Cory Graves
Ynfynyt Scroll's Out At Beauty Bar and Quaker City Heads Back Into The Studio.
As the final hours wound down on local percussionist John Bryant's Kickstarter campaign yesterday afternoon, it didn't look like he was going to reach the massive $95,000.00 goal he set forth to see his proposed documentary project through.
But the fact that Bryant's campaign to fund his Dare to Drum project came down to the wire was ultimately pretty fitting for the project. In the documentary, Bryant intends to tell the story of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and D'Drum's performance of Stewart Copeland's “Gamelan D'Drum” back in 2011 and how, after three years of work, an ill-timed ice storm nearly shut down the piece's world premiere.
The coolest part, though? Three backers, who opted for the $10,000 level donation, will now get to jam with the Police drummer in his personal studio. Copeland's even promised to record video and audio of the session for those high-roller backers to keep for posterity — or to rub in the faces of their friends. Suck on that, Sting.
Moving on: Beauty Bar is once again changing up its long-running Thursday night party. Taking over for Ynfynyt Scroll's Rodrigo Diaz, which presided over the much-coveted gig with his weekly Turn Up party after DJ Sober moved his Big Bang weekly from the venue back in July, will be DJ Colly T, who plans on calling his new Thursday night residency VIBE. Per the Facebook event page for this week's inaugural edition, Colly T (aka Dropclock Productions' Colin Theall) intends to maintain “an exploration of the deepest, grooviest forms of dance music.” He's even been kind enough to pass along this promotional mix for those not totally sure what to glean from that description. Diaz, meanwhile, promises to keep his own party going, although he's yet to determine the appropriate venue for his always-varied stylings.
Following Thursday night's VIBE debut, DJ Blake Ward will return to Uptown for the second edition of his new Friday residency in the intimate bar loft atop Uptown eatery Pozo Mercado. While Uptown isn't necessarily where one might typically find Ward plying his craft, the press release he sent out goes on to explain that his appropriately named Pozo Disco offering won't be your typical Uptown fare: “Uptown isn't my typical destination for underground dance parties, but that might be what makes this place so perfect for one,” Ward writes. “[It's] only capable of holding about 80 people, there is no door guy keeping you out with a velvet rope, but the unassuming staircase makes the place hard to find unless you know where you are going.”
Speaking of the unexpected: Pitchfork writer Andy O'Connor wrote this week that the band's eschewing of traditional metal qualities is precisely what makes Fort Worth duo Pinkish Black's sophomore effort, Razed to the Ground, so outstanding. Writes O'Connor: “Keyboardist and vocalist Daron Beck and drummer Jon Teague flip the idea of what metal can be by employing aggression and tense space without guitars, 'riffs' in the traditional sense, or anything in the traditional metal sense, really.” He then goes on to give the “stronger, more confident” Pinkish Black a 7.2 rating — or 0.2 points higher than the site ranked the band's self-titled debut last year for those keeping score.
Another Fort Worth act striving for an even stronger effort on its next record right about now is Quaker City Night Hawks, who have announced they'll be heading to a recording studio in Anahuac next month to begin work on the followup to this past spring's Honcho LP. As such, the band's only remaining scheduled Dallas date through the end of the year will come in support of Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights's annual New Year's Eve bash at the Granada Theater.
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