The Synaptic

After agonizing and rearranging and remembering thing that were forgotten in January, I present to you the 2011 For Your Disapproval drinking age list of my favorite records of 2011.

1. Burning Hotels – Burning Hotels
2. Wilco – The Whole Love
3. Maleveller – Maleveller
4. My Morning Jacket – Circuital
5. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
6. Electric Wizard – Black Masses
7. Explosions In The Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
8. Okkervil River – I Am Very Far
9. Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
10. Black Joe Lewis – Scandalous
11. Quiet Company – We Are All Where We Belong
12. Mastodon – The Hunter
13. Esben & The Witch – Violet Cries
14. And You Will Know us By The Trail of Dead – Tao of the Dead
15. Bjork – Biophilia
16. TV On The Radio – Nine Types Of Light
17. Mr. Gnome – Madness In Miniature
18. Moon Duo – Mazes
19. Bravo, Max! – Dog’s Light
20. Jane’s Addiction – The Great Escape Artist
21. Ryan Adams – Ashes And Fire

Posted in Music
Tags: ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Ashes And Fire, Biophilia, Bjork, Black Joe Lewis, Black Masses, Bravo Max!, Burning Hotels, Circuital, Dog's Light, Electric Wizard, Esben and the Witch, Explosions in the Sky, Foo Fighters, Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will, I Am Very Far, Jane's Addiction, Madness In Miniature, Maleveller, Mastodon, Mazes, Mogwai, Moon Duo, mr. Gnome, My Morning Jacket, Nine Types of Light, Okkervil River, Quiet Company, Ryan Adams, Scandalous, Take Care, Tao of the Dead, The Great Escape Artist, The Hunter, The Whole Love, TV On The Radio, Violet Cries, Wasting Light, We Are All Where We Belong, Wilco

What a great year for live music. I got out to more shows this year than in the past few years, including 4 Texas festivals – 35 Conferette, Dia de los Toadies, Austin City Limits, and Fun Fun Fun Fest. Caught 4 of The Big Eight – Lyle Lovett, Slayer, Murder City Devils, Melvins – picked up with some older acts I hadn’t seen in a while – The Damned, Soundgarden – and caught some new favorites – Esben and the Witch, Cough, mr. Gnome, The Bright Light Social Hour. Saw My Morning Jacket a couple of times, yet they were better on the ACL festival show I saw, while catching The Sword a couple of times and they were better on their own (only slightly) than their much anticipated Dia de los Toadies set.

Made it out to several local shows this year, and while the majority didn’t make it on this list, know that I had my hair blown back by Pinkish Black, Burning Hotels, The Cush, Maleveller, Badcreek and The Velia Shrine. Also, be on the watch for 2 new Peter Thomas fronted acts, Black Hills and White Elephant.

Here are my favorite shows/sets of 2011.

1. Lyle Lovett – Bass Hall, Fort Worth, TX – 12/20/2011
2. Wilco/Nick Lowe – Fair Park Music Hall, Dallas, TX – 11/29/2011
3. Arcade Fire/Okkervil River – Gexa Energy Pavillion, Dallas, TX – 4/30/2011
4. The Damned – Fun Fun Fun Fest, Auditorium Shores, Austin, TX – 11/5/2011
5. Melvins – Endless Residency, Mohawk, Austin, TX – 5/27-28/2011
6. Down/In Solitude – The Rail Club, Fort Worth, TX – 9/3/2011
7. Slayer – Fun Fun Fun Fest – Auditorium Shores, Austin, TX – 11/6/2011
8. Esben & The Witch – 35 Conferette, Denton, TX – 3/12/2011
9. My Morning Jacket – Austin City Limits Festival, Zilker Park, Austin, TX – 9/17/2011
10. Murder City Devils – Fun Fun Fun Fest, Auditorium Shores, Austin TX – 11/4/2011
11. TV On The Radio – Austin City Limits Festival, Zilker Park, Austin, TX – 9/17/2011
12. mr. Gnome – Lola’s Saloon, Fort Worth, TX – 12/7/2011
13. The Sword – The Granada Theater, Dallas, TX – 2/12/2011
14. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals/Jonathan Tyler and Northern Lights – House of Blues, Dallas, TX – 2/18/2011
15. Soundgarden/Mastodon – Verizon Theater, Grand Prairie, TX – 10/26/2011
16. Cough – Trees, Dallas, TX – 2/9/2011
17. This Will Destroy You/Burning Hotels/The Cush – Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art – 4/16/2011
18. The Bright Light Social Hour – Lola’s Saloon, Fort Worth, TX – 8/12/2011
19. Supersuckers – Lola’s Saloon, Fort Worth, TX – 10/12/2011
20. Motley Crue/Poison/New York Dolls – Gexa Energy Pavilion, Dallas, TX – 6/7/2011

