To all the people who have tickets to Sigur Ros at Bass Performance Hall tonight: I hate you. Or I mean I love you.... now sell me your ticket!

Thanks,

J.R.

In other news, this week is going to be a big one. We've got a special secret announcement to make later this week (no, it isn't our identity), and we'll have a good interview with a good band. Oh and you should vote for our J.R. awards so that we can give the winners absolutely nothing for all their hard work!!

The Eighth Continent is a house. Or actually its the basement/garage part of a house. The ceilings are low. Its smoky and dark, and it makes you feel claustrophobic even when its not entirely full. Its BYOB, its makeshift, and its hard to find if you've never been before, tucked away in a residential neighborhood in Denton. In short its a great place to see underground music, particularly when the band you're watching is one of the best live bands in Dallas/Denton/Fort Worth and the audience is made up mostly of rabid fans dancing like crazy throughout their entire set.

From what we can tell, The Eighth Continent is actually part of a house owned and/or lived in by Lars from Undoing of David Wright, and the large garage area beneath the house has been renovated and made into a music venue complete with a small stage and a space for a DJ booth. But you shouldn't be picturing a garage, because it really doesn't look or feel like one... its more like an old basement bar than anything else, and the set up is actually pretty fantastic. The stage is against the far wall of the space when you walk in, and there is an equally good place to see it from all three sides surrounding it, maximizing the available room (which can probably fit about 75 people). There are places to sit inside, and an outside area to cool down in front. The sound was a bit muffled last night, but its pretty goddamn good all things considered, and this was apparently the first show they've had there, which makes the quality of the mix even more impressive. Basically, it seems like a place where something memorable could happen.

Oh yeah, the band played too... and as usual they were tight as shit (didn't seem to miss a note), running through a set of loud, danceable no wave/post-hardcore that pretty much kicked everyone's ass (you could tell by looking at them). Most of the people there were obviously huge fans, which made it really fun to just sit back and watch the whole thing from time to time as the rest of the audience continued to go fucking nuts. People that were actually there to have fun were having fun, there was lots of smoke, a cheap cover, no four dollar Bud Lights or asshole bartenders, no Deep Ellum cops or problems parking, and a great band onstage that actually puts on a show thats worth two shits. Maybe stuff like this should happen every weekend.

So we've caught some shit from a few people for being into Red Monroe, not to mention Hourly Radio (people sent us emails about how much both bands suck), but thats ok. Cuz we're good enough, and smart enough, and you know the rest. But if you doubt whether either of these bands is worth a shit, why don't you go check them out for FREE tonight at the Darkside Lounge? Red Monroe goes on at 10, Hourly Radio is on at 11. We must admit that we've never seen them live before, but we like what we hear on record. Oh, and if you're going to see Coldplay and Fiona Apple for $47 tonight, then get off my goddamn website.

1. Hourly Radio/Red Monroe (Darkside Lounge- Deep Ellum) FREE

2. Wild In the Streets (Hailey's Denton)
Mods and such. You know the drill.

And finally, if you don't feel like going out but you also don't want to tune in to the Adventure Club's "All Coldplay" show live from wherever they're playing, you might want to listen to:

3. Frequency Down on 88.1 KNTU at 10pm. Frank the tank says he'll be playing:

"NEW Flaming Lips, Buzzcocks & Abbey,!Also songs from The New Amsterdams, Single Frame, Sonic Youth, Tigerbaby, Autolux, Essex Green, Metric, Mates of State, Super Love Attack, The Hourly Radio, Voxtrot, Voot Cha Index, Reggie & the Full Effect, Electric 6, The Life & Times, Arcade Fire, Yo La Tengo, The Melvins, The Riverboat Gamblers AND SO MUCH MORE!!!"

So stick it to Clear Channel twice tonight by skipping out on Coldplay and the adventure club, and instead go to a good FREE show or listen to a great non-commercial radio program. By the way, is Voxtrot the best band in Austin right now? I think they might be.

We'll have more for you later tonight, including a write up of that Undoing of David Wright show last night...

AND BY THE WAY: Vote for the JR polls on the sidebar dog...

