Cory Graves
Deep Ellum Concerts Might Get Streamed, St. Vincent Rocks Fallon and Leon Bridges Has A Date.
Thanks to a partnership from local internet radio station Deep Ellum on Air and Deep Ellum fiber optic internet provider Ellum.net, there’s been a lot made this week of the idea that every Deep Ellum venue will soon be making livestreams of all of their concerts available for free over the internet.
While that may very well be the hope, we’ll have to wait and see which venue owners actually bite on the deal. At least one is onboard thus far, though, with Joe Diffie and Sammy Kershaw‘s April 18 show at The Bomb Factory scheduled to be the first show streamed.
And to be sure, with the biggest fish of them all involved, it’ll be interesting to see how many of Deep Ellum’s other 20 clubs and venue’s follow suit. At the moment, though, Deep Ellum on Air owner Jantzen Ray tells us only one other venue has signed on. (He wouldn’t tell us which.)
Speaking of The Bomb Factory: A couple of other future events have recently been announced for the still-new space, including the popular sneaker/streetwear convention Kixpo, which will go down on July 18, and the third annual Elm Street Music and Tattoo Festival, which will take place from November 13 through November 15.
One other big Bomb Factory event to look forward to is the return of JMBLYA, which recently announced the first batch of names appearing at its 2015 fest. So far, the Scoremore team behind the June 19 fest has announced that Mick Jenkins, the ever-stylish GoldLink, Metro Boomin, Denita + Sene, A.Dd+ and Blue, the Misfit will perform. Before the next crop of acts are announced, you can get some discounted, early-bird tickets right here.
The very next night after JMBLYA, another pretty unique event goes down over in Fort Worth. On June 20, what organizers call “the world’s first running music festival” goes down at LaGrave Field. They mean that very literally: Between pre- and post-race dance parties, participants will run a 5K that makes several pit stops at intermittent “party zones,” each with its own DJ.
Another fest we’ve briefly mentioned previously is King Camel‘s first-ever Local Education Fest at Three Links, also on June 20. This week, that affair announced three acts who’ll be playing that one: Blue, the Misfit, The Outfit, TX, Fab Deuce. Still to come are nine more “pure breed” local acts — i.e. ones that still live in North Texas, and haven’t left the area for the greener pastures of New York, Los Angeles or elsewhere.
I guess that means St. Vincent won’t be making a cameo at this year’s show? Oh well. The Dallas expat did pop up on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night, though, where she performed “Teenage Talk,” the song she premiered on an episode of Girls earlier this year. Fittingly, she was joined by a set of actual teenage backup dancers for the performance, which was a appropriately weird as you’ve probably come to hope for/expect from the artist born Annie Clark. Relive that showcase below.
Moving on: RTB2 released a set of new tracks — only, well, they’re not really new at all. Recorded five years ago for a limited-run 8-track release called We Are a Strange Man, songs such as the following version of 2 track, “Hands Where Words Cannot Go,” haven’t been released digitally till now. Grab a free download below.
A big reason that pretty much nobody has heard that lost RTB2 album is because, well, North Texans don’t seem to care much about 8-tracks. Or so says Bucks Burnett of Deep Ellum’s soon-to-be-shuttered 8-Track Museum, which will cease to be in July. Writes Burnett of the appointment-only museum’s closure on Facebook: “I say this with no sour grapes, it’s just the truth. No one from Dallas has contacted the Museum for a visit in over two years. All visitors have been from out of state or other cities. JFK is stealing my thunder! It needs to be in a more eclectic city.”
In other parts of our non-eclectic city, the Dallas International Film Festival gets underway April 9, and runs through the 19th. One film — or, one more film, we should say — to keep an eye on is Red on Yella, Kill a Fella. It’s a spaghetti western, of sorts, made by Texas filmmakers Duane Graves (no relation) and Justin Meeks, and it features a few original songs by Nick Durham of the Dallas spaghetti western and surf rock outfit The Monco Poncho. The film screens this Friday and Sunday at the Angelika.
Meanwhile, The Demigs released a second single from its upcoming double LP, which will be released via I Love Math Records on April 14. Here’s that one.
Likewise, that band’s fellow Denton-based outfit The Birds of Night will release a new LP later this month. Ahead of a planned April 25th album release show at Three Links, The Birds of Night has now released its second single as well. You can find “Asleep in the Pine” and its ripping guitar solo below.
Released a week ago today, meanwhile, was the sophomore EP from Sir Silky, which was recorded by upstart producer John Pedigo of The O’s. Find Silk is the Gentleman’s Weapon streaming in full below.
Similarly, Fort Worth rapper Lou Charle$‘ latest LP is also streaming in full. Sink or Swim, we should point out, includes one of our favorite local songs of 2014 in “Rich Kid$.” Find a new video for that song here, and a stream of the rest of the album below.
More upcoming releases from the 817 includes upcoming efforts from Jetta in the Ghost Tree and Toy Gun. Regarding the former, you can find the Brandin Lea-led outfit’s latest single, “Pontchartrain Eyes,” below. The band’s debut album, Clandestine Vol. I, will earn its release May 5 via Idol Records, with a release show coming Friday, May 15 at Lola’s.
As for Toy Gun, the lo-fi rock act recently solidified its lineup with the addition of Sealion drummer Alex Poulos. For the band’s just-released debut EP, though, drumming duties were handled by Vern Marigold (Doom Ghost), who has since switched over to lead guitar. The new lineup of the Stephanie Donaghey-led outfit is said to be working on its debut full-length — although, for now, the EP is available below.
Sticking out in the Fort, Kenny Uptain (Foxtrot Uniform) has got a new and — damn it, we’ll say it — better outfit called Chucho that features members of The Longshots. Together, this band makes a sort of blues rock/country hybrid that we’re totally on board with. Check out the band’s debut EP below.
Other release dates to be aware of include Leon Bridges, whose debut LP for Columbia has now been officially announced as coming on June 23, and local electro-poppers LEV, which will celebrate the release of its new effort with a show on May 26 at Dada.
Elsewhere, Old 97’s frontman Rhett Miller showed up in Rolling Stone this week to breakdown precisely why the Texas Rangers will have a shitty 2015 campaign. To be fair, Miller called into The Ticket this Saturday morning to tell hosts Davey Lane and Robert Wilonsky he was misquoted, and remains optimistic about the team’s prospects.
Either way: Miller’s bandmate in the 97’s, guitarist Ken Bethea, will perform as part of this month’s Oral Fixation storytelling series on April 20 and 22, where he’ll tell the story of how he walked away from the corporate world at age 30 to live the rock ‘n’ roll dream.
And finally this week, we glumly share the news that Terminator 2 will play its final show on April 20 at Rubber Gloves, before bassist David Saylor relocates to Colorado. No word yet on when he’ll be back.
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