Gil Scott-Heron making music again, new record to be released on XL

Sifting through promo mail today, one name stuck out at me in particular: Gil Scott-Heron. The celebrated poet and musician is scheduled to release his first record in sixteen years in February 2010 on XL Recordings, making him label-mates with MIA, Radiohead, and Devendra Banhart. This is good for several reasons, not the least of which is that the last time Scott-Heron was in the news, unfortunately it was for legal trouble.

The track here, entitled, "Where Did The Night Go," features the spoken-word that made him famous over a dirty, minimal backing track. As for Scott-Heron's past work, I recommend his 1980 record, actually titled "1980," that features prominent keyboard-work and brilliant arrangements by composer and collaborator, Brian Jackson. It's an album that often gets overlooked by critics that focus mainly on Gil Scott-Heron's earlier and jazzier work as well as his explosive lyricism; often cited as a major step in popular music's evolution towards hip-hop. Anyways, it's a great though more subtle record and can usually be found for pretty cheap on vinyl. Just to give you some perspective, I've included a track from that album here as well.

mp3 from the upcoming record:
Gil Scott-Heron: "Where Did The Night Go"

mp3 from 1980: "Corners"

Steve Albini To Be Keynote Speaker At NX35 2010

Highly regarded recording engineer and Shellac guitarist, Steve Albini, will be the keynote speaker of next year's NX35 Music Conferette in Denton, which is pretty impressive considering that Albini has turned down being the keynote speaker for the South By Southwest Festival in the past. He had originally planned to send Saturday Night Live performer, Fred Armisen down to Austin in his stead, to do his dead-on impersonation of Albini, but he backed out of the idea due to liability concerns. Considering that the festival had Harvey Pekar give an incredible talk last year, I would almost suggest that this be turned into a festival of notable speakers above all else.









Photo By Britt Robisheaux

And/Or Gallery Moving Sale

"Moving Sale!!!
Saturday, October 17th, noon-6pm

Moving sale tomorrow at And/Or Gallery. Come hang out and look through all my stuff! Furniture, Art books and magazines, vintage phones, video game systems, some electronic music gear, TVs, monitors, lots of DVD players with remotes, CDs, computers, lighting tracks, cans, and bulbs, lots more...." - paul slocum

4221 Bryan St. Suite B, Dallas, 75204

OMG guys Neon Indian Best New Music Duh

I just got done reading the comments in yesterday's It List, and I realized how much I love hurting the feelings of "rock fans." I actually like most of U2's stuff up until the mid 90's, but gimme a break-- they deserve to be made fun of, and it has nothing to do with Neon Indian.

Speaking of which, we here at the Neon Indian News Network noticed that the group received the not-very-surprising Best New Music tag on Pitchfork today. The almost completely glowing review is a pretty good one for Pitchfork, discussing Alan Palomo's family musical history and his time in Ghosthustler, as well as Neon Indian's place in contemporary dance music. Check it out.

Negative Approach to play FFF Fest Afterparty

There will be many after-party events during the Fun Fun Fun Fest this November; everything from a "Soul Clap dance party" with Ian Svenonius, to a Yeasayer DJ set, and Mission of Burma hosting their own "Not A Photograph" documentary at The Alamo Drafthouse. It all sounds like a lot of fun, but what I would highly recommend is catching Negative Approach at Red 7 on Friday, November 7th. I saw them at a huge festival in Chicago a few years ago, and I couldn't believe how effective the group was in front of 7,000+ people. Getting to see such a legendarily powerful hardcore act in such a small club will be a real privilege.

A full detailed lineup of related events is as follows:

FRIDAY NIGHT LAUNCH PARTIES (NOV. 6th)
CLUB DEVILLE:
The Authors
Black Before Red
Beautiful Supermachines
The Low Lows

MOHAWK INSIDE:
My Milkyway Arms
Silent Land Time Machine
Air Traffic Controllers
Watch Out for Rockets

MOHAWK OUTSIDE:
Minor Mishap Marching Band
Manikin
Distant Seconds
International Waters
TV Torso

BEAUTY BAR:
(No cover!, 21+, 10pm)
Antics/Toyota Matrix and Learning Secrets presents:
Yeasayer DJ SET
Learning Secrets DJs
plus live sets by:
Totally Michael (Iheartcomix)
Best Fwends
Missions (ex-clap clap)

BEERLAND:
(No cover, 21+, 10pm)
Broken Gold
December Boys
Failure's Union
Cheap Girls

RED 7 WRECK ROOM:
(No cover, all ages, 10pm)
F***ed Up DJ SET

RED 7:
($10)
Fu Manchu
ASG
It's Casual

SATURDAY NIGHT AFTER PARTIES (NOV. 7th):

MOHAWK OUTSIDE:
Voxtrot
Octopus Project
Twin Tigers

MOHAWK INSIDE:
The Coathangers
Jazzus Lizard (Jesus Lizard jazz tribute band!!!)
Walter Schreifels band

RED 7
(10pm, $13)
Negative Approach
Christ On Parade
Trash Talk
Naw Dude
You People

CLUB DEVILLE
(10pm, $10)
Soul Clap dance party
w/ Djs Johnathan Toubin & Ian Svenonius
and live set by BROWNOUT!