With that, I tell you I look forward to an ear-ringing 2012! See y’all out there!

Posted in Music
Tags: 35 Conferette, Arcade Fire, Austin City Limits Festival, Cough, Dia de los Toadies, Down, Esben and the Witch, Fun Fun Fun Fest, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, In Solitude, Jonathan Tyler and Northern Lights, Lyle Lovett, Mastodon, Melvins, Motley Crue, mr. Gnome, Murder City Devils, My Morning Jacket, New York Dolls, Nick Lowe, Okkervil River, Poison, Shows, Slayer, Soundgarden, Supersuckers, The Burning Hotels, The Cush, The Damned, The Sword, This Will Destroy You, TV On The Radio, Wilco

And here are The Synaptic’s Top 10 D/FW releases.

1. Burning Hotels – Burning Hotels
2. Maleveller – Maleveller
3. The Great Tyrant – There Is A Man In The House
4. Bravo, Max! – Dog’s Light
5. Calhoun – Heavy Sugar
6. The Nighty Nite – Dimples
7. Sarah Jaffe – The Way Sound Leaves A Room
8. True Widow – As High As The Highest Heavens And From the Center Of the Circumference Of The Earth
9. Here Holy Spain – Division
10. Descender – Dark Water

Well D/FW, we had another stellar year of music within our region. We got debut full-length records from Bravo, Max! and Maleveller, and the posthumous album from The Great Tyrant. True Widow made waves on a national stage while Calhoun released their strongest album to date. We were treated to John Congleton’s latest project The Nighty Nite, and Descender and Here Holy Spain lashed out with excellent sophomore releases. Sarah Jaffe whetted appetites with some odds and ends coupled with a tremendous DVD of her show from earlier this year, all the while proving packaging matters.

Bringing us to a second straight year of Burning Hotels dominance. For me, no record was played more than their incredible self-titled album. Chance Morgan and Matt Mooty have raised the bar for everyone. I gushed about this record when I got it, and I still gush about it 200 listens later. Thanks guys.

What does 2012 have in store for us? I would keep an eye on the following: Signals and Alibis, Badcreek, The Velia Shrine, F.T.W., White Elephant, and Transistor Tramps. I believe these are some of the future of our scene.

Posted in Music
Tags: Bravo Max!, Burning Hotels, Calhoun, Dallas, Descender, Fort Worth, Here Holy Spain, list, Local, Maleveller, Sarah Jaffe, The Great Tyrant, The Nighty Nite, top 10, True Widow

Is there a performer out there more suited for a venue and vice versa than Lyle Lovett and Bass Hall? Truly, there mustn’t be. Last night Lyle Lovett and His Acoustic Group were at home on the Bass Hall’s stage, filling its elegant surroundings with a fresh take on his massive canon of material. It’s truly a musician’s musician who can envision their songs in any form, and the stripped down 6 piece acoustic group took no exception.

