Weekender

FRIDAY

Hard Place/MVSCLZ/Tommy Boy/Fight Bite (Swiss House, 3114 Swiss Ave.): Fight Bite's morbid and morose lyricism might stick out a little here, but I'm sure it will be fine if you kind of bob your head and ignore the part where they talk about killing themselves...and killing "everyone else." Lighten up guys, Dallas ain't so bad! Mvsclz took me by surprise when I found out that it was the most recent project of Austin photographer Ben Aqua, the man behind the costumed, one-man metal shredding nightmare Assacre. Mvsclz is the complete opposite of Assacre, as the music is stark yet slippery disco beats and synths. Touring act Hard Place mixes equal parts melodrama and sleaze, sounding somewhat like Glass Candy if they started reincorporating the glam guitar of their early records into their current electronic sound. Tommy Boy continues to be one of the most intriguing figures in local music, occasionally causing you to stop and think, "Am I actually listening to this David Gilmour solo? Is that Europe? I don't know WHAT'S COOL ANYMORE!" And that's how I know someone's doing their job. (DL) PS-- Maybe the most interesting line up of any Swiss House show yet. (SR)

Mt. Righteous/The Unbearables/Magicfly (Space Studios): A Melissa's Delux Party featuring the current darlings of the Dallas Observer's music staff, Mt. Righteous. When was the last time the Observer broke a band, anyway? Moving on, I visited Space Studios a few weeks ago and I found it to be quite comfortable-- the space itself is large and inviting, and if they can work out a few of their sound issues, I'd say they are on their way to having a nice little venue over there. Now if only it weren't in Deep Ellum...

Broadcast Sea/Exit the King/Cleric/Pools (Rubber Gloves)

SATURDAY

Darktown Strutters/Mistress/Florene/Dirty Diamond/Lychgate (Wisconsin, 731 Texas St. Denton): Excellent and varied local line up of some Denton groups who actually reward you for allowing them to take risks. We're not sure about the order these groups are playing in, so hopefully someone from the venue can post the set orders and times in the comments section. Guys? The three bands here with Myspace pages couldn't possibly be more different from one another, and people who are into stuff like Metro Area, Tussle, Syclops and old mutant disco stuff should certainly give Darktown Strutters a shot. Most of the bands nominated for Observer awards aren't even cool enough to THINK about sounding like them.

Transona Five/Dovehunter (Good Records): Transona Five goes on at 3pm, and Dove Hunter goes on at 4 to celebrate the release of their new CD The Southern Unknown. This will be Transona Five's only local show for a while apparently, so if you're a fan, you should plan to catch them while you can.

Play N Skillz Summer Jam feat. Lil Wayne/Plies/Bun B (Nokia Theater): This is actually a small part of a larger 3 day event hosted by Play N Skillz, the Dallas based production team that recently started gaining media attention thanks to their production on a track on Lil Wayne's latest album, Tha Carter III, which was followed by a subsequent photo spread and article in the Source featuring PNS and their take on all things Dallas. Some pretty sweet shit in there too, including a shout out to Big T Plaza ya'll. In case you didn't know, Lil Wayne's latest record has sold almost 2 million copies in the last four weeks, which is pretty amazing, isn't it? When you actually sit down and listen to it, and REALLY think about what it is you're listening to, it sort of becomes clear that Tha Carter III is one of the strangest pop smashes of all time. Seriously.

Peter Murphy/Ali Eskandarian (House of Blues): Bauhaus' Peter Murphy is sort of doing a career retrospective on this tour, drawing his set lists up from older Bauhaus albums, solo material, and the most recently released Bauhaus record, which came out last Spring. Murphy's three piece band on this tour includes Queens of the Stone Age drummer Nick Lucero. The cool thing about Bauhaus is that most "goth people" are too dumb to get them, leaving plenty of room for me to go to this show without worrying about running into that one goth chick I knew in high school that... uh, nevermind.

Hot Flash Party (Fallout Lounge): Hot Flash Party welcomes new member Genova on Saturday night. Expect to hear everything from funk to house to disco.

SUNDAY

George Michael (American Airlines Center): I don't know if I would enjoy a George Michael concert at American Airlines Center, especially if I had to buy one of those expensive tickets, but I have to admit that I'm just a tad buy curious about this one. The guy has sold over 100 million records worldwide over the course of his career, and many of his most popular singles have to rank amongst the best of trashy, 1980's throw away pop. Wham! hits such as "Everything She Wants" and "Club Tropicana" have stood the test of time better than anyone could have possibly imagined back then, and the fact that Wham is sort of a cool reference point/influence these days is pretty astounding. His solo career was also peppered with great hits like "Freedom 90," "Careless Whisper" and "I Want Your Sex," all of which are enjoyed by a lot more people than are willing to admit it. It's true that dude has done some pretty lame shit in his day, and I've honestly never even attempted to listen to an entire George Michael all the way through, but hearing all these singles in person might be enough of a reason to go to this. I also have a secret free parking spot near American Airlines Center that none of you idiots will ever be able to find. Ha ha.