denton)
Shiny Around the Edges (Denton)
Stumptone (Ft. Worth)
Fra Pandolf (Denton)
Notes From Underground (Denton)

No It List Today

Nothing going down in the magical land of music today. However, I would suggest using this non music non Mavs day to check out Matthew Barney's new movie staring some person called Bjork. Its playing at the Magnolia at 7 and 10 pm. Heres the preview, and here is the New York Times review (and I forgot, here is a negative review from the Village Voice, just to be Fair and Balanced:

Last Week's Good Records Chart

1. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
2. Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
3. Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
4. Danielson - Ships
5. Vetiver - To Find Me Gone
6. Hot Chip - The Warning
7. The Paper Chase - Now You Are One Of Us
8. Daedelus - Denied the Days Demise
9. The Theater Fire - Everybody Has a Dark Side
10. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope
11. The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off
12. Futureheads - News and Tributes
13. Juana Molina - Son
14. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
15. Tilly and the Wall - Bottoms of Barrels
16. Jolie Holland - Springtime Can Kill You
17. Neil Young - Living With War
18. Small Sins - Small Sins
19. Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
20. Neil Young - Heart of Gold [DVD]

Raconteurs? I can't stand it. I suppose I was once a pretty big White Stripes fan (White Blood Cells really blew me away when it came out, as well as their first two records), but I'm just pretty goddamn sick of that guy. I don't know why, other than the fact that I don't think he's released a decent song in the past three or four years.

And I gotta say: that new Sonic Youth album is pretty damn good, isn't it? Fairly short, more straight forward songs (for Sonic Youth at least), but I think they've made all the "noise" that any group of four people possibly ever could, and I'm enjoying the more mellow approach they seem to have taken for the past couple records.

What Was He Thinking?

I usually don't do Mavs post after a loss, but Jesus Christ. I absolutely cannot believe what went down tonight, especially in overtime. I'm not a conspiracy theory person, and no, I don't think that the NBA orders refs to extend a series by giving one team all the calls, but the league likes to protect their starts, and it sure seemed that they were going out of their way to protect Wade tonight. In the second half, he took more foul shots than the ENTIRE MAVS TEAM. And that last foul at the end of overtime? Well first of all, it wasn't a foul in any way, shape or form, and it shouldn't have been called at any point in a game (watch the replay if you don't believe me). But refs NEVER call fouls like that at the end of the game unless it is so obvious that they can't get away with not calling it. Way to go guys. Deciding a Finals game on free throws. I don't know what else to say.

And lets not forget what Josh Howard did. Not that the Mavs were likely to make a last second shot like that anyway, but come on. I knew they only had one time out left. Why didn't he? There is a debate about whether he actually called a time out or not, but it sure looked like he did in the replay, and the look on his face afterward kind of said it all. I just can't believe he did that, and there is NO excuse for it, despite his solid performance otherwise.

Earlier today, I said that this game was a must win for the Heat. And it was. But they won it, and because of the way it went down, I'm not sure that the Mavs can recover. I really hope they do, but I'm not feeling very good about it. This could be our one and only chance to see the Mavs get this close, and it feels like its slipping away.

It List: Sunday 6/18/06

I suppose I don't need to tell anyone that the Mavs game is on @ 8 tonight (although I guess I just did). The word is that Avery moved the team out of their plush hotel near South Beach and shipped em 45 minutes away to some suburban chain hotel. He's also not allowing them to hang out with friends and family as much. Good move. It seems that the Mavs went down there ready to relax and wrap the whole thing up, but now they know, as well as we do, that there is still a lot of work left to be done. I would stop short of calling this game a "must win," because no matter what, we'll have the two games back in Dallas if we need them. In fact, even though everything seems to be going Miami's way, I would say that this is a must win for THEM, because I don't see them (or anyone else) winning two in a row in Dallas.

