Living in Dallas is like living on the surface of the sun. This place is not fit for human habitation. Especially if you’re blue-eyed and pasty-skinned like me. I’ve always found the Fourth of July to be an overrated holiday. There’s a built-in obligation to be outside. I love my country and all, but I want no part of the heat. Even after the sun goes down, beers get warm too fast to provide any relief. Fireworks are exciting, sure. Up north. Here, they’re best viewed on a wall-mounted Samsung while basking in glorious central a/c. I say fuck the fireworks. Go to a show.
Friday, July 3
Teenage Cool Kids / Angry Businessmen / Fungi Girls @ Rubber Gloves
Three of Denton’s finest. Teenage Cool Kids are celebrating their Foreign Lands record release. Angry Businessmen are apparently reuniting. Fungi Girls are… rad.
Saturday, July 4
INDENTONDANCE DAY: Neon Indian / many others… @ Hailey’s
Diverse lineup of DJs and bands. Doors at 6pm. Free until 9pm. They say, “you got yer rap, yer electronic, yer foot stompin music, yer chiptunes, and yer sikk djs.” Alan Palomo aka VEGA aka Ghosthustler is making his live debut as Neon Indian. Dude gets better with every name change. If that’s not enough, they’ll be “giving away free POP POP SNAPPERS and POP ICE POPSICLES all night!”
Western Giants / Touching Tongues / Manned Missiles / Violent Still Life @ The Cavern
All local bands. My esteemed colleague Nate has blabbed about his love of Western Giants. I share his love. The other bands on the bill are new to me, but based on their MySpace pages, I’m intrigued enough to get there early.
4th of July Blowout: Riverboat Gamblers / Red City Radio / Bad Sports / The Uptown Bums @ Rubber Gloves
Punk seems to be the uniting thread for this lineup. Riverboat Gamblers have notoriously riotous live shows. Another chance to catch Bad Sports, who Nic has photographed and spoken kindly of.
This entry was written by , posted on June 30, 2009 at 8:31 pm, filed under Shows and tagged Angry Businessmen, bad sports, fungi girls, Ghosthustler, Manned Missiles, neon indian, Red City Radio, Riverboat Gamblers, Teenage Cool Kids, The Uptown Bums, Touching Tongues, VEGA, Violent Still Life, western giants. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I know what you’re thinking. Seriously? Another fucking crystal band. Just what we need. Why not add an unnecessary double or triple consonant to their name? If I were a band, I’d be called Cryssstal. I wouldn’t even have to release any music. My name would say it all. You’d just know that I’d be good. I could sell t-shirts that say Cryssstal. And people would be jealous.
Originally from Spain, Crystal Fighters are more than just a trendy band name. On their MySpace, they describe their music as “fast dance music with Basque instruments, synthesizers and our voices.” That description seems pretty accurate. The few tracks I’ve heard combine Spanish-named acoustic instruments with huge synths and a shit-ton of bass. Cooler-than-you French label Kitsune just put out the Xtatic Truth EP which features the titular single backed with three solid remixes. It is available for download from iTunes. I posted the original below.
Crystal Fighters – Xtatic Truth (Original)
They’ve also done some fine remix work for others.
Magic Wands – Black Magic (Crystal Fighters Remix)
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This entry was written by , posted on at 1:36 pm, filed under New Tunes and tagged Crystal Antlers, Crystal Castles, Crystal Fighters, crystal stilts, Magic Wands, Nodzzz, wavves. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
New video from one of my fav Wavves tunes. Basically a montage of shenannigans while on his brief tour through Europe. Late nights taking pulls off a Smirnoff bottle or toking off a doob, it’s easy to see how “the road” would lead to his eventual meltdown. However, Nathan Williams has recently visited with the guys over at P4K and gives us a look into what to expect for his future plans and assures us that, despite what happened, he is not finished.
