Sunday, August 12, 2007

Show listing, 12/06 to 8/07


Here's a listing of the shows I have been to in the last 8 months, with a few comments thrown in here and there. Don't expect incredible insight or music-critic-speak - I just know what I like. If I say I don't like a band, I'm not saying they're bad, just that they're not my thing (at least, in most cases). One's taste in music is a very personal matter, eh?

You'll notice a lot of these bands just have a simple note about whether or not I liked them. I hope to elaborate a little bit more in the future, but I originally just used this list to remember who I would want to see again.

Some abbreviations:

G = good
VG = very good
RH = radiohead
WOS - wall of sound (not sure if that's even the right term)

You'll also notice that I sometimes throw in a reference to some distinguishing feature of a band ("bald-headed lead" or "chick bass player"). That's nothing more than my way of helping me remember the band (my memory of these gigs isn't always perfect, ifyouknowhatimean).

I'd love to hear your comments...

(forgive the awful formatting, I can't get this thing to do what I want)
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Hailey's 12/20/06
Whitman G
Stella Rose G, 3-piece, chick bass player
Millicent Friendly G, some down-tempo
Lord Henry VG, Pete Townshend bass player, short set

Firewater 1/6/07
Wumb G (Tool knock-off)
King Zero OK
Venture no
Moving Atlas G
Deaf Pedestrians G (15 beers ago)

Firewater 1/13
Paperface G
Kessler OK
Vehicle Reason VG (great harmonies)
Miser VG (good show, anyway. music OK)

Hailey's 1/20
O'Brother OK (nice sound, bad singer)
Comrade OK (nice sound, slightly weepy)
Broadcast Sea OK (talk-singing, good sound)
Pompeii Awesome, beautiful, bot cd
Dignan G
New Frontiers VG, some mellow acoustic-y, some WOS
(Mirrors)
Quiet Company VG; 3-man, kybds, some WOS
Gazelles no

Firewater 1/27
Justin brown translation good
Anagen ok
Green river ordnance good
Josh goode band omigod no (nearly got my ass kicked shouting down the band)
Manny trevin ditto

Granada 2/3
Smile Smile nice acoustic rock, harmonies
Faux Fox WTF? no
The Crash That Took Me Good sound, not-so-good singer
Black Tie Dynasty good, but so 80's

Rockhouse Live 2/10
Phil Marshall VG
Social Jab G (but not my thing)
Miser G (peaked early)

Secret HQ (2/17)
Stumptone awesome, some trippy, some acoustic, trumpet, WOS
Trumpet Assassins 2 trumpet players with filters, effects; cool at first, grew old quickly

Andy's 2/17
2 month reunion whiney emo
Falling View ok emo
Less is More whiney emo

SHQ 2/24
Harry has a Head Like a Ping Pong Ball thrash funk, not my thing
Zanzibar Snails droning with squeaky sax, no
Great Tyrant didn't wait around

Andy's 2/24
Trebuchet OK rock
Paris Green spastic lead singer, rock; no
Upside flying V, heavy rock; no

Hailey's 2/25
Bosque Brown beautiful haunting folk, violin, bass, drums
Tacks, the Boy Disaster keyboard-driven pop indie rock; some great songs, some OK
Happy Bullets bald-headed lead, trumpet/trombone, good rock

Club Dada 3/3, buncha bbws not listening
Soular excellent RH rock
Radiant excellent, long set
Hendrick OK; started strong, faded quickly; stevie wonder, RH, unknown sappy covers

Rockhouse Live 3/10
1000 miles from home good, started to sound the same after awhile
Uncrowned ok

Hailey's 3/13
Ra Ra Riot VG; violin, cello, bought CD, from syracuse, audio problems
Red Monroe VG; awful audio problems, ended set early
The Changes G; nice pop rock
Cloud Cult VG; sophisticated alt rock, cello, violin, painters!

The Bone 3/15
The Future Unlived bluesy texas rock no

The Cavern 3/17; st patty's day assholes, valet assholes, good sound
Plain Jane Automobile Exc RH stuff - bought EP
Hourly Radio G - lousy vocals, tho (strained, whiney)

Rubber Gloves 3/18 empty, $5.25 double
Phantom Family Halo drum set up front, two-tone singing
Narrator Mets shirt, ok, "all the tired horses in the sun…"
Chin Up Chin Up "beds are burning" vocals (very annoying)

DoubleWIde 3/24 very smoky, $8 dbl
Tre Orsi G,
short set
Dove Hunter G
Hogpig G, Hard Toadies

SHQ 3/31
Dust Congress One man band, guitar, accordian, banjo, bass drum, highhat - good bluesy country
100 Damned Guns 6-piece - good country

Andy's 3/31
Telegraph Canyon VG folky rock
Million Year Dance Gandhi lead singer - VG, bought CD (which was terrible, btw)
oso closo big guy lead on keyboard, G rock - peter hated

Cavern 4/7 bad night
Tober Omi OK unusual rock, free cd
Black Lights don't know
Tame Tame and Quiet don't know

Liquid Lounge 4/14 $8 cover, $7.50 dbl, good sound
Three Fantastic Excellent; Jim Morrison frontman, very original
Heights OK; dream-rock WOS, weak vocals
The Ruse VG; U2-style
Twilight no-shows

The Cavern 4/21
Umbrella Army boring, Mac and keyboards
Kunek good musically, never grabbed me, long-haired dude on keyboards
Grand Serenade good singer, never grabbed me
Radiant good as usual

Hailey's 4/22
A Northern Chorus canadians, cello and violin, 3-part harmony, VG
A Twilight Sad scottish, atonal vocals
Aereogramme scottish, weepy quiet/loud WOS, VG