Stack's absence is probably going to hurt, but it might also inspire the rest of the guys to get pissed, step up and have big games, even if they failed to do so in the San Antonio series when Terry was suspended. Although we all want Stack in the game, I don't think his absence will hurt as much as Terry's did, and I still feel like we have a good shot at winning this game. Lets hope so. And where the hell has Devin Harris disappeared to by the way?

Broadcast Sea/ Exit the King/ The Great Tyrant/ Man is Mostly Water (Rubber Gloves): Stoner rock, black metal, ambient noise, prog metal... it seems that there has been a resurgence of interest in these sounds recently, and I guess this is the show where some of the local incarnations of this sound are being showcased. Although we're not totally crazy about Broadcast Sea as of yet, we think they, along with Exit the King and the wonderful Great Tyrant, are certainly worth checking out even if the aforementioned genres aren't really your thing. Great Tyrant is certainly one of the most adventurous bands in the area right now, and should be experienced at least once.

It List: Saturday 6/17/06

1. The Undoing of David Wright/ The Night Game Cult/ Nora Keyes/ Madame P (Hailey's- $6): Of course you guys know the Undoing already, and Denton's Night Game Cult sounds pretty cool too, although we don't know much about them. They kind of do a minimal electro dance thing in the spirit of Junior Boys and stuff like that, which means that its good if not actually danceable. Probably worth checking out. Nora Keyes sounds like a midget witch singing in a broadway musical being performed in front of a bunch of rotting corpses. Its honestly some of the strangest music I've heard in a while. The first song on their Myspace page is too annoying for words, but the second one, "The Show is Over," is quite good. And if Nora Keyes is the stangest band I've heard in a while, Madame P is the second, although they (she?) are (is) almost as creepy. This is the place to be if you want to hear some really different stuff tonight.


Boogdish/ Chin Up Meriwether/ Eat Avery's Bones (Metrognome- Ft. Worth $5): This should be another great show too. Boogdish, from Belton, TX (wherever the fuck that is) remind me of Soft Cell with more of a bedroom pop feel and much more aggressive, punk influenced vocals. Chin Up will be liked by fans of the post-punk neotwee K Records sound of the late 80s/ early 90's. And EAB always puts on a great show.

New Teenage Symphony Songs

Teenage Symphony just posted two new songs on their Myspace page, "A Promise" and "I'll Never Forget You." We usually don't make little announcements about Myspace crap, but they are both really good and well worth your time, unlike most Myspace band bulletins about "Check out or new shit" or whatever.

Some Videos

From our friend Taylor. He's got more on his YouTube page as well.



Daniel Francis Doyle





Green Milk from the Planet Orange in Austin (also played at Metrognome)

Bitch Slap

It List: Friday 6/16/06

1. Echo and the Bunnymen (Gypsy Tea Room- $20): I'm not going to go into a whole long thing on Echo and the Bunnymen, because I seriously doubt I could say anything about them that you haven't read or heard someone say before. I thought their most recent album was really good considering how old they are, and how bad it COULD have been. And actually, scratch that, I though it was pretty damn good independent of that stuff too. If Ian can still sing, which I bet he can, this will be one to remember.

Also, DJ G will be spinning at an Echo afterparty over at Avenue Arts (825 Exposition near Minc and the rest of the Expo park area). its $5, and his sets always rule.

2. Constantines/ Oakley Hall (Sons of Herman- $10): The Constantines are one of those bands that you just KNOW is going to be really good live, and honsetly, is there any other band that reminds you of Fugazi and the Boss at the same time? They play a lot of loud and fast, but also some slow and textured, and it will be interesting to see how the latter is pulled off live. Shine A Light was one of my favorite records a few years ago, and although I don't like their latest quite as much, I'm still pretty pumped up about this show. Oakley Hall should be a great opening act if you can get there early (by Sons of Hall standards, which could mean like right now).

Residual Echoes/ Mammatus (Metrognome Collective): Do you still need to be convinced that Metrognome is THE cutting edge venue in the Metroplex? I don't. Mammatus' sprawling, distorted stoneresque noisescapes should not be missed by anyone that gives a shit about that sort of thing.


