Cory Graves
Festival Season Is Coming Up Quick and The Bomb Factory Finally Announces Some Decent Bookings.
Just like hitting peak venue didn't actually do much to stop North Texas from announcing yet more new venues, the fact that we hit festival overload at least a year ago has done little to stop promoters from tossing their hats into the increasingly crowded, middling fest landscape.
The latest to cram its hat into that ring is the upstart Dallas Music District Festival, which will go down May 16 and 17 at Trinity River Greenbelt Park. Bands announced thus far include Jonathan Tyler, Aaron Behrons & the Midnight Stroll, ISHI, EXIT 380, MOTHXR (which features Gossip Girl actor Penn Badgley), Mainland Dreamers, Sales and Donald Cummings.
“We are excited to introduce the first music festival of this type in downtown Dallas,” says fest co-founder Jerry Su via a press release. “DMD Fest will provide an extraordinary cultural and musical experience that celebrates this great city while continuing to grow and embellish Dallas' thriving creative scene.”
Uh huh. Totally unique. You betcha.
A limited quantity of 500 presale tickets to the fest are currently on sale here.
Speaking of outdoor festivals near Downtown: Spillover announced another crop of acts playing its 2015 edition — which you should recall, has already been announced as taking place on March 22 and featuring Liars on an outdoor stage located near the intersection of Main St and Good Latimer. These news acts? Pianos Become Teeth, King Tuff, JEFF the Brotherhood and Diarrhea Planet. More info and $33 advance tickets are now available here.
Similarly, that other outdoor Downtown Dallas festival (read: Homegrown Music & Arts Fest) will make its first lineup announce on February 2 at an event at Off the Record where one of this year's acts will also put on a not-so-secret performance.
In yet more festival news, the Deep Ellum Big Folkin' Fest will return to The Prophet Bar for a fourth straight year. No acts have been announced yet, but you can probably guess at least a few bands that'll wind up on that bill. Anyway, $20 advance tickets are currently on sale here.
And while it's not quite a festival — or hell, maybe it is, who can tell? — Have a Heart is now looking for its next beneficiary. The move comes just a few weeks after Have a Heart organizer Jeffrey Brown told us the following: “We are going to keep doing benefits under the Have a Heart brand. The beneficiary is going to change each time. It will always be a local DFW person or family that truly needs help. There are so many great causes and charities out there, but rarely are the beneficiaries given a huge chunk of cash that can actually put a sizable dent in their financial needs. As Have a Heart grows, so will the amounts raised to local families. I'd really like to make it big enough — with sponsors and the like — so we can give large checks to multiple families in need. This has truly been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life, and I can't foresee any time that I won't want to do large-scale benefit events. It's way too satisfying!”
Interested parties can email a 250-words-or-less description of their circumstances to the Have a Heart folks here for consideration. Enrollment will close February 25.
Moving on to some new release news: Old Potion guitar/harmonica/vocalist Claire Morales will release her debut album, Amaranthine, on February 21, with a show at Rubber Gloves coming that same night. Check out her Maria Muldaur-like yodel from the distort-folk album's first single, “Prettier,” below.
Similarly, the high-energy, '80s metal-mining Dallas rockers Plissken are set to release their own debut LP, Children of the Night, this spring. In the meantime, the band's offering up free downloads of three of the album's tracks. Stream and/or nab them below.
Meanwhile, Fort Worth's Bummer Vacation recently premiered a new, post-punk jam produced by Jordan Richardson via THRWD. While “Silver Hands” fits nicely alongside any of the tracks from the band's 2014 debut LP, it features a more solid vocal performance than anything from Creative Differences. Stream it below.
Meanwhile, Daniel Markham and Tony Ferraro, whose new project we mentioned last week, has offered up a stream of their first new track, too. Listen to “Chastity Belt” below, and head to J&J's on February 3 where the twosome will hold a listening party for the rest of its Smoke Paint effort.
Not to be overlooked, The Cush will release its new heavy psych album this weekend. Incidentally, “Heavy Psych” is also the name of the album's opening cut. They'll follow that up with a Dallas release show on February 7 at Three Links where the band will perform with True Widow. You can stream another heavy, swirling cut called “Droids” here.
Other release dates to pencil into your calendar are February 13, when Rob Viktum/Wild Bill/Blaze Won will release a new hip-hop collaboration under the name Baconomics, and April 7, when Denim Wonder will release his debut album.
And, hey, so long as we're throwing things at you to listen to and/or look at, we'll hit you with the following new music video, which comes courtesy of Dallas experimental electronic pop artist Melting Season.
Elsewhere, Dallas-based DJs Sober, A1, E-VO, AFK, Saleem Razvi and Merritt were named among the Sun Times's list of America's 100 best DJs. Speaking of Sober: He and his longtime Houston-based collaborator Dayta just dropped the third installment of their Back To The Middle mixtape series, which you can jam right here.
And, finally, news broke this week that The Jesus & Mary Chain will bring its Psychocandy 30th anniversary tour to the soon-to-open Bomb Factory on May 7 — and that Purity Ring will play at the venue on May 22.
Got a tip for White Noise? Email us!
