Your Nuts || July 31, 2007

Dd needs help. You may have noticed the lack of a "Three Days To Rise" piece this Friday, and you may have noticed that I, uh, moved a few thousand miles north. I'm currently working on Dd CD reviews/odds & ends, and Jasun assists by keeping pace with band news bulletins and the like, but as far as someone around the area who can snap video and assist with reports, news and reviews, we're short.

If you're interested, please shoot an e-mail to bigdlittled@gmail.com. Don't fret about a resume or cover letter--for now, convince me that you're nuts about local music. Compensation is pretty minimal--local CDs, guestlist spots at local shows, cheat codes--but if you're looking for something similar to an internship with actual real-world experience, and you have a pretty decent grasp of grammar and so on, don't wait for Quick to make you bring Hunter Hauk his coffee every morning.

My Demigs album review will be posted at some point today--though "today" might be closer to midnight. Stay up late with Dd! (Or just wait for the MySpace bulletin if you're our friend.) -SM

D Nuts || July 30, 2007

E-mails with KISS-FM in the subject usually get thrown in the spam folder. Christ, it's the Dallas pop station. I have to put up a few filters just to keep up with everything else I'm already behind on at Dd, right?

The latest one proved interesting, however, alleging conspiracy theories about Friday's KISS Party at Nokia Theatre. Seems the station put up a Battle of the Bands "vote for the opening act" contest online a few weeks ago, and somebody who's connected to one of the losing bands claims foul play. I'd normally dismiss such a sore loser claim, but when the battling bands consist of three no-namers and the freakin' Rocket Summer, I have to wonder. Did KISS-FM really expect a close race between the Island Records signee and shlubs like A Thousand Miles From Home?

Weirder than that, it appears that Bryce Avery and his twinkly-eyed emo troupe is already booked on the WARPed Tour, gigging in Ohio and Pennsylvania when this Friday approaches. Dd was about to call KISS-FM, Island Records and Bryce himself to get to the bottom of this, but then we remembered--we didn't actually give a shit.

Really, it looks like KISS-FM put up a contest, knowing full well who'd win and land the headlining spot, just to draw local MySpace bulletins as publicity for the terrible concert. Maybe the WARPed boy didn't get the memo and book accordingly. Maybe it's all a ruse. Maybe he and Avril had a falling-out. Whatever the case may be, it's not illegal, but it sure is stupid. -SM

D Nuts || July 29, 2007

Apologies for missing the weekend tips post. In its stead, here's a plug for our pals in Comrade, who I haven't been too shy about being optimistic about. New song on their site is frickin' gorgeous. Do try it out. -SM

Forked || July 27, 2007

Dd sends its congratulations to St. Vincent, whose recent rise in hype shifted this morning from local to national. Welcome to the Pitchfork recommendations class, Annie. Hers is only the second Dallas act to actually receive a special Pitchfork designation...if you count the Secret Machines as a Dallas act, anyway (the Spree got close, but not quite). So does the tag mean anything this many years after Pitchfork's peak? At the least, Marry Me has skyrocketed on my favorite MP3 haunt today...that's something, right? -SM

D Tools || July 26, 2007

I was about to post a long diatribe about a lousy band, but the delete button has saved said band from publicity it doesn't deserve. Instead, I will remind you again that tonight's Tame...Tame & Quiet/Dios/Demigs bill at The Cavern should be a helluva way to spend a Thursday night...hopefully, my Demigs CD review will be ready by Monday for you guys. In the meantime, if anyone wants to snap video and send it my way so that the Dd crowd can watch, I'd greatly appreciate it. -SM

D Nuts || July 25, 2007

So, uh, did Silver City burn down today? No? Okay. Moving on...

We're pretty big fans of the Joe Butcher line of music products around Dallas--UFOFU, Pleasant Grove, his Laptop Deathmatch performances, the shortlived Winter of Our Disco Intent, etc. And it looks like his recent live guest spot with Pleasant Grove and Centro-matic wasn't just a fluke; Butcher sent a bulletin to friends today advertising a few more concert appearances this week, and you can generally trust the Butch to pick his supporting roles well.