(and you are going to start to see some changes around here in the next week. A new writer, some features that we've never tried before, and some other things that we don't wanna tell you about right now. Basically, we're going to be trying some new and different shit to see what sticks. Keep those eyez ballz peeled.)

Now What?

What the hell happened last night?

It List: Thursday 6/15/06

You bitches know theres a Mavs game tonight, don't you? I guess things got a little more interesting last game (remember, we don't do mavs posts when they lose), but I'm not worried at all. I think we take this one and send fat ass Shaq and rest of em to death's door. And I expect Josh Howard and company to deliver a beating to Mr. Wade tonight, and I'm gonna go ahead and guess that Dirk could be huge tonight. We'll see.


1. Fra Pandolf/ Mom/ In Dot Dat (J&Js- Denton) FREE: See below. Also, Fra and In Dot Dat should help make this a really goddamn good show.

2. Frequency Down Funeral: Record Hop/ Smile Smile/ Cordelane/ Voot Cha Index (Rubber Gloves $5): This should be another great show in, sigh, Denton tonight. Do local bands that I like ever play in Dallas anymore? We're down with Voot Cha of course, although we hear mixed reviews of their live shows. They're young, remember, and they seem to be too good at writing songs to not become a great live band some time soon. And we really want to see Record Hop again. We always like what we hear on record (hop) from them, and we always hear good things about their live shows, even though we didn't really jam out much to their performance at Wall of Sound. Hope to catch another show soon. Smile Smile? Mmmm... don't know about that. Maybe one smile. Cordelane is like indie music. I think thats a genre now.

3. Zoo (Cavern- Upstairs): Music videos, strange videos, good videos. A cool place to see some stuff you've never seen before, hear some stuff you've never heard before, and hopefully chill out after a Mavs win.

4. DJ G, as always, at Hailey's

Mom

Most Americans between the ages of 15 and 60 have probably had some kind of direct or indirect experience with LSD, acid, and/or other kinds of psychedelic drugs during their lifetimes. A few people seem to love them enough to partake regularly, and often claim that they are a cure for many of the world's (and their own) problems. These people are called hippies, UNT students on academic probation, and Timothy Leary. Other people try them once, have an incredibly bad experience, and don't touch any of them again. Others don't ever try these drugs (even though they kind of want to) because they are afraid, which is a probably a shame in most cases. And then there are people that never have the desire and/or means to tune in and drop out at all, and hence never do. This is probably for the best in most cases. However, the majority of people fall somewhere in between these categories, or have at the very least had a relationship with a person or persons (including fictional characters) that have taken these drugs and lived to tell typically corny tales about religious experiences, visuals and the "oneness of all the creatures on the earth." The point is, even if a majority of Americans never have and never will touch a psychedelic drug, everyone seems to have enough familiarity with what they do to at least imagine what it might be like to take one. Put simply, they have been a part of the collective American psyche since the baby boomers took over, and it seems to have as much to do with culture as it does with chemicals.

The thing thing that you always hear about psychedelics is that they come and go in waves of euphoria and fear, often taking users to the heights of heaven before dropping them down to the gates of hell at a moment's notice. Beauty, enlightenment, mind expansion, fear (and loathing), paranoia, and destruction are all supposedly lurking in the back of one's mind during these experiences, and they all take turns running the show at different points in time. This is this kind of exciting push/pull relationship that Mom's music captures quite well, and I have no idea whether they take drugs or not.