For over 2 ½ hours Lovett regaled the audience at Bass Hall with favorites, deep cuts and covers. As I had only seen him with His Large Band, this was different, yet not lacking in any way. “She’s No Lady”, “If I Had A Boat”, “That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas)” and “I Will Rise Up” came through without missing anything at all. Lovett’s near comedic performances seamlessly meld awkward, self-deprecating comedic timing with his often humorous, quirky lyrics. With songs about his truck, or comparing food to love, or even sticking it to his wife because she’s not a lady, it’s when Lovett digs in and gets serious that he’s at his best. Pulling two of my favorites from Joshua Judges Ruth, “She’s Already Made Up Her Mind” and “North Dakota” Lovett and his band created atmospheric delights with their sparse arrangements being toyed with and spruced up. The new Christmas song, “The Girl With The Holiday Smile” was possibly the warmest song one has ever heard about a hooker around Christmastime.

Whether all 6 were locking in, or when cellist John Hagen and drummer Russ Kunkel exited the stage for an old timey bluegrass jamboree, it is evident these players love what they do. Gathered around Lovett’s center microphone, fiddler Luke Bulla, bassist Viktor Krauss and multi-instrumentalist, Duncanville’s Keith Sewell treated the audience with harmonies, picking and sheer bluegrass joy, presenting another dimension of their incomparable musical prowess, further stripping down this already bare bones act.

This was only the 5^th time in 18 years I’ve gotten to see Lyle Lovett. And with the frequency he plays Fort Worth it’s a shame. If you ever see Lyle Lovett, do yourself a favor and see him in this atmosphere. Not even the screeching, distractions of Ms. Superfan behind me, making sure to laugh louder and longer than everyone else in the crowd to prove SHE definitely got the jokes could dampen the evening. Even with her husband shushing her and allowing her cell phone to ring during the quietest part of “North Dakota” (yes ma’am, you were very annoying for 2 ½ hours) they could not deter the magnificence of Mr. Lovett.

Thank you Lyle, for a wonderful evening . Bass Hall is honestly your home.

Setlist (Mostly)

Intro (Instrumental)

Babes In The Woods (Walter Hyatt Cover)

The Girl With The Holiday Smile

The Truck Song

Cowboy Man

Private Conversation

She’s No Lady She’s My Wife

Well Alright (Buddy Holly Cover)

I Will Rise Up

Cute As A Bug

My Baby Don’t Tolerate

This Old Porch

She’s Already Made Up Her Mind

If I Were The man You Wanted

LA County

If I Needed You (Townes Van Zandt Cover)

Nothing But A Good Ride

Give Me Back My Heart

More Pretty Girls Than One (Ricky Skaggs Cover)

I’ll Come Knocking (Walter Hyatt Cover)

Keep It in Your Pantry

Up In Indiana

If I Had A Boat

Good Intentions

North Dakota

That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas)

???

Encore

You Can’t Resist It

Posted in Music
Tags: acoustic, Bass Hall, Live, Lyle Lovett, Review

In the past 14 years, I had only seen Wilco 3 times. They’ve come through D/FW at least 10 times, and most of the time I just say “Next time. I’ll go next time.” Fortunately, last night ended up being “the next time”.

In the other 3 times I had seen them, I had been deceived. The first was at Trees on Being There in ’97. No frills, no production, just a very young Wilco, playing their songs in earnest. The next two times would be at ACL 2004 and 2007, on A Ghost Is Born and Sky Blue Sky respectively. Neither with any production, again, just Wilco, older versions mind you, playing their songs, the latter even more subdued due to the record they were touring for. Therefore last night’s performance was, pardon the pun, nothing less than a shot in the arm.

As I was witnessing the power of Wilco last night, many things came to mind. The one that stayed with me was that this isn’t the band that made A.M.. That statement is true in many ways and can be evidenced just by listening to every record since. But it was driven home to me as they played the almost out of place “Passenger Side” near the close of the show. Jeff Tweedy has surrounded himself with a bevy of musicians who can take his vision to whatever level the songs dictate, and while on record they are creative, live is where this band shines. Newer tracks from this year’s The Whole Love such as the Kraut-rock journey of “Art of Almost”, “Whole Love” and “Dawned On Me” felt progressive yet right at home with fan favorites “Impossible Germany”, “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”, and “Hummingbird”.

