Wednesday, March 31, 2010

It List: Wednesday

Daniel Francis Doyle/Drug Mountain/Stoned Men/Geistheistler (1919 Hemphill): This is where I would be tonight if I still lived there-- we're also quite happy about the fact that our first pressing of Daniel Francis Doyle's record SOLD OUT a couple months back. Selling out is the new buying in.

Don't Look in the Basement (J&Js): The first in what the organizers (Shane English and Jonah Lange) hope will be a regular film screening event, tonight's spaghetti horror double feature will include the films Opera and Stage Fright.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Not New Music Tuesday


Reiko Kudo - Rice Field Silently Riping In The Night (2001)


Reiko Kudo has been hovering around the Japanese underground music scene since the late 70s in various bizzaro music cults that have been so prevalent over there. I believe some of her best and certainly most accessible work has been recorded solo including this her second album from 2001. The will be a refreshing listen for those of you looking for some sparser, might I even say gentler music that does not get hung up on wimpy sentimentality. Rice Field Silently Riping In The Night takes the same approach to dissonant art pop that John Cale did on his equally bleak Music For a New Society. The album has a sparse and simple sound, the whole thing might have been recorded with one microphone plugged into a karaoke machine. The hypnotic repetition of rapping piano keys is Kudo's choice to accompany her beautiful, paper thin voice. There are a few other musicians present on the recording but only the slightest violin prick or whimper from a cymbal can be heard. The other players seem to walking on eggshells the entire album, as if playing anymore than two instruments at a time might be too much for Kudo's soul to handle. What it lacks in studio wizardry it makes up for with beautiful melodies and earnest musical exploration. Interestingly enough this album sounds VERY similar to The Pastels/Tenniscoats collaboration Two Sunsets which was featured on my end of the year best of for 09'. In case you may have forgotten Stephen McRobbie of the Pastels signed Kudo and her husband Tori Kudo's band Maher Shalal Hash Baz to his Geographic label which you could say attributed to their acclaim reaching outside of Japan. So if any of you actually heard that one and enjoyed it, you can see some of it's very obvious influences here.

enjoy

It List: Tuesday

I would like to take this time to congratulate Gorilla VS Bear and Weekly Tape Deck on their new label venture, Forest Family Records. I think it's a great thing, and I could care less about whether or not they're doing it "for the community," or whether or not they're going to have local bands, or whatever altruistic and noble reasons people try to egocentrically attach to putting out records. You know, it's really hard work no matter whose record it is, or where the artist is from, so I think it's commendable, period.

The thing is, they are actually donating part of the proceeds to the Humane Society, so there's that. A start-up label donating proceeds on their very first record is actually pretty unheard of.

Something tells me that these guys are going to have an easier time than most, and that's going to make any act lucky enough to put out a record with Forest Family in very good hands indeed. Again, congrats to all involved.





Querencia Community Bike Shop Presents Goldsprint/1670 AM (Rubber Gloves):
Interesting description from the Rubber Gloves website:

A Goldsprint is a bicycle rollers racing and social event. Riders on stationary bikes compete against each other in front of a crowd of cheering friends.

While roller racing in general can use any type of bicycle and there are variations on the set-up depending on the type of rollers used and whether the front wheel is engaged or fixed, goldsprints generally use one form of setup. As with roller racing in general, the rollers are in turn attached to a device that measures distance and can display the progress of the riders. Goldsprints also feature modern 2D and 3D visualizations.



Disqo Disco (Fallout Lounge)

90's Night With Yeah Def (Hailey's)

Monday, March 29, 2010

It List: Monday

Hi, we have some stuff planned for you this week, but just not for today. Here's an example of what the rest of the week WONT be like:



Cool Out (The Cavern)

Monday Morning Rock



MON: Canyons/Former Thieves/Big Fiction/Black Body/Ashes and Diamonds (1919 Hemphill)
WED: Subhumans/Slang/Unit 21 (Prophet Bar)
WED: Daniel Francis Doyle/Drug Mountain/Stoned Men/Geistheistler (1919 Hemphill)
THR: Saboteur/Florene/My Empty Phantom (Dan's Silverleaf)
THR: The Coathangers/Giggle Party/Leg Sweeper(The Cavern)
FRI: Darktown Strutters (Tradewinds)
SAT: Luna Mato/Darktown Strutters/Binary Sunrise (City Tavern)
SAT: Peelander-Z/No Heroes/Stew! (Rubber Gloves)
SAT: Mount Righteous/Drug Mountain (Good Records)
SAT: Across Tundras/Vaste Burai/Black Body/Baring Teeth (Phoenix Project)

Friday, March 26, 2010

Weekender

By Defensive Listening.

Everyone's freaking out about the new Glass Candy, and I think it's great, but did you also know that Farah has a new single? It's called "Gay Boy." Look it up on her Myspace page and then order the 12". I can not believe that there aren't seven page cover stories about what a genius she is after hearing this thing. She eats Midlake for breakfast and has St. Vincent for dessert. And that's exactly why you and I will never get along, DFW music fans and press.

FRIDAY


Dear Human | New Science Projects | Geistheistler | Handbrake | Babar (Rubber Gloves): Math Rock, who needs it, right? Anyways, whatever you feel about the genre is going to determine what you think of Dear, Human, and I have to admit: These aren't kind times for math rock fans. It was largely absorbed into the overall sound of hardcore from ten to twelve years ago and then quickly shunned after that, when all of the early 2000's kids learned to dance. Like any genre, it has its moments, and Dear, Human seems as capable as any. 80% of it is being really fucking good at your instrument, and they certainly do that. But Math Rock is kind of like being an Olympic Gymnast. I mean, yeah, everyone here can do flips and shit, but who among them is truly incredible? Who will surpass all expectations and transcend the genre's cliches? There's just so much DAMN PRESSURE. Also, why don't girls have math rock bands? Now some local scene misogynists will tell you it's because girls "can't play" or drum or have "girl rhythm." The real answer is that girls are too smart to play Math Rock. It's true.