This would normally be the stage in the post where I tell you about the guys in the band, what they do, how they make their music, etc. But my information requests from Mom didn't produce many of these details, so I'll instead give you a little taste of what they told me about their interests:

* Sculptor Andy Goldsworthy click
* Music Boxes click
* Wind Chimes click
* Womb Noises click
* Making what they call "sky music" click

They also live together and record their music at home, but thats about all I know. And while this lack of information can be a little frustrating, listening to their songs reveals how little any of the Behind the Music factoids matter to them. And after a few listens, the band's bio probably won't matter much to you either. Mom's instrumental songs seem to thrive somewhere in this psychedelic realm of twisting emotions and changing states of mind, but their tense and purposeful electronic components separate the music from anything that would normally be labeled "psychedelic." Clean, quiet acoustic guitars playing pretty notes fade in and out throughout the tracks, allowing bits of noise, feedback and glitchy blips to build up, break down and destroy themselves before starting anew in a different and slightly altered place, without ever getting too far away from where they started. The songs are all about contrast, at once beautiful and unnerving, ethereal and precise, they come and go in unexpected waves that combine the synthetic electro noise and organic acoustics in a way that produces tension while remaining completely seamless. They are joyous and sad, destructive and gentle, and yet somehow make complete sense as a cohesive whole. This might sound like a lot of bullshit to you, but I bet if you listen, you'll discover some of the introverted beauty of these songs and the range of emotions that they inspire. You'll also discover, much like I did, that you don't have to give two shits about mushrooms or hippies to appreciate the, um, trip that these songs will take you on. God I hate those baby boomers.

"We Know" MP3 (grab this one first)

" the sound of joy" MP3

Mom plays tonight at J&Js for free.

It List: Wednesday 6/14/06

1. Chief Death Rage/ Bark Bark Bark/Eat Avery's Bones (J&Js- Denton): Everyone that reads this blog knows what we thing of the the first and last bands on this list, so we won't go over that again. We'll just say J&Js knows what they are doing as far as booking goes. Bark Bark Bark are a Phoenix electo band that reminds us of Les Georges Leningrad, a baltimore junk version of !!! and a little Spank Rock, which all equals drunk dancing after a couple JJs pints. Should be good.

2. DJ G 80's House Night (Cavern downstairs): Oh yeah, stuff still happens in Dallas sometimes too... like great dance nights that most people choose to ignore. Fuck, theres gotta be enough cool kids in Dallas without jobs to make this a well populated event every week, doesn't there? Maybe not. You should give it a try: its Italo, chicago house, etc. No "Take on Me" to be heard.

3. The Party w/ DJ Nature (Rubber Gloves- Denton): I've had more people email me thanking us for introducing them to DJ Nature than any other band/musician we've ever talked about on here.

4. The creeping and dark yet strangely soothing A Childlike Fear from Ft. Worth will be opening for Fishboy and Ryan Anderson tonight at the Metrognome Collective. Great acoustic folk with minimal, ambient soundscapes serving as a backdrop to unique, slightly offkey vocal harmonies that don't sound like much else in the DF to da dub right now. Its emotional stuff without being cheap or crybaby. How many bands around here pull that shit off? Listen for yourself.

It List: Tuesday 6/13/06

sorry, I'm having internet problems today, so I've gotta make this quick in order to make it at all:


1. Notes from Underground/Bob White and the F Electrics (J&Js- Denton) Should be a great show down in the basement, and its free.

2. Lost Generation w/Wanz (Cavern Upstairs): Heres what he's playing tonight:

new trax from Scott Walker(this record rulez), Burial, Peaches, Paper Chase, Primal Scream, My Education, Barry Adamson, Mission of Burma, Yo la Tengo, Matthew Herbert, MSTRKFT, Digital Mystikz, Tom Ze, Venetian Snares, Oneida and a bunch of remixes by Phones


3. The excellent White Drugs will be over at Darkside Lounge tonight. I'm starting to like these guys more and more every time I hear them.

4. Paul Slavens Music Theory Lessons (Rubber Gloves): Paul Slavens will be discussing music theory and various other things tonight for free at Rubber Gloves. I hear drinking will be involved. It starts at 9pm, and I bet it should be fun. Some kind of improv jam thing will be going down as well.

