Upcoming Dallas Shows

I'm going to the Decemberists show tonight at Trees (review coming tomorrow, if i show up at work), and while Dallas is no NY or LA, there are still quite a few good shows coming up in the next couple months in the area. I'll probably do a post on upcoming shows (that i plan on attending) every couple weeks for people that live in the area or for those that want to come visit (yeah right).

Mon., April 11: Dizzee Rascal @ Gypsy Tearoom
I'm excited to see Dizzee, if he shows up. Hopefully he won't get stabbed/shot in the next week or so. Download "fix up, look sharp" at matador.

Mon., April 25: Snow Patrol/Embrace @ Gypsy Tearoom

I saw Snow Patrol in Columbus last year. They did a cover of Beyonce's "Crazy in Love". Watch some videos at their website.

Thur., April 28: The Black Keys @ Trees
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White boy blues from akron, ohio. Get a couple songs at insound.

Fri., April 29: Ben Lee, Har Mar Superstar @ Gypsy Tearoom
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That photo pretty much sums up a har mar live show. I saw him last time he came through dallas (me and about 5 other people), and while i'm not a huge fan of his music, he does put on an entertaining show. Get a couple mp3's at epitonic.

Fri., May 6: Rilo Kiley @ Stubbs (austin)
Sun., May 8: Rilo Kiley @ TBA (Dallas)
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I'm planning on going down to austin to see rilo kiley at stubbs, which is by far my favorite venue. if not, they're playing in dallas two days later. Get some mp3s of rilo kiley's KCRW session @ this site.

Fri., May 13: Pinback @ Hailey's (Denton)
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I love pinback's latest album, summer in abaddon, and i've missed them the last couple times they've come through town, so hopefully i'll be able to make this show.
Download "fortress" at insound.

Sat., May 14: Caribou, Russian Futurists @ Hailey's (Denton)
I'm really liking the Russian Futurists tracks i've got on my iPod so far. Not sure when their album comes out in the u.s., but go get some mp3s at Six Eyes while they last.

Mon., May 16: The Raveonettes, Autolux @ Gypsy Tearoom
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I saw autolux a few weeks ago when they opened for secret machines, and they were really cool. download "here comes everybody" at insound, and get 4 more autolux tracks at My Old Kentucky Blog. Bonus: Teaching the Indie Kids to Dance Again has an awesome Raveonettes song ("ode to LA") featuring Ronnie Spector, as well as their cover of "my boyfriend's back".

Thur., May 26: Prefuse 73, Beans @ Hailey's (Denton)
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The first time i ever hung out w/ my ex-girlfriend, we went to see Beans (formerly of antipop consortium) open for Tortoise at a Polish community center in some haitian ghetto in miami. Seriously. He was a nice guy, and he put on a cool show. His track on the new Prefuse 73 is one of the best on the album. Download Beans' "Diamond Halo Grenade" at warp records.

Sat., June 4: Bright Eyes w/ the Faint @ Stubbs (Austin)
Sun., June 5: Bright Eyes w/ the Faint @ Nokia Live (Dallas)
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Again, conor is bringing his crew to austin and dallas...i'll probably go to the austin show (any excuse to take a mini-vacation is cool w/ me). I was at the now-infamous Bright Eyes show in fort worth a couple months ago when he went on his anti-Texas rant ("I don't know if you know this, but I hate your [expletive] state. I'd put a [expletive] gun to my head before I'd live in your state."). but in true emo fashion, he made everyone in attendance feel a little better about themselves w/ this gem: "If you came to this show tonight, you're not a normal Texan. If you were a normal Texan, you'd probably be roping steers and raping Indians." way to get the audience back on your side, conor. Get a bunch of bright eyes mp3s at saddle creek.

In Other Tour News:
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M.I.A./LCD Soundsystem and The Shins have announced north american tour dates, but no dallas or austin dates yet. crap.

Other Stuff

More Arcade Fire: get mp3s of the band's March 8 show at Kings College (London) courtesy of this guy. (thanks to solace for finding this link.) also, get an interesting cover of "no cars go" by a band called vitaminsforyou over at the new black.

The Killers vs. The Bravery update: Stereogum has an mp3 of the bravery responding to the fightin words from brandon of the killers. shit is getting serious.

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You Ain't No Picasso and Ultragrrrl found links to the new Karen O song from that adidas commercial (directed by her boy, spike jonze). thanks guys.

