A tribute to ... ?

My friend is right. I have no clue who Jellyfish is (was?). They clearly were big during that black period when I was living in a Third World country. It was fun, but it left me with a large gap in my musical knowledge, unless you count Mana. Chris Machart, however, does know who Jellyfish is, and he likes them. So much so that when his band was asked to contribute to Not Lame's Jellyfish tribute, Sensory Lullaby, they picked "All I Want is Everything," a song that ought to be discovered by the disaffected in, say, Highland Park. Take a listen; scroll down to Song #4 at the bottom of the link or hit Millicent Friendly's MySpace. The lovely John Solis played drums and sang on this, too. If you're a Jellyfish fan, check it out.

I think maybe I should catch up a bit on my '90s rock history. Speaking of, wonder if Bill's has a good used copy of Wowee Zowee?

Jayson Bales, Cruel and Unusual

Jayson Bales is both a songwriter and a storyteller. Born, bred, and to the bone in Texas, he tells in music of his life, his state, and his country. His songs are fast fictions in which tales and truths are intertwined in melodic roots music. Introspective and retrospective on Cruel and Unusual, thirty-three year old Bales takes stock of his life, his family's influence, and America in 2006 and asks hard questions.

Storm clouds brewing up ahead. Maybe it's the clouds, or lack of rest, but I don't know why I'm so damned depressed.

What Bales hasn't yet survived after a quarterlife crisis is heading straight for midlife crisis. A family man, a common man, Bales has bought wholly into the ideal of the American man. He takes a stand, he questions, and he searches his soul in three minute pop songs, as Woody Guthrie did, less than a generation ago. On "Half Right" Bales gives his due to the man willing to take a position.

"Some thought he fought a useless fight, but at least he took a stand,
that's gotta make him half right.
... the worst thing is not to stand for anything at all
... the truth may make you bleed but at least it'd be nice to know
... though you may not like what you find
... take a stand, you're gonna be half right."

Bales is willing to take that position, yet questions his own conviction.

"Everyday the colors turn grey. The black and white of my youth died just yesterday. You ask what I believe; I tell you I'm not sure."

Bales is both the beating heart of Texas - old school and family-centered, love God, love your fellow man, love your country - and the new mind of America. The tenets that have shaped his life are obvious. Though cynical about the present, he lives with the greater hope of God and heaven.

Lousy Robot, Smile Like You’re Somewhere Else

Smile Like You’re Somewhere Else

produced by John Dufilho, engineered by Salim Nourallah at Pleasantry Lane Studios in Dallas, TX.


Opening with a volley of Jet-like guitar and "yeahs!" and lapsing into the post-punk that defines the band, Smile Like You’re Somewhere Else is more, better Lousy Robot . A year of work under their belts, plus a renewed relationship with engineer Salim Nourallah and producer John Dufilho (Deathray Davies) have created another fun, danceable album. Having a bad day? Not quite happy with life? Pop in this CD, and adjust your groove. "Slower" is the dirge of the album until it slips quietly into a trancelike, swaying melody. Jack Moffitt adds moody, psychedelic keys to the pop. Jim Phillip’s concise and quirky lyrics take ordinary anxieties and make them universal and trifling. Channeling the Ramonesand early Beatles influences, Lousy Robot builds a sound that is both evocative and fresh. Contributions by Dallas heavy-hitters Johnny Lloyd Rollins, Cory Watson, (Black Tie Dynasty), John Lefler (Dashboard Confessional), and both Nourallah and Dufilho highlight the potential of this Albuquerque band. Not since The Shins left the Land of Enchantment has an unsigned quartet inspired collaboration of this caliber. Lousy Robot’s sophomore album is lusher than The Strange and True Story of Your Life and just as fun. Help me count the ways that I say, “Yeah!”

Song highlights: “Mr. Falls Apart,” “Help Me Count the Ways I Say ‘Yeah!’,” “A Way of Overstating.”

