AAAAAAAAAGH || October 26, 2007

BACK AWAY, SCARY CREATURE!

Though I suppose Quick deserves some kudos for putting together something a little fun for Halloween, their narrow selection of participating musicians is a shame (and reflective of how the press generally treats local music). To be fair, though, it's highly possible that other acts declined in the hopes of retaining their dignity. Seriously, Sarah Jaffe. Should've tested a flash camera on yourself before allowing BELO to publicly stubble you up. -SM

Weekender || October 19, 2007

Busy times in Dd land (anyone wanna help us? drop us an email here), but we couldn't resist tossing out some shouts for some great shows this weekend. As always, we pick a few and you can head over to WSJR if you want to know about any DJ sets or house shows around town.

Friday
The Modern in Ft. Worth - St. Vincent, Peter and the Wolf, Doug Burr, TT&Q, MOM, Sober, more...
Another Modern 'til Midnight event, this time curated by the crew from Spune and featuring the strongest line up this series has seen yet. St. Vincent's Annie Clark is back home from a trek across the USA with The National and from what I have heard from friends around the country, her time on the road has served her live show well. Doug Burr is still celebrating the release of his magnificent new album, On Promenade (review coming soon), and outside as the sun has just set should be the perfect backdrop for his set.

Saturday
The Granada - Old 97's, Sorta, The Drams, Salim, Pleasant Grove, more...
All proceeds from this memorial show go to the Carter Albrecht Music Foundation and it should be a truly special night. So many of Carter's friends will be on hand to pay tribute to their (our) lost friend, many playing tunes penned by Albrecht himself. Word buzzing around is that this could be Sorta's last show ever, and if so, I can't imagine a more fitting way to go out.

Sunday
Granada Theater - GoGol Bordello
Anyone who has seen this band live will tell you that you need to see this show.

Hailey's - Qui, Record Hop
We have said a few times that Record Hop are currently making the best music of their career, but the real draw here is Qui. For 12 years, David Yow fronted one of the most influential indie rock bands in North America, the Jesus Lizard, and since their demise in 1999 very little has been seen of him. Early last year he joined LA 2 piece Qui on stage as a special guest and later joined as a full time member. If you are not at this show or The Granada Sunday night, you might as well stop listening to music all together.
-JL

SHQ: RIP? || October 15, 2007

In the rant I posted early this morning (see sidebar on left), I posed this question to the Observer's music section: "Are you going to wait until Secret HQ shuts down to look into the musicians and area fans who keep that compelling DIY venue alive?" Guess that got answered very effin' fast.

At 10 a.m. this morning, a post at Denton Rock City confirmed that as a result of an elaborate vandalism attack, the tenants of SHQ are getting the boot from the building at the end of the month, and concerts are (saving an act of God) over with for good. I'm not exactly sure what leeway a Texas landlord has in booting a tenant because said tenant was victim of a crime; this stinks to high heaven of the Dallas car wash owner who was blamed for attracting a criminal element to his place of business. Still, even if SHQ has the legal recourse necessary to reopen, chances are that the tenants won't pursue it, according to this post from co-owner Cody Robinson at We Shot JR: "When you're not a legitimate bar but people bring their own drink in, and when you're not formally a venue and bands play, you walk a very thin line."

This is made even sadder when you consider that the venue was making strides toward reopening as a brand-new venture in 2008. Scott Porter sent out a long missive to Dd and other local outlets a few weeks ago (reprinted in its entirety at We Shot JR), proposing a "counter-culture mini-mall" with new backers and big hopes. I've sent queries to a few SHQ'ers asking about their future plans, but I understand if they'd like a full day or so to sit in shock and reflect on what is/was/will be. -SM

Belated Gift || October 15, 2007

I had a lot to type, so I moved it to the sidebar. Comment in this strand, please.

Three Days To Rise || October 12-14, 2007

FRIDAY:

It's already 5 p.m. in Dallas, so your night might already be booked, but I really wanted to turn everyone's attention to The Crash That Took Me, whose new album just landed at my doorstep two hours ago.

