4/25/09 - The O's, Romp Almighty, Kings of the Rabbit Trail

headed to the cavern (ugh) for Romp Almighty's cd release, cuz you know i loves me some Romp Almighty.


Kings of the Rabbit Trail were up first, and holy shit, are these guys good. can't believe i haven't stumbled onto them before (although they apparently just played their first show in January). Phenomenal voice on the lead, and just as great - the harmonies from the bass player - what a fantastic voice. incredible set full of bluesy, garage-rockish sorta stuff. totally awesome. totally kicked my ass. can't wait to see them again.

next up was Romp Almighty, and good gawd, i swear these guys get better every time i see them. absolutely phenomenal set full of songs that are alternately catchy, hard-rockin, beautifully haunting, and quirky. wonderful stuff. bought the CD, which is absolute fuckin genius.
last up was The O's. i swear, i'll never understand the music biz. ok, sure these guys are talented, but in the end, what's the big deal? it's just two dudes, one on geetar and one on banjo. and yet, they've generated such a huge buzz in this town. but i'll be damned, compared to the two opening acts? snoozeville.

2/15/09 - The Physics of Meaning, Hormones Limited, Romp Almighty

headed down to the cavern for an early sunday show (started at 7:30, no kiddin). no idear why it started so early, but i definitely appreciated it.


first up was one of my favorites, Romp Almighty. fell in love with these guys the first time i saw 'em, and they still do it for me. their sound is so raw and organic (i'm not even sure what that means, but it kept coming to my mind during their set), yet catchy and groove-filled at the same time. and look out - romp is now 50% larger, having added a second guitarist. have to say, tho - i was crushed they didn't play Drift - crushed i tell ya. but i still really enjoyed the set.
next up was Hormones, Limited. 3-man band, with drummer performing lead vocal duties. not sure how to categorize their sound - sorta punk-influenced garage-y metal? influences listed on myspace include helmet and pavement, so there ya go. lead vocals were of the talk-shout variety. not exactly what you would call my kind of stuff, but i thought it was pretty well done, and i actually enjoyed the set.

last up was The Physics of Meaning, from North Carolina. 4-piece band, with lead playing the violin. the dude was pretty good ('tho i have to say Doug from Sunward is at a whole different level). anyways, they played a decent collection of folky pop tunes. sometimes i heard Bends-era radiohead, believe it or not, especially in the vocals (the melody and stylings, not the voice). I'd really enjoyed what I'd heard on myspace, and i have to say i was a little let down by what i heard at the cavern. this was one of those cases where the recorded stuff outshines the live show. still, a pleasant set overall.

weekend recs

i can't do friday night, so i haven't really checked out all the shows, but if yer lookin for somethin to go to, you really should consider checkin out Romp Almighty at the city tavern, somewhere around 9:00. if you do, tell laura and trey i said hey.

saturday night, you'll find me at the doublewide, listening to the farstar, salute, and the greatness of the felons:

http://www.pegasusnews.com/events/2008/may/24/98250/


see you there, eh?

5/10/08 - Somebody's Darling, The Felons, Escort Service, Romp Almighty

Headed down to Deep Ellum on saturday night to catch the felons and romp almighty. got there way too early cuz i got suckered in by romp's bulletin that said they'd start at 8. cant bleebe i fell for that - oldest trick in the book. anyhows, got there early enough to get the last free parking spot in DE (yay, me), and had a chance to talk to laura and trey (romp almighty), and for some reason decided to inform them of my one-time trot-line fishin prowess (ah, me). went back to dada and also had lots of time to chat with my man fred (keyboard whiz-kid from the felons, photographer extraordinaire, and Juno-writer Diablo Cody's Number One Fan (btw, did you know she used to be a stripper? it's true!)).


went back to the allgood cafe at 9 for romp almighty. been waitin forever to see these guys again, cuz i fell in love with 'em at haileys awhile back (see review here). once again, i was transfixed - beautiful voice, totally cool fuzzed-out synthesizer, great guitar playin, haunting melodies. fantastic. only complaint - the sound system at the allgood really just wasnt up to the task. at hailey's that night, part of the greatness of it was being enveloped by their sound and laura's voice, and the allgood just aint set up for that. here's hoping laura and trey start playin more venues that can really showcase their stuff. they deserve it. went back later and got a free EP from laura, who told me their full-length should be out in about three months or so.
back at dada, spent some time on the patio with the usual crew around there - great people. back inside, escort service started off the evening. some decent guitar-based pop/rock, reminded me of bowling for soup sometimes, sometimes the foo fighters. the greatness of eric neal on bass and backup vocals. perty good.

next up were my boys the felons. i've raved over and over about these guys, and i've never been disappointed by one of their shows (see my previous reviews here and here). dave's voice just amazes me. so listen up - the felons are playing a lot of shows in the next couple months - do yourself a favor and check them out.

here's a really terrible video of one of my favorite felons songs, Worse for Wear:

Here's Dave singing happy birfday to valerie (co-owner of dada), whose birfday we were celebrating.

last up was Somebody's Darling. holy smokes, can that woman belt it out. i'm sure she gets beaten down by the constant comparisons to Janis Joplin, but the similarities are inescapable. what a ball of fire and energy (and hair!) on stage. if you dig the whole alt-country-rock thang, check out this band.

see you out there...