Florene | Diamond Age (Tradewinds): Florene's sound has changed considerably since their inception, and there were times during their recent NX35 set where I wondered exactly who the band on stage even was. They have definitely lost a lot of their original freeform static passages and replaced them with more structured thump and straightforwardly accessible beats. I don't know when these changes came about exactly, but it was definitely good timing when you consider they are on a label now and look, Florene has got some mouths to feed and Daddy has to get paid, ok? One minute your pedals are sliding off of a rickety card table at Eighth Continent, and the next you're counting blog dollaz with your fellow Chillwave and No Fi Dance peers, sipping fancy drinks at Baby Acapulco's.

Nice surprise to see Diamond Age pop up on this bill, which is the very interesting project of North Texas' M. Leer. Let me see if I can break this down, since it's a little confusing. M. Leer is a member of History At Our Disposal and The Diamond Age is his side-project. At some point in the last few years he did a note-by-note reinterpretation of Flaming Tunes, which was a side-project that Gareth Williams of This Heat was involved in, along with Mary Currie. I have been meaning to shed more light on this for years, since it's one of the most obscure reworks I've ever heard of by a local musician. Both the original and The Diamond Age version are great. This show is worth your time and effort.

Stoogeaphilia | The Black Dots | Bastardos De Sancho (Lola's 6th)

SATURDAY

Gordon Grdina Trio/Ingebrigt Haker Flaten/Nick Cabrera/Jason Jackson/Stefan Gonzalez (Pheoenix Project)

Lollipop Shoppe 6 Year Anniversary Party
(Sons of Herman Hall)


SUNDAY

Tartufi | Darktown Strutters | Telethon | Pinkish Black |Hentai Improvising Orchestra (Kessler): Great lineup at a great venue as Oak Cliff continues to dominate the Dallas scene.

Kilowatts | Aligning Minds | The Great Mundane (Cold Fusion Lounge): DJ Killowatts has been making music since the mid-90's and actually hails from Plano, though he's now based in Philadelphia. His is a mix of deep bass, IDM, and ambient sounds, and he's pretty renowned internationally, which is something I never imagined when I remember hearing about him playing a show at Eisengberg's Skate Park. Unfortunately that may be preferable to "Cold Fusion Lounge." Full anonymous disclosure: I distinctly remember arguing about the origins of Industrial music with this guy in fifth period gym class, circa 1996 or so.

Art List

Ding!

FRIDAY

License to Steel
Michael Kalish
Samuel Lynne Galleries
1105 Dragon Street, Dallas, TX 75207
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

SATURDAY

Crazy Work (Susie Phillips)
The Splendid Table (Carrie Marill)
Conduit Gallery
1626 Hi Line Drive, #c, Dallas, TX 75207
5:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Windings
Lisa Grossman
Marty Walker Gallery
2135 Farrington Street, Dallas, TX 75207
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

You're Invited
Craighead Green Gallery
1011 Dragon Street, Dallas, TX 75207
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Antartica
Robert Greeson
Kettle Art Gallery
2714 Elm Street, Dallas, TX 75226
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Image sort of courtesy of Carrie Marill.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

It List: Thursday

Dutch Treats/D. Wayne Grubb featuring Cutthroat Thompson/Billy McGee (Tradewinds): John Freeman makes a rare local live appearance, and I know everyone will be happy to see him with his Dutch Treats project, surely one of the more well-liked comedic rock acts to ever come out of DFW. It's all about personality when you're trying to be funny, and obviously Freeman isn't lacking in that department. D. Wayne Grubb is the side project of Daron Beck, and that will surely be worth catching considering Beck is one of the few musicians around here with a flawless output over quite a number of years now. Recommended.

Billingham's Defense System (Fallout Lounge)

80's Night with Yeah Def (Hailey's)

Live Feed : Paperstain Showcase

Here are some videos from The Paperstain Showcase which happened at The Little Guys Movers warehouse last Sunday. There are a couple more videos that will go up later today including performances from Red Faced Laughter, Shiny Around the Edges and Piccline. If you like what you hear check out Paperstain's website for more information and rawk.













Kampfgrounds




Kaboom




Douche




Wednesday, March 24, 2010

It List: Wednesday

Hey guys, work has me taking the day off today, essentially, but we'll be back tomorrow. Slow night anyway. Some shows:

Coscientious Projector-- The Century of the Self (1919 Hemphill): Documentary screening night, sounds really interesting.


Ryan Thomas Becker/The Fox and the Bird (City Tavern)

Cygnus-- Big In Europe

We've been fans of Dallas based electronic producer Cygnus for quite a while, and it seems that a lot of other people on the other side of the Pond have taken notice of his music as well, and likely in much greater numbers than in his own home town. Most recently, Cygnus got a nice boost when his track "Tis Thine The Kingdom" made an early appearance (19 minutes in) on Autechre's much buzzed about 12 hour radio broadcast from last week, and he appears to be the only unsigned artist to make an appearance in the excellent set (check it out, some big names on there). You can download the whole thing by clicking on the link above and moving your cursor over the photo up top for streaming and downloading options.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

not new music


Big Star - Live at WLIR Radio, Long Island, 1974


No time for the usual long-winded background info today, but I'm certain that most music fans that read this site are familiar with Alex Chilton's work, so it's not really that necessary. I just wanted to share this in the wake of his death, an event that has affected me much more than I ever though it would have. It's not that I'm some Super Fan of his or anything; hell, I don't even own any of his solo records, but I do believe that the three Big Star records are life changers, whether subtle or profound, for nearly everybody that hears them and that's more than you can ever ask for from an artist.

This recording was heavily bootlegged for years after it's taping before Rykodisc released it officially in 1992. It's live to two track at a radio station, so it doesn't sound great at times, but the acoustic section in the middle of the set, which includes a killer cover of Loudon Wainwright's "Motel Blues," more than makes up for the lackluster mix of the earlier songs.