Lots and Lots to do tonight, and most of it isn't in Dallas. Imagine that. Anyway, check it:

1. Undoing of David Wright/Best Fwends/Death Set (Eighth Continent Denton)
Eighth Continent is, according to Undoing of David Wright, a new avant garde performance space located at 731 Texas St. in Denton. We don't have a whole lot of information other than the bands playing there and the fact that its all ages, 5 bucks and BYOB. You know we think Undoing is one of the best live acts in town, and we've already talked about Best Fwends a bit, who will be playing at SXSW this year. They're pretty good too. Death Set from New York is also playing, but we don't know who they are. The Undoing has emailed us to say that doors open at 8 pm, and the show should start at 9 or 930.

2. Bob White and the F-Electrics | Like You Like/The Motherfuckers | White Drugs (J & J's Pizza Denton)
J and J's is at 118 W. Oak St in Denton, which we're pretty sure is in the square. Anyway this looks like it will be a great show for fans of the noise post-hardcore sound. Bob White reminds us of Scratch acid, and White Drugs is, well, loud. Both are good, and while we don't know about the other bands we're going to guess that they're loud too, and probably interesting. Take a chance, its free. Starts at 8pm

3. Record Hop | Sharks and Sailors | Woozy Helmet | Tame...tame and Quiet (Rubber Gloves Denton)
We like Record Hop, but you already know that. Austin's Woozy Helmet has kind of an early 90's K Records thing going on, and they sound pretty good. Sharks and Sailors, like we said before, have a Les Savy Fav thing going but maybe a little more rockin' at times. Fort Worth's Tame...Tame and Quiet are decent too. Should be a solid show.

4. Prayer for Animals (Darkside Lounge)
Go see Prayer for Animals at around 9pm, and then go somewhere else unless you want to put up with the Kansas City Faggots. We don't.

5. The Smoke (825 Exposition Ave. Avenue Arts venue)
Mods, go go dancers, you bringing 6 bucks and your own beer so that you can make a fool of yourself on the dance floor. Good combo.

6. Metrognome Collective: 100 Damned Guns | Cartright/Sarah Reddington/ Matthew and the Arrogant Sea: A folk/alt country kinda thing going on at a cool venue, 1518 E. Lancaster in Fort Worth.

1. Undertow Orchestra (Hailey's Denton) Link Will Johnson from Centro-matic and members of American Music Club (good) and pedro the Lion (whateva) will be playing songs together.

2. Metrognome Collective- Sonic Death Monkee/Notes from Underground/Malise (Fort Worth)
We talk about this place all the time because it rules. You should really make the drive some time.

3. Mazinga Phaser II (doublewide)

sorry its short today, but we've got a life too ya know!

So it appears to be music award season here in Dallas, and we've decided to get in on the action. Of course the Dallas Observer awards are the big ones, but we thought that our readers might want to choose their local favorites without having their votes diluted by Flickerstick and Johnny Lloyd whatever fans. So heres the scoop:

For the next two weeks we'll be taking votes for the J.R. Awards. There will be eight categories, and you can vote by posting your choices in the comments section of this thread, which we will create a permanent link to on the sidebar. Post with your name, or as anonymous, or whatever you want. I think you might have to register with Blogspot to be able to post comments, but if you do its really not that hard and you shouldn't be so lazy. Just register and vote ya jerk.

We'll also be having a contest: submit your own award category and nominate a winner. The category can be anything as long as its related to local music. The creator of the funniest category shall receive two free tickets to a Dallas/Denton show TBD later, and will be famous among the few hundred people that read this blog. We can assure you that your prize will be for a show that we would want to go to , and we'll probably give you a list of a couple bands to choose from... we just aren't sure which ones yet. If you create a category, you'll either have to post with your name or send us an email telling us who you are.

Maybe everyone will like this idea, or maybe no one will even respond. But its worth a shot. You can vote in all categories, just one category, or whatever. We don't care. Here they are:

Best Band Overall
Worst Band Overall
Best New Act
Best Venue
Worst Venue
Best DJ
Best Experimental Group or Musician

GO!

1. Happy Bullets and Tah Dahs (Free In Store at Tower Records, Lemmon and Oak Lawn)
Starts at 6:30, so get there early bitches.

