6/10/09 - Dear and the Headlights, Dirty Sweet

headed to the Door on wednesday night to catch the greatness of Dear and the Headlights. got there in time to just miss Stavely's set, which pissed me off to no end - been tryin for years to catch them again. anywho...

Dirty Sweet, from San Diego, was the first band i saw. lotsa long-hairs on stage. some pretty decent bluesy southern rock, a la Black Crowes. not my kind of thing, but thot they did it pretty well.
headlining was the awesomeness of Dear and the Headlights, from Arizona, touring in support of their new album 'Drunk Like Bible Times'. saw these guys almost 2 years ago in denton and loved 'em. and my gawd, what an awesome, super-high-energy performance wednesday night. Ian's voice can come across as a bit whiney on the cd, but live, it works so well at capturing the emotion and energy of their songs. loved singing along with the old songs, loved the new ones. truly a fantastic set, definitely worth the trip.

6/9/09 - Little Joy, The Present, Queens

a tuesday night at club dada:

first up was Queens, from Brooklyn. One dude on instruments (guitar, keys, effects), and one on drums. these guys are somehow associated with Animal Collective, which was blatantly obvious. my summary - this is what Panda Bear would sound like, if he was doped up on Dramamine, and sang like a 12 year-old girl. blech.
next up was The Present, also from NYC, and also associated with Animal Collective. three people, lots of knob-twiddling. my summary - this is what Panda Bear would sound like, if he SUCKED.
last up was Little Joy, from all over. unusual group of folks, including Strokes' drummer Fabrizio Moretti, Brazilian Rodrigo Amarante, and Binki Shapiro from LA (tho Moretti isn't along for this tour). don't know if it was because I knew about Moretti's Strokes connection, but a decent number of their songs sounded very Strokes-like (at least, the poppier ones). loved Rodrigo's deep, crooning voice, and Binki's soothing harmonies as well. a very nice collection of sweet, catchy pop tunes.

6/6/09 - Brutal Juice, The Boom Boom Box, The Phuss, Spitfire Tumbleweeds, Daily Beats

headed to dan's for the annual BBQ bash.


first up was The Daily Beat. pretty decent punk, tho fairly average (except for the sweet lookin' gal on keys, who was above average ;). anyways, nice job.


next up was Spitfire Tumbleweeds, and my gawd, was i blown away. i normally don't get too excited about their kind of stuff (southern rock/alt-country/americana), but their gritty, rockin' performance made me a believer. seemed like there were as many guys on stage as in the audience. very talented group. never heard scott porter (of Record Hop fame) sing, but damn, was he good. loved the multi-part harmonies, too. can't wait to catch these guys again soon.

next up was the Phuss, filling in for Dead Twins (nuts!). two guys, one on guitar, one on drums. some pretty hard-rockin', bluesy stuff.

next up was The Boom Boom Box, featuring remnants of Baboon, Ghostcar, and Pleasant Grove. totally fell in love with this band. hard to describe - kinda dark, trippy, brooding, but super-catchy indie rock. opened with Shivers (see the myspace page), which absolutely kicked my ass. 'twas funny to see the lead singer from Baboon still obsessed with bunching his pants up around his package. anyways, i was enthralled - will definitely look to catch them again soon - they might be headed towards the top of my "local favorites" list.

last up was the legendary Brutal Juice, at the end of a short reunion tour. some pretty hardcore metal, even approaching death-metal at times. not exactly my cup o' tea, but the energy up on stage and in the room was amazing. 'twas cool to see people at a show in denton (or anywhere, for that matter) actually moving. fun stuff.