Weekender: 4/6-4/8/07

FRIDAY

Chris Garver/Street Hassle/Jacob Ides (Secret Headquarters): A good songwriter with a lack of self-importance that permeates the work of similar inwardly focused artists. I prefer Garver with a backing band as the sometimes shaky setup only emphasizes the uncomfortable vulnerability of the material. Street Hassle sounds like you like you might expect from a band that named themselves after a Lou Reed solo album, though they sound more like Peel Slowly And See out-takes than his 70's material. This didn't grate on me the way some of the VU knock-off bands do and I hope I can say the same for their live show. Jacob Ide is a singer-songwriter from Oklahoma but his preaching to the choir lyrics, while well-intentioned, possess all the subtlety of being hit in the mouth with a claw hammer.

Select/Sober (Adikt Footwear): Sober and Select play this Gallery Opening at a Adikt Footwear, a specialty sneaker and apparel shop. This event is from 6:00 to 9:00 pm tonight, so you should probably shut down your computer if you're reading this right now and you plan on attending. I'm wondering if Select is ballsy enough to play "Walking On Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox two weekends in a row. Is that a jam now? Without a doubt one of the most confusing DFW music moments I've had in a good while. Thanks, Select.


Tame...Tame And Quiet/A Childlike Fear/Eaton Lake Tonics (The Chatroom): Tame...Tame And Quiet is that rare local band that a wide variety of people seem to agree on, and that includes everyone from the "It's all good" mainstreamers to the hateful hipsters. It's somewhat surprising considering Tame...Tame and Quiet don't seem to go out of their way to please anyone but themselves and I'm glad people are noticing. We would have had the definitive review of their album if I hadn't lost my damn copy. I'll see what we can do. It's never too late to blow everyone's fucking mind. Eaton Lake Tonics features the songs of Anthony Dominic Ferraro played with a revolving cast of backing musicians. As such, there have been mixed reviews of their live shows, none of which really come from reputable sources so we'll see. A Childlike Fear have a creepy name and a creepy sound but that's not a bad thing. Having this CD release show at The Chatroom is definitely not a bad thing and I want to reiterate that this hidden little Fort Worth gem is the only bar where I always completely enjoy myself in the Metroplex. Forget that Old Monk nonsense.

Ted Leo And The Pharmacists/Love Of Diagrams (The Granada): I've never been able to really get behind Ted Leo's work, even in the acclaimed Chisel. I always thought he made more sense as a Lookout Records act as opposed to Touch And Go. Australian openers, Love Is A Diagram sound like they could be okay and they somewhat resemble the late, great Canadian band, The Organ, but without, well...an organ.

SATURDAY

The Undoing of David Wright/Eat Avery's Bones/Cry Blood Apache/Ghost Hustler (Rubber Gloves): It's no secret. We like these people. The whole damn lineup. This could be the show of the Spring. Go if you don't believe me. I'm sure someone you know will. The Undoing of David Wright ends their painfully long hiatus and we're going to do something a little different today by letting the band tell you what they've got planned in their own words with this press release:

The Undoing of David Wright Is Back!
Cybernetics, Ghost Stories, and Comics

DENTON, TX – Experimental punk band The Undoing of David Wright returns from hiatus with announcements about their new experiments in performance technology, their April 7th CD release show, and their new comic book.

Six months following the show rumored to be their last, The Undoing of David Wright return to the stage this Saturday, April 7th, at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios in Denton, Texas. “Throughout our hiatus we have not been dead or in comas,” defiantly claims programmer/vocalist Lars Larsen. “We have been in a phase of heavy experimentation, developing new songwriting workflows and performance techniques.” The primary shift of which Lars speaks is the introduction of a Computer Machine on stage. Shingles Tuwear (bass) and A. Train (guitar) will now run their instruments thru the Computer Machine’s audio interface for not-so-subtle manipulation, and then back out to their amplifiers. “This approach has afforded us unparalleled freedom in the precise manipulation of our sound, and the automation of Computer Machine-based effects allows us to accomplish previously unimaginable things, such as the ability to, hands-free, swap the sounds of live instruments instantly, in mid-song. In keeping with our original philosophy of concept, we are in this way able to reach towards greater complexity and texture, while further eliminating the need for any knob tweaking mid-set. So we can still drive across the stage on flaming combat motor bikes and make scary faces at all times.”