4/10/08 - Laura Palmer, They Mean Us, Riyad, Tiger!

being as how it was thursday night and all, i headed down to dada for my midweek fix. wasn't really sure aboot goin, but after havin a couple Tsing-has with the Piledriver (aka Glow-in-the-Dark Lefty) after work, it sounded like a damn fine idear.

nice to see amanda and josh back in town, after a much-needed break. always enjoy talkin with them. good people.

first up was Tiger!, artist in residence for April. Once again, i dug what i heard - nice, melancholy piano playin and a soulful voice. got to hear his original material this time - nice, though there didn't seem to be a whole lot of it. heard the same covers as last time. have to say, it did drag on just a bit - he seemed to run out of material, and kept askin the crowd what they wanted to hear, and they had nothin (i tried Rufus, be he didnt know any).

after he was done, i for some reason ('tho it might've been the alcohol) thought it would be a good idea to walk the three miles (kidding) over to the Allgood Cafe, where i knew Romp Almighty was playin. i had almost gone to that show to begin with, being as how i loves me some Romp Almighty, but there were too many uncertainties aboot the show, so i ended up at dada instead. anyways, by the time i got there they were done, and Laura and Trey were sitting outside on the porch. and yes, as you can imagine, the incoherent babbling began. i went on and on about how much i loved their set at haileys a while back (see review here), how she almost made me cry that night, etc. etc. really enjoyed talking to her, i mean, them. i'm pretty sure she said they had a full-length coming out soon - lookin forward to that. they also apparently play every monday at the barley house, so i'm gonna have to add that to my schedule one of these weeks (like, tomorrow, maybe?).

back at dada, Riyad was just about done. solo acoustic dude wif dreads and all. umm, not so much. did not have what you'd call a pleasant sanging voice, sang a lot of fast-talk-singy sorta protesty folk stuff. not my thang. and his closer, a protest-folk-style medley of hip-hop songs, has got to go. not sure who is supposed to enjoy that.

next up was They Mean Us, from McAllen. 5-man instrumental band - guitars, bells/violin, drums. 'twas ok and nice and all, but if you're gonna be totally instrumental, you really gotta have somethin special, at least to catch and keep my attention (like Mom, or D Numbers). they did play some nice atmospheric, lush tunes - just nothin i could get really excited about.

last up was Laura Palmer. holy shit, what a hoot. just her (wearing a giant indian headdress) on acoustic, plus a drummer who sometimes sang back-up. totally hilarious, catchy, clever pop songs about a great variety of oh-so-inappropriate topics ("he's got a hipster hairdo and he's kind of a rapist. once, twice, three times a rapist"). had me in stitches. check out her myspace for a sampling of her wit. "i wanna dance on the belly of god and queef right in his eye". now that's not somethin you're gonna hear too often out there. loved it.

that's it. see you out there...

2/23/08 - Lifters, Romp Almighty, Binary Sunrise

you see you see. you SEE!!!! this is why you go out and see bands, you power thru the lack of sleep and the fact that you have to go to work in the mornin and the long ass drive, because you never know when you'll find a band that goddamn near makes you fuckin cry. THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is why you do it.

ok, this pre-amble was written before i went out, when i was sober, so it's all clever and shit:

left most of my buddies behind and to their own devices tonight, some to carry on cringe-worthy conversations with beer wenches who have the phrase "cum-guzzling" as a part of their conversational vocabulary (ick), and some to recover from a long day of daddydom (ok, mad props). however, the tim harrigan groupie (shiver) came out with his gal-pal (wonder if she knows his secret) along with joe the boytoy to hailey's, so i did not have to cry in my beer alone.

to be fair, i didn't exactly have any must-see shows to offer up, but i thot the trip to hailey's might be worth it. decided against the dan's silverleaf show - just can't take that much country in one sitting.

ok, back to inebriated-land again (see? i am all out of clever). first of all, let me tell you - vodka and sprite zero? no. nonononono. terrible. but i managed.

first up was binary sunrise. what happened to "the push", who was supposed to be first? fuck if i know. anyhow, BS was a 4-man band, lead sanger with lilliputian keyboard and rugby shirt and long hair and basketball goggles like that shithead ballhog kid on my daughter';s basketball team, so i hated him just for that. i kid. lead geetar had one of those belts that's too long and hangs down like some sort of phallic symblol. very phunny. i dont know what the hell this band was supposed to be, altho i was entertained, i will say that. sometimes very retro, 80's sorta synth stuff (reminded joe some of devo). sometimes bluesy, rockabilly stuff??? not bad or anything, just no definable style - kinda all over the place. but still pretty good.

next up was unfuckingbelievable - romp almighty. one chick playin acoustic guitar in impossibly lowcut black dress (turns out, she was wearing a shirt) (sorry, i am a man), one dude on drums with feet and left hand, and synth on right hand. omigod omigod, i loved these two. absolutely beautiful voice and guitar playin, loved the synth, some incredible songs (the myspace doesn't do them justice, btw). can't believe i haven't seen them before now. this was the one that damn near made me cry, with her beautiful soaring voice and the incredibly moving melodies. fuck you if you think i'm a pussy. fuck you. it was a beautiful thing.

last was the lifters, and i thot these guys were mighty damn good. 5-man band, w/ full-time keys. started off with some totally solid guitar/piano pop wall-of sound songs, which i totally dug. believe it or not, heard some chemistry set, calhoun and quiet company, but maybe that's because i want to hear them in every band. amazing voice comin out of the lead (who is not a big dude). funny, when they crossed into alt-country territory, i lost a bit of interest, but that's when the tim harrigan groupie perked up and got interested. different strokes, eh? anywho, they only played 1 or 2 alt-country tunes, then went back to beltin out their fantastic power-pop anthems, which they are damn good at. very polished, very professional. closed with their best song. wouldn't mind hearin them again.

all in all, a pretty damn good night.