BEAUTY BAR
(10pm $5 before Midnight / $10 after)
DJ Mel
The Cool Kids DJ SET

BEERLAND
(10pm, $10)
Jack Oblivian
John Paul Keith and the 145s
Lovvers (UK)
Fleshlights

ALAMO DRAFT HOUSE RITZ
(10:15pm)
Youth Brigade hosts "Let Them Know: The Story Behind Youth Brigade and byo Records" Screening
MC Chris hosts a midnight screening of "Gremilins"

SUNDAY NIGHT AFTER PARTIES (NOV. 8th):

MOHAWK OUTSIDE:
($13, 9:30pm)
And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead...
Dark Meat
An Albatross

MOHAWK INSIDE:
($13, 9:30pm)
AU
Free Moral Agents (featuring Ikey Owens of The Mars Volta)
Zechs Marquise (featuring Marcel Rodriguez Lopez of The Mars Volta)

RED 7 WRECK ROOM:
(No cover, all ages, 10pm)
Karaoke Apocalypse
RnR and punk karaoke all night with a live band!

RED 7:
($10, 10pm)
Toys That Kill
the forgetters (Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker/Jets to Brazil, Kevin of Against Me, Caroline of Bitchin')
Ghost Knife
Smalltown (Sweden)

BEAUTY BAR:
DJ Mixhell

BEERLAND:
($8, 10pm)
Easy Action
Black Tusk
Eagle Claw
and special guest!

ALAMO DRAFT HOUSE RITZ:
(10:15pm)
Mission of Burma hosts "Not A Photograph" Screening

ABC News Finally Breaks Silence On Psychic Chasms

'Neon Indian' Debut Album

Lychgate/Corporate Park/Ashes Begin US Tour

Denton acts Lychgate, Corporate Park, along with Fort Worth's Ashes will begin a two week tour today, with thirteen engagements that will see the groups as far away as Far Rockaway, New York.

Crowds across the US will be treated to a pretty diverse lineup, with the groups covering dynamic death drone, early industrial dance rhythms, and tortured screaming coupled with power electronics respectively. It's always good to see artists and groups get out of town, especially acts that probably won't be planning a fall tour around CMJ anytime soon.

Tiger Hatchery Video (Mike Forbes/Andrew Scott Young)

This terrific live video was passed along to me this morning, featuring former Denton residents, Mike Forbes (saxophone) and Andrew Scott Young (Double Bass), along with drummer Bill Billington in their touring trio, Tiger Hatchery. The group is based in Chicago, however this particular performance is at Pat's In The Flats in Cleveland. Just mere seconds into this performance, it becomes obvious why the intensity of these two musicians is sorely missed in North Texas.

Scratch Events Names Sober DJ of the Month

The respected DJ booking agency Scratch Events recently named Dallas favorite DJ Sober their DJ of the month, and have posted a new mix from him that you can check out by clicking the link above.

Tracklist:

1. De La Soul - Keepin' The Faith
2. Hercules And Love Affair - You Belong
3. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
4. Fujiya & Miyagi - Collarbone
5. Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere
6. Patrice Rushen - Forget Me Nots
7. Michael Jackson - Rock With You
8. Midnight Star - Midas Touch
9. Klymaxx - The Men All Pause [12" Version]
10. 33Hz - I Feel Alive (Eli Escobar Remix)

Ahh.... Fleetwood Mac's "Everywhere." A song that certain parties at WSJR HQ hate me for loving.

Darktown Strutters Featured on 20 Jazz Funk Greats Mixtape

Darktown Strutters have been mentioned previously on 20JFG, and now they are the on the respected British site's most recent mixtape, entitled "13 Is Love." The duo is in good company, both yesterday and today, as the download also includes tracks by Pictureplane, Telepathe, and PIL. Click here.

pitchfork interviews neon indian

pitchfork interviews neon indian link

depeche mode tickets 10 dollars today only

depeche mode lawn tickets 10 dollars today only.. no service fee! or 15 for reserve seating.

http://www.livenation.com/edp/eventId/405832

Clipse and Cool Kids Performance at Granada Canceled

Not much more to say right now other than the headline, and that we found out via Twitter. We have a twitter too, if you guys are into following really smart people with kewl taste.

