THURSDAY

Black Gold Social Club (Zubar): Once in a lengthy discussion regarding what is the most sublime of all music combinations, I finally settled on a particular pairing. “I’ve got it,” I said. “Soul music…with a string section. Soul with strings. That’s my answer.” Thinking I had touched upon something very profound, I was instead met with an unimpressed sparring partner in this musical debate. “Well, duh” she said.

The reason I bring it up is because the great Curtis Mayfield is used on the flier art for this particular event, and when it comes to working in string arrangements, his almost aggressive approach is one of the most impassioned and perhaps best of all examples of the style.

Discipline (Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios): Though this is usually a weekly showcase by a DJ collective, Discipline will be apparently be hosting more “Live Actions” as they call them, throughout the year. This is most likely due in no small part to the success of the show last month by San Fransico’s B-R-A-N-E-S, which yielded a larger crowd than usual to this intensely esoteric event.

Phooka/Sissy Ross (Elm Street Bar): “Slurzdays” is the name by which the stylistically-varied night hosted by turntable expert DJ Phooka goes, and tonight’s guest is DJ Sissy Ross, who you may know from “Hip Hop Humpday” and the “School’d” weekly, which once took place with Phooka himself.

“Big Bang” with Sober (Beauty Bar):  No guest at Big Bang tonight, but Sober did divulge some of his favorite tracks of late, which includes everything from indie rap to some excessively reworked RnB:

Matthew Kyle – “Honey Sugar,” Teams vs Star Slinger - “Say Please,” Alexander Holland – “City Full of Lights,”…Azealia Banks (featuring Lazy Jay) – “212.”

Azealia Banks is a terrific rapper if you haven’t heard her, and though I mentioned “indie rap,” well, it was announced only yesterday that she signed to Universal, so you’ll probably be hearing a lot more from her soon.

Speaking of female rappers, Mr. Rhoten also mentioned Nikki Minaj’s “Stupid Hoe,” which is not only a great track, but today I came across the news that Austin’s Ben Aqua (who plays in the area on occasion and was last in Dallas as a guest with local group, Track Meet) had posted a remix of the track that was approved by Minaj herself, though some hackers might have interrupted the process. From the artist’s public Facebook page:

So Nicki Minaj said she ♥ ‘d my “Stupid Hoe” remix and was gonna post it on her soundcloud, then her account got hacked and now she’s not gonna post it…

BUT she had me edit it a bit to make it sound #moreofficial so I re-uploaded it…

You can acquire said download by going here. Show up early if you head to Beauty Bar tonight. Difficult parking has forced me away from this quality night on more than one occasion.

FRIDAY

Opening: “Houdini” by Bráulio Amado (Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios): Gallery opening for the Portugese artist and label owner, with rather noisy and heavy musical performances by Akkolyte, Terminator 2, and the offensively monikered group of McKinney youngsters, The Bukkake Moms. To summarize, this show will be almost the exact opposite of the one featured directly below and thank goodness for that.

Ishi/Missile (La Grange): I just spent five days in Austin, and it gets a little old when people offer condolences upon hearing that you live in Dallas. But then it comes to my attention that one of our most well-known local bands is repeatedly encouraging you to vote for them in a Jansport “battle of the bands” contest, and all of a sudden I stop and say “Sorry for your loss” to myself in one of our mirrored buildings, as soon as I drive back in on Interstate 45. Yes, 45. It’s a trucker’s shortcut.

Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks (Kessler Theater): In all the young plundering I did through my father’s fairly extensive record collection, I always hit a wall when it came to Dan Hicks. Yes, the cover to Diamond Dogs was frightening, and why Hall and Oates were just staring at each other and sweating on the cover to H2O was also puzzling. But the music itself on those records was easily understood, and full of cultural signposts that were already familiar.

Dan Hicks was drawing from an era to which I simply had no exposure: jazz and swing. And as such, it became the strangest music to which I had ever been exposed. Hicks was no ordinary post-hippie era musician, simply overdriving the blues until it was nauseating. He was actually returning to the subtleties of the early 20th century that had been almost completely destroyed by rock and roll. As a curious tween that was a concept that was just completely ungraspable. But with the inevitable discoveries of everything from Django Reinhardt platters to Robert Crumb’s historically textured comic books, I eventually came to understand. Dan Hicks was doing something even more radical than much louder artists, by turning it down and turning it back.

Glamorama (Beauty Bar): Mr. Blake Ward promises a 90s-themed party, and with so much of that decade now entering classic status across all genres, there should be plenty from which to mine. Speaking of the 90s, I realized that I actually like “Hippychick” more than its source material. Here’s a vote for hearing that out somewhere soon and you can go ahead and revoke my Smiths fanclub card if you’d like. Completely understandable in this instance.

Xerxes/Code Orange Kids/Completely F*****/Avec Souci (1919 Hemphill): I know I keep referencing the annoying use of fake links every time I write up a 1919 show, but apparently I touched a nerve by the mention. So 1919′s Rick Vandeveerdonk got in touch with me to clarify:

The 1919 site never has links to inside jokes unless a band doesn’t have a website.

Glad that’s resolved. So I took Rick’s word and just posted those links without double-checking. Click at your own risk.

Cannabinoids featuring Erykah Badu/A.Dd+ (Granada): See our event description here.

SATURDAY

Boom Boom Box/New Fumes/Dove Hunter (La Grange): Album release show for the Boom Boom Box, whose debut album, Until Your Eyes Get Used to the Darkness, will be released on local label, Kirtland. That can only mean one thing: Expect to see a poster for the group on the window of one of your favorite record stores, even three hours outside of Dallas. Kirtland seems to have quite a handle on the ubiquity of their artists, judging by past promotions.

Square Business/Fungi Girls/New Science Projects/Eccotone (Queen City Hall): Now that they’ve released a couple of well-received and completely solid full-lengths (2009′s Seafaring Pyramids and last year’s Some Easy Magic), hopefully we’re coming close to not having to hear about the Fungi Girls’ respective ages as opposed to their actual music every time they’re written about. On some level, it’s understandable. How many things can one person say about garage rock bands, and a writer always has to have an angle.

But since the very beginning, the Fungi Gals have always been much more than a mere garage rock band. Often featuring sophisticated melodies and faintly psychedelic-influenced guitar-work, they somehow never devolve into the lunkheaded boyishness that taints the soundalike recordings of so many of their peers, and yes, their elders. In one of their last updates, the group claimed that their newest material sounds like “Black Sabbath meets the Beach Boys,” and that’s an elementary comparison that sounds practically ripped out of a late 1991 Nirvana interview, still in the naively uncorrupted phase. But my faith in these fellas is such that I’m sure they’ll be one of the few groups this year to pull off such a boldly simple idea without coming off like complete idiots. North Texas is quite lucky to be able to lay claim to them. Well, I say “North Texas,” but really, where is Cleburne?

The King Bucks/The Rich Girls/Here In Arms/GalleryCat/Greg Schroeder/The Vliets (Club Dada): I can’t think of anything more self-indulgent than a bunch of men comparing beards and mustaches, and I will only endorse an event like this when body hair is included as well. Or if they make it all bearded ladies. Until then, next…

SUNDAY

Lost Generation (Arcade Bar): Resident artist Wanz Dover says there will not be a guest this week, but you’ll still be in good hands.

Photo: Dan Hicks