Tonight, Butcher joins Keith and Chad of Budapest One at the Barley House for a free 21+ concert at 10 p.m; since the band has been put on hold while Keith and Chad serve their time in The Drams, these B1 shows are rare enough, let alone with the assistance of Butcher on pedal steel. And on Friday, catch him as part of Johnny Lloyd Rollins' band at Sons of Hermann Hall. As far as JLR is concerned, I've said it once and will say it again--the kid's got two amazing Sun-era country-romp songs for his every one cheeseball, crappy tune, and the voice is so good, you might even tolerate the pap.

Of most interest to me, Joe sits in with Son Volt wannabes Southbound Lane on Thursday at the Green Elephant. That's not a slag at all, and truth be told, I wouldn't know this band exists without Joe's plug, so there ya go. Young and imperfect--perhaps the slightest touch too Texas country for my tastes--but still promising. Dan's Silverleaf should book these guys.

Other quality acts tonight: Warren Jackson Hearne headlines at Rubber Gloves; Rose County Fair opens at Club Dada. Find more listings at the DdCal. -SM

d Nuts || July 24, 2007

I'm working on a few other things this-a-ways, so I don't have much for today, other than a recommendation for a FREE concert at J&J's Pizza in the Denton Square this evening. More info at the DdCal. Starts around 8, I believe. Hey, it's early, it's catchy and it's free...that's as tolerable as a weeknight concert gets.

In the meantime, I want to make up for a huge sin as of late. I've let a few CDs fall through the cracks while in this transitional period, one of which I just uncovered while continuing my delayed unpacking process a few days ago, and sadly, this one is probably the best of the recent bunch.

You should really give The Demigs' Yardling a listen. For starters, the Denton band's debut is streaming for free at their site, so it's no skin off your back to sample the tunes...and beyond that, Yardling is a truly promising soup of alterna-pop that recalls the variety, intensity and maturity of The Wrens. The album has its rough spots, sure, but the songwriting is surprisingly consistent and stellar through the whole album. I'll definitely have more on this quartet in the near future, but in the meantime, you might want to pencil in time to see them this coming Thursday when they open for Dd faves Tame...Tame & Quiet at the Cavern. -SM

Three Days to Rise || July 20-22, 2007

FRIDAY

Hailey's: The Wrens, Get Him Eat Him
Where the hell is the publicity for this show? The Wrens only play about 15 concerts a year, and the fact that these Jersey dudes keep choosing Denton on an annual basis still blows me away. Make the trek out; the band has finally worked up new material this many years after The Meadowlands, so go listen to it.

House of Tinnitus: Dead Echoes II
Shiny Around the Edges are the marquee local name at this "drone festival." Otherwise, expect a bunch of blitzed-outta-their-minds college kids jacking off to 12 minutes of a sinusoidal wave.

Double Wide: Max Cady, White Drugs
If a place like the Curtain Club was wise, it'd put on bills like this--cross-pollination between the various harder-rock circles around town is good for all.

Zubar: The Party
Just because Quick made a big deal about this DJ troupe doesn't mean they blow. I don't write about dance music much, but I'd be foolish not to recommend these guys to any of the rhythmically inclined among Dd's readership, particularly at this one-year anniversary of their troupe-ism.

SATURDAY

Rose Marine Theater: Jandek
We Shot JR knocked it out of the park today with a very cool angle on this love-it-or-hate-it concert. Check it out.

Sons of Hermann Hall: Bobby Patterson + Shibboleth
This is a recreation of the show I saw a few months ago...the last one was sorely underattended and given little press. This was a pretty wonderful show last time, as Shibboleth is keyed into the kind of full-band soul that Patterson thrives off of, so think about it.

Secret HQ: Golden Bear, Naptime Shake, Creeping Weeds, Saddletramp
Austin's Golden Bear is quite the power-pop outfit, like an Austinized version of Beulah. Good on SHQ for nailing this diverse Saturday night lineup.

Club Dada: The Demigs, Slider Pines, Colin Herring, Deep Snapper
All but Herring on this bill have a very recent CD release...and I still haven't gotten around to reviewing any of them. This is a great bill on an unfortunately crowded evening. If they'd only moved their show to Sunday instead...

Double Wide: Laura Palmer, Sean Kirkpatrick, The Dutch Treats
Again, great bill, crowded night.

