Wednesday, October 15, 2008

It List: Wednesday


Opeth/High On Fire/Baroness (House Of Blues): I was reminded of Opeth when writing up the Kayo Dot show yesterday. They're a pretty polarizing group, you can either deal with the softer, baroque/goth-folk passages, or not, and I prefer their harshest moments, which like most bands, usually appear earlier in their career. Anyone who saw High On Fire at Rubber Gloves will probably be disappointed to have to see them at House Of Blues, but that's the way it goes. Metal seems to be recession-proof.

Boston Spaceships Featuring Robert Pollard/High Strung (The Loft):  Bob Pollard and Dressy Bessy in the same night, huh? It's looking totally 1996 up in here. Bob Pollard is one of the most frustrating songwriters in rock history, which he most deservingly found a place in, after clamoring and fighting for over a decade. Bob's work with Doug Gillard was really the end of GBV for me, they became much less unique after his arrival, add to that the departure of Tobin Sprout, who was kind of Pollard's McCartney if not his Grant Hart, and it was strictly his solo work for me at that point onward.  Minus the one with Gillard, of course.  Pollard managed to redeem himself through said solo work here and there, along with some unreleased brilliance with the "Suitcase" box-set release. Even with some subpar material, Pollard is always a joy live, and definitely worth seeing. If you can get your hands on the ultra-rare "Relaxation Of The Asshole," a live album that features nothing but drunken bragging, anecdotes and all other manner of Pollard's slurred show-banter collected in one place, I highly recommend it. It takes a special kind of guy to get up on stage and brag about how you made better records than your peers, (including Nirvana, as he once did in Dallas), and that recording perfectly captures that essence. I'm pretty tempted to see this show, despite the natural concern that it might not match some of the guy's better moments. Still, it's hard not to root for Bob Pollard. The High Strung scored some cred by touring our nation's libraries and landing themselves on This American Life. Not a bad idea, but not really the band I'd like to see in a library. I actually caught them at RGRS years ago, and didn't really enjoy it there either.  SHOW IS CANCELED TONIGHT... DONT GO THERE

UPDATE: There's a SEQUEL to that live album. Can't wait.

Dressy Bessy/Farah/Bad Flirt (Hailey's): I just listened to Dressy Bessy for the first time in years. Man, Elephant Six did not age well, that's about all I can say. At least Farah is playing.

Yeah Def (Rubber Gloves): This set is free for 21 and up, and I wanted to mention Yeah Def's pretty interesting new website featuring a roster of contributors from around the globe, and covering various topics, from dance music, to a fairly nerdy obsession with Diablo 3.

Mount Righteous/Paper Bird/Laura Goldhamer (Swiss House)

Taxi Fare (Zubar)


Last minute show, heavy on the screamo.

19 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

says that pollard dallas show is canceled.

5:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pollard is canceled.

5:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"three years ago i thought alien ant farm was the worst it could get. now i look back nostalgically on alien ant farm"

5:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

THE 1919 HEMPHILL SHOW HAS BEEN MOVED TO EXPLODING HOUSE AND STARTZ AT 9PM

711 PAGE ST
FORT WORTH TX

6:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Swiss House show is FREE and EARLY- 9pm-12am.

6:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

forgot to mention free yeahdef collectible cups for anyone and everyone. i have a shiteload of them.

they'll be behind the bar

7:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hahahah collectible cups

7:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

elephant 6 is more alive now than its ever been. dressy bessy just sucks.

7:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

what is address for swiss house

7:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

3114 swiss dallas yo
laura goldhamer and paper bird just pulled-up in a vegetable oil powered van loaded down with rusty bicycles...
wear deoderant

8:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Obama is just slaughtering McCain in the debate.

This is just brutal.

8:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i was looking forward to that fucking Pollard show. Goddamn it.

9:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

new songs from the master of country jazz @ myspace.com/asstabula

9:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

entire potato album for free @ www.last.fm/music/P0TAT0/777 for fans of bela fleck, rainbow children, zazibar snails and or clint black

10:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Only timeless Elephant 6 is Neutral Milk Hotel, and only 1.5 good albums at that.

10:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yes...don't mention baroness...cool

11:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i saw Pollard in Austin last night & he's still good live.The material is noticeably weaker though & often times the band is thrashing around in search of a tune.Apparently he's using Boston Spaceships to record full band versions of some of the stuff on the Suitcase albums.He played a bunch of songs off their next release.The band was really really heavy maybe even more so than in later GBV days.I get what you're saying about the Gillard days but he was missed live.He was a terrific guitarist & his glam slash & burn sound was missed.Lots of onstage drinking ,leg kicking & mike twirling as usual.Really it's just late period GBV with different material,better harmony vocals & more professionalism.Not gonna change the world or anything but if you dig the Who or just want a solid power pop show Bob's your man.There are worse crimes against music being committed.Wonder why the show here was canceled? Just glad i went to Austin to see him

12:05 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Robert Pollard canceled because everyone in the band is sick. They'd been keeping it together for a few dates, but Pollard got laryngitis and can't sing so Dallas was canceled. It had nothing to do with ticket sales like that creep Pete Freedman posted in the Observer blog (great research, Freedman).

There are two more Boston Spaceships coming out in 2009 and likely a some more touring. Hopefully the band comes back.

10:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Baroness and High on Fire were good last night. My first time at this HOB(been to one in Chicago many times). The place would be good if they got rid of the gestapo security and learned how to mic drums. Also, really tame crowd for a metal show, but I was there for the opening bands. I left before Opeth, as I don't like them.

12:18 PM  

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