Saturday, April 5, 2008

Riff Raff: Odds and ends in local music (March 30-April 5)

By Erin Rice

Better than your birthday

Good Records held off celebrating their 8th birthday until April 19th so it can coincide with Record Store Day, a national movement to bring awareness to... record stores. GR plans to bring in a hefty lineup of local musicians playing music from 11 a.m until after midnight. The lineup includes The Theater Fire, Bridges and Blinking Lights, Mom, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, Dug Burr, Sarah Jaffe, Fishboy, Mount Righteous, John Congelton, Astronautalis, The Baptist Generals, Lions, Robert Gomez, Red Monroe, Fight Bite, Frogboy, The Great Tyrant, Jetscreamer, Record Hop, Colourmusic, and The Black Angels. Not only do you get all those bands for free, but there will also be great deals on CDs, a button maker, and T-shirt bar mobile, and food for meat eaters and vegetarians alike.

Smile Smile - Blue Roses

Smile Smile signs up and wins the Prinze

The folky, pop duo of Smile Smile (Ryan Hamilton and Jencey Hirunrusme) inked a deal with Kirtland Records earlier this week. As part of the deal, their well-received independent release Blue Roses will be re-released nationwide. The Kirtland roster also includes Bush, The Burden Brothers, The Hourly Radio, The Toadies, and The Vanished, among others.

Ryan and Jencey also caught the ear of the crew from Freddie Prinze, Jr.'s upcoming movie, Jack and Jill vs. The World. Their single "Anymore" from Blue Roses will join a a list of others, including Rilo Kiley, on the movie's soundtrack.

That Unit 21 is so hot in Japan right now

Clearly after years of anime induced seizures, youth in Japan can't handle their entertainment at regular speeds anymore. Courtesy of XtremeDFW.com, we've learned that Unit 21, a thrash punk band from Arlington, will release their upcoming album, Death Stripes on Under the Surface Records, a Japan-based label. Unit 21 kicks off an extensive European and Japanese tour on April 18, but lucky Dallas fans can get their last glimpse of the group tonight, April 5 at the Red Blood Club, a tour fundraiser/show for the band.

Dimebag Darrell

Pantera walks off with #12 best riff of all time

British tabloid, The Sun, and UK guitar school, Guitar X, announced their list of the Top 25 guitar riffs of all time. Topping the list is "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, followed by Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Coming in at #12 is DFW's own version of metal royalty, Pantera, with the guitar riff from "Walk," just beating out Chuck Berry's "Jonny Be Goode." See the whole list at Idolater.

Tidbits

According to 102.1 The Edge, Toadies tickets, which went on sale yesterday for their June 21 show at the Ridglea Theatre, sold out in 40 minutes.

Myplasticfriends announced in February they were breaking up. Our mourning period has finally come to an end so we can share this news with you.

Silence After Sundown has not disappeared, they are just working on their new EP. They have six new songs written and will head into the studio in late Spring, early Summer. Beforehand, however, they will be playing a handful of shows around the area starting on May 9 at the Max.

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