This is by no means a definitive recording, just an interesting, and at times very pleasing, alternative to the albums that many of us love so much. Enjoy!!

It List : Tuesday


Daredevil Christopher Wright| Leatherwood | The Polycorns (The Schoolhouse)

If you like inoffensive folk-pop, Daredevil Christoper Wright fits the bill. I have not been to The Schoolhouse but I hear that it is really hot and muggy. Can I get some confirmation on that?

Well let's see, if the above does not tickle your fancy, some new DVD's came out today as they do every Tuesday. Perhaps you would like me to recommend a couple that I might be checking out, i.e. watching in my room alone in the dark. I'm going rogue here so if you want to see another Tuesday movie recommendation again let me know so I can tell SR and he will sign it into law. Not New Music Tuesday coming up later too.



The T.A.M.I. Show Collectors Edition


Without a doubt one of the grooviest movies ever made and this is the fist time it has been available (legally) in the U.S. thanks to those great people at Shout Factory!. The movie is basically The Jonas Brothers in 3D but not in 3D and featuring circa 1964 performances from The Beach Boys, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Rolling Stones,Chuck Berry and many more!

Days of Heaven

There was a DVD release of this already but it was cropped terribly and the transfer sucked. This is a Criterion release so you know all that will be fixed, and rightfully so because this movie has some damn pretty cinematography and close-ups of Richard Gere's face. This was directed by Terrence Malick who also made that love on the run romp Badlands.


Bigger Than Life

Never seen this one, but it has James Mason and Walter Mathau so I am probably going to watch it.

Monday, March 22, 2010

It List : Monday



Jessica 6 | FUR | Museum Creatures | Yeahdef (Hailey's)

Jessica 6 members Andrew Raboso and Morgan Wiley have collaborated with the DFA collective and most notably did production work with Hercules & Love Affair. Though they mainly helped out with the tour, they did contribute to the remix album that was released last year which was pretty solid. Understandably Jessica 6 sounds very similar to Hercules. The revved up dance pop sounds soulful and danceable enough but lacks the accessibility of their work with Hercules. This sounds like dance music for people who really care about dance music, not us quick time Charlies looking for ditties to hum in the car on the way home from work. It still sounds very similar to H&LA which I believe to be one of the best dance albums released in the last decade so who knows what will happen.

Pocahaunted | Wet Hair | Eyes,Wings and many Other Things (The Lounge)

If you missed out on the second day of FestxFest Fest here is an opportunity to check out Pocahaunted at a not as cool venue.

An Horse | Big Science|On After Dark (Rubber Gloves)

An Horse were "discovered" by Tegan and Sara and recently toured with Silversun Pickups. I'll leave it at that. But if this type of stuff does tickle your fancy and you haven't seen On After Dark I bet you will have a new favorite local band.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Monday Morning Rock



MON: Pocahaunted/Wet Hair/Eyes,Wings and many Other Things (The Lounge)
MON: An Horse/On After Dark/Big Science (Rubber Gloves)
TUE: Leatherwood/Daredevil Christopher Wright/The Polycorns (The Schoolhouse)
WED: Coscientious Projector/The Century of the Self (1919 Hemphill)
THR: Billy McGee/The Dutch Treats (Tradewinds)
THR: Stoogeaphilia/The Black Dotz/Bastardos De Sancho (Lola's)
FRI: Dear Human/New Science Projects/Geistheistler/Handbrake/Babar (Rubber Gloves)
FRI: Florene (Tradewinds)

Friday, March 19, 2010

Weekender


Hope everyone is having tons of fun at South by Southwest...

Friday

Danielson | Ortolan | Ben+Vesper (Hailey's)

Javelina | Howl | Magnus | Vaste Burai (Phoenix Project)

Saturday

The Lovely Feathers | Cocky Americans | Mammal Animals (The Cavern)

The Black Dotz (Tradewinds)

Sunday

Cheap Time | Puppy Hearts | Juiceboxxx | Uptown Bums | VIDEO (Mable Peabody's)

Really wish Dum Dum Girls were on this bill instead of Bro Fest but oh well.

Parade of Flesh Bro Fest 2010 ASG | Rwake | The Soft Pack | Sleepy Sun | Dum Dum Girls | White Mice | Those Darlins | U.S. Christmas | Withered | Sisters | Woven Bones | Liturgy | NAAM | Frankie Rose & the Outs | Tinsel Teeth | Slang Chickens and Snake | Sustaine (Double-Wide)

Torchrunner | Rise of Necropolis | Releaser | Division of Power (Phoenix Project)




Three on Sunday (Dan's)

Kanako Kawaguchi & Jim Woodring, 2005 (10 min.)

Japanese animator Kanako Kawaguchi creates a stop-action version of Jim Woodring’s surreal comic “Frank”.

“Kawaguchi's approach to animating and ‘dimensionalizing’ Woodring's work is immediately compelling: combining intricate model work (including exquisitely detailed pieces of furniture and room interiors and convincingly naturalistic miniature exteriors) with construct 'cut-outs' models of Frank (composed of layered bits of Jim's art), Kawaguchi allows us to inhabit Frank's environments as never before. ” - Steve Bissett, MYRANT, 2006

MARJOE

Sarah Kernochan, 1972 (88 min.)

“The Academy-Award®-winning MARJOE is the ferocious and extraordinary chronicle of a firebrand evangelical preacher who wholeheartedly and humorously exposes himself as a fraud. An evangelist prodigy at the age of four, the film captures an adult Marjoe as he recounts how he discovered the seductions of the 60s counterculture and dropped out of preaching, only to return later, using his swaggering bravado, to woo Pentecostal audiences out of their offerings.”

ALL STAR REVUE

Spike Jones, June 7, 1952 - Hollywood, California (59 min.)

