These are the notes I recorded on my phone during the shows. In some cases, I added my tweets from that night.
The
usual caveats apply: I am not a music critic, I don't pretend to be. I
likes what I like. These are my opinions only, worth what you paid. If you are a thin-skinned band member, you should think twice before proceeding. You have been warned.
__________________________________________________________________
1/25/13 trees
Home by Hovercraft. Absolute genius. Short set. It's so amazing, how happy of a place they take me to. So thankful
Low dark hills.
Good, mellow shit. But boring, in the end. Wall of sound, but audience
lost. Medium tempo strumming, never rock out
The orange. Kinda heavy rock. Audience lost, totally. Who the fuck booked this show???
Chambers, from Denton. Baruch the scribe as lead, plus violin. Dug it
Air Review. Beautiful stuff. Two covers, tho, ugh. Third cover as encore, wtf? Had to look up lyrics on his phone, funny
2/8 trees
Glossary, from Nashville. High energy, but super-ordinary rock, lead with cabby hat, chick w tambourine
Quiet
company. GodDAM! Love Quiet Company
- so great, such energy. Been a fan since 2007. Still blow me away,
every time. Touching tribute to his wife, dancing in front of her. Red
trombone. Quit their full time jobs. Re-recorded shine honesty.
Telegraph canyon. Shrooms in the desert story. Lotsa oldies. Awesome set, as always
3/2 dada
Bethan. Violin. Strong voice. good
Gotta call it like I see it - not diggin Datahowler at all, don't get how it fits with HxH & Bethan. Not just me, either, crowd uninterested
Just when I thot Home by Hovercraft couldn't be any better - violin!!
3/7 Granada
No "special guest" opener, as advertised. Liars
Nicole Atkins opened at 8:15. Solo w hollow body electric. Fine, but boring
Eels. Meh. Too many new ones
3/8/13 35 Denton, Day 1
Sleep. Not my thing at all. Seemed like they played the same song for hour & a half.
Wrestling? wtf
Peopleodeon at the hive. Fucking awesome, cept we couldn't hear the vox. Is the sound guy deaf? Loved it, tho.
Mellow mushroom for king automatic. Started at 11. Blech, bluesy guitar rock
The hive, zorch. Way more electronic than I remembered.
Man Man. Longest
sound check in history. Bad ass piano rock. Loved it.
3/8/13 35 Denton, Day 2
Rain delays.
The hive. Killer mike/ magic mike. Preachin Jesus & killing.
Sweetwater for hope trust.
Demigs. Then pageantry. Meh.
Back to dans for valleys
Akron/family. Uh, no. Crowd totally disengaged
3/28 prophet bar
Reinventing Jude. 3 guitars, violin, sax, drums. No one here. Funky, jazzy, poppy. Good
Paco Estrada. Oh no
Sorne. Second time to see. Some awesome, crazy-ass shit.
4/15 trees
Wintersleep. Good shit, Scott joined em for a song
Frightened rabbit. Orgasmic. No Nitrous Gas, tho :(
5/2 prophet bar
Old warhorse. Chris welch from pine box serenade. Yucky rootsy bluesy rock
Spooky Easy. Didn't really enjoy it as much as I'd hoped
Hacienda. Bass, keys, drums. Didn't dig it, left early
5/10 Granada
Goodnight Ned. Freakin awesome. 2 guitars, violin, keys, bass, drums. Multiple harmonies, gut-busting music. Fantastic.
Telegraph Canyon. Beautiful.
Sons of Fathers. Incredible set. Spine-tingling harmonies. And damn, can that dude rock the upright bass. Amazing
6/1 trees
Home x Hovercraft. Sound mix bad at first. Can't really hear cello.
Quiet Company. Awesome energy, as usual.
The Features, from Nashville. Awesome. Very catchy songs, slight country touch, very heartfelt. Loved it
6/8 dada
Birds of night. Denton. Don't like lead's voice. Dirty gritty rock.
Goodnight Ned. Good stuff.
Pretty sure every band here tonight has prepared for this show by not showering for several days.
Room sounds. Blech. Ordinary. Buncha longhairs, every song sounds like a pseudo-rootsy version of 'hey jealousy'.
Bravo Max! Now we're talkin', much better, not rootsy at all, great catchy songs. Dug it
6/16 dada
Listened to Radiolab on kera on way down. Fascinating.
Dada, big crowd already, daylight, very young.
Dark
Rooms. Daniel hart. Violin. Tracking shit. Lotsa Falsetto. Can't hear
backing vox. Standup drummer - Lisa Bonet? Ok, but wouldn't see again.
Savoir Adore. Lotsa electronic recorded shit, too much for my taste. Good, for that kinda thing.
No AC. Ridiculous.
Sea
Wolf. Speaker problems 2 songs in, sound man on chair, tryin to fix
things. First 2 songs kinda boring. Never got better. Vox never rose
above the music.
6/26 dada
What the HELL is going on with the whole college-girls-wearing-poochy-grandma-jeans/shorts thing? It's wrong, just wrong.
The Chloes. All girls. Sleestak lead. Lotsa covers. Bubble machine. Awful.
Shannon
& the clams. Ick. Complete copy of 60s rock, no unique take on
it. Hated it. Josh & Jessica loved it. So curious - why are most of the folks into them under 5.5',
(both male and female)? Sociologists, discuss
Mikal Cronin. Meh, not my thing
7/12 Granada
Dark
rooms. First 2 songs kicked ass, downhill all the way after that.
