Telepathe, Lemonade, and Fight Bite at Haileys in Denton 6/20/09

Better late than never?-here we go:

Fight Bite's set was one of the most pristine, crystal clear sounding sets i've heard from them for some time- thanks in part to soundguy extraordinaire Justin Collins. This was a definitely a great show to catch the sleepy-core duo. Jeff was wearing his trademark Nico t-shirt (much better than anything polyester) and Leanne told a funny, lewd joke while keeping her demure stage presence. I've said enough about these guys in past blogs so i'll move forward.

Next up were San Francisco's Lemonade. I got so into this shit that during their tropical, dance-psych set i even started talking with a Caribbean accent. I was surprised (like Stonedranger) that so many people i knew were not feeling these guys. I mean, i think their name is shit, but that's about all i have to hate on them for. Maybe i'm just a sucker for talented drummers and live groove basslines that lock me in and make me wanna shake my boney ass. I didn't even mind that the singer was using a shit-ton of reverb/delay and processing his vocals which is all the (re-hashed) rage right now. I bought their seven inch and was not disappointed at all. I wish i had picked up the full length.

Shit, by the time Brooklyn's Telepathe hit the stage i was a little too superbligged out. But they put on a good, synthed-out show that was fun to watch. Maybe someone else can fill in some of the blanks for me on these girls' show. oh well.

Daniel Francis Doyle at 1919 Hemphill in Ft. Worth 6/27/09

Some nights its just one thing after another. There was a ridiculous detour that tacked on an extra 30 minutes to the already arduous quest to Ft. Worth. Luckily Spiral Diner was on point with their friendly service and delectable food. So with a stomach full of veggies we hit up the show at the sweltering 1919 Hemphill.

I think on this particular evening the temperature upstairs where we watched Danny perform was around 110* F. Fuck. At some points of his set i was hallucinating from the heat but he still sounded good as usual (i think).

Danny's sets are very dynamic and never dull. When i first heard he was gonna do a solo project with guitar loops while singing and playing drums i thought for sure he was going in the wrong direction (like James Murphy to Capt. Beefheart, i was all "you'll never make it that way"). His capable song writing skills are not done a disservice from this approach. He played a short, hearty set as he usually does with heavy breathing into the mic in between songs.

This was his last show on an 18 day west-coast tour that sounded like it was a blast. Daniel Francis Doyle is going strong in both local record sales and popularity (KVRX, too). Anyone who know him knows he works hard and deserves this praise. Good job, Danny. If i could i'd buy him a round of tortilla chips and salsa.

And hopefully Rick will get some oscillating fans or shaved ice for the next scorcher at 1919.

Peaches at the Granada in Dallas 6/12/09

I first heard "Fuck the pain away" in Austin's Room 710 at an Early Lines show around '03. The soundguy had this song on repeat and it left quite an impression on me. I felt pretty lame having been a fan of Peaches for so long and never seeing one of her live shows. She was booked to play Ridglea Theater a few years ago but the show was cancelled the day of due to incliment weather.

This show started promptly at 10:15pm. I thought this was pretty square, but she did need time for her show that would last almost an hour and a half. Upon entering, my friend immediately noticed the "Peachy-mania" crowd screaming and yelling at her every suggestive move. I've never seen anyone else climb up the rigging on side of the stage at the Granada, to which the crowd went wild. Then again Peaches' audience would've gone wild even if she queefed into the mic. She is nast-eeey, dawg!

It was fun to see her ask for audience participation with "Shake yer dix", and she definitely recieved some. She excitedly interacted with the crowd earlier in the evening as well when she came out into the middle of the audience to sing one of her numbers. There were a few outfit changes that added to the pleasing aeshtetic of her performance. (Sidenote: I heard S-4 was pretty empty on this friday evening-i guess that crowd was more down to see Peaches' camel-toe than the same 'ol lot of queens at the drag show).

