True Idol

Idol Records, Erv Karwelis' local CD-releasing concern, commemorates 10 years in the CD-releasing business this year. The actual date? Not sure, and we didn't bother asking anyone. (Because that's how we do things; we're loose cannons, and one of these days, the chief will have our badge.) March 11 is the de facto anniversary, since that's when the label is issuing Vital Idol, a low-priced ($4.99 MSRP) 22-jam disc, complete with bling-bling artwork. Besides for that iced-out cover, the album features a few hits (Chomsky's "00:15:00" and a live version of Sponge's "Molly (Sixteen Candles)"), plenty others that should have been (from the likes of The Deathray Davies and Centro-matic) and a handful of unreleased material (including songs by Macavity, The Fags and Kissing Chaos). Worth mentioning: Six of the 14 bands on the disc call in from outside of the 214/972 area codes, which is a sign that Karwelis has a plan to keep his label up and running for another decade or so. Pick one up on March 15 at Club Clearview, when Idol hosts a release party featuring sets by The Fags, [DARYL], Macavity and Watershed.

Segue No. 1: Shibboleth--the instrumental, and currently drummer-less, trio of guitarist Don Cento, keyboard player Rich Martin and bassist James Driscoll--is also celebrating the release of its new self-titled disc, with a shindig on March 6 at Dan's Silverleaf in Denton, opening for Little Jack Melody. The album--with songs such as "Bicycle Built for Two Mormons," "Ceiling Fang" and "The Corner of Sacco and Vanzetti," all every bit as clever as their titles--features Bob Kouba and Matt Kellum on drums, but the group will be backed by an Acetone drum machine at the gig. If you don't feel like driving to Denton, you can catch Shibboleth every Monday at 10 p.m. at The Quarter (next door to Breadwinners on McKinney Avenue). Or you can stop by their Web site (www.goshibbolethgo.com) and say, "Hey, dudes." Or maybe not.

Segue No. 2: 41 Gorgeous Blocks will be lining up its own CD-release party in the near future, since it is nearing the completion of its new record, tentatively titled Well, I Sorta Know How You Feel. Which is keeping in line with their previous album names/sentences, 2000's An Emotional Young Person Just Like Yourself, 2001's It Isn't Supposed to Be This Way and last year's Swallow the Sandwich. Singer-guitarist Matt Riggle offered us a couple of quotes to describe the new disc. We chose this one: "It's rock and roll. Period. I didn't say pop-rock. I didn't say pop-punk. I didn't say indie rock. And I certainly didn't say emo. I said rock and roll. Period." The rock-and-roll-period album should be in stores in June. Right around our birthday.

Segue No. 3: Robot Monster Weekend is finishing up a new record as well, putting the final touches on it this weekend as a matter of fact. But the group is splitting up after that, since singer-geetarist Mike Gargiulo is leaving town to take a job with Blue Sky Studios (the company that brought you the Ray Romano vehicle Ice Age) in New York. And since drummer Franko Covington left a month or so ago for a job in London, the band is effectively over. Just when it was getting started, too: The new record, which follows up last year's nifty Turn Down Your Sorrow...It's Robot Monster Weekend, is a disc we've been looking forward to for months. Gargiulo's fellow singer-slinger Aaron Thedford will remain in town (and at his job at DNA, the animators behind Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius), and when we saw him the other night at the Meridian Room, he said he might be joining another local outfit, though we won't name names just yet.

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Hand stamps: Slobberbone, Baboon and the Sparrows perform March 7 at Gypsy Tea Room, and Tiebreaker (John LaMonica from My Spacecoaster) opens for Spacehog's Royston Langdon at the Tea Room on March 10; OHNO, Radiant (check 'em out now), The Action and MossEisley (which is shortening its name to Eisley for legal reasons) play Club Clearview on March 8; The Theater Fire opens for Low at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios on March 8; and Galaxy Club hosts a freestyle battle (with a $100 prize) on March 6 featuring J-RO, Mr. D, Oak Cliff Assassin, O.G. Kanine, S.C.C., T-Bo, Big G, Jay G, KB, Shawn and Keingz Ransom. And that's it. Get off our back.