WinStar: Quiet Riot, Slaughter, Vince Neil
I kinda wonder what the big acts in Vegas will be in 20 years, when I'm more likely to be the target audience for yuppie shit like Cirque De Soleil and Tony Bennett. Eddie Vedder? Snoop Dogg? Will the Spice Girls wind up with a Streisand-style residency at the MGM? Anyway, this concert will blow, but I know at least 12 of you will contemplate driving up to the Oklahoma border to see it.

SUNDAY

Cavern: Moth Fight, Ghosthustler, Mom, Instruments
I can't believe I missed this. Should be the best Sunday night show the Cavern has held in some time. Will someone please snap some video of Ghosthustler and send it to me? I wanna see if they translate live. Really, I'm begging you. -SM

D Nuts || July 19, 2007

The ballot for this year's Dallas Observer Music Awards is out, and it's a wreck. Sure, it's always a wreck to some degree--so-and-so got left off, so-and-so sucks, etc.--but this year's utter dependence on reader nominations (rather than with help from a voting panel) is just the beginning of the trouble here.

Categories with 10 nominees? Write-in options on top of that? It'd be amazing if any winner gets more than 20 percent of the vote in a category.

Then there's the boneheaded stuff--a "best musician" nominee list made up entirely of members of one narrow genre (namely, the Nourallah Alliance)? A "best new artist" list that includes too many old bands, including Radiant, a yearrrrs-old band that has actually won the award before? The Latin list's inclusion of Rob G and the Latin Pimps, disbanded years ago so that Robert Gomez could pursue his solo career?

The Observer has been disappointing in various ways for the past year, but this little ballot is a load of effortless copying and pasting--a true metaphor for what the Observer's music section has become.

Thanks to all of you who nominated Dd for Best Music Site--that means a crapload to me, even if Dd possibly made the ballot by default (though the lack of Texas Gigs/Pegasus News makes me wonder). And in the same way, I'd be honored if your votes somehow landed Dd a statue at the August ceremony...maybe I'll fly in for the show (especially if any readers can help with miles or anything weird like that? It's a longshot, but I'm being serious).

But appreciating your votes isn't the same as giving credit to a DOMA statue. It's high time someone else steps in, ponies up some cash, lands some sponsors and swipes this golden opportunity to create a legitimate local music awards show/party. Quick? Pegasus News?
The Observer is showing weakness, so take advantage. -SM

Fort Nuts || July 18, 2007

Remember that blather we'd posted about longstanding Fort Worth music venue the Wreck Room shutting down? Not so fast. Sez here that the Wreck is seeking out more shows through the end of the year, but what's the reason for the delayed death?

Brian from the Wreck Room says that his latest attempt to get more information from developers as to the building's demolition came up short. When he combines that lack of info with a required 60-day notice before a tear-down, he estimates a continuing life of "six months." Uh, what happened to the other 120 days there, champ? "Notice does not appear to be coming in the next couple of months" is his to-the-point response. Hmm. As soon as we get any further word on the wreck of the Wreck, we'll keep all 12 of our Fort Worth readers in the loop. -SM

d Nuts || July 18, 2007

If you're wondering how the Seattle Rock Lottery went last weekend, you could read my review at The Stranger's music blog...but there's more to it, at least as far as Dentonites are concerned.

From the get-go, I was mentally comparing the show to the three Denton RLs I've attended, which isn't exactly fair. Each Rock Lottery within Denton is different enough from year to year, since the 25 people picked at random create a truly unpredictable lineup and sound; how's a different zip code going to make things any weirder than they already are?

But the differences aren't subtle, and they were best summed up by longtime RL'er Kathy Lindenmayer--less booze, more timeliness. In Seattle, people actually show up ahead of time at the early morning start, compared to Denton's show-up-when-ya-wake-up approach, and the chattiness and community of the breakfasts at Dan's Silverleaf isn't replicated in what Kathy hinted to as a more fractured scene. In that respect, there's more tension at the Seattle RL--more bands trying their hardest, getting worked up about timing and sound issues and arrangements. The result was certainly less fun, though quite possibly also higher in quality (many more "this could be a real band" moments, for sure).

Sadly, the video that I shot came out rotten. If you want to see the Seattle RL, you'll have to wait for Chris Weber and the other Good/Baddies to finally get those archival DVDs released in the next, oh, 5-10 decades. -SM

Tonight || July 17, 2007

To celebrate today's Rocket Summer album release, local man-boy Bryce Avery leads his Disney Channel-style pop-emo brigade into the Granada Theater tonight. Congrats on the release, Avery, but Do You Feel sounds like a 47-minute long theme song for That's So Raven. Not quite our bag at DdHQ.