Audience bored to tears. Needs to learn how to pace. Too much recorded
shit for my taste. Couldn't hear Lisa bonet's backup vox (again).
Seryn. Glorious. Harmonies a bit repetitive, same intervals over
& over, but still good.
Alpha rev. Great, but closed w Hallelujah cover. Lead w Travis-like mullet.
7/20 Granada
Nervous
Curtains. Goddam, they never fail to blow me away. Loved the new stuff,
loved how they made the "old" stuff fresh. Cool visuals, too
Blackstone rangers. Gal in shiny stretchy pants, dude a win-butler-wannabe in art smock. Not bad
Octopus project. Damn - an amazing melange of electronica, kick-ass guitar, and theremin. Always an incredible show.
8/7 prophet bar
Dovetail.
All wearing stupid-ass hats. Long stringy hair. Backup singer axl rose wannabe.
Harmonies horrible at times, painful. Pontificating about the future of our
children. "It'll get u down!!" Awful rendition of I shall be released, led
by key player. Horrible. Way more Americana than I remembered.
Luna
arcade. Lead not playing anything, never a good sign, stupid headband. "Caught in a cross.
fire. The flames of my de. sire". Awful 80s rock. Horrible.
Ours.
Overly earnest. Everyone in black. Dear gawd, he takes himself so
seriously. Muse-like. 10-minute stop-down for falsetto bullshit.
8/24 dada GOBL showcase
Empty at first.
Supposed to be Venetian sailors, but only one guy on acoustic showed. Lotsa covers. Boring
Family
piano. Trey from Sorta, 2 keys, upright bass, no guitar, gal backup singer. Piano pop.
Very ordinary. Whistling.
John singer
sgt. Shawn & Seth singing every song. Trombone. Not great. Most song intros: "Here's
another song originally sung by someone else famous who isn't here (Will
Johnson, Rhett miller), etc"
Friday, August 30, 2013
Show notes, 2012
These are the notes I recorded on my phone during the shows. In some cases, I added my tweets from that night.
The usual caveats apply: I am not a music critic, I don't pretend to be. I likes what I like. These are my opinions only, worth what you paid. If you are a thin-skinned band member, you should think twice before proceeding. You have been warned.
__________________________________________________________________
1/7/12 prophet bar
Lions in the lawn. Four man, all guitar. Shorty bald lead. Scrambled to bring out new guitar half way thru song, dono why. Givin' it their all, gawd bless em, but suffering from 'Only girlfriends of bandmembers are interested' disease
Relo. Fourman, all guitar. Decent.
Darstar. Good-timey rock.
Sealion's lead - a bearded, bespectacled version of Thom Yorke, complete with the 'I don't give a fuck about the audience' attitude. Yay, us. Great, tho
1/14 granada
Menkena - Ahhh, so great to hear Dave Hickmott's voice again. Tho Jimmy Menkena's giant perm, BC glasses and perennial leather jacket kinda creep me out.
Air Review, givin' it their all, but failing to get this comatose crowd movin'. Sad.
Mon Julien: kinda like BTD, Part Deux. Same cocky frontman, with the same kick-ass voice. Dug it
2/10 Prophet bar
Dr seahorse. 2 dudes. One dude singing, with striped gloves, other dude in keys, drums. Too Souly for me, but gawd bless em for their effort. Except for the cover of 'man in the mirror', fuck that
Plain Jane automobile. Fucking awesome
The language room. 5-man, all incl keys. Pretty damn good.
2/24 prophet bar
Zhora. Bjork wannabe with twiddle box, dude on laptop, dude on drums with stupid masks, dono why. Big crowd for opener, tho totally uninvolved. I think I'd like 'em better if they actually like, played instruments & shit
Quiet hooves. 9 peeps, 2 trumpets, 3 keys, violin, stand up drummer. Pretty sure everyone is wasted. Some crazy-ass shit.
Reptar. Vampire weekend wannabes, Joe cocker lead. good stuff, fun
3/9/12 35 Denton Day 1
Mountain goats - Confession: I was excited to see these guys, cuz I thot I saw em years ago. Turns out, it was Heligoats. Oops. Still great, tho
Coves - Digging Caleb Ian Campbell's new band, like I knew I would.
Family Fiend at Mellow Mushroom. Blech. Sorry, boys
Blurries, ok
3/9/12 35 Denton, Day2
Totally digging The Eastern Sea. Any band that features the trumpet...
Omfg, how I love Sundress, have I made that clear?
Jeezchrist, lead from Gardens & Villa has a whole *quiver* full of wooden flutes. Not a good sign, IMO. Pluswhich, they opened with a cover. Fail
3/24 dada
Beard at door, just like old times.
Low dark hills. Nathan from new frontiers, solis on drums. Good stuff, but kinda sedate
The rocketboys. good stuff. LDH cud learn a few things from them. Same Unabomber lead as years ago
4/6/12 Deep Ellum arts festival
One Red Martian. 4-man, keys. Decent pop, somewhat unique, not cookie cutter.
Bob here in new suit.
Analog rebellion. Absolute. Fucking. Genius.
Smile smile. Full band, less annoying banter
Quiet company. Rocked
Burning hotels. Ok. Got a tad repetitive. Maybe I've seen them too many times.
4/13 liquid lounge
Randall shreve & sideshows. Vaudevillian piano rock, awesome.
Plain Jane Automobile, even awesomer, met duke. Complained about weird vibe.
