Weekender

Well, SR is really busy Christmas shopping or just having drinks at Swan Court, who knows? So, it's all me, DL, today. Consider it an early present, along with the masterpiece above.

-Defensive Listening

FRIDAY

ADD: Vega/Females (Centre): This is an in-store at Centre, located in Mockingbird Station. Runs from 7-10 PM.

Lil Wayne/Keyshia Cole/T-Pain/Gym Class Heroes/Keri Hilson (American Airlines Center): Besides the unsurprising and irrelevant Grammy nods, now Lil Wayne is on every critic's top ten list in the country (more on that topic later), and I was thinking about how justifiable that is today. Certainly, Lil Wayne's hilariously sleazy sound has matured over the years and yet how could it not? His work in the Hot Boys may or may not still stand up, but it was obviously not a bad start and he has maintained his career very shrewdly, working nonstop, and avoiding a lot of typical celebrity pitfalls. Besides, what were you doing at fifteen? Well, I guess the Fungi Girls don't have to answer that.

So, it's somewhat expected with an album this huge, that Lil' Wayne will also face an inevitable backlash. "Mrs. Officer" is already getting votes for most "Annoying Song In The World," and the news this week is controversy over whether or not he properly credited South Africa's Karma-Ann Swanepoel for the sped-up sample used on mixtape track, "I Feel Like Dying," which also happens to be one of his best songs. So, I'm trying to weigh pros and cons about Lil Wayne, and what I have is: He wrote one of the worst songs ever and doesn't credit the samples on his best work. I'm going to go ahead and just conclude that he deserves to be praised as an artist. What would rap and hip-hop be without uncredited samples? Pretty boring. Plus, I'd rather listen to this than Fleet fucking Foxes.


High Life/Trifle Tower/Dark Forces/Power Trip (Exploding House, 711 Page St., Ft. Worth): High Life will have copies of their new seven-inch at this show, and the first twenty to pay the six bucks to get in will receive a record according to the flier. This is a dark, scream-y bunch of hardcore acts, and I should say that Exploding House is just about the most enjoyable setting to catch a show like this, if I haven't before.

Mistress/Lychgate/Wu Fru De Lu & Dragon Killah (Knight House, 1433 Knight St., Denton): Lychgate is a very intimidating synth-noise group but there's a certain beauty in the din after it peaks and saturates the entire room. Mistress is uglier with crushing, toxic blasts of harsh noise. Wu Fru is more guitar oriented, but that's all I know.

Michael McDonald (Winstar): I have hated this man's music my entire life. I've never bought into blue-eyed soul, not with The Boxtops or even The Righteous Brothers really. I mean, look at what Alex Chilton eventually did. It's great, but it does make him kind of a music industry tool to some extent. So why, oh why, do I find it impossible to change the station when "What A Fool Believes" or "I Keep Forgetting" is "accidentally" played on Youtube every other day. Look, I'm trying my best to not get soft as I get older, but this is making me have some serious doubts. Watch out haters, you may just end up cranking the shit you laugh at someday.


SATURDAY

Blixaboy/It's What We Get/Yeah Def/Bryce Isbell/Lil Foot (Hailey's)

Farah/Blackheart Society (the Cavern): All of Farah's new songs have been great, whether it's the Johnny Jewel demo stuff or the tracks with GSpider.

Wu Fru De Lu & Dragon Killah/The Ben And Fred Savages (Wasted Words House located at 2404 S. Fielder Rd., in Arlington 79602)

Ryan Thomas Becker/Daniel Folmer/Glen Farris/Delmore Pilcrow/Freddie Schulze (Hydrant Cafe, Denton, FREE)

Record Hop/Matthew And The Arrogant Sea/Florene/Kody Jackson (Dan's Silverleaf)

RISE featuring David Lewis/Mike Constantino/Brett Johnson (Absolute Studios located at 2607 Walnut Hill Lane): This is a new venue for dance music and it looks like it's going to start hosting regular events under the name Masdelux. Event is BYOB and admission is ten dollars. Runs in the after-party hours of 12 midnight to 6 AM. Damn.