We're more into what the Loft at Palladium is serving up tonight--David Vandervelde and Blitzen Trapper. The latter's Wild Mountain Nation is a pretty wild amalgamation of fuzzed-out rock and stoned-to-hell folk, and I'm stoked to live near their hometown of Portland...since you probably don't, Dd reader, enjoy their Tuesday night Dallas stop for only $8. Our Palladium friends insist that parking will be free, FYI.

If hip-hop's your bag, then enjoy the return of SMU's prodigal battle-rapping son, Astronautalis, who shares the Double Wide stage with PPT tonight. OR, if hip-hop's your bag but you can't make it out tonight, then hit Rubber Gloves tomorrow for more Astro goodness. Both shows include Dallas' promising Playdough. -SM

What You Missed (Part 2) || July 17, 2007

New song by Pleasant Grove, but there's even more reason to watch than that. The guy hidden on the right side of the screen is Joe Butcher, PG's former pedal steel/keyboard/whatever else player. It's the first time he's sat in with the band in roughly four years; though the official line for his departure was a stint with the Polyphonic Spree, lead singer Marcus Striplin once hinted to perhaps the bigger issue when I interviewed the band back in 2004: "Joe's a veteran, and he was watching us younger individuals go through something that he'd either seen or been through. I'm sure that was frustrating to be run through the cycle again."

Butcher's two songs of play at the Saturday concert were short of a grand, electric reunion event, but the guest spot was optimistic enough. We'll have more on PG's forthcoming LP soon. -SM

What You Missed || July 16, 2007

As a teaser for the version you'll likely hear on next year's double-disc album, Centro-matic performs Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" at the Granada. More videos from this show will be uploaded through the week. -SM

Three Days To Rise || July 13-15, 2007

FRIDAY

Granada Theater: Centro-matic, Pleasant Grove, Dove Hunter, Sarah Jaffe
Welcome to Bias County, as I not only trumpet this show as the pick of the night but also invite you to come find me and say hello. I go back to Seattle on Saturday morning, so this is my last Dallas hurrah before returning to hippieville.

Hailey's: Starlight Mints, Robert Gomez

Darkside Lounge: The Feds
Isn't this venue way too tiny for The Feds? Or has their butt-rock popularity been on the serious wane in recent years? Either way, expect this place to have more rockabilly/Friday the 13th garb than even tonight's Ghoultown set at Double Wide. And that, good friends, is sayin' something.

SATURDAY - whooooa Nellie...busy night.

Granada Theater: Roky Erickson performance, screening of You're Gonna Miss Me
Even those of you who are marginal/lacking Roky fans have a good reason to see this, thanks to the screening of Keven McAlester's documentary about the Austin legend right before the concert.

Rubber Gloves: The Undoing of David Wright, Fishboy
The show is billed as a "versus" deal, and while I normally don't trust such gimmicky billings, Fishboy has always proven the kind of band to follow through on its outrageous promises (lest you already forget the costume-filled docu-drama of the Little D release show a few years back). Better still, the band's best album yet, Albatross, has a looming release date, and Eric Michener and company have reason to ride a massive wave of momentum with this disc. Should be a wild show.

Barley House: Slider Pines / The Drams
Fresh off a semi-national tour, The Drams roll back into town to support a CD release show for their country-rock pals in Slider Pines. I don't know if the Pines have sent me this CD or not; the previous one I heard was promising, but ultimately underwhelming. "Nice" was the best word that came to mind. But the Barley crowd is apeshit over these guys, so take that for what it's worth.

Double Wide: Private party
If you know someone who knows someone who knows someone, and you're a huge Centro-matic fan, you might want to try and crash this wedding party. Just sayin'.

Hailey's: Knee Pad
I'm starting to get what Knee Pad's about. Pretty good bruisin' rock that you don't normally hear originate from Denton these days. Not my favorite just yet, but yeah, works in a pinch.