Language Room, emoish, but harder. Very good.
5/19 dada
We're not dudes. Young girls. Funny. Highest MILF count of any show I've EVER been to. Unreal.
Daniel Hart. Boooring
The Colurs. The presence of >4 music stands on stage? Not a good sign, but we'll see. Not sure if they're playing tonight, or rehearsing for a show tomorrow. Jeezusfuckinchrist, play already. Violins, cellos on stage. Lounge music. Oh no, no, no. No *conducting* of the string players allowed, under any circumstances. Even for a Denton band.
5/29 dada
Bawcomville. Blah. Boring. Michael moore on bass. Crappy. Can't believe they're opening for P&a
Bizarro. Last time I saw Plants & Animals, they were bringin the house down, opening for Frightened Rabbit. Tonight they played for 15 people...
6/1 lumineers at good records.
Short, stripped-down set. Boring, waste of time
6/2 La Grange
The Cush. Seen 'em many times, just can't get into it.
Laura Stevenson - vox too whiny, compared to the stuff i heard on the web.
Chelsea Wolfe - took herself too seriously, "I just wanna get off the stage", black & white dress. Too goth & serious for me, saw Sean there. Swear to gawd, I'm the only one at this show not wearing black
6/19 dada
La big Vic. 3 peeps, chick on violin, dudes on synth, guitar, lotsa recorded shit. Ok, kinda retro
Moonface w sanii. Spencer Krug with danish band. Geico caveman guitar lead, all look bored. Sometimes tribal, sometimes trippy. Goddam smokers, spencer called em out
6/29 prophet bar
Bethan. Dug it. Great voice on lead. Dude on saw, gal on violin. Just needed to kick us in the crotch, but didn't
Achtone. 5- man, sax/flute. Pretty great. Some vox, not much.
Sorne. Cardboard cutouts, Egyptian theme. Tribal. Not sure I understand everything that's going on on stage right now, but I'm diggin it. phenomenal voice
7/19 rockin rodeo
$18 cover, but $5.25 doubles
New Rufus playing
Whiskey folk ramblers. Really enjoying it, tho I'm trying to determine if they're totally disinterested, or just too cool to act like they are. But great, nonetheless
Merriment. One gal one guy. Booooring
Eisley: expertly-created, perfectly-executed pop. Blech
7/27 dada
Home by hovercraft. Awesome girl pounding on the keys. Dude on tuba and PIL vox. Love it. Vox sometimes like David Byrne, tindersticks, Johnny rotten
Mur. Meh - old man rock. Audience snoozing.
My wooden leg. 2 dudes, guitar & drums. Some tunes Beirut-ish, catchy, but most not
8/10 Stella fest at haileys.
6:30 first band. Goblins? One dude or chick in black hoodie & laptop. Crappy.
Freak the mighty. No vox. Gybe-ish. Blech.
Ari roar. One dude on keys. Nice voice, über-sensitive, but good.
Cozy hawks. Blech
Holy mammoth. Not bad. Gybe with echoey vocals
Skipped blood witch
Sundress - great, as always
Holy wave, psych, folks with overhead & trippy foils
8/16 dada
Spacebeach. Blech. Totally unengaging. Mostly instrumental.
Adebisi shank. Didn't play International Dreambeat. Stupid face mask. Ok
Fang island. Awesome
8/25 dada
Salim solo. ok, booooring, went on way too long
Sunward. great. Fearless & Weird Fishes covers.
Chemistry set. Didn't play all my favs, different arrangements, but chills, nonetheless
Tabula rasa. Heavier than I like. Lead playing scrapy thing. guiro?
10/5 Index Fest
$5 ATM fee cuz they don't take cards. fuckers
Heartless Bastards - great start
Bethan - dug it again
Grimes - awful
Myths - even worse
Quiet Company - awesome
Elite Gymnastics- wtf? Awful, hippy sitting with umbrella & twiddling box on stage
Atlas genius - good
10/10 trees
Fuckers started at 8:35, tactics said 9. How fuckin hard is it?
Geographer. from San Fran. 3 man, electric cello, super-gay 80's synth pop, straight from a John Hughes movie. too electronic.
Freelance whales. Orgasmic. Don't ever miss
10/14 Meyerson
Teddy Thompson, London. Solo acoustic. Ordinary folk/country, funny, last song "home" was gorgeous.
Crystal warren, mcgarrigle cover. Breathtaking
Rufus - amazing. ridiculous rufus apollo encore
10/18 AT&T PAC
AT&T PAC patio sessions - bizarre combination of daycare center & hipster indie rock show
Home by hovercraft. So good
Air review. Good stuff, tho i don't care for the solo stopdowns
Doma showcase 11/10
Clint niosi at dada, fuckin sorority gals louder than him & violin chick. Good stuff
On patio, John singer sergeant. Booooooring, despite Shawn & Seth on last song. The most exciting thing about the set? The Baby Dolls posters on the fence behind 'em. Sorry, man, I almost fell asleep
Home by hovercraft. Orgasmic
Jessie frye at la grange. Nope
Mystery skulls at trees. One dude w laptop, singing like prince. Awful.
Made the haul to prophet bar for datahowler. Dude w laptop yet again.
Salim back at Reno's. Kinda think it's funny, Salim playing at Reno's. Dono why, zackly - u tell me
Cutter on inside Reno's, more laptop bullshit. Plus drums.