If You Happen to be in Austin Tonight, Check out a DFW Punk Documentary

If you happen to be in Austin this evening and have any interest in the early DFW punk scene, then, strangely enough, you're in luck. The documentary DFW Punk, directed by Laura Tabor-Huerta, takes a look at some of the bands and people who shaped Dallas and Ft. Worth's punk scenes in the late 70's. Here's an except from the Alamo Draft House's website:

"A documentary about the Dallas & Fort Worth, Texas punk and new wave music scene. It covers the early years in the late 1970's to the middle years in the late 1990's and gives a tiny glimpse of where those eras have led punk to now. In the documentary, fifty people were interviewed between the ages of 12 and 50 about their opinion of what punk is and isn't and what place they hold in the punk scene. Some notable people interviewed are: Bobby Soxx, George Gimarc, Barry Kooda and MC 900 Ft Jesus. For old (and young) Big D and Cowtown punk rockers, this screening is likely to be a family reunion. For everyone else it's an exciting look at the workings of a scene.
Featuring a huge amount of stunning rare footage including live performances by The Ralphs, The Nervebreakers, The Telefones, Teenage Queers, Why Am I? and Riot Squad, among many more. Watching DFW PUNK will give you the feeling of photocopied exhilaration you got from finding that new zine that spoke directly to you.

Uh Oh. Riot Squad? Anyway, the film will be showing this evening at the Alamo Draft House in Austin at 1045 PM and I'm sure it'll be interesting to learn about a scene that people seem to be starting to get interested in again.

Strange Boys Reviewed on Pitchfork

Seems to be a great year for musicians who USED to live in Dallas or Denton, doesn't it? As both St. Vincent and Alan Palomo have seen great rises in their national profiles in 2009,ex-Dallasites the Strange Boys, now based in Austin, are getting into the action too, with their recent signing to In The Red coming amongst rumors of much bigger signings potentially happening in the near future. And now, soon after their In The Red debut, a solid review in Pitchfork thats surprisingly on the money, particularly here:

"the Strange Boys are the kind of band that seem weirder and more threatening the nicer they play it..."

A highly subjective observation that still seems to hit the nail right on the head. Read the rest here. This is like the 4th Pitchfork review I've read all year that I haven't hated, too.

Wavves, Ganglians to Play All Ages Show @ Pastime Tavern

After Wavves canceled an appearance at the SouthbySouthFlesh show at Club Dada this past March, Parade of Flesh has been able to talk 2009 Indie Brat of the Year Nathan Williams into bringing Wavves back to Dallas for an October 9th performance at Pastime Tavern with wonderful Woodsist signees Ganglians (if you haven't heard their latest, I'd highly recommend checking it out). I wonder if Wavves bro is still as cocky as he was during SXSW? It would be tough, especially after his pseudo-celeb "meltdown" and generally shitty behavior, but whatever. Despite all of it, I still like his music quite a bit, even if I wasn't able to stay up late enough to catch his SUPER late performance at HousebyHouse Fest last year, which featured probably the most impressive overall line up I've seen anywhere in the area since this blog was founded.

Neon Indian gets Best New Track nod from Pitchfork

Neon Indian gets Best New Track nod from Pitchfork.

congrats boys.

last.fm charts

charts from our last.fm group

if you download last.fm, and join our group you will affect these charts.

overall
1 David Bowie
2 Grizzly Bear
3 Radiohead
4 Wilco
5 M83
6 Panda Bear
7 Sonic Youth
8 Animal Collective
9 No Age
10 Why?

Unique to our group(not fully sure what that means)
1 No Age
2 Magnetic Fields
3 Panda Bear
4 Castanets
5 Sebadoh
6 The King Khan & BBQ Show
7 Brightblack Morning Light
8 Atlas Sound
9 Phosphorescent
10 The Sea and Cake

King Khan & BBQ Show - Shake Real Low
by Rudy_Pneumonia

Darktown Strutters Featured on 20 Jazz Funk Greats

Excellent write-up for the duo from the continually superb and vastly influential 20 Jazz Funk Greats. I should also mention that we are still working with the Strutters on getting their first release out. More info to come.





Photo By Stephie Yah Know.

MP3 From Schrock And Quartz

George Quartz gave us a heads-up about a track from a new project he's involved with, which he explained as such:

Here's the first track from a (hopefully ongoing) recording project of mine that is not related to my solo stuff or Personal Victories. Jake Schrock (who records under "Jake Five") did all of the music and was nice enough to ask me to add vocals. Michael Stein, of the band Survive, did a lot of the production and mixing at Krispy Kuts, and Corbett Sparks from Mission Giant recorded/ mixed the vocals.

