7/18/08 - Lifters, Telegraph Canyon, AM Ramblers, Kristina Morland

started out friday night at BJ's in plano. great happy hour to start the evening. yep, i can say this with all honesty - i really love BJs. i can't emphasize enough how much i love BJs. really.

headed down to the pegasusnews showcase at dada. batman and wifey showed up, too. met them at zini's, where i was delighted to see my alternative-universe girlfriend working once again, even coming out from behind the counter to run up the stairs in her short-shorts, i'm sure just for me. praise jeebus.

back at dada, kristina morland was up first, and i loved her. you know solo acoustic singer/songwriters don't usually hold my attention, but she had me hooked from the first song. absolutely loved her voice - beautiful yet powerful, effortlessly flowing out, pitch perfect. and wonderful songwriting to boot. the comparisons to sarah jaffe are inevitable, but that's pretty high praise, i think. great set.

AM Ramblers, who seem to keep showing up on a lot of the line-ups i've seen lately, were up next. again - very very good bluegrass, great harmonies, hot girlfriends drinkin lonestar, one of the leads separated at birth from thom yorke. batman's wife said they were a cross between the old 97's and robert earl keen. i don't know the genre very well, so i'll have to take her word for it. they both fell in love, bot both cd's.

next up was Telegraph Canyon, and i have run out of superlatives for this band (read my prior reviews here and here). such a unique blend of musical styles (Mike Orren of pegasusnews described them as a cross between Wilco and Arcade Fire - not bad). love the "tension" between the folky acoustic guitar and the almost-psychedelic electric guitar, love the amazing vocals of Chris and Sherilyn, love the patented chris johnson scowl. talked to chris afterwards - he said they're working on new stuff (cd comin in March, i think?), but stuff'll start leaking pretty soon. can't wait.

up last was (were?) Lifters, (previous review here). lead separated at birth from paul simon. great voice. some very polished, very nice alt-countryish pop.

'twas a really solid line-up. nice job, PegNews.

7/12/08 - Calhoun, Smile Smile

went to the barley house on saturday night to catch the greatness of one of my absolute favorite local bands - Calhoun.


finally had some company - batman and wifey, the Les Savy Fan, and Joe the Boy Toy all showed up, although half-way thru Smile Smile's set, the LSF just had to leave to go join his gun-show-flaunting, oh-so-ironic-t-shirt-wearing, faux-hawk-sporting buddies down on lower greenville to "mix and mingle", as he put it. i'm sure he was a good boy.


big crowd at the barley house. many frat-boy douches, yes, but that was more than made up for by all of the amazing sun-dress-wearing sorority gals. oh my. also had the pleasure of watching Manya of blue petal dance her drunken ass off. veerry entertaining.


amazing sound system, too, btw. definitely been upgraded since the last time i was there.


up first was Smile Smile, who I've seen 3-4 times, and who seem to be blowing up right now. 3-man band: Ryan on guitar, Jencey on keys, and drummer (sorry, dude). it's always very nice - some songs happy, some sad, some country-tinged, some pure pop. Ryan's voice can get a tad reedy sometimes, but thankfully it gets smoothed over by Jencey's beautiful harmonies. anyways, they played a nice (if a bit long) set.

next up was Calhoun, and i cannot say enough good things about these guys. there's no doubt that they'll be huge one day, and i'll be proud to say 'i knew them when'. my gawd, if these guys can't make it big, i don't know who can. every song, a pure joy to behold. i was just blown away (happens every time i hear them). at one point, they were joined by Jencey doin some beautiful harmonies - talk about a dream team. they definitely are the masters of the start-out-quiet-and-pretty, then-kick-into-anthemic, wall-of-sound, kick-your-ass rock. one thing i really noticed last night - tim can fucking wail on that guitar. they did all the old songs i love, plus a bunch of new stuff too, which was fantastic. their new album comes out September 9. can't wait.