Dada for mora collective. Sax, bass, drums, blech
Outside, blurries, just can't get excited. Leads voice very weak
La grange for eyes wings other things. Good, but loooow key
Dada. Blackstone rangers. Gal w funny haircut. Electronica. not for me
Nervous curtains, not my fav set list, but still rocked
Dada, southern renaissance, drunk dancers, blah country
Trees, Ad+, ick, hiphop cliches
Oil boom, good bluesy rock
Dada 12/30 hotel tesseract
Bizarre dude/chick in mask with distorted voice as MC. "Welcome to hotel tesseract. Open ur mind..." Dude in mask & cloak at laptop control board. Dono why.
Trey chick. Dude on acoustic, gal backup vox. U and me something something mattress. Trey Pendergrass? yes
Orgullo Primitivo. Dude on angry sax, plus screamo drummer. Funny as hell.
Home by Hovercraft. So beautiful
The usual caveats apply: I am not a music critic, I don't pretend to be. I likes what I like. These are my opinions only, worth what you paid. If you are a thin-skinned band member, you should think twice before proceeding. You have been warned.
__________________________________________________________________
1/7/12 prophet bar
Lions in the lawn. Four man, all guitar. Shorty bald lead. Scrambled to bring out new guitar half way thru song, dono why. Givin' it their all, gawd bless em, but suffering from 'Only girlfriends of bandmembers are interested' disease
Relo. Fourman, all guitar. Decent.
Darstar. Good-timey rock.
Sealion's lead - a bearded, bespectacled version of Thom Yorke, complete with the 'I don't give a fuck about the audience' attitude. Yay, us. Great, tho
1/14 granada
Menkena - Ahhh, so great to hear Dave Hickmott's voice again. Tho Jimmy Menkena's giant perm, BC glasses and perennial leather jacket kinda creep me out.
Air Review, givin' it their all, but failing to get this comatose crowd movin'. Sad.
Mon Julien: kinda like BTD, Part Deux. Same cocky frontman, with the same kick-ass voice. Dug it
2/10 Prophet bar
Dr seahorse. 2 dudes. One dude singing, with striped gloves, other dude in keys, drums. Too Souly for me, but gawd bless em for their effort. Except for the cover of 'man in the mirror', fuck that
Plain Jane automobile. Fucking awesome
The language room. 5-man, all incl keys. Pretty damn good.
2/24 prophet bar
Zhora. Bjork wannabe with twiddle box, dude on laptop, dude on drums with stupid masks, dono why. Big crowd for opener, tho totally uninvolved. I think I'd like 'em better if they actually like, played instruments & shit
Quiet hooves. 9 peeps, 2 trumpets, 3 keys, violin, stand up drummer. Pretty sure everyone is wasted. Some crazy-ass shit.
Reptar. Vampire weekend wannabes, Joe cocker lead. good stuff, fun
3/9/12 35 Denton Day 1
Mountain goats - Confession: I was excited to see these guys, cuz I thot I saw em years ago. Turns out, it was Heligoats. Oops. Still great, tho
Coves - Digging Caleb Ian Campbell's new band, like I knew I would.
Family Fiend at Mellow Mushroom. Blech. Sorry, boys
Blurries, ok
3/9/12 35 Denton, Day2
Totally digging The Eastern Sea. Any band that features the trumpet...
Omfg, how I love Sundress, have I made that clear?
Jeezchrist, lead from Gardens & Villa has a whole *quiver* full of wooden flutes. Not a good sign, IMO. Pluswhich, they opened with a cover. Fail
3/24 dada
Beard at door, just like old times.
Low dark hills. Nathan from new frontiers, solis on drums. Good stuff, but kinda sedate
The rocketboys. good stuff. LDH cud learn a few things from them. Same Unabomber lead as years ago
4/6/12 Deep Ellum arts festival
One Red Martian. 4-man, keys. Decent pop, somewhat unique, not cookie cutter.
Bob here in new suit.
Analog rebellion. Absolute. Fucking. Genius.
Smile smile. Full band, less annoying banter
Quiet company. Rocked
Burning hotels. Ok. Got a tad repetitive. Maybe I've seen them too many times.
4/13 liquid lounge
Randall shreve & sideshows. Vaudevillian piano rock, awesome.
Plain Jane Automobile, even awesomer, met duke. Complained about weird vibe.
Language Room, emoish, but harder. Very good.
5/19 dada
We're not dudes. Young girls. Funny. Highest MILF count of any show I've EVER been to. Unreal.
Home by hovercraft. Crazy ass shit, an Irish clogger as one of the principal instruments. Makes me giggle. Totally dug it.
Daniel Hart. Boooring
The Colurs. The presence of >4 music stands on stage? Not a good sign, but we'll see. Not sure if they're playing tonight, or rehearsing for a show tomorrow. Jeezusfuckinchrist, play already. Violins, cellos on stage. Lounge music. Oh no, no, no. No *conducting* of the string players allowed, under any circumstances. Even for a Denton band.
5/29 dada
Bawcomville. Blah. Boring. Michael moore on bass. Crappy. Can't believe they're opening for P&a
Bizarro. Last time I saw Plants & Animals, they were bringin the house down, opening for Frightened Rabbit. Tonight they played for 15 people...
6/1 lumineers at good records.
Short, stripped-down set. Boring, waste of time
6/2 La Grange
The Cush. Seen 'em many times, just can't get into it.
Laura Stevenson - vox too whiny, compared to the stuff i heard on the web.
