Cory Graves
Wanz Dover Introduces His Guitar Army, and Pleasant Grove Returns.
Unconscious Collective and Wanz Dover are two acts that play around town on a pretty regular basis. So seeing Unconscious Collective's name on a joint bill with Dover's new-ish Silver Saint project this Saturday at The Double Wide might not initially cause any alarm bells to go off. But expecting either act to turn in anything resembling an ordinary performance this weekend would be a huge mistake.
Sitting in with Unconscious Collective during its set will be violinist Leonard Hayward, who, along with Unconscious Collective's Greg Prickett previously played together with recently departed jazz drum legend — and Fort Worth resident — Ronald Shannon Jackson in his band Decoding Society. Fittingly Prickett, Hayward and Unconscious Collective drummer Stefan Gonzalez had the distinction of playing together at Jackson's recent memorial services.
The occasion will also mark the debut of Silver Saint's 15 Guitar Army. Inspired by New York no wave pioneer Glenn Branca's 100 guitar ensembles, which Dover has been known to perform in from time to time, the Silver Saint leader will play conductor to a who's who of more than a dozen local guitarists. Joining Dover's army — and subsequently taking up roughly half of the venue's maximum occupancy — this first go-round will be Brian Smith of Malleveler, Shaun Mauck, Moody Fuqua, Ineka Guerra, Ean Parsons of Myopic, Mila Hamilton of Frauen, Jerrett Fulton, Eric Grubbs, Sean Butler of Hawk Vs Dove, Chris Plavidal of Stumptone, Derek Kutzer of Blackstone Rangers, Daron Beck of Pinkish Black, James Porter, Matt Leer of Diamond Age, Scott Porter of Strange Towers and Ian Hamilton of Nervous Curtains.
Speaking of collaborations: Singer-songwriter Stephanie Dosen and Cocteau Twins' Simon Raymonde have announced their new project Snowbird. The band's debut LP, due out in January via the Raymonde-owned Bella Union label, will feature guest musicians Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway of Radiohead, Paul Gregory of Lanterns on the Lake and, most notably for this column's purposes, Denton's own Eric Pulido and McKenzie Smith of Midlake. The band's very Cocteau-esque first single, “Pocelain,” is currently streaming here.
Also out this January will be Farewell Young Lovers, the latest LP from Dallas dream-pop outfit Crushed Stars. The album's first single, “Flowerbomb,” which frontman Todd Gautreau tells Rolling Stone was named after a perfume worn by a woman he once stood in line behind at a cafe — is currently streaming here.
When that band plays its release show for its new album on January 24 at The Kessler, it'll be joined by the newly re-formed Pleasant Grove. After playing a “mostly impromptu” set at Twilite Lounge for his birthday, Pleasant Grove singer/guitarist Marcus Striplin told DC9 at Night that the band was reinvigorated by the performance. Also, said Striplin, the band will finally finish work on its fifth LP, which started getting recorded way back in 2005 with producers Stuart Sikes and John Congleton. The band also plans to start booking more shows.
On the subject of new albums: Fox & The Bird also has a new mariachi-folk LP due out in January. The first single from that one is currently streaming over at USA Today's Pop Candy blog . Meanwhile, Forever the Sickest Kids offshoot TEAM* will finally release its debut LP on December 3 — the same day the Third Eye Blind tour the band is currently opening makes a stop at House of Blues. While on the subject of new material, we should note that local rapper Buffalo Black released a new track from his upcoming REDPILLwondrland project earlier today.
Moving on, White Noise has since learned the “secret” Deep Ellum location of the new Cloud 8 Music store that we told you about a couple weeks back. Located at 3800 Main Street, Bucks Burnett's fifth Cloud 8 location will share the space behind Deep Ellum Postal & Grocer with vintage store Reborn Retro. Unlike his other locations, though, the Deep Ellum store will be open Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and other days by appointment only.
“I want this store to be different,” Burnett says in a statement. “We are creating an authentic underground music store experience. Music stores should be fun. This one will be.”
Finally, following in the footsteps of Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig and the recently departed Lou Reed, Dallas' St. Vincent reviewed Arcade Fire's Reflektor for the musicians-reviewing-musicians website The Talkhouse. It's an interesting read, if only for the fact that Ms. Clark's inner gear nerd is compelled in the review to tweet at Nile Rogers and, ultimately, Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara regarding the specific model of synth used on one of the tracks.
Cover photo via Pleasant Grove's Facebook page. Got a tip for White Noise? Email us!