Schrock & Quartz - "Modern Prodigy"

Vega to Remix for Grizzly Bear, Ladytron

Just got a message from Alan Palomo that we thought we'd pass along to you-- apparently Vega (who is in Australia at the moment assisting Miami Horror record an album) will be releasing a remix as a B-side/ pseudo split single with Grizzly Bear, due out later this year on Warp Records. Vega will do a remix of the Grizzly Bear track "Ready, Able." Appearing on a single release related to one of the most commercially important "indie" rock albums released this year? Pretty big deal. Elsewhere, Vega will be doing a remix for Ladytron that is due to appear on their latest album, although we don't have futher details on that other than the fact that its happening and will be released some time in the near future. We'll keep you posted.

Photo by Stephieyaknow

Fergus and Geronimo Get Posted on Pitchfork, Release Woodsist 7 inch

Denton's Fergus and Geronimo, who we wrote about for the first time several months ago (and they've still only played literally a couple shows), have signed to Woodsist (you knew that already) and were featured today on Pitchfork's Forkcast. The site posted a song off the band's new Woodsist 7 inch, which is available for purchase here.

WSJR Contributor HBJ's Rangers Signed to Not Not Fun

Late last year in our Best Records of 2008 feature, I made a brief mention of an informal tape release from Rangers, the one man project of occasional We Shot J.R. contributor Howard Bob Johnson.  The release, Street Smell, was an excellent, hazy piece of bedroom collage featuring excellent guitar work, bizarre samples and a dizzying array of styles and influences that made it one of the most interesting things we had heard all year.

HBJ has since relocated to San Francisco and continued to churn out some excellent recordings over the past few months.  More and more people have started to take notice recently, and as a result, Rangers will be putting out two new releases on two exciting labels-- the first will be a limited edition vinyl pressing on Future Sound Recordings (Ducktails, Sun Araw, etc.) and the second will be another limited edition tape release of Low Cut Fades on the excellent Not Not Fun. The release is currently available for purchase on the Not Not Fun website (fifth release down the page), and I'd highly recommend picking up one of 100 copies now, before they're gone.  Yeah, the guy is our friend and everything, but don't let that ruin it for you-- this is really great stuff that I'd recommend to anyone interested in pretty much any of the music on the aforementioned labels.  

Vega Reviewed on Pitchfork

Alan Palomo's Vega EP was reviewed on Pitchfork today, receiving a rather middle of the road 6.0. The review is actually one of the better ones Pitchfork has written about a local artist in quite a while (well I guess Palomo is technically an Austinite now), without a lot of confusing, unnecessary language and some (Shock!) decent descriptions of the music you'll find on the EP. Read it here. We'll have our own review of the album next week.

Local Naked Guy a Vice Do

People who have spent a little bit of time in East Dallas over the past few years might be familiar with Bruce the Naked Guy-- in case you couldn't tell from the description, Bruce is a rather large man who enjoyed getting naked both in public places and at private house parties, everywhere from Meridian Room to what is now referred to as the Bike House.  It seems that most people found this guy somewhat loveable (if not more than a little strange), so we thought it was a little funny when he popped up as a Vice Do the other day.  The picture is featured to the right, and you can read the rather appropriate caption here.  I know I know, Vice Dos and Don'ts were SO OVER the minute Gavin stopped doing them, but still.... we haven't seen this guy in a while.  I wonder what happened to him?

Grizzly Bear Tweets About Neon Indian

RT

Download Tommyboy's 4th of July Set

Tommy Boy emailed us this evening with a link to his excellent 4th of July mix, and you can download it directly right here (right click).  The tracklist is below:

01. Skatt Bros. - Walk the Night (Chocolate Money Edit)
02. B52's - Mess-of-a-Tanian (Mike Simonetti Edit)
03. Ivan - Fotonovela
04. Spooky Voice - Killing Myself (Instrumental)
05. Gary's Gang - Makin' Music (Dub)
06. Rove Dogs - With You
07. Gorgio Moroder and Debbie Harry - Call Me (Instrumental)
08. Wulf Ticket - The Key
09. Yazoo - Situation (Extended Dub)
10. Supercharge - Think I'm Gonna Fall In Love (Disco 3000 Edit)
11. Eric's Friends - Cocaine
12. Bagarre - Dirty Love
13. Plus Two - Melody
14. Carmen - Time to Move
15. One, Two, Three - Another Knife In My Back
16. Kebekelektrik - War Dance (Greg Wilson Edit)
17. Maelstrom - Souveniers Edit
18. Straight Shooter - My Time, Your Time
19. Bagarre - Your Love Is Dirty
20. Angelo Tinsley - Get Down With Me
21. Anneclaire - I Want (Remix)

Blixaboy on Mary Anne Hobbs

Dallas dubstep producer Wanz Dover, aka Blixaboy, received a nice little boost in profile recently after his Blixaboy dubstep project got a spin on the legendary and internationally respected radio show of BBC 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs this past week. For those who don't know, Hobbs' London based show is credited with popularizing dubstep internationally in 2006, and ever since, Hobbs has been seen as one of, if not THE major tastemaker and gatekeeper for dubstep in England and around the world. As she has helped break several of dubstep's most successful acts over the years, its a pretty big deal for an American producer to get play on her show, so congratulations to Dover on a pretty impressive achievement.