Chelsea Wolfe - took herself too seriously, "I just wanna get off the stage", black & white dress. Too goth & serious for me, saw Sean there. Swear to gawd, I'm the only one at this show not wearing black
6/19 dada
La big Vic. 3 peeps, chick on violin, dudes on synth, guitar, lotsa recorded shit. Ok, kinda retro
Moonface w sanii. Spencer Krug with danish band. Geico caveman guitar lead, all look bored. Sometimes tribal, sometimes trippy. Goddam smokers, spencer called em out
6/29 prophet bar
Bethan. Dug it. Great voice on lead. Dude on saw, gal on violin. Just needed to kick us in the crotch, but didn't
Achtone. 5- man, sax/flute. Pretty great. Some vox, not much.
Sorne. Cardboard cutouts, Egyptian theme. Tribal. Not sure I understand everything that's going on on stage right now, but I'm diggin it. phenomenal voice
7/19 rockin rodeo
$18 cover, but $5.25 doubles
New Rufus playing
Whiskey folk ramblers. Really enjoying it, tho I'm trying to determine if they're totally disinterested, or just too cool to act like they are. But great, nonetheless
Merriment. One gal one guy. Booooring
Eisley: expertly-created, perfectly-executed pop. Blech
7/27 dada
Home by hovercraft. Awesome girl pounding on the keys. Dude on tuba and PIL vox. Love it. Vox sometimes like David Byrne, tindersticks, Johnny rotten
Mur. Meh - old man rock. Audience snoozing.
My wooden leg. 2 dudes, guitar & drums. Some tunes Beirut-ish, catchy, but most not
8/10 Stella fest at haileys.
6:30 first band. Goblins? One dude or chick in black hoodie & laptop. Crappy.
Freak the mighty. No vox. Gybe-ish. Blech.
Ari roar. One dude on keys. Nice voice, über-sensitive, but good.
Cozy hawks. Blech
Holy mammoth. Not bad. Gybe with echoey vocals
Skipped blood witch
Sundress - great, as always
Holy wave, psych, folks with overhead & trippy foils
8/16 dada
Spacebeach. Blech. Totally unengaging. Mostly instrumental.
Adebisi shank. Didn't play International Dreambeat. Stupid face mask. Ok
Fang island. Awesome
8/25 dada
Salim solo. ok, booooring, went on way too long
Sunward. great. Fearless & Weird Fishes covers.
Chemistry set. Didn't play all my favs, different arrangements, but chills, nonetheless
Tabula rasa. Heavier than I like. Lead playing scrapy thing. guiro?
10/5 Index Fest
$5 ATM fee cuz they don't take cards. fuckers
Heartless Bastards - great start
Bethan - dug it again
Grimes - awful
Myths - even worse
Quiet Company - awesome
Elite Gymnastics- wtf? Awful, hippy sitting with umbrella & twiddling box on stage
Atlas genius - good
10/10 trees
Fuckers started at 8:35, tactics said 9. How fuckin hard is it?
Geographer. from San Fran. 3 man, electric cello, super-gay 80's synth pop, straight from a John Hughes movie. too electronic.
Freelance whales. Orgasmic. Don't ever miss
10/14 Meyerson
Teddy Thompson, London. Solo acoustic. Ordinary folk/country, funny, last song "home" was gorgeous.
Crystal warren, mcgarrigle cover. Breathtaking
Rufus - amazing. ridiculous rufus apollo encore
10/18 AT&T PAC
AT&T PAC patio sessions - bizarre combination of daycare center & hipster indie rock show
Home by hovercraft. So good
Air review. Good stuff, tho i don't care for the solo stopdowns
Doma showcase 11/10
Clint niosi at dada, fuckin sorority gals louder than him & violin chick. Good stuff
On patio, John singer sergeant. Booooooring, despite Shawn & Seth on last song. The most exciting thing about the set? The Baby Dolls posters on the fence behind 'em. Sorry, man, I almost fell asleep
Home by hovercraft. Orgasmic
Jessie frye at la grange. Nope
Mystery skulls at trees. One dude w laptop, singing like prince. Awful.
Made the haul to prophet bar for datahowler. Dude w laptop yet again.
Salim back at Reno's. Kinda think it's funny, Salim playing at Reno's. Dono why, zackly - u tell me
Cutter on inside Reno's, more laptop bullshit. Plus drums.
Dada for mora collective. Sax, bass, drums, blech
Outside, blurries, just can't get excited. Leads voice very weak
La grange for eyes wings other things. Good, but loooow key
Dada. Blackstone rangers. Gal w funny haircut. Electronica. not for me
Nervous curtains, not my fav set list, but still rocked
Dada, southern renaissance, drunk dancers, blah country
Trees, Ad+, ick, hiphop cliches
Oil boom, good bluesy rock
Dada 12/30 hotel tesseract
Bizarre dude/chick in mask with distorted voice as MC. "Welcome to hotel tesseract. Open ur mind..." Dude in mask & cloak at laptop control board. Dono why.
Trey chick. Dude on acoustic, gal backup vox. U and me something something mattress. Trey Pendergrass? yes
Orgullo Primitivo. Dude on angry sax, plus screamo drummer. Funny as hell.
Home by Hovercraft. So beautiful
Show notes, last half of 2011
These are the notes I recorded on my phone during the shows. In some cases, I added my tweets from that night.