Opening was British legend Nick Lowe, whose solo acoustic performance was very well received, pulling out “Cruel to Be Kind”, bringing to life the Elvis Costello classics such as the Lowe penned “(What’s So Funny About) Peace Love And Understanding” and “Alison”.

In short, there’s really nothing I can tell you about Wilco that someone else hasn’t already said. They are arguably the best band in America right now, continually outclassing all in their way.

I hope they make it back through again. Soon.

Posted in Music
Tags: Fair Park Music Hall, Nick Lowe, Wilco

mr. Gnome plays Lola's Saloon in Fort Worth tonight.

Ah Rolling Stone. I beat you to this one, I did. By almost exactly  year. I am glad to see you caught up with me, branding mr. Gnome as one of your bands to watch. I have been watching. You see, I had the privilege of finding out about these guys almost a year ago today, when they were set to play Dallas’ Doublewide Bar. All the mystique, all the intrigue, it all paid off. In spades.

The Cleveland based duo known as mr. Gnome can produce quite a racket. On their third full-length, Madness In Miniature, they pick up exactly where they left off with 2009’s Heave Yr Skeleton. Nicole Barille’s sinewy guitars and haunting vocals – looping and looping over and again – over Sam Meister’s bombastic beats and moody keys creates an atmosphere of charm and supsicion. If this band was a person, they would be of a Tim Burton-esque quality. Innocent, somewhat creepy, yet oddly compelling.

Fort Worth gets a taste of mr. Gnome tonight at Lola’s Saloon. Full on with their new record in tow, look forward to a simple yet intricately interesting performance that at times will make you wonder where what sounds are coming from.

And as for the cats with Rolling Stone… glad you could catch up. (Okay, seems you ran something on them online in 2008, but you evidently had no idea then, either. So there.)

Posted in Music
Tags: Lola's Saloon, mr. Gnome

We’re having a very metal showcase tonight! In conjunction with our friends at Birth School Metal Death and the Fort Worth Music Co-Op, The Synaptic is very proud to present three different strains of Fort Worth metal at Lola’s Saloon this evening.

Headliners Four Days To Burn were a nice addition to the Buzzo-Ven/Cough show at Trees earlier this year,  decimating eardrums with their brand of hardcore sludge. In the middle we have The Velia Shrine providing a nod to one of my favorite labels, Neurot Recordings. Fans of Neurosis and A Storm of Light should take notice. Cranking up the evening will be the Birth School Metal Death contribution F.T.W. and their stoner take on metal.

All in all, a nice variety of what Fort Worth has to offer for those fans of heavier music.

So come out and join The Synaptic and Birth School Metal Death for our big metal party tonight and let your eardrums ring well into the holiday season!

Posted in Music
Tags: Birth School Metal Death, F.T.W., Four Days To Burn, Lola's Saloon, The Velia Shrine

Another three days of music in Austin per year? Count me in. The girlfriend and I make the annual trek to Austin City Limits Festival every year, but this was the first year for me to get down for what is considered the anti-ACL, Fun Fun Fun Fest. With the exception of the new digs, the incredibly dusty Auditorium Shores from the fest’s former home, Waterloo Park, and a lack of a folding chair to rest the old 41 year old back (thank God for the El Camino skating area with a few chairs), this fest was a winner.

I caught several great sets from many great bands, including Hot Snakes, Lykke Li, Brian Posehn (making the wait for Slayer hilariously bearable), Dead Horse, Boris, Cold Cave, Kool Keith, and watched as Flavor Flav lip sync’d “911 Is  A Joke” and while Chuck D brought it to “Welcome To The Terrordome” during Public Enemy’s somewhat stunted set, but I want to focus on the best things I saw of the fest.

The following were the best 5 things I caught.

1. The Damned’s Saturday night set on the Black Stage was without question the dark-horse winner of the festival. Their recreation of Damned Damned Damned with  few other later tracks (“History Of The World”, “Smash it Up”) including my absolute favorite song of theirs, the song that introduced me to them on The Young Ones, “Nasty”. Exuding confidence, power, and 35 years of experience, poise, class and humor, The Damned solidly stole the show from everyone. Not a soul walked away Saturday night without commenting on this set. It was true brilliance and I hope this is not my last opportunity to see these British punk icons.