Spike Jones hosts the popular television variety program of the 1950s, featuring Jim Backus and Liberace.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

It List : Thursday

Art List

SATURDAY, March 20, 2010

Cosmologies
Dwayne Bohuslav
Joanna Brigham
Sam Scott
Jeff Yerger
HCG Gallery
1130 Dragon Street, Dallas, TX 75207
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

"an 1,800-square-foot site-specific installation elaborately comprised of intricate mechanisms [...] suspended from the gallery ceiling". Not so sure about the installation work, but the thing that caught my eye on this one is the combined work of Sam Scott and Jeff Yerger. Beautiful... check out Sam Scott: here and here.

I've had trouble finding much of anything more by Jeff Yerger, but here's a prime example. Yerger was an artist-in-residence at CentralTrak, and seems to currently teach at Brookhaven. Some more information about him.

Introducing DJ Perera
DJ Perera
ThirdSpace
1608 C Main Street, Dallas, TX 75201
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

The art looks nice. Artist statement is not too painful.

SUNDAY, March 21, 2010

Texas Visual Arts Association High School Art Exhibition
Visual Arts Building of the University of Texas at Dallas
800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080
2:30 PM - 4:00 PM

I think every high school art teacher in North Texas probably forces their students to submit something for this. Hundreds of entries come in, a select few dozen make it. It's put together each year by Greg Metz and students at UTD.

Image courtesy of Sam Scott.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

One Last Time-- WSJR@SXSW

Hey guys, sorry about the It List today-- we're preparing for our show and running around Austin and getting over illnesses and all kinds of stuff. You probably won't see a lot from us for the rest of the week, although FP might have a few things for you before all is said and done. Anyway, we'll check in with you a couple times throughout SXSW and we'll be back with regular coverage next week. In the meantime, we hope to see you at our Day Party on Friday:

We're happy to announce our 2010 SXSW Day Party, taking place on Friday, March 19th @ Victory Grill (1104 E. 11th St. in Austin) from noon to 5PM. This year we've teamed up with our friends at Switched On, the new music electronics shop in Austin that specializes in vintage synthesizers, keyboards and drum machines, and once you get to Victory Grill on Friday, you'll see that Switched On is located right across the street, so you'll have plenty of time to check out what they've got when you join us to catch:

DJ Set from Alan Palomo @ noon

Death Sentence Panda
Rangers

There will be a DJ or two as well playing between sets, and we might have another act to add to the bill, so we'll let you know about that if and when it happens. See ya there!

R.I.P. Alex Chilton

Happy St. Patrick's Day!





We are celebrating our Irish heritage here at the office so this is super brief and late. If you are in Denton go to the last day of FestxFest Fest with Pocahaunted & Orange Coax it starts exactly at 8. When that is over you could go to Hailey's there are alot of bands playing...


Watch out with the drinking and driving tonight, you still got a full SXSW weekend ahead of you.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Not New Music Tuesday




here it is!

Thought I would choose something this week that wouldn't require me to spend a bunch of words convincing you to download it. Everyone knows and loves the Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart. Safe as Milk is the album that you give to people who don't know about Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica is the one that you talk about at parties to show you know what is up and The Spotlight Kid is there to keep you in touch with the later period work. Somehow in the journey through psychedelic post modernism, 1970's Lick My Decals Off baby get left out due mainly to it's unavailability thanks to litigation with Zappa's Striaght records ( it did receive a vinyl only 180 gram release a few years ago but that has become OOP as well) Decals takes the experimentation of Trout Mask and pairs it with the fleshed out song centered format of Milk. The expanding of musical ideas comes not just from drug use but also with Bill Hackerload taking over the musical direction after Vliet threw previous arranger John French down a flight of stairs. My favorite Beefheart album. Can we all agree that this music was/is experimental?

Reminder for our SXSW Day Show on Friday (Now with Flier)

A big thank you to our pal George Quartz, of La Maladie Tropicale, for creating this great flier on very little notice.

I would like to point out that you can catch George Quartz himself twice (along with his group, Afterhours) during the festival, since he'll be performing at two different events, both of which feature great lineups. Click here and here to see when and where.

It List :Tuesday


Vivian Girls/Abe Vigoda/Male Bonding/Lovvers (The Lounge on Elm St)

Miles Kurosky | Pancho-San (The Cavern)

Beulah was the always the least quirky of the Elephant 6 collective which I believed would lead to a long lasting career for the popsters. Unfortunately the lack of commercial success drew weary on the band and after their final and cryptically titled album Yoko the band called it quits. Miles Kurosky was the lead singer and and songwriter for said band and who's new album Desert of Shallow Effects picks up right where Beulah left off. Other than lyrical content which is much more focused and story like here, the music has the same sound and feel as before. This could be because the album features 20 various musicians closely aligned with the E6 family including showings from ex-Beulah members. Beluah was always known for their live shows and audience interaction. Although Miles always seemed like the cantankerous one, listening to his solo stuff leads me to believe that same spirit will be there tonight. I'm sure you diehard Beulah heads are wondering if you will be hearing anything off The Coast is Never Cleat tonight, well here is what Miles had to say on the subject via his Facebook

Well, I keep getting tons of emails about the tour, especially from kids who were too young to see Beulah live. They all ask the same question..."are you gonna play any Beulah songs?" Well, I honestly hadn't thought too much about it, but maybe I should. After all, it's your show too. I mean, I guess I was pretty bummed when Bob Mould didn't play any Husker Du songs on his first solo tour. That said, I need to know what you want to hear. Lord knows I can't be practicing 50 songs. So, let's get this party started...what Beulah songs do you wanna hear? I know it's hard, but try to pick a good one. Respond below.

I like his attitude.

Anamanaguchi | Saberpulse | Henry Homesweet | Starscream | Kashioboy | Talk to Animals | Yeahdef (Hailey's)

I don't know a whole lot about "chip tune" music outside of what is done here locally, so I thought I would ask kashioboy local chip tune enthusiast and featured performer at tonight's Flash Faces: Bands Stored in Random Access Memory what's going on.