The usual caveats apply: I am not a music critic, I don't pretend to be. I likes what I like. These are my opinions only, worth what you paid. If you are a thin-skinned band member, you should think twice before proceeding. You have been warned.
__________________________________________________________________
Haileys 4/10/11
Two knights. One guitar, drums. Oh yeah, love that two-hands-on-the-fret shit. Young, angry, enjoyable
Babar. No vox. Just math rock tapping. Blech. Don't get it. "This song is called x and is about this", then 3 minutes with no words. Giggle.
Manned missiles. Great rock. Tried not to hold their drunk-ass fans against them.
4/20/11 the loft
Sundress - trippin' balls
Freelance Whales - goddam, this band loves them some bells. Loved it.
Arcade fire 4/30/11
Omg, i officially hate Gexa fucking energy pavilion. So "state fair", with the $14 beers, the sausage-on-a-stick, plus the ticket-checking Nazis.
Arcade Fire was awesome, tho.
Dada 5/20
Austin band, my something. Instrumental, buncha olds, bass player tryin to sell it, rest of em bored, violin player reminded me of eastbound & down dude
Joan of arc. Lotsa instrumental math rock. Almost walked. Started singing. Much better.
Gal from Air waves confused by Bob.
Loft 5/22/11
The Ones You Loved. Wow. Proof that even the Mormonites can kick ass on stage. Who'da thunk it?
Hells yeah. The Rocketboys seemed to have jettisoned Holmer Hiccolm without a hitch. Awesome.
Sweet Jeezus. An Horse. Fantastic.
Loft 6/7/11
Caddywhompus
Family of the Year
Givers
Haileys 6/17
Alphabet. Four man, all guitars. Finger tapping, ugh. Lead, not a great voice. Buried in the mix, probly a good thing.
Mary walker. Her on keys, dude on bass in jorts, drums. blech. Sorry Mary, despite ur super-low neckline & the bass player wearing the super-ridiculous jorts, ur not for me
Hares on the mountain. Jc, George Neal, rtb, two more. Very folky. "Ain't no big man sittin in the sky. Ain't no angels sittin way up high". HOTM, I love u for no other reason than that
Roy Robertson: very nice, but u shud work on ur addiction to the massive amount of reverb u use on ur vocals. Admission is the first step
My gawd, I loves me some Sundress, have I made that clear? Even tho they exceed the Max Allowable # of Wife-Beaters Per Band (one)
6/23 dada
Oax. Started off boring, got better. Still, meh. Pretty routine pop rock.
Other lives. Cello, violin, trumpet. Awesome. Squeezebox, Autoharp. Everyone a multi-instrumentalist. Drummer picks up clarinet, violinist picks up trumpet. Incredible.
Rosebuds. 4 man, violin. Very nice pop.
Dans 7/1.
Salim w acoustic & electric guy. Very pleased w himself. Good stuff, tho.
Elaine Greer & friends. Awesome. Kristina morland voice plus full band.
Sour notes. Elaine & guitarist from her band. Good, hard to categorize.
Matas. New bass player
7/15 dada
Gallery cat. Criminal overuse of "make some noise!!". Good hip-hop, if ur into that. 2 singers, plus guitar, bass, keys, drums.
Larry gee. Fuckin 10 people on stage, 2 saxophones. Soul. ugh
Dovetail. With Bob accompanying. 7 on stage, Russell brand-ish lead. Took themselves waaaay too seriously, esp lead wearing pajama pants
7/21 Granada
Stupid ass juggler opener. wtf
The Submarines. 2 people, acoustic, electric, bells. Cutie, but horrible knees.
Eels. Awesome
8/4 the door
New regime. Suckage. Ordinary rock, hated vox
Wallpaper. An absolute riot
AWOLNATION. good, mixed screaming w falsetto
8/19 dada
Sphynx - guitar, synth, drums. Gayest pants ever on all 3. Icky falsetto & creepy porn stache on lead. Very synthy pop. Enough falsetto to deafen all dogs in a 2-block radius. Not bad, tho
The globes. Awesome
El ten eleven. Great. Lotsa loops, like tartufi, but no vox, catchier
8/26 haileys
Ethereal and the Queer Show. Blonde chick singing, with scarf on head, longhair dude on guitar, chick dancing in background. Electronic. Funny
New York city queers. Houston. Hot ass bass player in white shorts & black hose. Decent pop.
Black & white years, Austin. Supergay lead, over-vibrato Vox, porn stache. Electro. Reminds me of George quartz. Didn't get it at first, but finally did. Great stuff. Ended up loving it. Actually had fans singing along.
Holy fiction. Nice orchestral pop. Very earnest.
Sundress - nuff said
9/1 loft
The lukyas. Chick lead, quirky vox, French horn, trombone. Lightbulbs. Ok
The dodos. Awesome
9/9 spune fall social, Dada
Mission to the sea. Boring
Gold beach. Meh
Bethan.Ok
Seryn. Great
Telegraph canyon. Amazing
Balmorrhea. Ok, but instrumental
10/11 dans
Pillars and Tongues. 3piece squeezebox violin drums/bass, recorded tracks. Western, nice harmonies, very nice
Dark Dark Dark. Was hoping for Wild goose chase & Make time. No such luck. Beautiful tho
A Hawk and a Hacksaw. 5-piece, klezmer. Devotchka without the vox. Oh wait. Vox now.
10/23 palladium
Little hurricane. 2 peeps, bluesy guitar, hot chick on drums. Nice
Dear hunter. Lotsa people on stage. Good stuff.