7/11/08 - Golden Bear, ???

dear gawd i swear i have half a mind never to see the inside of the fuckin Cavern ever again. seems like every time i go, it sucks, for one reason or another. Friday night was no exception.

first up was fuckifiknow, 3-man band: guitar, bass, drums. it was supposed to be It's Unamerican to Be Sad, but since the lead said not one. fucking. word to the audience, i really have no idea who the hell they were. no kidding, not ONE WORD. anyways, i didn't like em. very guitar-heavy pop, lead had waaaay too many guitars, vocals seemed to be an afterthought to the guitar playin (which was pretty good, i'll admit). i was completely uninterested in what they were doin. definitely proves the value of an engaging frontman, or at least one who SPEAKS.
next up was the longest fucking sound check in history.

then came Golden Bear, from Austin. 5-man band: 2 guitars, keys, bass, drums. lead vocalist very energetic, jumpin around, maybe a bit too much, as his vocals bit the big one. backup singers seemed to have better voices, IMO. some decent guitar-led power-pop. no real grooves or hooks to be found, tho. didn't really pull me in. third band (Viva L'American Death Ray Music) was a no show. fuckers.

7/3/08 - Fleet Foxes, The Duchess and the Duke

ooooh jeebsu chrust jeebu chrust jeebus chrust

i fuckin LOVE taco bueno at 1 in teh mornin... its a beautiful thang....

started out after work at zenna (awesome sushi joint in plano with an incredible happy hour) at like 430 or so, tryin to drink tk and the Super Cool Alt-Country Chick under the table, both tk and i having our ASSES handed to us by the SCACC, jeebus christ. buyin us holy phucks with a "ph", no less. pretty sure i told her waaaay more than she wanted to know. goddam holy phucks.

so of course it sounded like a great idea to make my way to the effin Loft to catch a thursday show, yaknow cuz i dint hit a show last weekend, and i'm out of commission this weekend, so i just had to - feedin the beast and all. plus which, the Les Savy Fan was really hypin this show, so you know. and i's like hey, it damn well better be great, for $12 cover and $5 parkin, all the way the fuck over at lamar, for only two fuckin bands, no less.

so up first was the duchess and the duke. 3-man band, and they must've been like missin somebody or somethin, surely. two peeps on guitar and one on like tamborine and stuff, but no bass or drummer and i'm like, jeezus chrust, hire a fuckin drummer or bass player. yes, yes, they were good, but i felt like they really needed a drummer and/or bass player, cuz their songs were good but they just kinda laid there. i never really realized how important a rhythm section was. seems i really like to feel that bass and drums thump in my chest, yaknow? twas funny, cuz i asked the LSF, where's the fuckin duchess - there's supposed to be a chick in this band, and he said that's her right there, and i swear at first glance i thot she was a dude, but only because the lighting made her look like she had a beard and shit (ok, i was deeeerunk, too). but after he pointed out she was a gal, i saw that she was, in fact, HOT. so they got that goin for em. anyhows, up next was fleet foxes (a curious choice for a name, yes? being as how half of it has to do with enemas?), who a goddamn BIG crowd had showed up for. so i'm thinking, jeezus, they must be effin incredible! cuz i've seen some pretty damn good touring bands at club dada and hailey's (the whigs, white rabbits, lamar murphy, tartufi, wild sweet orange) who've nowhere near drawn this kind of crowd, but still ended up on letterman (some of em, anyways), so i was waitin for them to fuckin kick my ass. and uh, not so much. don't get me wrong, they were good - really good - they have the art of 4-part harmony down to a science, and 'twas a beautiful thang, but i kept thinkin, is this sooo much better than what i've seen at dada and hailey's for 6 bucks? and i kept thinkin, uhhhhhh - no. yeah, i know - it's stupid of me to boil it down to dollars and cents, but goddam, for 17 buck, i expect somethin really special, ya know? yes, it is absolutely NOT the band's fault, i dono who's it is - i guess there are only a couple of venues in dallas that'll hold that size crowd, so they're stuck with it. i dono. who gives a fuck. no one reads this anyways. soory again for the crappy pics - highly illegal pics, i should say. why the hell are cameras banned at that place, anyways? bizarro.

out.

6/26/08 - What Made Milwaukee Famous, Three Fantastic, AM Ramblers

left my buddies knuckles, the piledriver, and mr. amsterdam to their nefarious plans (including the assault of municipal property) and headed down to the effin cavern to catch a midweek show.

first up were the AM Ramblers, who I saw a couple months ago at Hailey's. Once again, if bluegrass is your thing, you can't do much better than these guys. Great 4-part harmonies. Very talented musicians.