Lakewood Theater: Black Tie Dynasty, The Crash That Took Me, Sparklepussy Barbie
TCTTM gigs about 3 times a year, it seems, so [DARYL] fans who want their Dylan Silvers fix need to hightail it to this one. Plus, rumor has it that the Dallas Observer's music awards nominee list will be unveiled here. Someone report back on if/when Dd lands on the Best Blogs category, please.

SUNDAY

Hailey's: Made Out of Babies, Mouth of the Architect, Hogpig
No high-speed net today, so I can't hear how the other bands sound, but hey, I love Hogpig.

Sons of Hermann Hall: Art Conspiracy Fundraiser
Mom, Voot Cha Index and Handclaps & Harmony perform while artists do stuff. Help a good cause on Sunday night.

Smirnoff: Lone Star 92.5 Fandango
Anyone who attends, please e-mail/post to let me know how people in Dallas react to this bill: Old 97's, Drive By Truckers, The Drams, ZZ Top, etc.

d Nuts || July 12, 2007

Though the next iterations of the Rock Lottery won't grace Denton until October, fans of the series' insanity are getting Christmas in July, so to speak, at Dd. Next week, I'll upload videos from Seattle's take on the Rock Lottery...oh, you didn't know about the Seattle Rock Lottery? It's officially part of the Denton RL family, and this week, I wrote about it for Seattle's The Stranger here. Take a look-see. Then come back here next week to see, in video form, if guys like Damien Jurado and the guitarist from Harvey Danger can compete with our burrough's Lotto greatness. -SM

Tonight || July 11, 2007

CJ from Good Records is being kind enough to let me use his store's Internet right now...in exchange, here's a free plug.

Good Records is amazing. You should shop here today.

Now that that's outta the way, tonight's DaDa show has a pretty cool lineup. Robert Gomez kicks things off early at 9 p.m.; New Zealand's The Veils headline at 10 p.m. Early enough to get home in time to sleep so that you can go to your crappy job tomorrow. -SM

D Nuts || July 10, 2007

St. Vincent's record is out in stores today. Since I don't have my Web/FTP software handy, you'll have to accept a CD review on this chunk of the page rather than on the sidebar. I'm sure you can deal. Enjoy! -SM

St. Vincent

Marry Me (Beggars Banquet)

If you're looking for a proper review of Marry Me, stare at its cover, its protagonist. Against a barren background, Annie Clark, the "woman" in this one-woman band, expresses a curious, vulnerable confidence. Perhaps it's the look she thinks she'd give the man crazy enough to actually accept her request for marriage, but more importantly, the album sounds like Clark looks in the photo.

Though ground is not broken on Marry Me, it's certainly battered and sprained. Clark runs through the aggro-political-upright female songwriter canon--from Harvey to Spektor, from Amos to Apple, Clark tacks her last name onto a pretty obvious list. But that kind of description doesn't give the 24-year-old Dallasite enough credit for the unique quality she brings to such a list: sweetness. Whether spitting fire in the pounding "Your Lips Are Red" or piloting a trippy, crashing plane of guitar notes and choir squalls in "Now. Now.", Clark's vocal delivery manages to consistently remain...well, respectfully cocky. Though it's a weird way to put it, it's a fresh change of pace from the deliberately brazen, often over-threatening tone you'd expect from her most recent comrades.

The result might turn off listeners hoping for more blood or tenacity in Clark, but her sharp teeth are most evident in her wit, not her vengeance. Clark's clever turns of phrase never become too coy; in the title track, you'll grin at lines like "Let's do what Mary and Joseph did / without the kid" without having to worry about a cheeky line hiding around every corner.

Though the record is ultimately a bit too scattershot, that fact is understandable on a debut record; unity is abandoned for the sake of stretching muscles, showing off Clark's various wares. And thankfully, as a resume and a sign of things to come, Marry Me doesn't have to beg.

--Sam Machkovech

Homecoming || July 9, 2007

See ya in 10 hours, assuming American Airlines keeps up their end of the bargain... -SM

Fort Nuts || July 9, 2007

Not that we are trying to step into WSJR territory or anything, but there is a pretty kick ass show at 1919 Hemphill in Fort Worth tonight featuring Attractive and Popular, Koji Kondo and Bring Back the Guns.
BBTG don't get up here from Houston much, and if you know me at all you have probably been beaten over the head a million times about how great I think they are.
Shows at 1919 start around 6pm and are usually 5 bucks.
Bring me a beer- jhl

Three Days To Rise || July 6-8, 2007

FRIDAY

I'm assuming that St. Vincent's gig at Hailey's tonight is a CD release show, even though the album Marry Me doesn't see official release until Tuesday--sneak peek!! Though MP3 hype is always a killer, it's hard not to be charmed to pieces by the album's turns from jazz to folk to pop to reckless abandon...better still, Annie Clark's that kind of consummate performer who puts on truly memorable concerts, so consider this the #1 spot for the evening. Scout Niblett opens.