George Quartz Profiled In Fact Magazine

George Quartz received a nice little write-up in British bi-monthly magazine, Fact this week, and was even called a "Texan Lothario" in the publication's tweet on the article. Included in the rather detailed piece is an MP3, "Butterscotch," as well as some info about Quartz's always interesting blog, "La Maladie Tropicale," where he recently blogged about one of my all-time favorite films. Excellent work.
















That pic is totally at The FOE.

Yeah Def's MJ Mix From Last Night 6/25/09

Yeah Def did a Michael Jackson tribute at Rubber Gloves last night, featuring a few deep album cuts, not just the obvious stuff. I've been listening to this at work all morning. Perfect if you can't get KSOUL in the office. Click here.

Teenage Cool Kids New Record Available, Release Show Scheduled

The Teenage Cool Kids finally have their 12" release, "Foreign Lands," available for sale at shows, or through Protaganist Music online. That is quite a beautiful slab of blue vinyl, if I do say so myself. And I can say that. I've seen a lot of vinyl. I'm not a teenager, or cool, or a kid. I'm old.

Anyways, the release show is scheduled for Friday, July 3rd, at Rubber Gloves. The lineup includes Fungi Girls, Angry Businessmen, and brand new Denton band Video, featuring members of Wax Museums and Silver Shampoo, which sounds promising.

New All Local Mix Tape from DJ Select

Select of Central Booking just sent us a pretty nice little mix tape featuring many of the biggest local hip hop hits of the past several months plus. He couldn't have picked a better time to do it either, as the local hip hop scene has been flying quite high over the past year or so, thanks in no small part to local radio play on K104 and 97.9 the Beat (especially the latter), where you've been able to hear a lot of these tracks on a regular basis. Kinda makes the Dallas "rock" scene look like, uh, well, not much of anything really. Track list (click here to download):

NATURE WALK - T WILLZ
RICKY BOBBY - B HAMP
BOOTY DEW - GS BOYZ
HALLE BERRY - HURRICANE CHRIS
GUCCI BANDANA - SOULJA BOY FT. GUCCI MANE
MY DOUGIE - LIL WILL
BUSS IT OPEN - LIL WILL
SWAG SURF - FAST LIFE YUNGSTAZ
AIN'T I - YOUNG L.A. FT YOUNG DRO, T.I.
DIDDY BOP - DIDDY
MAKE TRAP SAY AY OJ DA JUICEMAN FT GUCCI MANE
PLENTY MONEY - PLIES

Problems with Blogger, No It List 6/23

Hey everyone--- we're currently having problems with blogger that are affecting our ability to post on the main page.  We hope this gets resolved soon, and we'll update as soon as it does, but for now, we're gonna have to take a day off from the It List.  Thanks.

Iranian Protest Video

Not that I think this website needs to be your source on the current activities in Iran, but the sheer volume and intensity of this video just sent chills down my spine and I thought I'd share it with you:



You can follow a lot of this stuff on Twitter (although a lot of the communication in Iran has been intercepted), and there is still a good deal of solid information on there. Quite an exciting time to say the least, and the utilization of Twitter and other social networking sites in this context is a development that might have wide ranging implications that none of us can imagine right now.

Chat Room To Cease Having Shows; New Fort Worth Venue In The Works

Unfortunately for the DFW music community, there won't be any more shows at the best traditional brick-and-mortar venue in the metroplex. From Ben Rogers, booking person for the Chat Room and now head of The Metrognome Collective:

In September last year, James Watkins handed control of the Metrognome Collective to me, and I'm only just now getting the wheels on it.

We've just moved into the Firehouse Gallery and had some really excellent experimental shows, great photography, and mixed media from challenging new locals. We actually broke even our first month, which is incredible to me. Staff and I are excited to see how it continues to grow. (B&W Darkroom and Photo Studio weeks away) We've already got some really cool merch from local artists in our retail shop.

Metrognome has also been supplemented by two other projects, One Hundred Second Dash and Real Vinyl, a vinyl only Fort Worth label that plans 1, maybe 3 releases by the end of '09.

For the last year and a half I've had a blast bringing music to Fort Worth, and without my chance at the Chat Room, I wouldn't have been asked to take over the Metrognome. It's very bittersweet, then that I permanently suspend all booking for the Chat Room Pub. I can only stack a plate so high....

I've got to give more to the Metrognome, as we are making plans to open yet another location, hopefully a mid-sized venue.