White denim. Good, but not my thing
It's Denton short in here.
Manchester orchestra
11/05 Trees
Bear Hands. Wow - Archie Morris of ER fame found a gig as a frontman. Who knew?
Royal Bangs - dug it
We were promised Jetpacks - awesome. Sweet jeezus, the lungs on Adam Thompson. Amazing.
12/3 dada
Comrade, nice, but never Rock out
Radiant. Great stuff, did not end on strong song
Blurries. Ok
Quiet company. Always good, lotsa emotion from Taylor
12/11 Dan's, A Spune Xmas
Voltrevolt. Loved it. Lead sounds like a billygoat, sez Josh. On patio, freezing my ass off.
The Angelus. Ok, too serious, o night Divine?
Spooky Folk - Little drummer boy??
Doug Burr - opened with O Come all ye faithful
Seryn. Way too many church hymns
Goddam, when did this turn into a church service??
12/28 Wednesday la grange hotel tesseract
Gal at door asks me: "what happened to the hotel?" Say what??
Bartender ripped me off , charged me 4 for a 2
First band. Vaqueros electronicos? No idea, they didn't say. A bit too country for me
Manya, with Doug for a song. Pretty
Trumpet with mute, guitar player from first 2 bands as lead singer.
Then chick singer. very incestuous, this is
Doug explains, says its a collective.
Next band hot chick singer, no incest, no idea who they were, iris leu?
Fuck, bob showed up
Sitting w lesbian couple, they're cool. Pronounced Astronautalis "Astro-no-TALis". Cracked me up. I straightened 'em out.
The usual caveats apply: I am not a music critic, I don't pretend to be. I likes what I like. These are my opinions only, worth what you paid. If you are a thin-skinned band member, you should think twice before proceeding. You have been warned.
__________________________________________________________________
Haileys 4/10/11
Two knights. One guitar, drums. Oh yeah, love that two-hands-on-the-fret shit. Young, angry, enjoyable
Babar. No vox. Just math rock tapping. Blech. Don't get it. "This song is called x and is about this", then 3 minutes with no words. Giggle.
Manned missiles. Great rock. Tried not to hold their drunk-ass fans against them.
4/20/11 the loft
Sundress - trippin' balls
Freelance Whales - goddam, this band loves them some bells. Loved it.
Arcade fire 4/30/11
Omg, i officially hate Gexa fucking energy pavilion. So "state fair", with the $14 beers, the sausage-on-a-stick, plus the ticket-checking Nazis.
Arcade Fire was awesome, tho.
Dada 5/20
Austin band, my something. Instrumental, buncha olds, bass player tryin to sell it, rest of em bored, violin player reminded me of eastbound & down dude
Air waves, straight outta Brooklyn, yo. Pretty awesome.
Joan of arc. Lotsa instrumental math rock. Almost walked. Started singing. Much better.
Gal from Air waves confused by Bob.
Loft 5/22/11
The Ones You Loved. Wow. Proof that even the Mormonites can kick ass on stage. Who'da thunk it?
Sweet Jeezus. An Horse. Fantastic.
Loft 6/7/11
Caddywhompus
Family of the Year
Givers
Haileys 6/17
Alphabet. Four man, all guitars. Finger tapping, ugh. Lead, not a great voice. Buried in the mix, probly a good thing.
Mary walker. Her on keys, dude on bass in jorts, drums. blech. Sorry Mary, despite ur super-low neckline & the bass player wearing the super-ridiculous jorts, ur not for me
Hares on the mountain. Jc, George Neal, rtb, two more. Very folky. "Ain't no big man sittin in the sky. Ain't no angels sittin way up high". HOTM, I love u for no other reason than that
Roy Robertson: very nice, but u shud work on ur addiction to the massive amount of reverb u use on ur vocals. Admission is the first step
My gawd, I loves me some Sundress, have I made that clear? Even tho they exceed the Max Allowable # of Wife-Beaters Per Band (one)
6/23 dada
Oax. Started off boring, got better. Still, meh. Pretty routine pop rock.
Other lives. Cello, violin, trumpet. Awesome. Squeezebox, Autoharp. Everyone a multi-instrumentalist. Drummer picks up clarinet, violinist picks up trumpet. Incredible.
Rosebuds. 4 man, violin. Very nice pop.
Dans 7/1.
Salim w acoustic & electric guy. Very pleased w himself. Good stuff, tho.
Elaine Greer & friends. Awesome. Kristina morland voice plus full band.
Sour notes. Elaine & guitarist from her band. Good, hard to categorize.
Matas. New bass player
7/15 dada
Gallery cat. Criminal overuse of "make some noise!!". Good hip-hop, if ur into that. 2 singers, plus guitar, bass, keys, drums.
Larry gee. Fuckin 10 people on stage, 2 saxophones. Soul. ugh
Dovetail. With Bob accompanying. 7 on stage, Russell brand-ish lead. Took themselves waaaay too seriously, esp lead wearing pajama pants
7/21 Granada
Stupid ass juggler opener. wtf
The Submarines. 2 people, acoustic, electric, bells. Cutie, but horrible knees.