Good hard rock show at the Granada, book-ended by headliners Saboteur and openers--yeah, openers--Young James Long. That's PW Long's latest concern, and if you don't know his work in acts like Mule and Reelfoot, well, get to Googlin'. Only eight bucks, which is damn near free compared to some ticket prices at the Granada.

And though I don't have time to rifle through the out-of-town bands on this last bill, I trust that headliner John Freeman, the brain behind not-quite-ready new venue Sloppyworld, is okay with the support acts at The Cavern tonight, and sometimes, that's good enough for me. Those bands: Seneca Hawk, Silver Cities and Headstream. Decide for yourself, since I apparently don't have the time to do so for you.

SATURDAY

When I saw that Voot Cha Index was "returning" at Rubber Gloves, I didn't know what to make of it. The band's a bunch of teens; what's the big deal about a hiatus? I sent a query to the band, and their response made me swallow my whole tongue: "The big reason Voot Cha stopped was our drummer, Jonathan Forisha, was in a coma for around three months," writes singer Neil Sanzgiri. "When he woke up he was in a perpetual state of confusion and uncertainty about who he was. Thankfully he regained consciousness and he is able to drum again, but sometimes during practice he would stop in the middle of a song and start crying because he was so scared."

Yowch. Worse, it turns out this return is to be short-lived, as Neil's off to Baltimore at the end of the summer, so consider the band's remaining summer shows a big last hoorah (until the members form new bands, anyway). The mega-poppy gig at the Gloves also features The Happy Bullets, Hardin Sweaty and Chris Garver; not too shabby.

If you're already in Denton, think about hitting the early Secret HQ show that night for The Demigs, whose album I still need to review. Will get to it, I swear. But rest assured for the moment that it's purty durn solid.

Sorta and Current Leaves share the Dan's Silverleaf stage.

SUNDAY

Expect We Shot JR to plug the Violent Squid / Koji Kondo show at Rubber Gloves. Expect the show to live up to their plug. Hell, I might try and hightail it out there...who knows. -SM

(as usual, post your picks and smarmy comments, please)

Tonight || July 5, 2007

Double Wide: Naptime Shake, RTB2 and Daniel Folmer. Assuming your Fourth plans were washed up by rain, consider this gig a second chance at a good ol' folky mid-week holiday. Sadly, I haven't seen either opening act, and both artists' sample songs indicate that I'm missing out, but I can assure you that Noah Bailey's Naptime Shake is growing by leaps and bounds since beefing up from a solo concern to a full band. In all, the show's highly, highly recommended to both Dd's die-hards and fence-sitters. Bring a friend.

And here's proof that the House of Snooze needs to go the hell away: Lez Zeppelin, an all-woman Zepp tribute band, plays at the HoB's Cambridge Room tonight. Cover bands who release CDs deserve their own circle of hell. -SM

Fort Nuts || July 4, 2007

As an Independence Day treat, Spune Productions has put up a one-day-only deal for advance tickets to the Wall of Sound Festival 2007 in September. Buy a ticket before midnight CST tonight and get a voucher for one free concession (food/beer) item. Consider it a bonus beer to make up for however much booze you've already bought for your BBQ today/tonight. Just buy before time runs out tonight and Spune will save your voucher at LaGrave Field's will-call list (yes, even though the ticket site doesn't indicate it, the offer is confirmed). Have a happy Fourth. -SM

Tonight || July 3, 2007

What's with the lack of good gigs on the night before the 4th? Everyone gets to sleep in tomorrow, so it's a shame nobody's cashing in on the fact. Go see early fireworks, I guess. If it's not raining, anyway.

Paid work is eating up much of my time this week, so don't expect much; next week, I'll be back in Dallas for a few days, so please hip me to good shows on the nights between the 9th and the 12th. -SM