Dallas pop-rock fans have probably figured out by now that one of the area's best acts of the past decade, [DARYL], has all but dissolved, its members splitting between metal jokesters Blood On The Moors and starry-eyed TCTTM in the past year or so. I never heard anything concrete from the [DARYL] crew as to what exactly happened, but their lead singer Dylan Silvers made it clear that the songs on TCTTM's Orchestrated Kaleidoscopes represent the direction he wants to go musically. I'll have more to say about the record when I've digested it (and I still have a few other local acts' CDs to burn through as well), but tonight's Sons Of Hermann Hall gig is notable for the fact that $10 cover gets you a free copy of the album. From what I've heard so far, I'd recommend putting your $10 towards the gig and disc.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY... Does We Shot JR have some picks up? I bet they do. -SM

Tonight || October 9, 2007

Our Doug Burr album review for On Promenade has been a lonnnng time coming--we've had the songs since the release of the first Dd RedRadio podcast, for cryin' out loud (which kicked off with "Whipporwill," and for good reason). Jasun has begged to review the disc, so that's his, and he should have his take up by the end of the week. In the meantime, I'm compelled to say something before Burr's CD release show tonight at The Cavern with the excellent Great Lake Swimmers, who are reason enough to trudge out to a Tuesday night gig.

Burr's no newcomer to the area's music scene, so you'll enjoy this record most if you come into it expecting nothing new to the lifer. Think somewhere between Patty Griffin and Actual Tigers/Tim Seely in terms of country-tinged, grown-up pop, with just enough heft and weight (particularly on the brooding "How Can The Lark") to set it apart from the rest of the fray. There are a few certifiable rockers here as well, balancing out Burr's pensive material to make the full LP a solid start-to-finish experience. Anyway, I'll let Jasun take it from there, but do consider the semi-early Cavern show tonight. -SM



...oh, Dentonites! History At Our Disposal and Astronautalis at Rubber Gloves tonight. Consider it.

D Nuts || October 8, 2007

Not sure why it is that Pleasant Grove can be heard every once in a while on NPR; perhaps someone at Badman Records is chummy with Terry Gross? At any rate, you can catch PG punctuating American public radio interludes once in a blue moon, and that's the only logical connection I came up with when I received some news from drummer Jeff Ryan this weekend.

Turns out his bedroom solo project, Myopic, is now the headline artist at NPR's Open Mic site. Having said that, I don't know too many local bedroom-popsters who get Stuart Sikes' help with recording, but that's neither here nor there. The site hosts one of Ryan's old demos, "As Much As You Can III," with Ryan narrating its intro, and the song sounds, well, exactly like NPR sez: "Bells play complicated patterns to create a subtle melody while synth phases in the background." Wanna write for Dd, Open Mic? We don't pay, and I bet you're used to that.

The site reports that Ryan has a full-length album in the works, so I suppose Dd would be wise to start a pool to see which'll be out first: Ryan's album or PG's? If a little healthy competition can't speed the process, I dunno what can. -SM

Three Days To Rise || October 5-7, 2007

Running out the door, but I did want to direct your attention to Dallas Observer music editor Robert Wilonsky and his nice write-up on the Rock Lottery this weekend. Will try to put up a couple of other things later, but, well...you know. -SM

Edit by Jasun--
Glen Farris plays a free show at The Monkey Bar tonight with California's Gowns. Glen goes on at 10:30, Gowns play after.
-J

d Nuts || October 3, 2007

I don't mean to overload everybody with Midlake this week, but their seven-minute video up at MTV's Web site was a sight for sore Seattle eyes. Watch them compare Rubber Gloves to Mad Max. It's embedded below. Thanks to Denton Rock City for the heads-up. -SM

d Nuts || October 1, 2007

Midlake played in Seattle last night; I wrote about it for someone else. Click to read (and to see my terrible camera attempt to capture the song "Bandits"...stupid Crocodile Cafe woofers). -SM

Free Tickets || October 1, 2007

Happy RocktoOctober, everyone. Sick of Dd free ticket giveaways yet? Too bad. Our friends at the Palladium have come through with free Rilo Kiley tickets this time, so if you want to nab one of two pairs of tickets to the band's Saturday, October 6 concert--wait, October 6? You know what October 6 is, don't you?

ROCK LOTTERY!!!

We'll have a buttload more to say about this year's special two-night RL incarnation as this week progresses. In the meantime, if you are too obsessed with Jenny Lewis (The Wizard, Troop Beverly Hills) and Blake Soper (Salute Your Shorts, Boy Meets World) to consider RL as a Saturday night option, then just send an e-mail with the subject "80s child actors" to bigdlittled@gmail.com. At 4 p.m. Central Time tomorrow, we'll randomly pick two names from the e-mails we receive and award the tickets via e-mail.

And let me be clear--you have a very good shot at winning this contest, if previous contest entry levels have been any indication. Get to e-mailin'. -SM