Eels. Awesome
8/4 the door
New regime. Suckage. Ordinary rock, hated vox
Wallpaper. An absolute riot
AWOLNATION. good, mixed screaming w falsetto
8/19 dada
Sphynx - guitar, synth, drums. Gayest pants ever on all 3. Icky falsetto & creepy porn stache on lead. Very synthy pop. Enough falsetto to deafen all dogs in a 2-block radius. Not bad, tho
The globes. Awesome
El ten eleven. Great. Lotsa loops, like tartufi, but no vox, catchier
8/26 haileys
Ethereal and the Queer Show. Blonde chick singing, with scarf on head, longhair dude on guitar, chick dancing in background. Electronic. Funny
New York city queers. Houston. Hot ass bass player in white shorts & black hose. Decent pop.
Black & white years, Austin. Supergay lead, over-vibrato Vox, porn stache. Electro. Reminds me of George quartz. Didn't get it at first, but finally did. Great stuff. Ended up loving it. Actually had fans singing along.
Holy fiction. Nice orchestral pop. Very earnest.
Sundress - nuff said
9/1 loft
The lukyas. Chick lead, quirky vox, French horn, trombone. Lightbulbs. Ok
The dodos. Awesome
9/9 spune fall social, Dada
Mission to the sea. Boring
Gold beach. Meh
Bethan.Ok
Seryn. Great
Telegraph canyon. Amazing
Balmorrhea. Ok, but instrumental
10/11 dans
Pillars and Tongues. 3piece squeezebox violin drums/bass, recorded tracks. Western, nice harmonies, very nice
Dark Dark Dark. Was hoping for Wild goose chase & Make time. No such luck. Beautiful tho
A Hawk and a Hacksaw. 5-piece, klezmer. Devotchka without the vox. Oh wait. Vox now.
10/23 palladium
Little hurricane. 2 peeps, bluesy guitar, hot chick on drums. Nice
Dear hunter. Lotsa people on stage. Good stuff.
White denim. Good, but not my thing
It's Denton short in here.
Manchester orchestra
11/05 Trees
Bear Hands. Wow - Archie Morris of ER fame found a gig as a frontman. Who knew?
Royal Bangs - dug it
We were promised Jetpacks - awesome. Sweet jeezus, the lungs on Adam Thompson. Amazing.
12/3 dada
Comrade, nice, but never Rock out
Radiant. Great stuff, did not end on strong song
Blurries. Ok
Quiet company. Always good, lotsa emotion from Taylor
12/11 Dan's, A Spune Xmas
Voltrevolt. Loved it. Lead sounds like a billygoat, sez Josh. On patio, freezing my ass off.
The Angelus. Ok, too serious, o night Divine?
Spooky Folk - Little drummer boy??
Doug Burr - opened with O Come all ye faithful
Seryn. Way too many church hymns
Goddam, when did this turn into a church service??
12/28 Wednesday la grange hotel tesseract
Gal at door asks me: "what happened to the hotel?" Say what??
Bartender ripped me off , charged me 4 for a 2
First band. Vaqueros electronicos? No idea, they didn't say. A bit too country for me
Manya, with Doug for a song. Pretty
Trumpet with mute, guitar player from first 2 bands as lead singer.
Then chick singer. very incestuous, this is
Doug explains, says its a collective.
Next band hot chick singer, no incest, no idea who they were, iris leu?
Fuck, bob showed up
Sitting w lesbian couple, they're cool. Pronounced Astronautalis "Astro-no-TALis". Cracked me up. I straightened 'em out.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
3/20/11 - Maps & Atlases, Rural Alberta Advantage, Miniature Tigers
...at The Loft.
Miniature Tigers. Awesomeness. Great start. Lead singer: Win Butler, Jr, in a poncho
Lead from Rural Alberta Advantage: woody harrelson, Jr.
Lead of Maps & Atlases - Charles Manson, Jr
Miniature Tigers. Awesomeness. Great start. Lead singer: Win Butler, Jr, in a poncho
3/12/11 - 35 Conferette, Day 2
!!! - Dancing of lead reminds me, strangely, of Napoleon dynamite
Portugal. The Man - meh. Decent enough, but I've seen dozens of locals that are better
The Boom Boom Box - George Clooney, moonlighting as lead singer of The Boom Boom Box, still obsessed with bunching his pants around his package
Parts and Labor
Gayngs- booooring
3/11/11 - 35 Conferette, Day 1
Land Mammals - great start
Dr. Dog, featuring Chris Johnson - awesome
Ella Minnow - always great
The Orbans - ditto
Baruch the Scribe - swear to gawd, 45 minute sound check, lead's a bit of a diva
Lost in the Trees- the band I most wanted to see that night. Awesome, but had to stop half-way thru their set, cuz it was 2. I'll never forgive you, baruch
Dr. Dog, featuring Chris Johnson - awesome
Baruch the Scribe - swear to gawd, 45 minute sound check, lead's a bit of a divaLost in the Trees- the band I most wanted to see that night. Awesome, but had to stop half-way thru their set, cuz it was 2. I'll never forgive you, baruch
2/21/11 - Heartless Bastards, Record Hop, The Cush
..at Dan's.
The Cush (Ft Worth) was up first. Slow, trippy, twangy at times, nice harmonies. But ultimately? A tad boring. I swear the bass player used only one string the entire set.
Record Hop (Denton) was up next. Been way too long since I've seen them. Awesome as usual.
Heartless Bastards (Cincinnati) - loved these guys when I caught them nearly two years ago at Hailey's. Played mostly new tunes that I didn't know, so I didn't enjoy it as much. I'm no expert or nuthin', but I think you gotta mix some oldies in with the new, to keep the audience energized & singin' along.
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