Cory Graves
Snow Tha Product Links Up with Snoop Dogg, and Zhora And Ishi Finally Make Nice.
Like most weeks in this column, we've found a whole bunch of North Texas-based acts earning some national attention this week — some of which came from some unexpected sources.
For instance, we were previously unaware that Snoop Dogg had his own YouTube series until now. But it's true: His Double G News Network videos — now in their “fourth season” — have nearly 700,000 subscribers on the site, many of whom tune in regularly to watch Snoop “interview” guests like Bone Thugs or Steve Aoki. Anyway, today's episode, which features Fort Worth transplant Snow tha Product, is an entertaining string of off-topic tangents like the merits of liquid soap and the occasional tidbit about music. Our two takeaways? That female rappers shouldn't feel inclined to take off their clothes in order to attain success (although it is, apparently, a prerequisite for weather girls) and that Snow is somehow the only female Mexican rapper that Snoop has ever heard.
Then there's this personal essay about hanging out with local hardcore outfit Power Trip that appeared in Vice, which is the best or the worst thing we've ever read. On one hand, it provides some nice insight on the band's 2012 show at Good Recordsand offers up a few overzealous quips about Power Trip being a more meaningful entity locally than the Dallas Cowboys. Hell, the dichotomy of frontman Riley Gale's inherent nerdiness and the band's hardcore image even made us giggle a bit. But some of the cringe-worthy backhanded compliments from author Logan Dean Worrell came across as unnecessary barbs thrown in order to sound edgy and unbiased, if we may say so. Apparently his editors felt the same way: A half-dozen or so uses of the term “wigger,” which appeared in the original version of the piece, have subsequently been removed in more recent edits.
Another off center, locally-tied tale we read this week came from Madonna's guitar teacher, Dallas native Monte Pittman, in Decibel Magizne this week. In the piece, the former Prong guitarist pushes his upcoming solo effort by giving a behind-the-scenes account of all those circa-2008 viral videos of Madonna jamming on Pantera riffs in concert. Interestingly, the crux of the tale involves Pittman passing on some strumming insight that his pal Dimebag Darrell once offered him prior to a show at Dallas' Galaxy Club.
Speaking of new releases: Reverend Horton Heat's Rev and Crushed Stars' Farewell Young Lovers both came out today, the latter of which will be celebrated with an in-store this evening at Good Records.
Also out today? That Spooky Folk sophomore LP we've been hearing about for what seems like forever. Until the band can afford to press the album to wax — a task the band's currently asking its fans to help achieve — you can stream the thing right here. Notable tracks include “Disheveled,” which the band has been performing live since nearly the beginning, and the circa-2005 Ryan Thomas Becker solo tune “Bottle the Bees” (which is not to be confused with the completely separate 2013 RTB2 tune, “Bottle O Bees”).
While we're on the subject, there are a few other upcoming album release shows to be aware of: Catamaran will celebrate the release of its February 4-due debut EP with shows at Lola's and Dada on February 6 and 7, respectively; meanwhile, The Longshots' February 25 debut LP will be celebrated with a February 21 show at The Where House as well as a February 23 Dallas date in conjunction with an upcoming edition of King Camel's new bi-weekly Local Educationseries at Three Links.
Also? According to Analog Rebellion, the dance punk-leaning, A.V. Club-debuted single, “Hot Shit,” from its own February 18-due LP should serve as an indicator that the band will be playing a lot more local shows in 2014, which is certainly positive news.
Lastly, in perhaps the strangest news of all, Zhora's Taylor Rea will reunite with her estranged bandmates in Ishi with a performance at Trees on March 1. Rea, you may recall, bolted from Ishi back in May 2011 before forming Zhora later that year.
We're guessing that there's probably more to this bill than meets this eye, although we'll leave any specific speculations in that regard up to y'all.
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