This entry was written by , posted on at 8:25 am, filed under tour and tagged wavves. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Thanks to Killa for the recent rec on Stones Throw artist Mayer Hawthorne. Motown/Stax vibes and a Smokey Robinson-esque voice, Hawthorne’s tunes will take you to way back when. “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” is already available for free on iTunes and for purchase if you’re the kind of person that has to have a vinyl copy (which is actually heart shaped, rad!!). Debut LP, A Strange Arrangement will be available on September 9th.
This entry was written by , posted on June 29, 2009 at 10:11 am, filed under New Tunes, video and tagged killa, mayer hawthorne, motown, stax, stones throw. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I kinda feel bad posting about a band that I have absolutely idea about, but this song is completely amazing! I actually fell onto this while listening to the Raven Sings the Blues mixtape. After countless search engine explorations I can’t find even so much as a MySpace page on these guys. This artwork? Well it’s titled “Confusion” and I just thought it looked cool. This music? The tune reminds me of a hazy overcast day at the beach in Autumn. Please, who the hell are these guys?
UPDATE: The RP&P are actually a new project from Glenn Donaldson of The Skygreen Leopards. Also, The Leopards have a new LP, Gorgeous Johnny, that is set to release July 10 via Jagjajuwar. In a blog entry of theirs, it says that they will also be debuting a brand new band. RP&P maybe? As soon as I hear more word from these guys I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop. Thanks to Andy from RTSB for helping to clear things up!
The Reds, Pinks, & Purples – Almost Everything Under the Sun
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This entry was written by , posted on at 9:41 am, filed under New Tunes and tagged and purples, pinks, raven sings the blues, reds. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Wow, yesterday I took about five hits below the belt. First, Seeds frontman Sky Saxon takes a bow. Then, the beautiful Farah Fawcet lost her battle with cancer. Can’t say I was all TOO saddened by these, but I can be a sympathetic guy. In the middle of work yesterday, everything (literally EVERYTHING) was put on pause to talk about MJ’s heart attack. Within ten minutes, his death was already confirmed. No matter your opinion on Michael’s personal lifestyle, his impact on the music universe cannot be debated. From a childhood star at 11 to an icon at 50 whos name will forever be engraved in a generation. This is a playlist of some of my favorite MJ tunes. It may not encompass his career, but I find it only fitting to show respect to someone that has affected something [music] that I love so much. RIP MJ. For great articles on the subject: Pitchfork, New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Dallas Morning News
Michael Jackson – Dirty Diana
Jackson 5 – I Want You Back
Michael Jackson – P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough
Michael Jackson – Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin
Michael Jackson – The Way You Make Me Feel
Michael Jackson – Beat It
Michael Jackson – Smooth Criminal
Michael Jackson – Man In The Mirror
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Michael Jackson – Bad
Michael Jackson – Thriller
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This entry was written by , posted on June 26, 2009 at 8:17 am, filed under mixtape and tagged michael jackson, MJ. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
So what is the deal with the past few bands I’ve been listening to being unable to buy a pack of smokes and calling it quits on their current projects?! Fruit Sand, abrasive noise rock from some Oakland household shares some obvious similarities with CA neighbors Abe Vigoda and No Age. Despite the variety of noises and instruments that are laden throughout Carter Mullen’s tunes, he is a one man GarageBand sideshow. He even admits to using the Wavves method of adding distortion a la the same program. The Renaissance, his latest LP, uses multi derivations of drum loops that give the music more of a punk-y feeling rather than just a face full of droning shoegaze like distortion. Although Mullen has claimed to have put this project on hiatus, he has started a new endeavor in (very similar) Zebra Stripes. Guess Fruit Sand just wasn’t cutting it as a legit band name anymore. One of my favorite tracks from his LP, “Not Another Singer”, while lead by a simple crash-snare-bass loop is backed with a complexity of fuzz and indecipherable lyrics that will make your head explode. The Renaissance will be available later this Summer from our pals over at Neon Aztec.