“The entire experience has become very cybernetic. We’ve always used synthetic drum sounds in an attempt to liberate our creativity – the use of synthetic drums is referenced heavily in the third of our Eight Laws of Undoing. But now the production knowledge we’ve accumulated in this sector can be cross-applied to the biologically controlled instrumentation of the band as well – without altering the immediacy of the performance,” says Larsen. “It’s kind of like building a really badass playground for yourself. To be honest, this crazy ass Computer Machine power should not even be in our hands, because we love playgrounds a lot, even though ours tend to topple over and hurt people.” In addition to the reconfiguration of cables and Computer Machines on stage this Saturday, Larsen promises, with a wicked creepy smile, “a wicked creepy looking sequenced light show, shit-tons of fog, sunglasses with little blue lights in them, and the customary nihilism of any Undoing performance.”

The Undoing of David Wright will release Ghost Stories, a self-produced CD EP, at the show this Saturday. In addition to new tracks featuring The Undoing’s first experimentations with the Computer Machine, the CD will finish with remix and/or live versions of songs from We Dig With Fingers Crossed and the upcoming full-length Tales of The Eighth Continent. There will be a limited, numbered edition of 50 pieces made. That’s right, pieces. Not copies. The packaging is painstakingly created out of layered foam shapes – and each cover will feature unique, one-of-a-kind artwork handmade by the ghost of an infamous Atlantean sculptress the band met while conducting a séance during their most recent Icelandic tour. “We can’t release her name,” Larsen says. “We don’t want just any band to summon her up.” Ghost Stories is an experiment by the band, who are interested in a parallel universe in which music, and all other information, is free; and finding ways for career-driven independent artists to survive requires alternative thinking. “While we are grateful to anyone who contributes financially to our project by the purchase of our recordings, we do not expect the modern consumer of music to feel motivated to purchase physical media unless it is in some way unique, limited, or really fucking cool looking. Ghost Stories is an experiment in all three, to see if these attributes will indeed stir up interest in the purchase of our recordings,” says Larsen. Ghost Stories is a thematic sequel to their 2005 release, We Dig With Fingers Crossed, and features narrative-driven songs about the spirits of deceased grave robbers.

The Undoing of David Wright are still negotiating the release of their upcoming full length, Tales of the Eighth Continent, and hope to see it out by the end of the year. The band will share no details about what projects are up next, only whispering conspiratorially about dark cities in cyberspace and interactive video.

As if the new CD and stage show weren’t enough to keep them busy, The Undoing of David Wright is collaborating with New York comic book artist Sunday Hollis on the first issue of The Undoing of David Wright comic book. “It’s kind of an early 00’s teenage Twilight Zone,” says Larsen, who is the writer. “Doing a comic has always been one of our big wouldn’t-it-be-cool-if ideas, and it’s a pleasant surprise to see it happening.” The first issue is titled The Dorm of Doom Pt. 1, is 6 pages long, and will be self-published by the band. “Our various misadventures are much too larger-than-life for photographs or biographies. They are best recorded in comic books. When we make music, we make it for ourselves. And the comic is aligned with that same philosophy. Therefore, there will be a lot of jokes you won’t get, so don’t try.” The comic will also be released at the April 7th show alongside Ghost Stories and a new run of unique merchandise.

Written by the ghost of William Burke. April 5, 2007.

Wow. It's hard enough for most bands to try keep their guitars in tune.



Beauxregard/Plid/Marcus Rubio/Freak Noise Afterparty with 2MAI (Secret Headquarters): Beauxregard are an ambitious local pop band that evolved out of the now-defunct Trophy Club, a charming local group that disbanded a few years ago. Beauxregard is a little more slick than that outfit but I'd still like to see them to compare and contrast. Plid is straight 80's craziness with some of the most authentic Reagan-era synth sounds I've heard from many of these retro groups. I'm not quite clear on the 2MAI after-party situation but if someone would like to explain, it would be much appreciated.

Unconscious Collective will be playing a free show at Red Blood Club at 1:00 pm.

Tame...Tame And Quiet will also be playing a free in-store today at Good Records at 3 PM. This is in anticipation of their show that night at The Cavern with Black Lights and Tober Omi.


MC Router/Mad Happy (Bar Of Soap): Mad Happy do this mix of folk and hip-hop that sounds somewhat like Portishead and Coco Rosie. MC Router is the premier nerd-core rapper in the area.

SUNDAY:

We'll let you know.