FP: Who are the people from overseas?

KB: Gameboy music artists Henry Homesweet and Sabrepulse.

Are they currently on tour or this a one off?

They are currently on a US tour (8-bit alliance tour) with Anamanaguchi, and Starscream from New York.

What aspect of the genre do the acts represent?

I would say the acts best represent the hardware aspect of the genre. Using actual Gameboys, Nintendo NES and etc rather than emulating the sounds they make externally.

How is your set coming along? Anything planned for tonight?

Thus far i'm planning a mix of actual chip hardware and non chip hardware. Stuff on NES and Commodore 64 chips with a bit of Gameboy etc. Also use of laptop, vocals and other various toys.

La Dispute | native | Sohns | Big Fiction (1919 Hemphill)

Kampfgrounds
| Flying Eyes | Piccline | Stoned Men (Dwelling of Doom)

Having caught the majority of these locals acts in various combination and venues across the past weekend I can't recommend this bill highly enough if you are wanting to do some good old fashion rocking out in a basement. Kudos to the Dwelling of Doom folks for not only putting together three straight days of shows in a house venue but also making the nights so diverse. Good work everybody.

Speedwolf | Mondo Drag | Collick | Geezus Krust | Epileptinomicon (Phoenix Project)

Speedwolf seem like your run of the mill Motorhead enthusiast complete with pentagram-ed goats heads and train speed guitar noodling. Mondo Drag are more interesting, not only because they look like a bunch of hippies but also their drugged psychedelic blues rock is pretty damn infectious. Does it sound alot like Black Sabbath? yes. But it also sounds alot like Royal Trux you know what I mean?

Spooky Folk | Red Pony Clock | Fishboy | Spirits of the Red City | Amo Joy! | Mount Righteous |New Science Projects (The Schoolhouse)

Let's be honest this is either at the top of your list this evening or at the very bottom. Mount Righetous by far make me more uncomfortable live than any other band in the Metroplex. It's not that I don't like to feel uncomfortable, but all those fresh faces and the never ending percussion assault make me feel like I am about to be led to my execution for drinking out of the chocolate river in the Wonka Factory. I have caught Spooky Folk in a couple opening slots and have enjoyed their brand of eerie folk rock. Well put together and moody enough without being annoyingly manic. Along with a band member they also share some musical similarities with ex-Denton band Sarah Reddington so if you like that you will probably like this.

Lullaby Arkestra | The Uptown Bums (Rubber Gloves)

If you ain't down for the Mary Jane haze psychedelic garage happening of Mondo Drag and prefer your riffs amphetamined up Lullay Arkestra should be for you. With song titles like "We Fuck the Night" and "art liar yr a fuckin" how can you go wrong? Uptown Bums rule too.

Titus Andronicus (Good Records)

Monday, March 15, 2010

It List: Monday

Mondo Drag/The Daze/Lazy Native/Billy Ratcliff & The Economy/Strangers Family Band (Dwelling of Doom): The kick off show for this year's mostly excellent Fest X Fest Fest is, um, a mixed bag, but I should say that I had a weird experience listening to Denton's Lazy Native today-- the first track I heard on their Myspace page, "Naive," is actually quite good, reminiscent of some kind of mix between Pavement and early R.E.M. (I know, Pavement was obviously influenced by R.E.M.), with touches of Gram Nash, groups like Tindersticks and other bits and pieces of jangly alt-country that made it quite a nice track. However, there are a bunch of other songs on the page in which they "rock out," and those sounded like late 90's Pearl Jam or something-- pretty bad. These guys should rock out way LESS. Billy Ratcliff should probably just stop all together, unless you think a folk rock version of Cherry Poppin Daddies sounds cool. I'm looking forward to the stronger line ups over the next couple days.

L'Orchidee d'hawai/The Pharamacy/Marriage Material/Collick (1919 Hemphill): I hate when I leave off good shows at great venues just because I forgot about it. Rick from 1919 just reminded me about this, which is certainly the most solid show you'll see this evening.


Jaguar Love/The Silent League/Orange Peel Sunshine/I Am The Dot (Rubber Gloves): Blood Brothers make dance music? No thanks.

Surfer Blood/Turbo Fruits (Granada): Wait, so Weezer's Blue Album is kinda retro cool now? That's the first impression I had upon hearing Surfer Blood's debut record for the first time, and I found it a little confusing. Well, I guess you can count groups like Built to Spill and the Pixies and the Shins and maybe even Cheap Trick in there too, as well as some of the surf rock and faint afrobeat influences that have been popularized by groups like Vampire Weekend, Wavves and Abe Vigoda in recent years. Based on this description, you might be inclined to assume that Surfer Blood's music is a calculated attempt at hip accessibility, a RAWK record with all the right influences but poppy enough to appeal to teenagers-- and you'd be pretty much on the money. This is Indie Rock, capital I, and there's something about such a concept that seems really annoying, mostly because this music is, for most intents and purposes, regressive, unimaginative and boring. "Hey bro, ever thought about what Built to Spill would sound like if they jammed on Vamp Week tunes?" No, and I don't really give a shit because if I wanted to hear any of those bands, I'd go listen to them. For free. Right now. And I've heard all of them 8 million times anyway. I thought we'd moved on from Built to Spill. Still, Surfer Blood's debut has a handful of really enjoyable songs, and the record is a good deal better than I've made it sound here, even though my descriptions are certainly accurate. Surfer Blood is a better band than they should be, but it doesn't feel particularly good to say so. In fact, it makes me wonder how boring my tastes can be sometimes, and how much longer we have to wait until this sector of popular culture actually produces something new and exciting. Cheap Trick still rules though.