This is it:

Sunday, July 12th
$5
10pm
Theater Fire
Good Night and Good Morning from Illinois
TBA

Saturday, July 18th
$5
8pm
Ben Rogers Presents: My Birthday
A Metrognome Collective Benefit Show
Fight Bite
Akkolyte
Darktown Strutters
Eat Avery's Bones
The Great Tyrant
Personal Victories of George Quartz

Wednesday, July 29th
$5
9pm
Rival Gang
Orange Coax
Lychgate
Oicho Kabu (from S. Carolina)




Photo By Britt Robisheaux

New Big J Single Produced by Flying Lotus

Beloved local DJ Big J, one of the founders of Cool Out Mondays at the Cavern and a frequent performer at just about every electro and/or hip hop party in town, has just released a new single featuring Dudley Perkins and produced by hot shit L.A. experimental hip hop DJ/producer Flying Lotus, who gained massive buzz and national critical recognition last year with the release of his second full length album Los Angeles. Just working with such a big name would be enough to get excited for Big J, but what's even better about the whole thing is that the single is actually really goddamn good-- to my knowledge it's one of the poppier things Lotus has ever done, with a super catchy "stuck in your head" vocal hook and fantastic swirls of looped vocals coupled with simple yet solid beat to serve as a backdrop to some pretty great MC performances from J and Perkins that recall performers like Busta Rhymes and maybe even Gang Starr. However, this is no 90's throwback-- it sounds completely fresh, and I wouldn't be surprised if this single did really big things this summer. Download it here for free.

new vega single reviewed on pitchfork

new vega single "No Reasons" reviewed on pitchfork

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11246-no-reasons/

At tonight's show they will have, for sale, a special "tour ep" with new tracks.

add your own commentary below.

Dennis Gonzalez Reviewed on Cokemachineglow

Cokemachineglow, a far from perfect website that still seems to be much more tolerable than Pitchfork currently is, had some pretty nice things to say about a disc featuring Yells at Eels' Dennis Gonzalez, and you can read about it here. Not that getting a review on a hipster music website is exactly a big deal for someone as recognized as Gonzalez, but, you know, it's pretty cool anyway.

St. Vincent Receives Best New Music Review on Pitchfork

Former (is it former now? hope so) Polyphonic Spree guitarist Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, received a "Best New Music" review on Pitchfork today, garnering praise in the typically verbose style that Pitchfork has become known for. I personally haven't heard the record, so can't say whether I agree with the review or not, but here are few samples:

Her album covers may showcase her pretty face, but her blank expression and the tight framing leave the images feeling uncomfortably ambiguous.

Her lyrics are sympathetic observations rendered with clear, economical language focused on a specific moment of conflict or epiphany, occasionally undercut with self-deprecating asides and subtle humor.

Subtle humor? You actually find St. Vincent lyrics humorous? Not a knock on St. Vincent, necessarily, but dude needs to get out more. And finally, this gem:

The latter, which takes its title from one of artist Jenny Holzer's best-known aphorisms, is particularly successful in the way its faintest textural details communicate an unease at odds with its airy tone and steady beat.

I've never really been a St. Vincent fan, but Christ, these guys really know how to suck the life out of even a really good record, don't they?

Anyway, if you're interested, you can read it here.

UPDATED Free download-- My Bloody Valentine Live in Dallas

Preston Jones of the Fort Worth Star Telegram and DFW.com alerted us via twitter to this blogpost (they have fixed the link for the first download, so the entire show is now available), which contains a full and fairly high quality download of a recording of My Bloody Valentine's performance at the Palladium Ballroom last week, so if you didn't make it out to the show, you can get just a slight taste of what it was like by clicking up there. Here is the full set list, too, in case you hadn't seen it already:

1. I Only Said
2. When You Sleep
3. You Never Should
4. When You Wake
5. Cigarette In Your Bed
6. Come In Alone
7. Only Shallow
8. Thorn
9. Nothing Much To Lose
10. To Here Knows When
11. Slow
12. Soon
13. Feed Me With Your Kiss
14. You Made Me Realise

Zanzibar Snails prominently featured in FW Weekly Cover Story on Avant Fort Worth

In the newest issue of Fort Worth Weekly, respected music writer Ken Shimamoto takes on the rather ambitious task of simultaneously delving into the history of avant garde/experimental/new music while tying it in to Fort Worth's increasingly high profile in that community. Also included is a lot of input from Mayyrh Records/Watchers/and Zanzibar Snails' lead oscillator, Michael Chamy, a noted writer in his own right. Check it out here.

Also, look out for the new Zanzibar Snails cd and dvd combination release, featuring over 80 minutes of original music. A release celebration will be held Saturday, May 9th, at Good Records, along with A Smile Full Of Ale and h...n.

And finally, a couple of other related shows:

Saturday, May 2nd
The Great Tyrant/Loop 12/The Watchers/Convextion/DJ Per (Sons Of Hermann Hall): Featuring visual installations by J Orion and Tommy Boy.