5. Prayer for Animals will be over at the Tea Room tonight. I've heard some new material from these guys, and it seems that they are going off in all kinds of strange directions. I think they got a reputation early on as being some sort of BJM rip off (there is some truth to that), but it sounds like they are really developing a pretty interesting sound of their own these days. I stand by my previous statement: a band to keep your eye on.

Sorry about the no links today, but I'm just pressed for time. We'll be back on the game tomorrow. I also think you will really enjoy some of the stuff we've got planned for the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Evil Empire

LOCAL MUSIC LAW #63: Christian emo dudes aren't allowed to act like Jesus is cool, and they certainly aren't allowed to act like they're really chilled out about the whole thing. If you've played at The Door, you're a nerd. There are no exceptions to this rule.

It List: Monday 6/12/06

tonight:


1. Tapes N Tapes/ Figurines/ Cold War Kids (Gypsy Tea Room Tea Room): I know its Monday and everything, but you might want to get your rocks off while you can, because this appears to be the big show of the week. I'm going to go ahead and guess that the readers of this blog don't need an introduction to Tapes N Tapes, and probably don't want to read another blog post about how good they are. Thats cool, cuz I really don't feel like writing one, even though I should say that I have started to dig their record quite a bit, despite my initial skepticism. Moving on, The Figurines are one of those bands that make we wonder whether or not I'm supposed to like them. On the one hand, they are from Denmark, have a "the" in their name (sooo 2001), and kind of look cute and fashionable, which makes me feel ugly and behind the times. They're also friends with The Cribs on their Myspace page, which takes away some additional points. But shit, I got pretty hooked on their songs a few days ago during my pre-show download n listen, and I'll be damned if they aren't writing some of the best punk-influenced jangle pop on either side of the Atlantic right now. Come to think of it, they might be the only band that does what I just said in a way that doesn't suck. Think Buzzcocks if they had been friends with Wayne Coyne. And Cold War Kids, well... I'm just not that impressed with them. At first they reminded me of Maroon 5, and then of the French Kicks, and then Jeff Buckley in Strokes cover band, and then I pretty much gave up. In fairness, I suppose they are better than some of those bands, but I'm just too bored with stuff like this to really give a shit. Sorry. Based on the records, though, I think Tapes and Figurines will be well worth the ten bucks or whatever.

And for those that don't like paying for stuff, you can catch the Figurines at Good Records at 6. Give em a listen.

Last Week's Good Records Chart

1. The Paper Chase - Now You Are One Of Us
2. The Theater Fire - Everybody Has a Dark Side
3. Vetiver - To Find Me Gone
4. Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
5. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
6. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country
7. Danielson - Ships
8. Sound Team - Movie Monster
9. Boards of Canada - Trans Canada Highway
10. Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off
11. Mojave 3 - Puzzles Like You
12. Philip E Karnats - Pleasesuite
13. Wolfmother - Wolfmother
14. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
15. Be Your Own Pet - Be Your Own Pet
16. Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops
17. Struart A. Staples - Leaving Songs/Lucky Dog Recordings 03
18. Asobi Seksu - Citrus
19. Astronautalis - The Mighty Ocean & Nine Dark Theaters
20. Scott Walker - The Drift


Two locals at the top of the charts this week. When was the last time that happened? Probably not long ago, but I think its the first time I've seen it since we started posting these charts. Not that its particularly exciting or anything, but it certainly takes away from those dumb arguments about people "Not supporting the scene." People will buy good stuff when it comes out. I promise.

And its nice to see Vetiver making an appearance, as well as Scott Walker holding his place.

And a special thanks to Google Image Search for giving me a reason to listen to Be Your Own Pet. I would probably be preparing myself to feel ripped off right now, but its not like I'm gonna buy it or something.

