1/5/08 - Amo Joy, Dove Hunter, Happy Bullets, JD Whittenburg, Travis Hopper, The Felons

looooong but satisfying night at club dada.

first up were the felons, who, with one performance, launched themselves damn near to the top of my 'favorite local band' list. outstanding group. i wish i had the know-how to describe them properly, but i'd call it dark, minor-chord-driven, sometimes-moody, sometimes-anthemic art rock. definite radiohead influence - mostly their early stuff (which, in my mind, is a good thing). 4-man band - geetar, keys, bass, drum. terrific voice on the lead, great falsetto. loved the way they weren't afraid to stop down the music and just feature the voice. keys were actually treated equally with the geetar (which i dig), and were very nicely done. fantastic stuff. where's the EP from these guys? forgot to ask. looking forward to seeing them again.

next up was Travis hopper, with a collection of alt-countryish pop songs. i admit, i wasnt concentrating too much on their set, as i was babbling incoherently at the felons. plus, alt-country aint my thang. sounded nice, from what i heard. um, the lead vocals weren't exactly my favorite - kinda thin and breathy.

walking to my car between sets to uh, freshen up, i saw an SRO crowd at Kettle Art watching the deep ellum film retrospective. twas cool to see such a crowd.

next up was JD Whittenburg and crew. enjoyed their set as usual. see previous report here. couldnt hear amanda well enough, but didnt feel like gettin attitude from the sound guy.

happy bullets were up next. i've seen them many times now, and i dig it every time. they've got a full arsenal of crowd-pleasin tunes - they always get everyone dancin. only complaint - more horns! love the cornet/trombone combo. also, they dont end on their strongest song.

dovehunter was next, with some blues-infused southern pop rock. lots of talented individuals on the stage. 5-man, all geetars, including a thundering bass. some jam-band songs. good stuff, just not my bag. sorta lost the audience during their set, too.

last up was Amo Joy, from Indianapolis. 4-man, with keys, kazoos, slide whistles, etc. it's funny, i was thinking how much they reminded me of the happy bullets, but i thot, geez, man cant you come up with a more original description? then amanda comes by and says, do you see why i call them the baby bullets? so i guess it's OK - they reminded me a lot of the happy bullets - the same sort of catchy, infectious, playful and well-written pop songs. have to say, i like their vox more than the HBs. twas a nice set.

12/8/07 - Drams, Happy Bullets, Shibboleth, Tartufi, JD Whittenburg

been a while since i wrote one of these completely sober, so, fair warning

went to club dada (geez, four weeks in a row now) for boca tinta's b-day bash.

when i hold out my ID to beard, he says, i dont need that, i know who you are. heh heh. cool. then he tells me his sure-thing picks for some bowl games, reelin off a list of teams (including my aggies, i should mention). i'm thinkin, hey thanks for the tip, man, but i am in no shape to remember anything right now.

couldnt get there til 8, so i missed dave little (comedian). first band i saw was JD Whittenburg, who i'd seen before at haileys. definitely enjoyed this set more than the haileys one, couldnt really tell you why. seemed like jd's voice was a bit stronger this time, less reedy. sound system was definitely better, i know that (tho i had to harass the sound guy to turn up the #2 mic - yea, im workin on it, he says. workin on it??? isnt it just a damn knob? ah well, he eventually fixed it). they played a set full of really nice piano pop songs with just a tinge of alt-country. have to say, just like at the haileys show, the thing that did it for me was the backing vocals. i have a thing for harmonies, and this band does it so well - probably the best i've heard in the past year. (yes, it's amanda, but no, i'm not brown-nosing - look at my blog entry for the haileys show - i said the same thing, and that was back before i knew her). i think the advantage JDW has is that amanda is a full-time vocalist (ok, with part-time tambourine duties), and that allows her to concentrate all her efforts on it, and she is very, very good at it. she adds so much more than just a few harmonized notes on top of the lead, the notes she sings have a life of their own. beautiful voice, too. i know i would definitely not enjoy JDW as much without those beautiful harmonies. anyways, it was a very enjoyable start to the evening.

next up was Tartufi, from san francisco, and omigod, this was an absolutely transcendant experience. all apologies to my favorite local bands - still love you guys, but this had to have been the best set i have seen since i started goin to shows a year ago. amanda told me they would blow my mind, and she could not have been more right. this is a case where the unbelievable music coming off the stage completely resonated with me. i cant explain why, i have a hard time even describing what i was hearing. one guy on percussion (and bullhorn, ha!), and one gal on guitars, vocals, plus effects, loopers, etc. she'd play a riff on one guitar, loop it, then switch out to a bass or some other guitar, play that for a bit, do some vocals and loop it, etc. etc., until they'd built up a beautiful multi-layered sonic landscape. definite GYBE and Animal Collective influences, but more melodic and listener-friendly (which is not an insult, in my book). just some really remarkable music, howzat for descriptive? i was absolutely transfixed. met the band after, babbled incoherently at them, and bot the cd. if you ever have a chance to catch these guys, do not miss it (i'm even considering driving out to haileys tonight to catch their (midnight!) set, as insane as that is, on a work night). truly incredible.

at some point, mis compadres showed up. no random-chick tonsil-hockey tonight, tho, but not for lack of tryin on their part.

next up was shibboleth, who i've seen before. they did a nice set of catchy, bluesy, head-bobbin instrumental tunes.

then was the happy bullets, who i've seen twice before. really enjoyed this set. liked the way they continually switched up the lead vocal role, kept things fresh. absolutely loved the trumpet and trombone combo (plus the trumpet player was hot (it's a chick, you asses)). a great set of well-written, smart, plucky, infectious indie-pop songs. i think "vice and virtue ministry" has to be one of my favorite songs right now - go check it out on their myspace page. made the mistake of lettin amanda know i loved that song, so when it came on, she yanked me off my chair and brought me up front to dance. a total riot, but omi-effin-god, i'm one of those people that should never dance in public. thank gawd i was pretty plowed, and thank gawd my buddies didnt have a phone with video, or i'd have to move out of state.

last was the drams. very tight group - you can tell these guys have some talent, and they've been at it for a while. 6 guys on-stage, including slide guitar. shades of Sorta, the eagles. dont know if they always have the slide guitar, but they definitely veered into alt-country territory tonight (not that there's anything wrong with that). seemed to be a decent crowd there for them, based on the number of people singing along.

very very tired at that point, so skipped zini's, much to my alternate-universe girlfriend's disappointment, i'm sure.

all in all, another exceptional night at dada.

9/1/07 - Chemistry Set, JDW, Shibboleth

Hailey’s - 9/1/07 Walked to SHQ first to check out the art show - very, uh, interesting. lots of boobies.

Anyways, the show at Hailey's:

Shibboleth - nice instrumentals, some keyboard-led, some guitar-led. very catchy.
JD Whittenburg - great tunes, loved the harmonies (amanda from boca tinta), lead vox a bit nasal
The Chemistry Set - fantastic as usual. "world in reverse" an amazing song - someone must be a radiohead fan. great set.

the sound mix was, as is all too common, lousy. it always amazes me that the sound guy, who's standing about 10 feet away from me, can't hear what everyone else can - the backup vocals can't be heard, the drum's too loud, or whatever. very frustrating.

hailey's was damn near empty - where was everybody? I figured since school had started, crowds would be picking up, but nope. oh well, they missed a great show.