Cool Out (The Cavern)

Monday Morning Rock



MON: Mondo Drag/The Daze/Lazy Native/Billy Ratcliff & The Economy (Dwelling of Doom)
MON: Jaguar Love/The Silent Leauge/Orange Peel Sunshine/I Am The Dot (Rubber Gloves)
MON: Surfer Blood/Turbo Fruits (Granada)
MON: 'o Richidee d'Hawai/The Pharmacy/Marriage Material/Collick (1919 Hemphill)
MON: The Endless Blockade/Hatred Surge/Kill the Client/Releaser (Phoenix Project)
TUE: Anamanaguchi/Saberpulse/Henry Homesweet/Starscream/Kashioboy/Talk to Animals/Yeahdef/Teenage Wolf (Hailey's)
TUE: La Dispute/native/Sohns/Big Fiction (1919 Hemphill)
TUE: Kampfgrounds/Piccline/Shiny Around the Edges/Flying Eyes/Stoned Men (Dwelling of Doom)
TUE: Speedwolf/Modo Drag/Collick/Geezus Krust/Epileptinomicon (Phoenix Project)
TUE: Spooky Folk/Red Pony Clock/Fishboy/Spirits of the Red City/Amo Joy!/Mount Righteous/New Science Projects (The Schoolhouse)
TUE: Miles Kurosky/Pancho-San (The Cavern)
TUE: Lullaby Arkestra/The Uptown Bums (Rubber Gloves)
TUE: Titus Andronicus (Good Records)
WED: Quasi/Explode into Colors/The Cave Singers/Cymbals Eat Guitars/The Dutchess and the Duke/The Ruby Suns/Bowerbirds/Generationals/The Moondoggies/Avi Buffalo (Hailey's)
WED: Surroundings/Sfos/Dark Forces/Human Error/Uesless ID (Phoenix Project)
WED: Rogue Wave (Palladium)
WED: Spindrift (Good Records)
WED: Pocahaunted/Wet Hair/Rene Hell/Orange Coax (Dwelling of Doom)
THR: Maleveller/Juarez/The Cloud Burial/Akkolyte (The Cavern)
THR: White Mice/Tinsel Teeth/Liturgy/Nite Shadez/Corporate Park (House of Tinnitus)
THR: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club/Band of Skulls (House of Blues)
FRI: Danielson/Ortolan/Ben+Vesper (Hailey's)
FRI: Javelina/Howl/Magnus/Vaste Burai (Phoenix Project)
SUN: Cheap Time/Puppy Hearts/Juiceboxxx/Uptown Bums/VIDEO (Mable Peabody's)
SUN: Parade of Flesh Bro Fest 2010 -ASG/Rwake/The Soft Pack/Sleepy Sun/Dum Dum Girls, White Mice/Those Darlins/U.S. Christmas/Withered Sisters/Woven Bones/Liturgy/NAAM, Frankie Rose & the Outs/Tinsel Teeth/Slang Chickens and Snake Sustaine (Double-Wide)
SUN: Torchrunner/Rise of Necropolis/Releaser/Division of Power (Phoenix Project)

Friday, March 12, 2010

Weekender



I apologize for the half ass list but it has been a busy one and I am actually trying to make it out to NX35 so that I can offer a fair and balanced assesment at a later time. Oh yeah and check out some great bands too. We will be updating this post through out the weekend with pictures, videos and commentary so check back often. And as always we encourage you to share your experiences in our comment section. See ya.

Friday

Drug Mountain | Record Hop | Florene | .e | Rare Grooves | Delmore Pilcrow (503 Sycamore)

Woven Bones | Fergus & Geronimo | Pure Ecstasy | Final Club (Hailey's)


Sleep Whale | Ola Podrida | Mount Righteous | Spooky Folk | Caleb Ian Campbell (Andy's)

HEALTH | Record Hop | PVC Street Gang | Dear Human (Boiler Room)

Indian Jewelry | Babar | White Drugs | hotel hotel | Vexed UK (Rubber Gloves)

Saturday

Dick Dale (Trees)

No Silence, No Sleep

An off the hook avant garde festival in what we are being led to believe is a very dangerous part or Dallas. Seems like a perfect fit. Check the flier for more info.

Summer Of Glaciers | Emil Rapstine | Dim Locator | Chris Welch | Hotel Hotel | Tre Orsi | Burnt Sienna(503 Sycamore, day show starts at 2pm)

I Heart Lung | Rare Grooves Orchestra | Shiny Around the Edges | Dust Congress | .E | Mariachi Quetzal (Texas 8 Ball)

Telegraph Canyon | Hogpig | Doug Gillard | Eaton Lake Tonics (Rubber Gloves)

Sunday

Seth Sherman | Dust Congress | Shiny Around The Edges | Kampfgrounds | Piccline | Kaboom | douche (last men)| Drink to Victory | Geistheistler | Marriage Material | Red Faced Laughter (520 S. Elm St. 3pm-9pm)

Harvey Sid Fisher | Peopleodian | Corporate Park | The Clouds Are Ghosts (Texas 8 Ball)

The Walkmen | Jookabox | Pomegranates | Follow That Bird! (Hailey's)

Neon Indian | Florene | French Horn Rebellion | Ishi | Fur (Rubber Gloves)

Live Feed : Denton Mega Fest Weekend

Thanks to DJ Nodad for sending us these links from some shows yesterday. If anyone has anything else they would like to share with us please let us know. This post will be updated through out the weekend, or so we hope.

SUNDAY MORNING EDIT - Will have a better way of organizing these videos later but here is some more schwag I had waiting in my inbox this morning.

Saturday






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Friday
















Thursday, March 11, 2010

Art List

It's all happening this week on SATURDAY

LA 19 (God's Daughters)
Letitia Huckaby
South Dallas Cultural Center
3400 S. Fitzhugh Avenue, Dallas, TX 75210
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Looks like this is a collection of quilts, but you might check out the impressive photography at her web site. Huckaby's "extended family [...] for the most part, lived on or off of Louisiana state highway nineteen, hence the title of this show. LA 19 (Daughters of God)honors Huckaby's female family members who helped to create a new aesthetic of quilts, the jazzy patchwork quilts, out of sheer craftiness and necessity." Huckaby is also responsible for the stained glass window at the Shamblee branch of the Fort Worth library.

