Captain Audio will tease the impending release of its first full-length disc, LUXURY or whether it is better to be loved than feared, on February 12, with a listening party at the Angstrom Gallery in Exposition Park. The forthcoming album, set for release on Last Beat Records, will be played in its entirety at the party, and if it's anything like the song the label sent over a few days ago, the disc is even better than the group's splendid debut, last year's My ears are ringing but my heart's ok. The night will also include some sort of performance by the band (we're not sure exactly what that entails), as well as two new Captain Audio videos -- "Bugs," by former Go Metric USA bassist Lindsay Romig, and "Drivin, Ridin," by Derek Welch. The listening party begins at 7:30 p.m. and lasts until 10 p.m. Captain Audio has a way with this kind of event (the CD release party at Liquid Lounge early last year -- where members Brandon Curtis, Josh Garza, and Regina Chellew performed in opposite corners of the room -- comes to mind), so you definitely shouldn't miss it. But, after all, since this is all gossip and hearsay, you shouldn't necessarily take our word for it...
While we strongly encourage everyone to attend The Dismemberment Plan gig at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios on Friday, if you are looking for an alternative, Baptist Generals, Wiring Prank, and Austin's Knife in the Water will perform the same night at Dan's Bar in Denton. The show serves as a pre-CD-release party for Baptist Generals, whose Dog EP is being reissued by Quality Park Records on March 14 with a handful of new recordings. On the same day, Quality Park will also put out Band-Kits: A Compilation of Denton, Texas Music ca. 2000, which -- among new tracks by Slobberbone, Mandarin, The Falcon Project, Budapest one, and others -- features an absolutely beautiful unreleased song by Centro-matic, "My, My." As if you would expect anything less from Will Johnson and company. Or Quality Park, for that matter...
[DARYL], Red Animal War, and Sand Which Is perform February 17 at The Door, a homecoming of sorts for [DARYL] singer-guitarist-keyboard player Dylan Silvers, who spent a few weeks on the road playing keyboards for The Deathray Davies on their tour with the Old 97's. [DARYL] will begin recording its debut for Lawrence, Kansas-based Urinine Records around the same time, spending a few days in the studio before heading out on its own tour, a short trek through the Midwest. Red Animal War, on the other hand, is already putting the finishing touches on its debut, which is all but complete. The band will play a handful of dates with Sand Which Is following the gig at The Door. And Sand Which Is is a step ahead of both other bands on the bill, recently releasing its first full-length, Burn Right Through, on its own label Big Crunch. Burn Right Through features guest appearances by At the Drive In's Cedric Bixler and Jim Ward, who also produced the album. You can pick up a copy of the record at the show, or head to www.bigcrunch.com. We're buying three...
Speaking of the Old 97's (well, we sort of were), the band will be playing a pair of shows at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios on February 29 and March 1. This is at least the third time the 97's and Rubber Gloves have tried to make a love connection, and it appears as if this time the gigs will actually come off. The group recently finished shooting its second video (man, we never even saw the first one), a clip for "Jagged," which is set to be the third single released off last year's Fight Songs. The Ranchero Brothers -- better known as Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond -- will perform February 16 at Gypsy Tea Room, with Meredith Miller opening. Both the Rancheros and the 97's are scheduled to begin recording albums this spring, with at least the Rancheros disc planned for release later this year. And if it seems as though Fight Songs wasn't quite the success the band and its label, Elektra Records, had hoped, we recently spent a week in Chicago, and "Nineteen" got more play there than the late Wilt Chamberlain did after games. So it's working somewhere...
As for Rubber Gloves, the upcoming South by Southwest Music Festival is having the usual spillover effect on the Dallas-Fort Worth-Denton area, and it's resulted in a handful of good-to-great shows at Rubber Gloves during the middle of March. Among the bands stopping in before or after their showcases in Austin are Modest Mouse, Love As Laughter, The Delta 72, New Wet Kojak, Papas Fritas, Seely, The Gaza Strippers, and The Gunga Din. Trees will also be pretty busy the same week, with gigs by Gomez and Man or Astro-man?, as well as a few others yet to be confirmed. We said it last week, and we'll say it again now: Don't waste your money on South by Southwest. Seriously, all the bands will play here too...
While we're on the subject of SXSW and Austin, we want to give a shout-out to our man David Weaver, a proud Austin resident whose plan to spend the weekend in Dallas was quashed by our vitriol directed at his hometown in last week's Street Beat. (At least that's the story he used for dramatic effect in a recent e-mail.) Sorry, Dave, didn't mean to scare you off. And to answer the question we posed in the aforementioned article, no, Buck Jones will not be playing at the festival this year. They were accepted, they broke up, end of story. That, in fact, is the official word from singer-bassist Gabrielle Douglas. We figured as much, but we have a soft spot for easy jokes...
James and Neil Stone haven't been heard from much since their surprise exit from Comet a few years back brought the group to a screeching halt. But the Stone brothers are due to begin playing around the area in the near future with their new band The French Films. The first stop for The French Films is at Rubber Gloves on March 3, where they'll appear on a bill with Best Boy Electric (featuring ex-members of Low) and Lift to Experience. The band has been working on new material since the beginning of last year, and according to James Stone, along with the new songs, they are "also resurrecting a few old ones." The group also features bassist Michael Bastillo and drummer Carlos Jackson, who, in addition to maintaining his own solo recording project (The Shells), is also an employee at the new Good Records store. See -- it all ties together, fellas...
And since we've mentioned a number of the bands who'll be appearing on the ballot for this year's Dallas Observer Music Awards, we thought we'd also point out that it will soon be available on the Observer Web site, located at www.dallasobserver.com. Keep an eye out, and you'll have a chance to get your all-important votes in early. While you're there, don't forget to check out Scene, Heard: Dallas Observer Radio for a full hour of music you can't hear anywhere else, and commentary you probably wouldn't want to. There, you also have the chance to speak directly with the hosts Robert Wilonsky and Zac Crain. Meaning: Save your bitching until Tuesday at 4 p.m., then call (214) 748-2488. The show is also available on archive 24 hours a day every other day of the week. Sooner or later, we'll just cut out the middle man and put all of this in an actual ad.
Send correct lyrics to "Back Dat Azz Up" to Street Beat at [email protected].