Please Enjoy...this week's releases

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Kind of a slow week for new releases...at least any i'm interested in. let me know if i'm missing something worth checking out.

Beck, Guero

I'm sure you've already heard most of this since it's been all over the internet for months, and i know you saw the Beck-isode of the O.C. (don't front). But this is still worth buying today. . .

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gratuitous christina ricci photo

"Que onda quero" and "hell yes", featuring christina ricci as a Harajuku Girl ("your beat is nice"), are awesome. Go watch the "hell yes (remix)" video at free williamsburg.

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The Bravery, S/T (update: i got this, and it's pretty horrible. not even worth the 7 bucks. i should have listened to that kid from the killers. some of the worst lyrics ever. "you put the art in retarded"??! you've gotta be kidding me.)

I might get this, only because it's $6.99 at best buy. these guys are blatantly "influenced by" (translation: completely rip off) bands like the killers, interpol, and the faint. and check it out, we may have our first official beef of the genre, a la the Game and 50 cent:

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This guy's pissed.

Brandon Flowers tells MTV:
"Look at a band like the Bravery. They're signed because we're a band," Flowers said. "I've heard rumors about [members of] that band being in a different kind of band, and how do you defend that? If you say, 'My heart really belongs to what I'm doing now,' but you used to be in a ska band. I can see the Strokes play or Franz Ferdinand play and it's real, and I haven't gotten that from the Bravery. I think people will see through them."

Whoa, dude. Sounds serious. My money's on Flowers. Nevertheless, the Bravery's new single, "Honest Mistake" is pretty damn catchy. Go download the album version over at mtv.com or get a pretty worthless acoustic version of it courtesy of Cellophane Girl. Then go download some Killers tracks here and decide for yourself who's, like, keeping it more real.

Other Stuff

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"What's a blog?"

* Stereogum has a pretty funny little post about the phenomenon that is "Since U Been Gone", and has reposted Ted Leo's cover of this instant classic, along w/ some new live Radiohead.

* My Old Kentucky Blog has provided some cool non-album Bloc Party tracks, as well as a link to a pretty good directory of cover songs.

* Get some cool Feist songs, including her cover of one of my favorite Kinks songs, over at the Tofu Hut.

This Week's iPod Playlist

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I'll probably post what's currently rocking my iPod once a week or so, hopefully w/ mp3 links to some of the songs. Anyway, here's this week's list:

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Arcade Fire, "No Cars Go (CBC Radio 3 Sessions)"
I like this version much better than the EP version. It really shows why they're the best live band in the world. Download the whole CBC Sessions (which also includes an amazing version of "In the Backseat") right over here.

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The Decemberists, "16 Military Wives"
This may be my favorite song by these guys. Go get the mp3 now at Cellophane Girl. I can't wait until their show this Thursday at Trees. Download another awesome song from Picaresque, "Engine Driver", at Six Eyes.

Stars, "Your Ex-Lover is Dead"
Apostle of Hustle, "Animal Fat"
I really love both of the new albums from these Broken Social Scene collective's other bands. These are the two songs that are getting the most play right now. Check out the Arts & Crafts website for some mp3's/tour dates/etc.

M.I.A., "Bucky Done Gun"
This is my favorite song off her new album right now, but that'll probably change tomorrow. It's all good. Go here to download this and more M.I.A.

Doves, "Black and White Town"
Haven't got the new album yet, but this song is really good.

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Emiliana Torrini, "Sunny Road"
I know nothing about this girl, but i think i love her and this song is awesome. Go here to download a live version of it and a bunch of other good stuff.

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Joanna Newsom, "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie"
While i'm talking about weird/hot girl folk-singers, i have to include Joanna Newsom, who's Milk-Eyed Mender was one of my favorite albums of '04. A lot of people can't get past her child-like vocals (Jenny), but the more i listen to this girl the more i like her. Download a song or two at this website.

Iron & Wine, "Waitin' For A Superman" (Flaming Lips cover)
Marcel hooked me up w/ this one (thanks dude), and i'm not sure where he got it but it's awesome.

Ted Leo, "Since You Been Gone/Maps" (Kelly Clarkson, Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover)
Ted Leo makes a Kelly Clarkson jam cool, and throws in a little YYYs. Get the mp3 over here.

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The Go! Team, "Huddle Formation"
I listen to this song when i work out. Get the mp3 over at webjay.