Hailey's 4/28
Evangelicals great sound, annoying atonal vocals, red lights, smog machine
Katie Eastburn keybd and kick drum, unique ballads
Sunset Rubdown very original/unique, yelpy vocals, VG

Firewater 5/5
Chalklign G; some screamo
Clearcut G; tapdancin bullhorn frampton
Seven Story Drop pretty boy crap
Venture eh
Edgewater screamo crap, vocals weak

Rubber Gloves 5/10
The Tah-Dahs G; Funny lead, kept tuning guitar, "Lord don't let me down"
Alex Delivery Experimental instrumental (mostly), dude on floor with laptop, japanese gal on keybds, some good grooves
Frog Eyes Canadians, epileptic meatloaf singer, choppy vocals, chick drummer, didn't like style

Green Elephant 5/12
Levi Smith whiney lead, but good folky rock
Transcenders no idea, remember some good songs

Curtain club 5/19 excellent sound system; $10 cover, $3.75 R&C
1000 miles from home 1st time I really enjoyed show; 2nd singer/guitar a real plus; left after that

Granada 5/26 won tickets (weshotjr)
sir richard bishop? very good classical guitar, but boooooring
animal collective VG; original, some great songs, some awful

Hailey's 5/31
The Dodos very good, finger-pickin guitar + drums
Theater Fire one guy missing, 2 trumpets, good songs, but low energy

Hailey's 6/8
tammany hall machine excellent, bot cd, keybds, trombone
lalaland 3-piece, hot bass player, VG
peel skinny dude in dress (ugly dress contest), OK

Rockhouse Live 6/9 $9 dbls, $6 shots
Household Gods TV w/ candles, house band, OK
1000 miles from home G; much improved
opus flux OK

Hanks 6/14
Opus Flux tailored set to Hank's crowd - not good

Club Dada 6/20 $5 cover, $10 dbl
Quiet Company loved it
A Pacific Model good, curly-haired big guy lead, some trip-rock

Hailey's 7/1
Darcy G pop, nasally vocals, lead in 3-piece suit
David Ramirez Band VG piano-led pop
Andrew McKinney sappy pop, covers

cavern 7/6
headstream first show, liked it, free cd, big fro bass player
silver cities G rock, squeaky vocals
seneca hawk 3-man, VG rock, peter bot cd, indian drummer

shq 7/7
teenage bees 2-man, punk-ish, funny (get your mitts off my dick)
aimless never miss excellent; 4-man, chick keybd, projector visuals, bot both EPs

RGRS 7/7 $5.50 dbls
Hardin Sweaty... punkish at first, hilarious stuff (robocop, wedding cake, etc.), great show
Happy bullets not as good as I remembered, didn't hear most of it (upstairs)
Voot Cha Index G poppy rock

hailey's 7/13
the separation exc pop, harmony
robert gomez really pretty, accordian (P. slavens), baritone
starlight mints decent psych pop, vocals a little fey

hailey's 7/15
hogpig G as usual
mouth of the architect exc heavy RH music, long songs, but screaming death-metal vocals
made out of babies shrieking chick lead

rockhouse live 7/20
otenki OK
1000 MFH G
Opus Flux G

cavern 7/21
Paul Banks awesome voice, 1/2 acoustic set, rufus-like, great stuff
Last Gasp VG alt rock/pop, chick on kybds
A Pacific Model 3rd time to see, G

cavern 7/25
missed Pompeii - start time moved up!

hailey's 8/1
demigs VG, bot cd
new frontiers Excellent
dear and the headlights VG, dashboard, bot cd

cavern 8/3 full of drunken frat boys throwin up horns
smile smile nice
mark mallman G; 2-man, synth and drums + tracks, spaz lead
redballs G; not my thing
valentines same

club dada 8/4
fulton read OK pop rock, vox got a bit old
frankie 54 last-minute fill-in, solo rockabilly
quiet company VG as usual, bot cd

nokia 8/10 $15 parking, $12 dbl (new record)
rufus wainwright awesome

Why am I doing this?

Real answer: I'm not sure. I must be going thru a "phase", or a mid-life crisis, but right now I can't get enough of listening to live music in the Dallas/Denton area, and I feel compelled to "talk" about it. So here I go:

When I started going to live music shows last year, I really couldn't find a resource to help me decide what show I would like best, given my tastes. Yes, the local music blogs helped somewhat, but they usually only talk about a few acts (and usually not the ones I'm interested in), when there are dozens to choose from in any given week.

I found that the only solution is to scan the listings of upcoming shows on DdCal, weshotjr, and pegasusnews and listen to songs on the bands' myspace pages. I categorize and "grade" all the bands and keep track of them in a spreadsheet (only an engineer, eh?). Also, after each show, I jot down a few notes about each band, so that I remember whether or not I'd want to see them again.

Since last December, I've seen about 150 bands and amassed a decent little database. The following post will be the listing of those shows to date. After that, I'll try and post reviews after each show.

It's important to note - these "reviews" were originally only for my benefit. They reflect my taste only. If you happen to share my taste in music, you might get something out of it. If you're into the music scene in Dallas/Denton, you at least might find it interesting.

What's my taste? My top four: Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Laurie Anderson, and Rufus Wainwright. What would that be - art-rock/pop? with some shoe-gaze thrown in? I don't know, I just know I like it. Favorite "locals"? Pompeii, Red Monroe, Chemistry Set, Calhoun, Quiet Company, New Frontiers, Radiant, Stumptone, Paul Banks... Check out my myspace page for more info: www.myspace.com/steve_mcf

Again, I will admit, I'm not sure what the point of this is, I just know that I seem to be obsessed with listening to live music, and I'd love to connect with those who feel the same way. If this blog helps me do that in some way, then I'll consider it a success. So please, don't hesitate to comment, email, whatever.