Next up was Three Fantastic, from Houston. 4-man band - 3 guitars plus drums. saw these guys over a year ago at the Liquid Lounge, and was floored by 'em. i described the frontman as a jim morrison impersonator - howling voice, high-energy, total showman. this time - not as much. the lead seems to have calmed down somewhat over the last year or so, or the songwriting has changed quite a bit (or i'm just not remembering it very well). these guys can rock, no doubt - amazing playing from both guitar players. the vocal parts seemed almost uh, how can i describe it - loungish? i'm not sayin they were bad (in fact, i dug his voice), but you end up with an unusual combination of melt-your-face guitar playin and lounge singing. it was definitely unique and interesting, i'll say that. definitely worth checking out, if you get the chance.

What Made Milwaukee Famous headlined. was really looking forward to their set, as i really liked what i heard on their cd. only a 4-man band last night (apparently the lead guitarist was sick) - guitar, keys, bass, drum. fairly large group of loyal fans singin along with all the songs (and by fairly large i mean like 7 or 8). definitely a very high concentration of Rhythmically Impaired Dancers (gawd bless 'em). some songs definitely had a happy weezer-ish pop vibe, others were more anthemic and coldplay-ish, but with more masculine vocals (great voice on that dude, btw). lead was very funny, very engaging. i definitely enjoyed the anthemic songs more - the others i could take or leave. overall, 'twas a nice set.

6/21/08 - Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, Beauxregard, Frankie 45, Pet Hospital

gonna keep this one short and sweet - i'm in one of those 'why the hell do i bother' moods. again, sorry for the crappy pics and video.

went to Sons of Hermann Hall for the Art Con SEED Event on saturday night. huge crowd (most undoubtedly there for the art auction, not the music). first up was Pet Hospital, who i've seen multiple times. very laid-back set - seemed like 80% of it was just Steven by himself, channeling Thom Yorke (while the rest of the band chatted amongst themselves on stage). not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that, it's just different from the room-filling rockin sound i'm used to from those boys. maybe they were throttling back because of the audience/environment.
Spector 45 was supposed to play next, but only Frankie 45 played due to some sort of mix-up or scheduling problem. it was nice (dude's got some talent), but i was definitely in the mood to get my ass kicked by the full band. next time, eh? (dear gawd, that pic is awful. sorry, frankie.) Beauxregard was up next. 'twas the same fun-filled retro new-wave pop i saw last time. good stuff.
last up was Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, one of my favorite local bands (see write-up here). they were outstanding as usual, although the set lacked the magic of that night at Dan's, which is totally my fault for letting the environment get to me - the lights were up, people were milling about and hobnobbing, etc. Made it hard for me to lose myself in the music. despite all that, i still enjoyed the set. those guys rule.

outtie...

6/19/08 - Telegraph Canyon, Birds and Batteries, Salim Nourallah, Lee Simmons

after my week-long vacation wif the kiddos, i was eager to feed the beast, so i headed to dada last night for the artist-in-residence show. turned out to be a pretty good night, thanks to a surprise (at least to me) addition to the line-up. the les savy fan showed, too, but i think he only went down there to hook up wif his new gal-pal (not that there's anything wrong with that).

first up was Lee Simmons, from Austin. did a nice solo acoustic set. very earnest. at one point, whipped out a ukelele. wouldn't mind seeing him with his full band (which is what i usually say aboot solo acoustic acts), but 'twas an enjoyable set.
next up was Salim Nourallah, this time backed up by John Lefler (who plays with Dashboard Confessional, according to Debbie, who seems to know who everyone is and who they've played with) for a few songs, then Chris Holt for a few. Both accompanists added a nice touch to Salim's stuff. Birds and Batteries, from San Fran, were next. really enjoyed these guys. hard to describe their sound - sometimes alt-countryish, sometimes 80's synth-y, sometimes straight-ahead rock, usually a beautiful melange of all three. really good stuff - very unique. would definitely like to catch them again (they seem to come thru here a lot, so keep an eye out).

