The Weekender: 4/13-4/15

(Contributions from Defensive Listening as well)

FRIDAY

Goth Valentine's Day with The Pointy Shoe Factory/The Night Game Cult/The Undoing Of David Wright/Minx Burlesque (SHQ Denton): Secret Headquarters may face capacity issues with this one. Here you have two(!) recently reunited bands playing on the most suitable day for both acts just short of a Halloween show. The Pointy Shoe Factory's legend has only grown since they disbanded with some of the area's prominent younger musicians citing them as an influence. In fact, since they'll be sharing the floor of SHQ with The Undoing, you will actually get to witness their influence live. Almost too much personality for one band, you have the wonderfully over-the-top lyrical drama of vocalist Daron Beck, Night Game Cult leader Kyle Cheatham on bass, and the best possible showcase for Tyler Walker's explosively good drumming. It's either a privilege to see these three together again or for the first time if you missed them a few years ago. Night Game Cult will also be performing and I've seen one solid show after another from him in the past six months. You could almost say "them" seeing as how much the audience tends to play a role in each performance. As excited as I was to see The Undoing Of David Wright at Rubber Gloves last week, I'm almost more excited to see them unleash their fury in front of a captive audience in the more intimate confines of SHQ. Sound problems also seem to be more manageable in that room. Minx Burlesque is a spirited take on that timeless Vaudevillian art-form with more talent and soul than you get with emaciated Suicide Girls knockoffs around the country.

David Karsten Daniels/Arbouretum/The Naptime Shake (The Cavern): Well there's not gonna be any dancin' at this show (or swimmin' for that matter), but we can take a night off from all that stuff if the music is as good as what you'll find at The Cavern tonight. The weary, hazy sounds of Thrill Jockey's excellent Arbouretum might actually be a perfectly chill way to start a weekend: founder Dave Heumann has played with the likes of Bonnie Prince Billy in the past, but the compelling atmospherics found on his band's debut album have a lot more to do with soft psyche folk and Built to Spill than Will Oldham's material. Wildcat suggested that they sound like a typical Drag City band, and I agree. And thats a compliment. DKD's latest release might remind some of you of bands like Pink Mountaintops, Wooden Wand and Six Organs of Admittance, and although much of the (ironic?) religious imagery of those bands is present throughout his material, Daniels' music leans a lot more trad folk than most of those guys. Very solid.

SATURDAY

Fry Street Fair (Denton North Fairgrounds): So a lot of the bands at Fry Street Fair are probably going to be a major beating... Space Cadet, Mad Mexicans, the list goes on and on. And then there are a lot of bands that I've never even heard of before, many of whom will probably suck too. But whatever. Most people go to Fry Street Fair just to drink and goof off anyway, and there will be SOME good bands scattered throughout the day, including: Tame... Tame and Quiet, Current Leaves, Record Hop, Jetscreamer, Red Monroe and Knee Pad. And since its like 5 or 10 bucks to get in, it probably wouldn't hurt to check it out, as long as you can save your energy for the evening's festivities.

8th Continent Not Fry Street Show: This is one of the two Denton events that we are really looking forward to. Our first post on this show has all the details and links, but let me spit the line up out at you one more time: Abigail & Hansel, Hotel Hotel, Zanzibar Snails, Delphi, Oveo, Angry Businessmen, Nouns Group, Christian! Teenage Runaways, Chief Death Rage, Unconscious Collective and The Great Tyrant. Shit thats good. And to top it all off, its free, BYOB, and located at one of the most pleasant DIY venues in the area. If you're up in Denton on Saturday, I would say that stopping by is necessary, especially to check out the incredibly intense noise theatrics of The Great Tyrant at midnight. The first band goes on at 2pm, and as far as we know, they are playing in the order you see them here, every hour on the hour. Located at 731 Texas St. in Denton.

Ladies' Night @ 715 Panhandle with: Koji Kondo/Teenage Cool Kids/Get Serious/Angry Businessmen/Jumping Phoenix/Black Wizardz/Trifle Tower (8pm): Now that you know how great we think this place is, go for see for yourself but only if you want to have a fucking awesome time. This is a pretty straight-forward all out rock show with the punishing blast beats of San Antonio duo Get Serious, the skronky hardcore of Koji Kondo, 90's indie rock influenced Teenage Cool Kids, the screaming complexity of Trifle Tower, and brand new Alex Atchley project Black Wizardz. Angry Businessmen are working overtime by playing this show as well as making an appearance at the 8th and I don't really know anything about Jumping Phoenix, but I do know that this show will be a lot of fun. Come witness the increasingly rare phenomenon of an audience that gives a shit.

Lollipop Shop w/ Dj Tiger Bee and DJ Panda Flower (Avenue Arts)

Zoo (The Cavern): Shit. We haven't been able to stop by for an episode of Zoo in a while, but the always entertaining video DJs are really busting out with some great stuff as of late. Check the partial set list for Saturday night:

NEW & Classic MUSIC VIDEO by:BSS, Groove Armada, the Flaming Lips, Justice, Gus Gus, M.I.A.,theKINKS, Radiohead, the Knife, R.E.M., Faithless,LIARS, 2-Pac, Simian Mobile Disco, LCD Sound System & MORE...+ LIVE & RARE stuff from:Beck '97, Reo Speedwagon '81, Pulp '99, Squarepusher '03, Tom Waits '74 - '94, the PIXIES '93, Lynyrd Skynyrd '74, White Stripes '04, & KISS '74 - '77

If you're in Dallas, you'd be dumb not to stop by for a drink at least. Most of the newer electronica stuff they're showing here is fantastic, and acts like The Knife, Justice and Liars seem to take their video production serious enough to make the visuals a must see.

Elsewhere, We Shot J.R. will pay you good money if you take acid and go see The Charlie Daniels Band and Little Texas for free at Sundance Square. First band at 6pm!


SUNDAY

Blood Brothers/Celebration/The Dead Science (Ridglea Theater): Gotta be honest: I'm not the biggest Blood Brothers guy. I understand what they're trying to do I suppose, and I'm sure they're great live, but theres something about them that just ventures too closely to screamo for me sometimes. Someone will probably want to hang me for that, but what can I do? I'll take the Locust if I have to make a choice. However, my so-so take on BB will not prevent me from going to the show to catch the excellent Celebration, who are probably one of the more overlooked post-punk influenced bands to have emerged over the past couple of years, reminding me of a more gentle Slits at times. Besides, its been like six months since I've been able to use the phrase "angular guitars."