Bloc Party, "Like Eating Glass"
I love this whole album. This is track one so i listen to it the most probably. But if you haven't bought Silent Alarm yet, go get it. In the meantime, download this track at Six Eyes.

Funny

Check this out for hours of fun. okay maybe 5 minutes of fun.

Albums of the Week Vol. 1

My plan is to profile a couple of my favorite new cd's (or least cd's that are new to me) each week. These won't be reviews, though, because reviews suck. Just profiles about the album/artist and why you should buy it.

This week was abnormally good for new music, and i bought excellent new releases from Bloc Party, Prefuse 73, and The Decemberists. All of these would have made this column on a normal week. Okay here we go:

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M.I.A. "Arular"

I had already heard most of these tracks (w/ different beats) courtesy of M.I.A.'s collaboration w/ her boyfriend Diplo of Hollertronix ("Piracy Funds Terrorism, Vol. 1"), so i knew this would be one of my favorite releases of the year. She is awesome. Her blend of electro/crunk/grime/hip hop/dancehall is exciting and original. and i can't recommend this enough. Go buy it. Now.

Download a mashup of M.I.A.'s "Galang" courtesy of Cry On My Console, while it lasts.

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Brendan Benson "The Alternative to Love"

I really, really like this dude, and I'm not sure why. Maybe because he's from my hometown (Detroit) or maybe because he just makes a really catchy pop rock melody w/ lyrics that i can relate to. "Metarie" (from his album Lapalco) is one of my favorite songs. So i was excited to get this. No help from Jason Falkner this time out, and Benson doesn't need it. This has been rocking my iPod all day at work this week. I can't wait for Brendan's upcoming release w/ his boy Jack White. Buy "The Alternative to Love" now.

Download Brendan Benson's "The Pledge" over at Insound.

SXSW '05

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So I dragged a couple of friends down to Austin for my annual trip to SXSW (thanks Shanna and Jesse). We got our asses up at 8 a.m. and headed down there to jam as many shows as we could into a 16 hour period. Here is the recap (this isn't all the bands we saw, just all i can think of right now):

12 pm: we arrived at Urban Outfitters for the Apostle of Hustle show. Kinda weird to see a band performing in the bikini section, but the Broken Social Scene members side project didn't disappoint. One of their members is a hot girl who plays percussion w/ her feet.

2 pm: back to urban outfitters for the cribs show. They were pretty cool and played a short (loud) set.

3pm: the most hyped band of this year's festival was bloc party, and for good reason. the place was packed to capacity and these guys were badasses. check out this picture of bloc party in the bikini section. these guys are so hot right now.

Okay so by now Shanna is complaining that her feet hurt...but we gots another show to see...so we head over to the free Levi's/Fader party to see Feist and the Go! Team.

4pm: i neglected to mention that this was a "private" party. oops. no matter, $30 later and we're in the door. while waiting for feist's set we listened to an electro/pop/indie DJ set from Cut Copy and drank free Red Stripe. Feist is another Broken Social Scene-er. If you haven't heard/heard of Feist, go here for some MP3's. This show was memorable because she and everyone else almost died when the wind almost collapsed the tent on everyone's head. but it didn't and then a rainbow appeared.

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5pm: we experienced our requisite Elijah Wood sighting while waiting for Go! Team to come on. He was standing in my way at the bar as i tried to get my 4th free red stripe in 30 minutes. The Go! Team cancelled, which would have sucked if it was wasn't for these guys.

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I think the blood arm is our new favorite band. their singer is insane.

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6pm: Shanna wanted to see Aimee Mann at Stubb's, but we sure as hell weren't about to pay $40 bucks just for her and the wallflowers (they're still a band?), so we headed over to Eternal to catch The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players and Ben Lee. this show was decent but way too crowded.

10:45 pm: finally, jesse and i headed over to some hip hop club to see 2/3 of the Unicorns perform as Th' Corn Gangg. They basically just played unicorns songs but w/ two underground mc's, Subtitle and Busdriver, and one hasidic jew freestyle rapper. The show was good, but our feet hurt and we had a 3 hour drive home. Next year we're getting a hotel.

Another Music Blog

This blog will be mainly about music I like and will hopefully eventually have mp3s and reviews. It will also probably include celebrity sightings and other worthless info about me and my friends in dallas. My first post will be a SXSW '05 wrap up and a couple cd reviews. The name of my blog was inspired by a long-standing argument between a couple of my friends about who would win in a fight. I say the gorilla, hands down. I mean look at that thing, its vicious.