Fruit Sand – Not Another Singer
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complimentary…
Id Reverberations has an entire album, Trashy UFO Dreambag, posted up in it’s entirety for freeload.
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This entry was written by , posted on June 25, 2009 at 8:13 am, filed under New Tunes and tagged abe vigoda, fruit sand, neon aztec, no age, wavves, zebra stripes. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
No apologies this time. I already missed the Jenny Lewis / Heartless Bastards show this Tuesday. Pissed. Really wanted to go. I’ve loved her since Troop Beverly Hills and The Wizard. Someone please tell me about the show. Send me pics. Please.
Thursday, June 25
Starlight Mints / Evangelicals @ Granada Theater
John Vanderslice / The Tallest Man On Earth @ House Of Blues Dallas
Oklahoma must be a weird place. On the one hand, the Official Rock Song of Oklahoma almost definitely puts your state’s Official Rock Song to shame. On the other hand, this is the state that gave birth to Bush-fellating douche-bag, Toby Keith. Thankfully, the two Oklahoma bands playing Granada on Thursday night have more in common with Yoshimi than with Shock’n Y’all.
If you really hate Toby Keith, you should definitely check out the John Vanderslice show. His 2005 album, Pixel Revolt, and 2007 album, Emerald City, are extremely rare in that they actually say something intelligent about post-9/11 America. The multi-talented Vanderslice happens to have been in one of my favorite bands of the 90s, MK Ultra (their 3 records are available in hi-res mp3 for free), and he’s also collaborated with some of my other favorite bands like The Mountain Goats and Spoon. I’m not sure the political leanings of Swedish folkster Kristian Matsson aka The Tallest Man On Earth, but I’m guessing he’s no Keith fan either.
So basically, either way, the terrorists win.
Friday, June 26
Cryptacize is an unconventional band. Much like Deerhoof is an unconventional band. When Chris Cohen parted ways with Deerhoof, I thought one of my favorite bands might be ruined. Instead, Deerhoof never missed a beat, and thankfully Cohen found a new avenue to explore his unorthodox arrangements and childlike sense of wonder. Cryptacize continue to get better, and I can’t wait to see them up close and personal on stage at Rubber Gloves. Apparently, they use very tiny drums.
If you want to make your girlfriend happy, take her to see local hero Ben Kweller. Girls dig Ben Kweller. It’s a fact. Just be sure to have your girl pack a few tampons. For Ben.
This entry was written by , posted on June 24, 2009 at 7:05 pm, filed under Shows, Uncategorized and tagged Ben Kweller, cryptacize, deerhoof, Evangelicals, Heartless Bastards, Jenny Lewis, John Vanderslice, MK Ultra, Spoon, Starlight Mints, The Flaming Lips, The Mountain Goats, The Tallest Man On Earth, Toby Keith. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I have already professed my love for Angel Deradoorian on this very site. Her guest spot on this track is only part of the reason that I am now professing my love for Discovery, the new project from Vampire Weekend keyboardist/producer Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot singer Wes Miles. Two tracks from their upcoming record, titled LP (due July 7 via XL), have already got Pitchfork abuzz, and both (“Osaka Loop Line” & “So Insane”) are absolute electro-WTF bangers. The rest of the album is made up of a Jackson 5 cover, a healthy dose of Auto-Tune, and pure pleasure. The perfect summer soundtrack. On this track, Deradoorian is like the indie Mariah, and I just can’t help but smile.
Discovery – I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (ft. Angel Deradoorian)
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This entry was written by , posted on June 23, 2009 at 11:14 am, filed under New Tunes, Uncategorized and tagged Deradoorian, Dirty Projectors, Discovery, Ra Ra Riot, Vampire Weekend. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Karin Dreijer Andersson has creeped me out again, and I think I like it. Check out her latest video for “Triangle Walks”.
This entry was written by , posted on June 22, 2009 at 2:12 pm, filed under video and tagged fever ray, karin andersson. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