The Lord Henry, Zoo Palace

produced in part by Stuart Sikes, Bass Propulsion Labs, Dallas TX

Zoo Palace, the sophomore album of The Lord Henry, is in advance release and the show will be on October 21st here in Dallas. Sexy, sultry bad boys, TLH swagger, NYC style, up from Austin. Think Strokes, Louis XIV, and Brendan Benson.

Clinton Piper solos into the audience, titilating the prep school pretties of the front row. On his knees, close enough to touch, Piper's the alluring, pouty rock star. The songwriter of the band of brothers, Billy Potts, Grant Piper, and the latest addition, Josh from SanFran, Clinton's the lead and the emotion. Fast and furious on his guitar, he's ripped through his own fingers, blood spattering the strings, rather than slow down and grab a new pick. "Fire on 42nd Street" is the de riguer love song to New York, and "So So So" is remade from Voila.

Voila, the first EP, was a purposely analog and constrained album, meant to be performed live by just Piper on guitar and Potts drumming and singing backup. Zoo Palace though, is more expansive; The Lord Henry as a full, gorgeous band. Stuart Sikes (oh christ, just google him, his catalog is impressive) had a hand in about half the songs. The Lord Henry is frenzied guitars, over-the-top drumming, keys that fill your ears, and pure energy and sweat. They are the insane afterparty, but at the end of Zoo Palace, they slow down to quiet chilling. "Jilina," a beautful, raw Beatles-esque songlette, and "Loss of Love Says Hi" is Piper at his most vulnerable; the player taking stock. Potts even gets dreamy on "Loss of Love Says Hi" (love the title; beautiful and sad, like the song) with an edge of Sigur Ros-inspired drumming. Play these two on a hungover Sunday morning and they're brilliant, just skip past the first nine rockers until after the Bloody Marys have settled.

Millicent Friendly, Downtime

Downtime, Millicent Friendly
Produced by Purple Pear Studios, mixed by Derek Taylor, Dallas TX.

Every now and then, you need a few waa-waa guitars in your evening, a little garage rock to put you on coast, and an infectious lyric to get stuck in your head. Millicent Friendly gets you that rock trip on Downtime, their first EP.

Vocalist and songwriter Chris Machart, formerly of Outer Space Love Project, teams with bassist Peter Wilkins and drummer John Solis (Johnny Lloyd Rollins, Fishing for Comets). Guitarist and shredder Kenny Eakin rounds out the band.

Downtime is a comfortable rock ride. No cowbell, just cool, easy tunes that turn a good lyric. The spoof "Blue Screen of Death," a ditty to play during tuning time at a live show, is the anthem for frustrated computer geeks, a poke at Machart's ending relationship with his Pentium 365. You've been there, staring at the blank blue monitor, thinking, "aw, %^&#." Now, you have a song to sing to your dead PC. Dallas radio DJ, 102.1 The Edge's Chris Ryan plays "Panic Attack" as a local favorite and it's in frequent rotation. I picked "Willow" for my 2005 Year-End highlights as "Most Infectious Song," but any of Machart's tunes easily stick in your head.

Millicent Friendly's sound is like a tasty cheeseburger; it ain't steak, but it's damned good when you want comfort food.

Song highlights: "You," "Willow," "Panic Attack"

Originally written for TexasGigs.com

The Chemistry Set: The Chemistry Set

The Chemistry Set’s self-titled debut CD moves through space, the American heartland, and self-discovery in Stephen Duncan’s introspective journey. Beginning with the twinkling “Into the Light,” Duncan crafts childlike images of resurrection and lends charm to the entire album, even the angry “Lee Minor 7.” Unsubtly suggesting bombing Oklahoma, there’s no actual instigation of violence, rather it’s wishful thinking. With his naïve voice and the backing of Meredith Knoll’s xylophone and keys over jazzy percussion, he crafts the traveling miseries of “Gypsies and Vagabonds.” The Chemistry Set creates a world of overheard melodies and familiar words paired with unexpected contrasts. Pink Floyd-like passages and alt-country sounds work well together on this CD. Even homages to the Beatles and Bowie fit right in. This may not be the band’s “million dollar day,” but it’s money in the bank.

