Besides Cento, Shibboleth features Richard Martin on synthesizers, drummer Bob Kouba, and Chomsky bassist James Driscoll on, um, bass, and makes a noise that, at least in Cento's estimation, sounds like "incidental music from a Jim Jarmusch film performed by a Malaysian hotel band." You pretty much have to check out any band that even comes close to that description, right? Since Flipside and Quartet Out are the other Wednesday-night regulars, the Elbow Room has something for everyone. Well, everyone who happens to like exciting, original, instrumental music. Don't worry: If you get scared and need unoriginality and vocals, The Rock is, like, two blocks away. It'll be OK...
Expect to see and hear much more of Legendary Crystal Chandelier in the next few months, as LCC bossman Peter Schmidt and guitarist-engineer James Henderson have finally found their way out of Henderson's Denton studio, emerging with the long-awaited (by us, at any rate) follow-up to 1998's Love or the Decimal Equivalent. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean the record will be in stores anytime soon, as LCC is currently sans label. In the meantime, however, the band will be playing a few gigs (including a show at the Curtain Club on November 2, with The Figgs and The Happiness Factor), and Schmidt says that the group is currently in the market for a permanent drummer and someone to man the keyboards and synths. Schmidt has even waived his "no idiots" rule to help with the search. Interested parties can call (214) 781-4278, and should prepare themselves--should they be invited to join--to be "jumped in," as they say in Colors. Point of reference: When bassist Salim Nourallah signed on earlier this year, Schmidt and crew put him in the hospital for a month. OK, that's not true; it was only a week. In the meantime, head to www.thelcc.net, the band's newly redesigned Web site, for all the latest...
Speaking of Nourallah, besides playing with Legendary Crystal Chandelier and The Happiness Factor, Bedford-based Western Vinyl just put out a collection of songs recorded by him and his brother Faris, appropriately enough under the name the Nourallah Brothers. The disc is as well-crafted as pop albums come, sounding a little like two Elliott Smiths teaming up to record forgotten Chad and Jeremy songs, with a few Kinks covers thrown in for good measure. Of course, those are just recommended-if-you-like comparisons; every song really stands on its own. Maybe that's lofty praise, but we listened to the thing front-to-back five times in a row while we were cleaning out our desk (don't get excited, just moving to--strangely--an even more decrepit work station), and we couldn't find a single note out of place. Seriously, if you can't find it in a store near you, head to www.westernvinyl.com or www.nourallahbrothers.com and find out where you can get yourself a copy. Or you can just ignore us. It wouldn't be the first, or the last, time...
Time flies when you're making fun of people: The North Texas New Music Festival is upon us yet again, and it feels like only a month or so has passed since last year's installment. Really, have they started holding these things twice a year? Anyhoo, this year's shindig, with showcases on November 10 and 11, is free if you get your tickets in advance (and $6 at the door if you don't), and every venue in Deep Ellum with a stage seems to be participating: Club Atlantis, Club Clearview, Club Dada, Curtain Club, Galaxy Club, The Ger, Liquid Lounge, Live Garden, Main St. Internet Café, The Rock, Sushi Nights, and Trees. Among the two nights and dozen or so clubs, there are more than a few highlights, such as the Red Animal War-The pAper chAse-[DARYL] lineup at Sushi Nights on November 11, and the Idol Records showcase on November 11 at Club Clearview, with sets by The Mag 7, Clumsy, The Falcon Project, and Viva Maxitone. Other bands playing during the fest include Baboon, Chomsky, Crash Vinyl, Dixie Witch, Evil Computer Genius, Fivecat, Flipside, Fury III, James Hall, The Happiness Factor, The Hundred Inevitables, The Limes, Meredith Miller, Pinkston, Pleasant Grove, Riverboat Gamblers, Rock & Roll Disciples, Union Camp, Valve, Vibrolux, and many more. We could have just said to check www.newmusicfestival.com at the beginning, but we figured we'd give you a head start while the site is s-l-o-w-l-y loading...