2. Dj G 80's Night (Hailey's Denton)
you know the deal.

3. Lions/ White Drugs (Rubber Gloves Denton)
Lions appears to be one of those new Black Sabbathesque hipster metal bands where you can't tell whether or not its a joke. I guess that rocks. White Drugs are a Denton band that also rocks, but they sound more like a mix between the Stooges and a slower Thermals. Probably a pretty good live show.

4. Mile End w/ Dj Laureen (Fallout)
you know the deal here too: shoegaze, britpop, indie.

After receiving a series of emails from another group called "The Veldt," Arlington's Veldt recently decided to change their name to Prayer for Animals in order to avoid dealing with a cease and desist letter. No matter what they might be called, their songs reveal a group that is musically ambitious and potentially buzzworthy, given that they are already close (at an early stage in their existence) to finding a good formula for a sound lying somewhere in between loose psychedelic experimentation and dark indie pop.

Prayer for Animals, formed in 2005, is headquartered at their group house in Arlington where they write songs that have a good deal of range in composition and style, despite possessing what can be classified as the beginning of a "sound" in its early stages. The most obvious reference points here are Brian Jonestown Massacre and Matador Records' The Double, but you can also hear touches of Radiohead, Television Personalities and the excellent Circulatory System. The fun of listening to this band derives not from their influences, however, but from their ability to diversify, letting strange folksy guitar plucking turn into moody, ethereal noise and blues-based psyche rock. Although certainly a young band still searching for its musical path to a degree, Prayer for Animals is well on its way to nailing down something interesting, even if its not entirely clear which direction they will take. And that is exactly what makes them worthy of some attention.

Prayer for Animals plays Saturday at the Darkside Lounge.

Some Mp3s if you please (and really, listen to all three because they are all pretty different)

"The Tale of the Yellow Spider" Link
"The Great Plains" Link
"You're Never Gonna Die" Link

Here is an essay written by a guy who is talking about how he talks about Chuck Klosterman's way of talking about certain things that other people talk about and how he (the guy) doesn't really like the way that Klosterman talks about things because he (the guy) talks about them in the same way and then talks about this similarity with other people who in turn talk about how he (the guy) talks about things, and then this guy publishes an essay about himself talking about how he talks to other people about Chuck Klosterman' annoying tendency to talk about the same things in the same way, and that these things usually involve the ways in which people talk about stuff. Its pretty good.

Cindy Chaffin from Texasgigs.com wrote a response to one of our posts in a comment thread, and we've decided to share it with you. Before you read, note that we aren't planning on starting a blog v. website bitch fest, and that this will be the last post on this subject. We aren't into personal attacks either, and you won't see that here. And judging by some of the problems that the guys at dconstruction had to deal with when they touched on a similar topic (and for the record didn't personally attack or say anything unwarranted about Cindy Chaffin), we'll repeat: nothing personal. We don't know Cindy Chaffin, she could be a wonderful human being, and we have no problem with her. And blah blah blah. Heres her post:

Cindy here from TexasGigs.com. I started TexasGigs.com 3 1/2 years ago as my own personal blog to...yeah...PROMOTE!!!!...the music scene, as a ***music promoter.*** There are a lot of local bands I think are amazing. There are tons more that I think suck. But the point...er...my mission was (and still is) to support and provide as much information as I could so that folks could make up their own mind as to shows to attend or CDs to purchase.

TexasGigs.com was (and still is) a passion for me. I will write about Salim Nourallah 'til the cows come home because I love the guys music and I love the guy. I'm a passionate gal, so I tend to send out messages of over-luvin' I suppose.

I think folks have misinterpreted some of the posts/stories. Just because I/we report news on bands, CD releases, shows, etc., doesn't necessarily mean we think they are the greatest thing ever. We are simply getting the information out there to the readers and supporting the scene as a whole.

If you look closely at the over 4000 blog posts I wrote over the past 3+ years, you'll notice that the bands I tend to gush over on a regular basis are the same dozen or so.

There are big buzz bands out there that lots of folks and critics rave about that I just don't get. But that's NOT the point of TexasGigs. It's there to offer information about the local scene, be it a garage band made up of 12 year olds who gig 3 times a month at The Door, to the Old 97's blow-outs at the Lakewood Theater. My personal favorite bands and then some are always going to be gushed over because...well because it's my site and I can do whatever the hell I want.