[DARYL] and Black Tie Dynasty: Bloody Basin (Idol)

Idol Record’s Dallas-based [DARYL] and Ft. Worth darlings, Black Tie Dynasty, have crossed the DFW Metroplex to pump out a joint CD that just begs to be tour merchandise. The gruesomely named Bloody Basin actually isn’t at all scary, brimming with songs that are pure pop. If you’re expecting a fusion of the two bands, this ain’t it. Both retain their very individual styles, but bond in what’s basically a songswap. Two collaborative songs begin and end the EP. “Bloody Basin,” played with all ten members of both bands, is the closest to synthesis. Don’t miss their tour just to see this song performed live; that is, if the club’s stage can hold everyone and the sound engineer doesn’t have a meltdown trying to mix two vocalists, three background vocals, two keyboard players, two bass players, and four guitars. Oh yeah, and two drummers? Worth the ticket.

“Gloria” sadly isn’t a cover of the vintage U2 song, but a ballad on which lead singers Cory Watson of Black Tie and Dylan Silvers of [D] are instantly recognizable. Their vocal styles are distinctively different, with Watson the smoother crooner and Silvers stretching out the emotion of his words. Laid over ethereal guitar, “Gloria” ends in a blown breath.

Black Tie’s new tracks bring out more of the group’s inherent darkness, but are as danceable as ever. Watson’s songwriting expresses deep cynicism with elegant lyrics such as “You can’t love like you said you could, and the part that is human is the part that wants to lie,” and “If you can’t say it with feeling, say something revealing now” from “The Letter A.” “Signs” is slightly more hopeful, but nails are still going into coffins. Brian McQuorcodale’s just right keys and Blake McWhorter’s energetic bass strike the bouncy balance with Watson’s pessimism. If you don’t listen too closely to the words, these are fun songs.

[DARYL]’s feedback-rich rock complements their buddy band, just as on the live tour. “Exploding Hearts” is the original contribution and is prime [DARYL] with the chantable one-liner, “If you get too close you might get infected.” Seems that Dylan Silvers still isn’t feeling any more comfortable in his own skin, even after the critical success of their latest full-length album, Ohio. [D] manages to take over “Happy,” the Ned’s Atomic Dustbin cover, and make it punkily their own, thanks especially to the inspired drumming of Michael “Spammie” Lamm.

The product of two original bands having some recording fun together, Bloody Basin doesn’t drip a bit on the floor.

The Hourly Radio (EP) Lure of the Underground

THE HOURLY RADIO - LURE OF THE UNDERGROUND (EP)
(Kirtland Records)

Brave beginning from Dallas band The Hourly Radio, Lure of the Underground is a showcase of influences. Britpop evolved with Southern sentiment, their music is expansive, effusive, and beautiful. Every song is a departure from the previous. The radio-ready, The Strokes meets My Bloody Valentine, “Lost + Found” is pleasing pop waiting to be added to any playlist. But track five, “On and On” made me double-check my iPod to confirm I hadn’t accidentally cued up the Secret Machines. “First Love is Forever” is the slowest; an anthemic, pulsating beginning, but The Hourly Radio end strong with the dreamscapes of the trippy, synthy instrumental “Travelsigns.” The heavily drum and guitar song, “Fear of Standing Upright” is the hook that kept me enthralled with this album. The only inhibition comes from Aaron Closson’s vocals; subdued against the background of screaming riffs of Ryan Short’s guitar, their control and elegance is a flawless juxtaposition against raw animal energy, the human dualism of rationalism and emotionalism perfectly portrayed in a song. With a band this young, Lure of the Underground could easily become a sick addiction.