 2. Slayer’s closing Sunday night set contained arguably the best set list they’ve put together in years. Pulling out lesser played tracks such as “Bloodline”, “Black Magic” and a Synaptic favorite “Silent Scream”, the greatest metal band in history hit on all eras of their storied career, save for the majority of their ‘90’s output. Why isn’t this the number one set I saw all weekend? It was probably the sloppiest Slayer show I’ve seen in 17 times. Jeff Hanneman’s stand-in, Exodus’s Gary Holt (I’m taking nothing away from him, in my eyes the only thing worse would be if he had to fill in for The Edge) is doing an admirable job filling one of my favorite guitarist’s shoes. But he’s not Jeff Hanneman. It seemed that frontman Tom Araya was watching him a good portion of the evening , even at one point it appeared he was showing Holt what key they were in mid-song. Aside from that, it seemed drummer Dave Lombardo was having a difficult evening as well as Araya kept turning to him to keep the songs on track. Many missed cues marred the set for me, but it was made up for by the fact that it was SLAYER. The remainder of their set was a greatest hits melee that gives so much cred to the festival it wasn’t funny. The sheer fact that “South of Heaven”, “Raining Blood”, “Seasons In The Abyss” and “Hell Awaits” were played at a Fun Fun Fun Fest made this the most street cred festival on the block.

3. Murder City Devils reuniting yet again for Fun Fun Fun Fest was the main reason I went. An esteemed member of The Big Eight (along with fest mates Slayer), I hadn’t seen the Devils since 2001. And what a loose performance they gave. But, for a band that really doesn’t exist anymore, they were still better than most bands who had been on tour for years. I would have preferred vocalist Spencer Moody drop the lyrics to almost any other song but “Bear Away”, but his bearded bespectacled howl and microphone eating while standing on the monitors  antics reminded you why you love this man in the first place. There’s a new single from them on the way, and I for one cannot wait.

4. Turquoise Jeep was a nice surprise. Playing the tented Yellow stage, there was barely room to even see the choreographed hip-hop act who dare to ask the question “How do you like your eggs? Fried or fertilized?” I caught this on a tip from a buddy who was also down for the fest, and they were tremendous. So glad I caught their set.

5. The Danzig meltdown. I don’t like to curse on here but this warrants it. How fucking douchey does one have to be to become the punchline butt of jokes for an entire festival – from bloggers, organizers, fans and even the bands – everyone took their shots. From The Damned kicking him, Ted Leo pulling out their Halloween Danzig/Misfits show to play songs he didn’t get to on Friday night, to even Slayer posting pics on their wall, everyone took their shots. If you haven’t heard about the antics Mr. Danzig from Friday night, you can get caught up here. For once, “The Man” (Fun Fun Fun) was in the right, shutting his power off at curfew (Austin imposes a 10:00 noise curfew for festivals) since he was 45 minutes late, and knew he had a shortened set. It’s not the first time the diminutive, balding metal “god” has pulled crap like this, and most likely won’t be the last. The only way to combat this is for people to stop booking him, which would be the greatest finger of all. Prior to his set I proclaimed I would pay $100 to see a real set from the real Misfits. I rescind that sentiment altogether. I hope I never see this guy ever again. Unless Danny from North Side Kings is cleaning his clock.

Thank you Fun Fun Fun Fest for providing a top notch festival this past weekend. I will be back next year. But could we find a grassier place next time?

Posted in Music
Tags: Boris, Brian Posehn, Cold Cave, Danzig, Dead Horse, Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011, Hot Snakes, Kool Keith, Lykke Li, Murder City Devils, Public Enemy, Slayer, Ted Leo, The Damned, Turquoise Jeep

The Mighty Glenn Danzig

I saw this and thought it was appropriate to repost from a thread on Fun Fun Fun Fest’s Facebook page. I didn’t want this to be deleted and lost, so here is Fun Fun Fun’s recollection of their day with Glenn.

