Cory Graves
The End Looms Near For Macaroni Island and Astronautalis Premieres A New Doomtree Collab.
Let's start things off this week with a little bad news: Earlier this week, the residents of Denton house venue Macaroni Island were told that they'd have to move out of the place by December. Three-plus years into hosting local and national acts alike, including a Shiny Around the Edges album release party early on and frequent New Science Projects and Fishboy bills, resident Michael Briggs was informed that the owners of the place decided to give the house to their daughter.
Briggs made the announcement via Facebook, saying the following: “It's been a great experience and we've had some amazing shows and I want to thank all of the people who came to them and bands who played.”
Already, one final Macaroni Island blowout is being planned for November 14 with Denton duo Two Knights confirmed to play and other acts to be announced.
The news hits Briggs especially hard, as the site also housed his Civil Recordings studio. According to DC9 at Night, Briggs has already begun thinking about the relocation process for both ventures.
Of course, Briggs isn't alone in hitting a wall this week. The Voice's Season 7 winner, Craig Wayne Boyd, has already been dropped by his record label, Big Machine subsidiary Dot Records, without ever releasing his album. It wasn't a totally failed relationship, though; as you may recall, Boy's debut single, “My Baby's Got a Smile on Her Face” hit No. 1 on the Billboard country charts, something only Garth Brooks had done previously.
On the opposite side of the coin, plenty of good happened in the North Texas music scene this week as well. There's a whole bunch of newly released music, anyway, worth celebrating.
For instance, North Texas ex-pat Astronautalis just premiered the first single from his upcoming LP. “Papillion” finds the rapper low-key spitting over a beat by Doomtree's Minneapolis-based Lazerbeak. The track, you might recall, was was produced, engineered and mixed by local studio ace John Congleton at his studio out in “da hood.” Hear the studio version of the track below.
Yet another onetime local with a new LP on the horizon is Corn Mo, whose .357 Lover outfit is currently working on an album it says it hopes to release by year's end. On that one will be a tune that Game of Thrones fans will especially dig — an ode to the youngest Stark girl called “Song of Arya.” The band released a demo of the tune on its BandCamp page over the weekend, which you can hear below.
Like Corn Mo, DJ/producer Ynfynyt Scroll has also left North Texas in recent years to settle down in New York. He's since gotten some nice praise from FACT magazine for his Spring Mixtape '15. They say the release “hits all the right nostalgia buttons” in an article listing April's best underground dance cuts. You can give it a listen below.
And since we're on the subject of locals that now reside in New York, we'll point you in the direction of recent NYU grad Tiger Darrow, who just released a long overdue video for her “Aqua Vitae” single. Are we mistaken or is that White Rock Lake making a handful of appearances in the clip?
Fortunately, at least a few musicians do still live in the area. For instance, there's Fort Worth's 88 Killa, whose newest track, “Letter to Tori,” features zipper magnate YKK. The Blair Norf-produced track was named after local model Tori Brixx. Says Killa in a release: “If you see/know Ms. Tori, tell her I said hey, and that I hope she's not offended.”
More still currently local, underground Dallas rap comes from Rob Viktum and Rick “Shyste” Allen, whose new collaborative LP, Checkmate, was released earlier today. The 14-track album can be streamed below and/or purchased for just $5. That's, like, less than 36 cents per track.
Meanwhile, Missing Sibling recently added Diabolical Machines' Stephanie and Kevin Buchanan to its ranks. The newly expanded outfit also has a new EP due out on cassette via Burger Records subsidiary Wiener Records on May 26. While you're busy digging out the old Walkman in preparations for purchasing that one, you can go head and stream a digitized version of the EP's first single below.
Another album release on the horizon comes from Rahim Quazi, who will celebrate his first new LP in seven years with a release show at the Kessler Theater on June 17.
Oh, and while we're at it, another upcoming show you'll definitely want to be aware of is from midcities expat Post Malone, who'll make his official Dallas debut on May 30 at Trees.
And finally, if mall-punk is more your wheelhouse, director Albert Gonzalez recently put together a mini documentary on South by So What that likely answers most every question you've ever had about the annual three-day festival and its parent company, Third String Productions. Watch it in-full below.
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