Served

5 points, 2-5 shooting, 1-7 from the free throw line and 6 rebounds in 20 minutes. I guess thats Shaq's "No more Mr. Nice Guy" line in an NBA finals game. Of course, it wasn't really possible to tell whether he played like total shit or not, because the Mavericks absolutely smothered him each and every time he touched the ball, with especially fantastic performances from Diop and Dampier, who Shaq probably won't be referring to as "Ericka" again for the rest of the series. Although there were some great offensive moments, I tonight was the best defense in a single game that I've ever seen the Mavs play. They shut down Shaq and basically did the same to Wade, while holding the rest of the team in check with solid coverage on almost every Heat possession.

Dirk and Howard were obviously back on their games, and Stackhouse was absolutely killer with those 3s. Harris played well too, and even Damps got in on the scoring with a rare fast break dunk. Tonight, we looked like an NBA finals team, and they looked like a second round exit Eastern Conference team at best. That being said, Tuesday in Miami will be a very tough game to win. The crowd will be going nuts, and Pat Riley (along with the rest of the world) knows that this is a must win for his guys, and he'll have them ready to play. However, I can't help but feel that we have done everything we could have possibly wanted to, and I feel much more comfortable in this series than I ever did in either the Phoenix or San Antonio series. It also feels good to know that if any team in Mavericks history could win this next game in Miami, its this year's squad, lead by a guy who is coach of the year, and already clearly the best in Mavericks history.

Oh, and a message to the anti-sports people: get ready for fun, because USA World Cup coverage starts tomorrow.

It List: Sunday 6/11/06

Cex/ Love of Everything/ Various Laptop Deatmatch artists (Hailey's): To sort of quote the Vaselines, Cex sucks. "IDM," if its a real genre at all, really has to be done well in order to work in my mind. The 19 year old kid that is Cex doesn't quite pull it off, because I just don't think the world needs another jokey white hip hop kid, even if his beats are a little better than that of the average jokey hip hop kid. The reason we are recommending this show, however, is the charming electro-folkpop of Love of Everything, and the always great participants in the Laptop Deathmatch scene.

It List: Saturday 6/10/06

things to do:


1. Sean Kirkpatrick/Chris Flemmons/John Wesley Coleman/ Dj Nature and No2Self (Rubber Gloves): This is a birthday party for Geminis I suppose, and there are two things you should know right off the bat: 1) Its free for everyone; 2) and there is free beer for people that can prove via id that they are in fact Geminis. Too bad for me. But even still, it should be a really fun show. Paper Chase's Sean Kirkpatrick goes on at 930 on the dot with some cool piano based numbers that don't sound a bit like the Paper Chase in parts but are much more melodic on the whole. Baptist General's Chris Flemmons will do some solo stuff right after, followed by a performance from Austin's John Wesley Coleman. We've only heard the one song on his myspace page, but it is that one song that is forcing us to consider driving up to denton tonight. Really cool wall of noise with sort of a Thurston Moore meets outsider vocal delivery that has us pretty intrigued. Would like to hear what the rest of it sounds like, and its free, so what do we (or you) have to lose? And of course, after coleman, Nature and NO2self will be kicking everyones ass with a great dj set until closing. Check out NO2self's stuff on the myspace if you haven't already.

You are the Universe at 1919 Hemphill IS CANCELLED TONIGHT.... so nevermind.


2. And Chris Garver will be in the early opening slot at the Cavern tonight with Brooklyn's Megan Reilly (snooze), Backsliders, and Naptime Shake (Noah Bailey of the Observer).

Thats all we knows about.

Some MP3s

The first is the title track from Thom Yorke's forthcoming solo album, The Eraser. I've listened to the whole thing a few times, and I've got a message for all the people that have been waiting for this guy to fuck up: You'll have to keep waiting, because the album is really good. Sure, a lot of it does sound like Radiohead (duh), but the album also finds Yorke heading off in some different directions, taking a great deal of inspiration from German microhouse on many of the tracks, and stripping down some the Radiohead signature sounds to give us more space and a somewhat cleaner experience. The beats are fantastic, and the album as a whole is slighter happier and more dance oriented than any of Radiohead's stuff (but still has nothing to do with the kind of music that you would dance to at a club). He really sounds like a more somber Arthur Russell having a panic attack on a lot of these tracks, and appears to be getting a little more adventurous with his vocals too. Listen:

"The Eraser" MP3


And second, by request, we have a new track from Vetiver's latest, To Find Me Gone. There are some very hypnotic, sleepy and kinda dark folkish tracks on this one, and the opener would be a pretty great example of the general themes and sounds you would hear on the rest of the record. However, we've decided to post our favorite song, which is probably the least like any of the other tracks, being more blues influenced than the rest. Its very good stuff, and slowly becoming one of our favorites this year:

"You May be Blue" MP3


If artists, management or labels would like these tracks removed, please email Weshotjr@yahoo.com and we will take them down immediately. Thanks.

I'm an Idiot

THE EVENT DISCUSSED BELOW WAS YESTERDAY. I WROTE DOWN THE WRONG DATE. ITS A FIRST FOR ME, I THINK. SO SUE ME.

The new Art Prostitute Space is at 2919-C Commerce in good ol' big D, for the one person that didn't know that. And Found Magazine will be there tonight at 8pm. If you haven't seen Found or don't know what its all about, click here. This should be a pretty interesting little event. Its a $5 donation at the door.

It List: Friday 6/9/06

For the first time in a couple of days, it looks like we will be able to post an "It" list. I really hate blogger.

The New Year/Shellac show was pretty great last night by the way. I personally am not the biggest New Year fan (although I do like Bedhead quite a bit, particularly the first record), but I was pretty blown away by their set. I found their last album to be pretty boring, but this was the first time I had seen them live, and I thought there were some pretty powerful moments. Like one of the comment posters below said, "18" was incredible, and although they didn't exactly have a memorable stage presence, I thought the quiet noise guitar attack was pretty intense and more than made up for the lack of movement on stage. And by the way, I dissed the New Year back during WOS because I wasn't crazy about their newer stuff. Defensive Listening, a different writer, thinks differently. And after seeing them live, I think I might give them another shot.

I also have to give some props to the poster that said Shellac was just as guilty of being "repetitive" as the New Year, but in a completely different way. I agree, but I guess I like repetitive music because I really liked their set too. It was great to see Steve Albini here in Dallas, and the set was tight, energetic, and just plain rockin' most of the time. I actually really enjoyed some of the moments when they got very quiet and minimal, with Albini whispering over some feedback and guitar clanking before absolutely exploding and going back into their rhythmic assault. They're no Big Black, but who is?

Actually, I missed some of the New Year set because I was busy running up and down the stairs watching the Mavs win a huge ballgame last night. Shit, when Dirk and Josh shoot for a combined 25% and we still win, I think we're in really good shape. It was kind of surreal seeing the Mavericks in the NBA finals, and judging by their nervous first quarter performance, they agreed with me. Its like it took them a while to realize that they were actually playing in the finals. They didn't get much better at any point in the game, but they improved enough to take the lead in the last second of the first half (great shot, Dirk) and hang on to win it in the second. The only thing that worries me is that Miami seemed to get a good number of open shots at the end of the game... they just missed them. I think we played a pretty shitty game overall, but we're up 1-0 and thats what counts. If Dirk and Josh have big game 2s (and Jet continues his hot streak), I think we are going to fly into Miami with every reason to think we can finish em off.

And oh man, the Denton beards were in full effect at the show last night.


Tonight:

If you wanna go "Out" out tonight, as in dance and stuff, then I think you would be dumb if you didn't head over to Zubar (yeah yeah, I know, its Zubar) to check out Dj Nature with his friend $elect. Its completely free, and if the house crowd comes out for this like they did at Ave Arts the other week, it should be a blast. You know you wanna.

On the rock tip, Voot Cha Index is playing over at the Darkside Lounge.

Radio 4 kinda blows.

We'll have some good MP3s and stuff for you later as well.