I started this little project to be exactly what it is, supportive, informational, timely etc. There are loads and loads of blogs, publications, etc. to tell us all how much we (me, bands, music, venues, etc.) suck. That just ain't my thing.

I merged with Pegasus News because they had the ability and technology to make the site more than just a gal and her blog. Now with lots of hands, opinions and tastes in music involved, you'll see a lot more than just my gushy posts and exclamation points.

Our Response:

1. The fact that she wants to "promote" the local music scene "as a whole" and as a "promoter" is precisely our problem. The music scene "as a whole" does not deserve to be promoted or supported, and the fact that people feel an obligation to do so is one of the main reasons that the Dallas scene, and many others like it suck. Of course its not really her obligation to make the scene any better, nor is it anyone else's, and we don't fault Texasgigs.com for that. Its just that many Dallas music consumers like us are fed up with being told that Daryl and Pleasant Grove are awesome or that Polyphonic Spree is a great "experience" or that we should "totally check out" some stupid Emo band at the Christian club in Deep Ellum. That is one of the reasons we started this blog: because we were bored to tears with Dallas music "as a whole," and with the generally positive tone of the media's coverage of it. We think that if people actually take the time to listen to local music and form intelligent opinions on it, a lot of the crap will go away and the better bands will get bigger... and better. So we agree with Cindy that there is some good music in Dallas, but that there are in fact "tons more bands" that suck.

2. Cindy's personal taste: We don't really know anything about Cindy's tastes, and therefore aren't attacking said tastes. However, part of the problem is that we have no basis for determining what Texas Gigs likes and doesn't like, which makes it hard for them to have much credibility in our eyes. Like we said, its the Boy that Cried Wolf syndrome: how can anyone be expected to take a recommendation from Texasgigs seriously when they seem to absolutely love everything they talk about? And while we realize that our site is little more than a collection of personal tastes in written form, we feel like we are pretty straight forward about what we like and don't like, and that this helps people decide whether we're worth reading or just completely full of shit. Of course people are free to make up their own minds just like they are when they go to Texasgigs or any other website, but it seems like a waste of time to go to a site that you know is going to promote any and everything that is happening on any given day. If that is what you're looking for, why not just go to the Dallas Observer concert listings and sort through it all? Many people don't have time to sort through all the crap out there, so geeks like us try to do it for them. And people can take it for what its worth.

3. The one thing that we think Cindy is totally wrong about is the statement that there are "a million blogs out there to tell us we suck." We pretty much assumed the same thing when we started this blog, but quickly learned that it just isn't true, at least as far as blogs that focus on Dallas are concerned. There really are very few that talk about Dallas/Denton music in any depth, which is why we've kept this up for the amount of time we have. Of course, Texasgigs is trying to serve a different purpose than we are, and maybe one day it will be a great website full of the kind of commentary that is worthy of a city with as many people and opinions as Dallas has. For now however, its just not something that we can support or recommend to anyone that wants to get beyond local scene gladhanding and find out what is really going on. Surely we can do better too, and there are probably a lot of people that think this site is total crap. But when it comes down to it, "folks (can) make up their own mind," and so will we.

Thanks to Cindy for her mature and thoughtful post, and also for reading and linking to our blog. We feel no ill will towards her, and it seems based on her post that she doesn't have any towards us either. Lets keep it that way.

JR- weshotjr@yahoo.com

Not sure what this picture has to do with anything, but it is what it is. We're also going to have more posts today with good stuff like Mp3s and our usual brand of brilliant writing. This time we actually promise to, you know, post too.

The List, probably the longest Wednesday edition we've had so far:

1. Starlight Mints/Ryan Lindsey/El Paso Hot Buttons (Hailey's Denton)
Do you ever get the impression that Fiery Furnaces and Architecture in Helsinki are just trying to do what the Starlight Mints started doing five years ago but can't quite pull it off? Although there is certainly some room to disagree on this point, we really just wanted to take this opportunity to say how much we hate Fiery Furnaces, as well as to point out that the Mints have been doing the schizo psyche pop thing for a long time and probably do it better than anyone. Anyway they're a great live band, and I'm sure they'll be playing some new stuff that will most likely be the shit.

2. The Party with DJ Nature (rubber gloves Denton)
You'll probably want to start going to The Party now so that when it blows up in the next month or two you can tell everyone how old school you are. I'm sure you can stop by after the Mints show.