Hi. I book the fest. Those that are hating could NOT be more wrong. Yes, someone has your money and ripped you off. His name is Glenn. Stop by his house in LA with some kitty litter in trade for your refund, but we still had to pay him and he didn’t deserve it after what he pulled. Here is how it went down…check the timeline:
-glenn flies in this morning and says he has a cold and doesn’t want feel like playing the show. he demands french onion soup and vitamins brought to his hotel suite. he wants to soup now and wants it hot. we get it.
-glenn says it’s freezing in austin and he can’t go on. says it’s going to be 28 degrees tonight and he won’t perform (keep in mind, it’s currently 71 and sunny with a night forecast of maybe 50+). he says we have to move the show/festival inside if we want him to play (obviously, that’s not possible).
-we rent stage heaters (no other bands, public enemy, mcd, passion pit, etc need or want heaters on stage…it’s warm up there and not cold out) for glenn per demand, as well as bring in an onsite doctor to make him happy and be there if his cold doesn’t go away.
-agents and managers assure us he’s going to play now.
-glenn’s band/crew arrive before him in the afternoon and load gear. they said it all works, they get up the danzig banner, check lights, are happy.
-glenn arrives at 7:45 (half hour before showtime, they go on at 8:15 exactly and have a 90 min set…park curfew by the city/police is 10pm sharp)…when he arrives, he says he’s not going to play. says he doesn’t like how the banners are hung on stage and doesn’t like the lighting or stage size (all this was advanced in email and phone well in advance and the band/crew loaded in mid day and were happy with it and said it would work…stage wasn’t small at all). he wouldn’t leave his trailer to go look at the stage, though, so the lighting company drew up specs for him to look at of the stage lighting 50 feet from his trailer and brought it to him to look over and prove him wrong.
-in the meantime, glenn’s bodyguard gets pushy (literally) with murder city devils manager and tells them they can’t have their friends watch MCD from stage and wants them to cut their set. kicks them off stage and gets physical with the band and stafff….oh, also danzig says he’s just as big as slayer and slayer is playing a bigger stage on sunday and that’s bullshit and wants to play the same stage slayer is playing…or won’t play. makes him look bad.
-it’s now 8:15 and time for them to go on. the band is ready, corpse make ups done, guitars tunes. glenn says he’s not playing and that it’s too cold outside. he said big stages should have windscreen so wind can’t blow on him from the side. the stage managers then goes and gets tarps and tarp the entire side of the stage so now wind will hit him.
-it’s now 8:40. we explain that it’s cutting into the set and he’s going to have cut the 90 min set if he doesn’t play soon, as park curfew is 10. he says he doesn’t feel like playing. says “i got a deathbug. if i go on stage and get sick, i’ll die. i’m not getting sicker for this show” (NOTE: he totally looks and seems fine…no coughing, no paleness, no vomiting, just some balding and a gut, from what i can tell). we get the Dr and he says he can do a b12 shot or anything he needs if he feels bad…danzig says he only treats illnesses naturally, so won’t do that. we finally get him to agree to play and have already informed his crew that it’s only 60 mins (9pm at this point) and they start cutting some songs from the set list, so they can still do misfits, but obviously didn’t cut enough.
-they went on almost and hour late due to the HANDS DOWN biggest rock star moment we’ve ever dealt with and then he tries to start a riot and blames the fest, the city, the cops and everyone, but himself. goes backstage and tries to fight a few ppl and get in the van and leaves.
the end….
we’re bummed to. we wanted to hear Skulls.

No shock to us at The Synaptic, I watched as they pulled that crap from the stage, and lost whatever shred of respect I still had for him within seconds. I remember hearing of the prima donna moments he pulled at both Canyon Club and Gypsy Tea Room in Dallas. What a punk rock/hardcore/metal icon.

More like jackass.

Posted in Music
Tags: Danzig, Fun Fun Fun Fest