Friday, May 15th
Nevada Hill/Aaron Gonzalez/Sarah Alexander/Shortwave Death System (The Metrognome Collective at The Firehouse Gallery)

UPDATED-- Lift To Experience's Josh Pearson to Open for My Bloody Valentine

According to Austin Music Hall's website, the critically acclaimed former Denton band Lift to Experience will be opening for My Bloody Valentine in Austin this Tuesday, April 21st, and we have heard from fairly reliable sources that they will also be opening the performance in Dallas the next evening, although we haven't received an official confirmation from the venue on that just yet. We'll let you know when we do, but if I were you, I'd go ahead and bet on it.

UPDATE: Jesse Hughey of The Dallas Observer music blog pointed out that the Austin Music Hall's website has changed the Lift to Experience listing for the MBV show to "Josh T. Pearson," presumably to reflect the fact that the group's original bassist will not be joining the other members, and will instead be replaced by the Paper Chase's Bobby Weaver. See... we aren't too proud to post a link to the Observer's site on the rare occasion that we actually learn something useful from it. Again, I guess I can't be sure that Jesse Hughey first learned of this story from reading our news section and neglected to give us credit for it... I supposed its possible that he religiously checks the Austin Music Hall's website to the point that he would notice their show listings changing within less than 12 hours....

Show Review-- Robyn Hitchcock @ The Granada

(Yes, all of us here at We Shot JR are going to get back into the business of reviewing shows. We figured we'd had like a year off, and that it was time to start trying again, you know? Anyway, we also realized that we, as in myself and DL, don't have the time to attend all the shows we want to cover, much less write about them, so we have elicited a bit of help. This first review comes courtesy of our new friend Jesseca Bagherpour, who ventured to the Granada Theater to see Robyn Hitchcock perform and to take some pictures of the show, some of which you're looking at right now. Normally you'll find show reviews on our main page, but admittedly, we didn't get around to publishing this one until it was a little bit tardy, which is why you see it here. Anyway, enjoy.)-- SR


Critics have called Robyn Hitchcock a “cult figure,” “a musical icon” and “the closest thing this generation has to Bob Dylan” (by “this generation,” I can only assume they mean people who were in their 20s during the early 1980s, when his post Soft Boys solo career began). But for my money, Robyn Hitchcock is the safer bet when it comes to live performances. Don’t get me wrong, I greatly admire Dylan. He’s a brilliant lyricist, of course, and his vast influence on music is undeniable. But the man has seen better days. Even hardcore fans are willing to admit that his live shows are mediocre at least four times out of five. Sadly, I caught one of the not-so-stellar performances, and although I was amazed to be in the same room as a musical legend, I found myself struggling to pay attention.

Hitchcock, on the other hand, held me mesmerized during his entire set. And I wasn’t alone. I found myself surrounded by mostly middle-aged people (he’s their Dylan, remember) gazing up at Hitchcock, enraptured by him. They were singing along and dancing. One amusingly drunk woman even slurred, “He’s awesome,” in another amusingly drunk woman’s ear. And she was right. Hitchcock and his backing band, The Venus 3 (featuring Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin, all from R.E.M.), seamlessly blended material from his recent album with his classics throughout the set.

As Hitchcock said at the beginning of the performance, “Don’t worry, all these songs are very old, or they sound like they are.” It’s not that all of Hitchcock’s work sounds the same, although he generally sticks to the themes of sex, food and death, its that his songs have an almost timeless quality which sometimes makes it difficult to pinpoint the era they’re from. Buck, McCaughey and Rieflin’s signature styles did shine through a bit, but rather than screaming “R.E.M.”, they lent themselves to Hitchcock’s material (and not just the Venus 3 stuff).

Because the band played so superbly and Hitchcock was in perfect form, it was hard to pick my favorite songs from the set, although a few stood out from the rest. “What You Is” is a psychedelic/R&B tune and it’s one of my favorites from 2009’s Goodnight Oslo-- I actually preferred the live version performed at the Granada, with McCaughey’s backing vocals replacing those of female singers on the record. McCaughey lent even more to “I’m Falling”, a borderline sappy love song with gorgeous harmonies that redeem it, which was followed by “Airscape,” from Element of Light, yet another perfectly executed song. By the way, the entire aforementioned album is brilliant and makes me wish I had been three when it was released in 1986, but hearing the song live eased that pain, especially considering Hitchcock’s mind-blowing guitar solo. “Somewhere Apart” (also from Element of Light) drew several people to the front of the stage, coaxing some away from their cozy seats. One audience member felt so moved that he yelled, “Holy shit!” at the end of the song, although alcohol could easily have prompted that.