Cabe Booth has left the Curtain Club and Elite Entertainment to pursue other ventures (specifically, a new gig at Today's Digitizing working on Web sites), but he will still be booking Thursday-night gigs at Curtain Club, lineups that have almost always proved to be stellar, such as the recent Centro-matic-The pAper chAse-Budapest One bill. The next show he's put together may not appear to be as strong as some of his others--Solar Sound System, Moxie, Squelch's, and Macavity--but it is for a good cause: Ralph Nader's campaign. Why is it a good cause? Quality Park Records' Matt Barnhart has the floor: "A vote for Gore in Texas is a vote wasted. There is no chance of him winning the state's electoral votes, so if you support the 'lesser of two evils,' you're only harming the chances of a viable third party to have a voice in future elections, and placing our democracy in the hands of corporate interests, rather than with the people, where it belongs." And there you have it...
Speaking of Quality Park Records, Barnhart is set to release "Anoxometric" b/w "Reconstruction," a two-song seven-inch single by [DARYL] in November, followed by, eventually, a split EP featuring Centro-matic and Vermont, which features members of The Promise Ring and Pele. The split, Centro-matic + Vermont = Opportunity, should be ready to go sometime next year, around February. The Quality Park Web site, www.qualityparkrecords.com, has a Real Audio snippet of Centro-matic's version of Vermont's "Old Blue." Just a little sumpin'-sumpin' to tide you over...
Local Access--the show Chip Adams hosts every Sunday night on Merge Radio or Merge933.net or whatever the hell they call the station that plays "coolrocksmartpop"--celebrates its one-year anniversary/birthday on October 29, with a get-down at Club Clearview, including performances by Prize Money, El Gato, and Chomsky. It's free for ages 19 and up; everyone younger than that will have to bring a case of canned goods and a handmade quilt. Actually, they can't get in anyway. Local Access, as always, broadcasts each Sunday at 9 p.m. Even if you don't listen, hey, at least you get a free show out of the deal...
Proving that something positive can be found in every negative, local troubadour Colin Boyd mentions in the press materials advancing his new Christmas record, Christmas with Colin, that he "was a critic's pick in the Dallas Observer's Best of Dallas 2000 issue," and that "this instant classic includes his signature spin (heralded by the Dallas Observer in its 2000 Best of Dallas issue)." In case you missed it, and you probably did, the critic's pick Boyd is referring to was in the special category of Best Reason Only Johnny Cash Should Be Allowed To Sing Johnny Cash Songs. The man, bless him, is a trooper...
Point and clicks: [DARYL]'s contribution to a forthcoming tribute to The Cure, "Boys Don't Cry," should be available in the near future at the band's shows or via its Web site, www.darylmusic.com; the One Ton Records Web site is back up, and from the looks of it--yes!--the ever-popular message board is going back, meaning no more Monday-morning phantom pains; The Deathray Davies (the eighth-most-added band in college radio last week according to CMJ), Dollybraid, and Pinkston will face off on November 3 in the finals of the Lucky Strike Band-to-Band contest, competing for a chunk of change and a place in the national finals; Bobgoblin, The Deathray Davies, and [DARYL] are at the Curtain Club on October 31; and Weezer will kick off its next tour on February 16 in Dallas, though there's no word yet if the date is final or where the shy and grumpy River Cuomo and company will be setting up shop.
Sounds like a good idea in theory, and, well, it is no matter how hard you try to deconstruct it: musicians sticking together so they have a place to play that's comfortable for both them and their audiences, expecting originality out of themselves and their peers, trying to actually fix a problem instead of just griping about it. Personally, we prefer to gripe until someone else takes care of it, but that's just us, lazy cusses with big mouths and little sense of responsibility, fond of unprompted attacks and flimsy defenses. The Dallas Creative Music Alliance, on the other hand, is trying to, as organizer Paul Unger (bassist for avant-jazzers Flipside, who just released Artificial Joy) puts it, "provide encouragement, support, and an alternative venue for the showcasing of music with an original creative vision." See? Told you it sounded like a good idea.