18 Photographs
Kettle Art Gallery
2714 Elm Street, Dallas, TX 75226
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Ironically featuring 23 photographs.

The March Show
Carroll Swenson-Roberts
Emilie Butz
Lillian Bradshaw Gallery of the Dallas Public Library
1515 Young Street, Dallas, TX 75201
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Emilie Butz! (get it?) I like the Carroll Swenson Roberts stuff. And just like me, she's also a fan of whale tails.

Featured image not really courtesy of Carroll Swenson Roberts.

It List: Thursday



Just a reminder that if you are wanting to see any of the shows in Denton tonight there is some festival going on so it will cost $20 to get in without a wristband blah blah blah... Why hasn't anyone emailed me a wristband yet?

Xiu Xiu | Girl in Coma | Noveller (The Cavern)

Darktown Strutters | PVC Street Gang (City Tavern)

History At Our Disposal | New Science Projects | Nervous Curtains | The Timeline Post| Drink to Victory (Andy's)

Fox and the Bird | The Beaten Sea | Sabra Laval | Delmore Pilcrow (Jupiter House)

Julianna Barwick | Doug Burr | The POLYCORNS | Seryn | Glen Farris (Sweetwater)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

It List: Wednesday



Listen to the kid's music. Way too ahead of his time.

Little Birds/Madeline/Fancy Fist (Amsterdam Bar): As far as singer songwriters go, these are three of some of the least grating and most easily digestible. This is especially the case with the always underrated vocal ability of Mckinney's Brooke Opie, of Little Birds, who just might steal the show. This event also celebrates the group's new record, A Secret In Your Ear.

The Angelus/Sans Soleil/Waterfalls/Jenn Gooch (Rubber Gloves): This is the second show put on conjunction with an opening at The Meme Gallery, located right next door to Rubber Gloves.

Soft Environmental Collapse/Fizzy Dino Pop/Cody Poole (The Cavern)

The Ish with Blake Ward/Bandit (Ghost Bar)

Video Rehab: Dr. Caligari/Corey Haim Retrospective (Tradewinds)

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Not New Music Tuesday


Momus
"Tender Pervert"
1988 Creation Records
snag it





"God is a tender pervert, and the angels are voyeurs" is the first line on Momus' 1988 album Tender Pervert. The opening song places God firmly in the role of pervert. Like a demented Rembrandt painting brought to life, Nick Currie vividly describes his aforementioned protagonist as he masturbates in the heavens, his sperm spewing across the Earth as a sort of cruel joke upon us mortals and "the way we hold out coffee cups, the way we choose our word".

Much Like God himself, Curry populates his album world full of lurid characters. With each song the listener is brought into the twisted and often brilliant mind of a dirty insecure Englishman. Some of these characters you might meet include the following. We have the closeted gay figure dancing team in "Love on Ice" who must deal with their repulsion of the opposite sex, their PR agent's cocaine habit, AIDS tabloid rumors and of course landing the perfect figure eight. There is the bitter young man of "The Homosexual" who uses his feminine charms (and advise from a homosexual gynecologist) to tease and fuck the wives and girlfriends of the men who mock his limp wristdness. Need something a little more political? Then you can hear the rise and fall of the protagonist of "I was a Maoist Intellectual" I won't even attempt to explain where that one goes.There is a bit of relief mid-album with the coupling of Ice King and Right Hand Heart. Two romantic and sweet but still fucked up love songs. He can do it all.

Synth-pop has often been utilized for it's sensual elements. Warm Leatherette and the like. Albums prior to this one found Momus writing magnificently twisted affairs, but ones that had a tendency to ramble on and becoming more of spoken word piece than actual songs. A fine example of this would be his debut Circus Maxmus which includes exasperating sex and violence filled yarns all about figures in the Bible. Here using the medium of "synth pop" has helped him to focus his songwriting energy and create what stands as still as one of if not his best work. Why is it out of print?

It's not hard to see why Momus has never received the accolades in America as he has in places like Japan. His music questions authority, sexual convention, intellectualism and most importantly the dark side of human desire. I am a fan of Momus's entire discography which spans nearly thirty years and almost every release finds Momus inventing, reworking or augmenting a style or convention and making it his own. Momus is a pervert and he is not afraid to let you know. I am not just speaking of pervert in the sexual sense, but also in the musical.

Momus has no respect for pop conformity or stupidity. It may isolate him from the majority of America (if they even had a chance to hear him)but time will show Nick Currie to be one of our generations greatest musicians.

It List: Tuesday



Isaac Hoskins(The Heelers) | Madeline Adams & The White Flag Band | Star Commander(Rubber Gloves)

It has always baffled me how Athen's Madeline hasn't made it to the ranks of the indie elite singer songwriters. She is popular and has been constantly touring since the release of her brilliant debut Kissing and Dancing but hasn't made that break through into the minor major league like some comparable artist (St. Vincent, Norah Jones,Regina Spector) Madeline's voice is beautiful. Crystal clear yet still emotive, lacking the hollow theatrics of some lesser performers. I would listen to her if she just did covers, but luckily she is also a very talented songwriter. Her songs are smart and confident with out being smug which can be tough. Her most recent work has become much richer musically with the aide of a bigger band. This new direction seems to have interfered with some elements of the songwriting that keeps out of print copies of Kissing and Dancing close to a select few hearts. It is still strong but some of the loose and abstract qualities shown on those earlier recordings seem to have been tamed in favor of the "band" sound. Which while a tad disappointing is cool by me and it seems like a natural progression. Her most recent album came out on Orange Twin records. Should be a good show.

This is the first of thirteen days of consecutive shows at Rubber Gloves, thanks for keeping us busy.

90's Night (Hailey's)

Disqo Disco (Fallout Lounge)

Monday, March 08, 2010

It List: Monday

Very little going on this evening, and it works out quite nicely for us since we're working on other content and events at the moment... stay tuned, and stop by Cool Out tonight.