3. Sisters of Mercy and the Warlocks (Gypsy Tea Room)
This show costs 25 bucks, so you really have to be a fan. We are, and we're sure many of you are, so it might be worth checking out. And the Warlocks are bad ass despite what Pitchfork tells you.

4. Japanther (Cavern)
Good noise post-hardcore band that played in Denton last night is coming to Dallas tonight after an early show in Ft. Worth. You should really take a chance and see something a little different from the Valentines every once and a while. Maybe this will be that show.

1. Japanther | The Show is the Rainbow | Bring Back the Guns (Rubber Gloves Denton)
Brooklyn's Japanther is a pretty damn good post-hardcore noise group that can at times sound like Lightning Bolt with a dance beat, and at other times like old Joy Division with no beat at all. Pretty interesting stuff (although you shouldn't judge from the crappy live tracks on the Myspace page). The Show is the Rainbow does some fairly catchy experimental electro, and Bring Back the Guns is a Houston band that sort of has a Les Savy Fav thing going on.

2. Lost Generation with Mwanza (Cavern)
shoegaze, post punk, elector, krautrock and more.

An interesting and brief article by the widely respected historian and political theorist Francis Fukuyama appeared in the New York Times magazine this week, discussing what basically amounts to his renunciation of the neoconservative school of thought. It gives a nice rundown of what the movement was, what it has become, and where U.S. foreign policy should go now that the Bush administration has made sure that no one ever tries the Neocon approach again. Not sure if I agree with everything he says, but a good read none the less.

Elsewhere, it looks like a million people attended a free Stones concert in Rio recently. Now the city has to clean up their mess.

Finally, SXSW announced its schedule a couple days ago.

More to come today, including a band profile and stuff.

1. Good Records Good Mornings with DJ Cee Pee (Cavern)
guess all he has to do now is walk about 30 yards to get to this gig. Indie hits, etc. are played.

2. Deftones/ Thrice (Nokia Theater Grand Prarie)
Ha ha, gotcha!

Saturday night's Supergrass show was, well, adequate. I got to hear some of the hits that I knew and loved, was forced to hear new stuff that I didn't like, and was left pondering whether or not the whole experience was worth fifteen dollars, especially considering the mind numbing cold that I faced walking down Commerce St. to get there. The first half of the show absolutely bored me to tears, mostly due to the fact that the band stuck to playing songs off their new album Road To Ruen, which some have called their "mature" record but I consider to be quite bland compared to their earlier releases. Besides, who wants maturity from goddamn Supergrass anyway? Aren't they supposed to be brats?

Things picked during the second half of the show when they started to play some of their earlier favorites, but even that was little more than merely satisfying. Although the band played many of the songs a little slow and was sloppy in spots, it wasn't really their fault. The whole experience actually reminded me of the Pitchfork article about the new Lollapalooza, or what they termed the "Alternative Rock Hall of Fame." I felt like I was there for the same reasons that my parents might go to an Eagles or Rolling Stones concert, even if Supergrass is still putting out decent music while the other two bands haven't not been horrible in decades. I was there to hear songs that I used to like a lot, songs that while still good just aren't part of my current rock n' roll experiences. I was there, at least in part, to relive the past. If you went, I'm guessing that you had at least a somewhat similar motivation. If Supergrass released In it for the Money this year, I doubt I would give it much of a listen and I wonder if many of you would either, since its really not anything new or exciting. Hearing that album at the tail end of the mid 90's Britpop thing and being 16 or 17 at the time both played a part in my love for that album, and my attitudes and experiences in 2006 would surely play the same kind of roll, even if they would in fact lead to a different result. I still like listening to the old Supergrass stuff, but I can't help but suspect that nostalgia plays a large part in that experience. Not that its really a bad thing per se, but its just strange to realize that I am probably old enough to want to attend what essentially seemed to be a "Greatest Hits" tour by a band that initially became popular at a time when I was old enough to like them. Supergrass probably isn't the best example of this considering that they put out one of their best records only four years ago, but I suppose I'm just really dreading the inevitable moment when I hear my friends talking about their Luxury Box tickets for the new Soundgarden reunion tour. Face it, it already happened with the Pixies, and theres no reason not to assume that Frank Black's belly is only the beginning...