Her performance of "Kick it" was weaker than the weak original (some scrub guitar player fillin' in for Iggy) but other than that this show was pretty fun and entertaining-just what anyone should expect from Peaches. Glad i was finally able to see this electro-clash queen even if she is over the hill now.

here she is climbing high:

Micheal Jackson R.I.P.

since there were no versions of "Bad" directed by Martin Scorsese available-

Holy Fuck, Crocodiles, & Damaged Good$ at the Lounge Dallas 6/10/09

There was a lot of heavy rain in dallas on this evening. Luckily, it delayed an originally ridiculous early start time and i was able to watch every act. I was surprised that there seemed to be no more than 30 people at this.

I reveled getting to catch openers Damaged Good$ because although i attended a house party (last november) where they were supposed to play, i didn't end up seeing them-thanks to the Denton police. I immediately knew why they've received so much praise in local music press. These dudes are impressive. They soundchecked with "It's so cold in the D"! It was nasty and hilarious. They played about 7 or 8 songs and were alarmed that they only had 20% battery life on the macbook supplying the backing tracks. They made it, though, with updates on the battery life after almost every song. The surgeon mask look that Coool Dundee wore was off the chain along with the analogy "like Swayze" i heard during one song. Theodore ended the set with a 'how he got started' rhyme and then they were done.

San Diego's Crocodiles played next. Man 'o man is this the epitome of the Jesus and Mary Chain reverbed, regurged you know what i'm sayin... Four songs into the set i went outside to have a smoke. Maybe the one good thing about the smoking ban in dallas bars is i can excuse myself from watching shitty bands. Or maybe i've just heard too many of these types of bands and wasn't expecting it. Sucks that some people's electricity went out this evening due to the bad weather, but i sure wouldn't have minded if the power went out during these guys' set. The tight denim jackets looked good, though.

Holy Fuck went on at 12:01am. Thick, groove basslines combined with a durable drummer were definitely an amazing anchor for this group. The other two did some nice tweaking/keyboard playing and contributed equally to this ear-splitting set. Five songs into the set one of them busted a melodica out. Their song "Jungles" has a part that sounds influenced by VU's "All Tomorrow's Parties". Maybe but probably not why Lou Reed was name dropping Holy Fuck as the best band he had seen at last year's SXSW.

It took them about eleven songs to get to thier single Lovely Allen. They tore it up during this one and followed with an encore at 12:47am. I was glad the rain didn't prevent this remarkable show from happening.

Pat Mahoney, Hercules and Love Affair DJ sets 5/30/09 at Lizard Lounge

Well i don't know why i had higher expectations from Pat Mahoney's DJ set.  He is the drummer for LCD Soundsystem, ya know.  Like, Brooklyn and shit.  Oh well.  He played some cool sounding disco house at this terrible excuse for a live venue.  I hadn't been to the Lizard Lounge in about 8 years.  sheesh.  In case ya didn't know drinks cost an arm and a leg and so does the cover charge.  

I shouldn't have been surprised to see way more people dancing and heating it up in the smaller room where a top 4o DJ was spinning bullshit like 'I like to move it, move it'.  Nasty.  

Although i was less than impressed by this set, it was still fun to see a member of a band that i really like (and a big influence) playing shit he wants people to hear. 

 I might have high expectations after seeing Peter Hook and Andy Rourke's DJ sets within a few weeks of each other at Hailey's a few years back.  (Kevin Barnes' DJ set at SXSW last year was way better than any Of Montreal set [i've seen 3], but then again i don't like Of Montreal-they should have stuck to sounding like the Beatles).  

Oh yeah, and speaking of DJ's, it's been really fun catching MC 900 Foot Jesus play songs at Lee Harvey's every other Thursday.  I believe it's on for this week.  He plays genre spanning sets including everything from Sly and the Family Stone to Crystal Castles to Kraftwerk to more obscure Swedish singers doing covers (Stina Nordenstam).  I really liked how he closed it out last time with an Air track.  And he's really nice to boot.  

scope how good Pat Mahoney's live drumming is: