1) There’s a show at MASS (1002 S Main) on Thursday night that is not only killer and dope, but fresh, boss, bitchin’ and tite as hell: Dallas-livin’ psych collective Acid Carousel (who are also opening for heavy metal forebears Uriah Heep at the Granada on Sunday) headline a Dreamy Life Records-branded bill featuring two bands from Austin, Goldbloom and the Sun Machine, with jazz-spined prog punks Same Brain kicking the night off. Cover is $7, show is 18+, and all of these bands boast more than enough manual dexterity and sonic complexity for you to get your money’s worth – lots of guitar pyrotechnics and effects-slathered amp noises, in other words. This is Goldbloom:
2) Lots of shows feature bands that friends with each other, but how many are billed with bands of coworkers? The answer: at least one, and it is Friday night at MASS, when Avoca Coffee celebrates its anniversary with the Barista Jam. For as long as their have been coffee shops, musicians have worked at them; I’m pretty sure this truth extends all the way back to the very first café in human history, which opened early one morning in the burgeoning hubbub of some city-state in the fertile crescent, Ur or Uruk, perhaps, or maybe even Sodom or Gomorrah. But anyway, since time immemorial, struggling musicians have paid their bills by pouring lattes, and in accordance with that tradition, the friendly folks at Avoca are getting their various acts together (which include playing solo, as the case may be) under one roof. If you hang out at either Avoca location and tell the characters who make your drinks “I need to come see your band,” now’s your chance to see all of them in a single night. Slated to perform are Jake Paleschic, VVOES, Schuyler Stapleton, Starbass Laboratories, FAKE, Eder Meza, Annie Void, Austin Kroll, and 5th Column with Tad Ezell, with DJ sets between acts by Pop Boy ETC, aka Avoca employees Rene Floyd and Jordan Klein. The party starts at 6pm, and the cover is $5, which is probably less than the price of your regular order. This video doesn’t do Schuyler Stapleton justice, but it feels appropriate for her music:
3) Lola’s (2736 6th) Friday night bill has a pretty fat groove to it: the heavy, soul-inspired, funkified feel-good outfit Kris Lager Band returns to Lola’s, and the self-described “sexadelic” rock band Siamese Hips opens. Sounds like a good time, especially if you’re on molly! And remember kids, drugs are bad, and if you take them in public, don’t tell anyone about it because that’s annoying! The show starts at 9, and the cover is unknown but payable in US dollars. Kris Lager Band brings the party. If you miss seeing Josh Weathers shows on the reg, this band will fill that void:
4) Don’t look now, but the Ridglea Room wants your attention, and it’s booking national acts in a effort to grab it. Friday night features critically lauded New Jersey punk band Titus Andronicus and Rick Maguire, the man behind another critical favorite, Boston indie-rock project Pile. The all-ages show starts at 8 and cover is $15. Here’s a fairly new Titus Andronicus video:
5) Dallas indie label/friends-and-music-collective Barf Wave has a monthly residency at Three Links (2704 Elm, Dallas) now. Called Barf Wave Second Sundays that start at 9 and cost $5; this installment stars Teenage Sexx in the headlining role, and it’s also the album release for the direct supporting act, Austin-based Honey and Salt. Sub-Sahara (who sound like an angstier version of the Cure) is in the second-band spot (10pm, for you anal retentive clock Nazis out there) and sample-friendly anxiety rockers All Clean open the show, which is all ages. Honey and Salt have some cool location shots in this video, plus some rad, jagged guitar that makes me think of the Minutemen:
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 at 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. 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 since 2002.