and the surprise of the night - Telegraph Canyon played last. man, these guys are incredible. every time i see them, i appreciate them even more (see my previous write-up here). just an amazing combination - the folky acoustic guitar, the rockin electric guitar, plus the keys and organ, all accompanied by Chris' incredibly soulful voice and the beautiful harmonies from Sherilyn. amazing stuff. definitely the highlight of the evening for me. btw, Telegraph Canyon has been nominated for several FW Weekly Music awards. you should go here and vote for 'em. voting ends the 23rd, so hurry up. oh, and they're playing saturday night at the prophet bar. praise jeebus. i was sooo happy when i walked in the door at dada and found out TC was playing, but it sure was strange that they weren't listed in the line-up (i know i could've gotten at least Knuckles to come out and see 'em, if i had known). according to Chris, they had that show on their calendars and flyers for a while, but club dada seemed to have no idea that they were supposed to play. what a flaky bidness. i hope such screw-ups don't discourage TC from playing in dallas - that would be a real loss.

another great thursday night at dada, tho the late finish made my friday mornin a bit rough. definitely worth it, tho.

see you out there...

Busy end of the week

after a week hiatus, i am ready to hit the scene once again.
here's where you'll find me in the next few days:

thursday at club dada for salim nourallah and birds and batteries:
http://www.pegasusnews.com/events/2008/jun/19/96314/

friday:
quiet company, homer hiccolm, etc. at club dada:
http://www.pegasusnews.com/events/2008/jun/20/100582/

or florene a couple doors down at kettle art:
http://www.pegasusnews.com/events/2008/jun/20/101910/


saturday:

matthew and the arrogant sea, pet hospital and beauxregard at Sons of Hermann:
http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/guero_iam/?action=view&current=seed.jpg


see you out there, eh?

6/7/08 - Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, Florene, Daniel Folmer

jeebus chrust what an incredible line-up tonight at dan's silverleaf, a place i have to say, i usually associate with high cover charges and alt-country acts. but tonight they totally nailed it. absolutely perfect line-up. first up was daniel folmer, and hells yeah, this guy has Something Special. seen a lot of great pub for this dude, and liked what i heard on myspace, so i was really lookin forward to his set, and he did not disappoint. jeezchrist, how can such a young dude write such mature and soul-searching songs? played sometimes wif an acoustic, sometimes electric. had friend playin keyboards, too. definitely had Technical Problems, some amp buzzin so loud it threatened to drown him out, so some songs he played totally unplugged wif no mic or nothin. eventually figured it out, tho. anyhows, really loved what he was doin up there. instantly wanted to buy the cd, which i did later, just droppin the money into his briefcase and takin the cd, jeezus i hope he got it.
next up was Florene, and jeezus. effing. christ. please, for the love of all that is holy, go see this band. seen them 3 or 4 times now, and they have gotten exponentially better each time. in-fucking-credible. second song they played - orgasmic. i swear to gawd i almost came in my pants. ok, not really, but you get the point. incredible aural collage of guitar, synths, filtered vocals, beats, etc, etc, all from only two dudes (and a shitload of equipment). totally awesome. methinks aaron definitely has some Performance Artist in him, pulling a black silk stocking over his head and face part way thru for a couple songs, then smearing white makeup on it to form a face - LOVE that shit. reminded me of laurie anderson, someone he's prolly never heard of, but should. talked to Gavin afterwards and bot their cd, too. can't wait to see them on the 20th at dada. made their way into my top 5, they did. last up was Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, who as you know, are already in my top 5. was disappointed with their short set last week at RGRS, and verbally pelted one of the MATAS guitarists with that oh-so-important bit of information as he was takin a whiz, and he said they got fucked over at that show or somethin - wonder what that story is. anywho, there were no such problems tonight - they played all the ones i wanted to hear. i swear, when these guys get rockin, there is no denying their amazing musical abilities and awesome songwriting. of special note for me tonight - the guitar playing of this dude. amazing. also - as usual - matthew's vocals - emotion-filled, gut-wrenching, powerful, transcendant. quick story - one time i saw MATAS on a sunday night, and matthew asked the crowd - anyone go to church this morning? then he said, "yeah, me neither - this is my church". and i thot, hell yeah - you have no idea how much that resonates with me. anyhow, i loved every second of their set, can't wait to see them again. all in all, a fantastic night in denton...