1) Com Truise is at Trees (2709 Elm, Dallas) tonight (Wednesday), and I really wish I could go, but I have to work, so the rest of y’all will just have to enjoy the gooey grooves of his patented, retrofied “slow-motion funk” jams – his sample- and keyboard-based music sounds like the soundtrack to an ’80s movie that never existed, so if you’re into getting into the kind of headspace that feels like you’re living in a movie, this is the show to go to. Tickets are $17-$20, and the all-ages show starts at 8 (with doors at 7). As it turns out, he has a new album out next Friday, so here’s a video for what I assume is the first single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIdnJhuiQo8
2) This sounds fun: a dance party at a place that used to be a dance club. Sadly, this doesn’t mean Rainbow Lounge has magically reincarnated, nor Boomers, or the River, or all the other bump ’n grind meat-markets of yesteryear. But before MASS (1002 S Main) became a music venue, it was a dance club called El Remy, and on Thursday night, Serato-slayers DJ Ronnie Heart and DJ Rikki Don’t are teaming up to rock the killer grooves and booty jams, and there’s no cover, so even if you’re broke, you can still have a good time. Get your ass off the couch and shake it at MASS Thursday night! Here’s a video from 2009 entitled “SHAYLA VISITS FORT WORTH AND CITY STREETS,” so you can see what a person named Shayla and a dance club in Fort Worth looked like eight years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YRErry6TpM
3) Siberian Traps new album, Indicator is out on Friday, and they’re dropping it at Shipping and Receiving (201 S Calhoun) on Friday night. I thought Stray Dogs, the album the Traps put out last year, was one of the best things I heard all summer, and their new album, Indicator, is even better. Long story short, a vinyl copy (out of Dreamy Life, naturally) of their new LP belongs in your collection, so you should definitely come to this show and pick one up. The band also hits the road next week, and they could definitely use some cash for gas, not to mention the morale infusion from selling a bunch of new records in their hometown. Son of Stan, Programme, and a band from the Valley called New Berlin are also on the bill. This’ll be a fun show for sure. Cover is probably $10. I am tempted to post a video of (old) Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away,” but here is the newest Siberian Traps video (for a new song off Indicator called “Lemon Balm”) instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFMsSfvNEpw&t=155s
4) Also on Friday: the Vandoliers headline Friday on the Green (1201 Lipscomb) at 9pm, and this sort of doubles as their Fort Worth album release, in part because their album is out and they will have copies for sale at a show in Fort Worth. I would say that this band brings it no matter what venue they are performing at, but a big stage like the Green’s is the sort of situation frontman Josh Fleming was probably born to play; I imagine he’ll be channeling the spirit of Waylon Jennings’ 1975 Waylon Live album. Vandoliers’ high-energy country rhythms will likely appeal to your kiddos, too, and it’s always fun to watch little kids dance and get excited about bands that are covered in tattoos and full of Coors Light. Kevin Aldridge and the Appraisers are direct support, with Vodeo’s spacey, disco-esque hot jams at 7, and Katsuk’s world-beat inspired music starting the evening at 6pm. Bring a blanket to sit on and money for beer, food truck eats, and Vandoliers records, but not for cover, because Friday on the Green concerts are always free to attend. Enjoy this Vodeo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKlybfD300s
5) If you feel like giving your ears a nice dose of tinnitus, go to the Sunshine Bar (902 W Division, Arlingfun) on Saturday night because the little, newly non-smoking dive (because the city of Arlington has done what the city of Fort Worth does not yet have the guts to do and banned smoking inside bars) has three of Fort Worth’s loudest bands in the house to shake the cocktail glasses loose and peel the paint off the walls: Caliche Burnout headlines, with the Me-Thinks in the middle, and Mean Motor Scooter starting the night at 10pm. The show is 21+ and free. You couldn’t ask for a better bill of thundering, party time rock ’n roll. Here’s a video for the Me-Thinks’ “Loudensucke”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf3ewxqSTCE
FULL DISCLOSURE/WRITER BIO ALERT: per editorial suggestion, in addition to writing about music and other shit for the FW Weekly, I am an investor in a venue/bar called Main at Southside, colloquially known as MASS. I also bartend there, as well as the Boiled Owl Tavern, a bar that also hosts shows a few times a month. And, since we’re on the subject of warning you against what may be perceived as my own icky, unseemly self-promotion and/or conflicts of interest, I play bass in the following bands: Oil Boom, Son of Stan, Darth Vato, and maybe, once again in the hypothetical future, EPIC RUINS. Sometimes I talk about one or more of those entities in this space, but I assure you that it has very little to do with my own vested interests; it just happens that the aforementioned venues and bands are part of the Fort Worth music scene, and this music scene is something I care very passionately about, as I have been part of it for the past fifteen years.