Throughout the set, it was made perfectly clear that Hitchcock wasn’t satisfied with letting his music do all the entertaining, as his trademark witty and often odd banter filled the gaps between each song. He introduced songs philosophically- “It may not be possible to achieve peace of mind but you can achieve total indifference.” And he ended them with irony- “That’s from an album I have coming out in November 1986!” There was even a surreal bit where he explained the items on his stool. He had a cone there to “keep anything from parking” on it, a penguin named Earl to watch over the cone and, as a last line of defense, a crocodile. If someone were to infiltrate all three lines of defense, chaos would break loose. Hitchcock’s explanation, of course, was much more involved and bizarre.

Not only did the performance exceeded my expectations, it reinforced my passion for Hitchcock’s music and renewed my recently-dwindling interest in live shows. A pretty good night indeed.

Oops-- Quintron and Miss Pussycat w/ Psychedelic Horseshit @ Prophet Bar Friday

I would say "I don't know how we missed this show," except I know how we missed it-- its at the Prophet Bar.  Anyway, the legendary Quintron and Miss Pussycat will be playing with Psychedelic Horseshit, with doors at 8pm and a $10 cover.  And as a side note, anyone who caught Psychedelic Horeshit's performance @ 715 Panhandle a couple weeks ago will tell you how great it was-- if you've seen this band before and were a bit skeptical, you should check them out again, because this time you probably won't be.  Sooooo.... the Prophet Bar, huh?  Do I have to start checking their fucking show listings now too?  

New Dancehall Mix From DJ Nature

I guess we got a little confused today-- since The Party was spinning at Plush this evening, we mistakenly overlooked the fact that tonight's Taxi Fare at Zubar featuring DJ Nature was the CD release party for  Nature's third Taxi Fare mix, which highlights many of the major dancehall tracks of 2008.  It's an excellent party mix that provides a nice look at some of what you might hear at Taxi Fare on Wednesday nights at Zubar-- one of the most unique, adventurous and non- pretentious dance nights in Dallas.  If you're ever in the mood for dancehall, or just want to dance somewhere where you won't find a bunch of douche bros or hipster lame-os, give Taxi Fare a shot... you won't be disappointed.  Download it right here, and check the tracklist here.  

New Music From Treewave's Paul Slocum



Unfortunately we don't know anything else about this, but I'm very interested to hear any new work from Treewave.

Bosque Brown Reviewed On Pitchfork

Read it here.

Theater Fire Reviewed On Pitchfork

I had no idea that they've been around for fourteen years. Click here.

Vega On ABC News

Check out a brief piece on Vega's SXSW experience here. You'll love it. Now you can say "Hey dude, ever heard of Dream Wave?"

Teenage Cool Kids Get Cease And Desist From Cool Kids

Totally ridiculous. There's even a download link for the letter. Read about it here.

More discussion from Teenage Cool Kids themselves here.








Photo by Elizabeth Higgs.

Exclusive Roy G and The Biv Download

The Denton-by -way -of- Boston synth-pop group Roy G and the Biv has been accumulating a good deal of local and regional press over the past few months for their shimmery, meticulously crafted stand-out pop tracks.  The strength of their songwriting seems to separate the group from most similar acts in the sense that their songs actually sound like they could be top 40 dance hits in 1985, instead of just sort of reminding you of one (albeit with a goofier, more tongue-in-cheek lyrical approach).  

Anyway, the group has been nice enough to share with us (and you) an exclusive new track off their forthcoming, yet to be titled debut full length, and you can download it directly by clicking here.  It's called "Runnin'," and you'll be able to catch Roy G and the Biv playing it all over Austin during SXSW this year.  Check their Myspace for more info.  

New Sun Club Mix

In case you've missed some of our other posts concerning Sun Club, the Denton based DJ group has started to make a real name for itself in its hometown over the past several weeks. Their Thursday night residency at Rubber Gloves has emerged as an alternative to the long dominant 80's Night with DJ G at Hailey's, gaining steam with healthy sized crowds and a penchant for spinning tracks, both old and new, that most of the younger Denton scenesters probably haven't ever heard before: everything from Cosmic Disco to old school house to minimal, with an emphasis on 4 on the floor rather than academia. We already posted one solid mix from these guys a few weeks ago, and it was good enough to inspire us to post this new one, which comes courtesy of Sun Club's DJ FUR, aka Bryce Isbell. The group will be performing at Rubber Gloves this Thursday as usual, but it will be the last installment of their weekly until April 2nd, so if you want to catch them any time in the next month, its now or never. Free download page is here, tracklist is below:


01 Housi - Les Petits Pilous
02 Nightshift - Leventina
03 Sandcastles (John Dahlback Remix) - DCA Project
04 S.M.U.R.F. - Jive Rhythm Trax
05 Wake Up - Les Petits Pilous
06 Vertigo (Thomas Bangalter Remix) Alan Braxe
07 Buffalo Beats- Buffalo Bunch
08 Kick The Groove (Josh Dupont Remix) - Dj Red