Monday Morning Rock




WED: Little Birds/Madeline/Fancy Fist (Amsterdam Bar)
WED: The Angelus/Sans Soleil/Waterfalls/Jenn Gooch (Rubber Gloves)
WED: Soft Environmental Collapse/Fizzy Dino Pop/Cody Poole (The Cavern)
THR: Xiu Xiu/Girl in Coma/Noveller (The Cavern)
THR: Darktown Strutters/PVC Street Gang (City Tavern)
THR: NX35
THR: Edhochuli/We The Granada (1919 Hemphill)
FRI: Drug Mountain/Record Hop/Florene/.e/Rare Grooves/Delmore Pilcrow (503 Sycamore)
FRI: NX35
SAT: Dick Dale (Trees)
SAT: Summer Of Glaciers/Emil Rapstine/Dim Locator/Chris Welch/Hotel Hotel/Tre Orsi/Burnt Sienna(503 Sycamore)
SAT: NX35
SUN: NX35
SUN: Seth Sherman/Dust Congress/Shiny Around The Edges/Kampfgrounds/Piccline/Kaboom (520 S. Elm St.)
TBA: Mangey Cocksock (Mangey's Room)


Friday, March 05, 2010

Weekender

I won't even repeat what SR told me to tell all of you, but we've all got a busy couple of weeks ahead, so here are the shows. Talk soon.

-Your pal,
DL





FRIDAY


Redeye/Cosmic Cocks (The Cavern)

Mount Righteous/Hats And Statues/Hard Times/37 Cents (1919 Hemphill)

Burnt Sienna Trio/Phillip Roebuck (Rubber Gloves)

Record Hop/The Polycorns/Baruch The Scribe (Double Wide)

The Fever With DJ El Macho (Tradewinds Social Club)

Big J/Hot Britches (The Basement at Plush): Apparently you have to tell the door-person "The Basement," or you'll have to pay fifteen dollars otherwise.

Glen Farris/Danny Malone (Dan's Silverleaf)

SATURDAY

Away From The Numbers w/DJ Telegram Sam/Gabriel/Wild In The Streets (Fallout Lounge)

Mount Righteous/Zlam Dunk/Boogie Nazis/The County Lines (Rubber Gloves)

Baruch The Scribe/Sad Accordions/This Old House (Hailey's)

SUNDAY

Spring Affair Park Party with Brett Johnson/Luke Sardello/John Walker/Matt Thompson/David Lewis (Reverchon Park located at 3505 Maple Avenue in Dallas)

Fest x Fest Fest

In other Denton house show news, we wanted to give you a heads up that the wonderful Majestic Dwelling of Doom will be hosting its own little 2 night festival this month entitled FEST x FEST FEST, taking place on Monday, March 15th and Wednesday March 17th at the venue located at 731/729 Texas St., near the corner of Texas and Mingo. Here's what the line ups look like at this point:


^^^FEST BY FEST FEST DAY ONE: march 15th, monday^^^

-BILLY RATCLIFF AND THE ECONOMY
-LAZY NATIVE
-THE DAZE
-MONDO DRAG
-STRANGERS FAMILY BAND

^^^FEST BY FEST FEST DAY TWO: march 17th, wednesday^^^

-POCAHAUNTED
-WET HAIR
-RENE HELL
-ORANGE COAX

Pretty impressive stuff.

Thursday, March 04, 2010

It list: Thursday




"Witches" CD release party with DJ sets from FUR|Florene|Shane English|Teamwork|Sid Spinoza(Rubber Gloves)

DJ Wild in the Streets (Amsterdam)

Bridges & Blinking Lights|Spooky Folk| The Healers (Dan's Silverleaf)

NX35 Day Shows (Three Days Worth)

Looks like Nick Foreman of Dust Congress will be hosting day shows in his intimate show space/living room at the convenient corner of Sycamore and Carroll in Denton for the duration of the NX35 festival. The shows are scheduled to take place mainly during the off-hours "in time for everyone to make it to whatever nighttime shows [you] might be playing/attending."

The lineups will include acts that are playing NX35, acts that were supposed to play NX35, and acts that would never play NX35 even if they were offered a billion dollars and a lifetime supply of cupcakes.

Apparently the free day shows are not without some controversy, as Day Bow Bow head honcho and NX35 organizer, Jaime-Paul Falcon is seen commenting on the Facebook invite (log in to see it):

"Way to show complete disrespect for the venues and volunteers that put this festival together."

Now, Falcon is certainly entitled to his opinion as we all are, but I find it an odd stance to take considering his own involvement in a couple of SXSW day shows, which, while being completely unavoidable, have long been a thorn in the side of the SXSW establishment and are generally considered a nuisance and a distraction by those volunteers and organizers.

Perhaps this can all be argued away by simply viewing SXSW as so huge that it matters not if you step on the toes of anyone involved. Personally, I've never understood why anyone considers such additional activity a "threat," when these types of gatherings often just help raise the profile and overall public opinion of the "main event," and drawing attendees that might not have participated otherwise. Non Compete Clauses be damned, especially those with unreasonable time frames-- such agreements don't usually stand up in Texas courts anyways, or at least that's what I'm told by our expert legal department. The Lineups:

DAY ONE: FRIDAY, MARCH 12TH:
3-8 PM

Delmore Pilcrow

Rare Grooves (los angeles)

.e (st. louis)

Florene

Record Hop

Drug Mountain

DAY TWO: SATURDAY, MARCH 13TH
2-7 pm

Summer Of Glaciers

Emil Rapstine

Dim Locator

Chris Welch

Hotel Hotel

Tre Orsi

Burnt Sienna

DAY THREE: SUNDAY, MARCH 14TH
3-9 PM

(Paperstain Records Event)

Seth Sherman

Dust Congress

Shiny Around The Edges


Kampfgrounds

Piccline

Kaboom