17 October 2010

Blackstone Ranger, Suuns & Land of Talk @ The Nightmare, Dallas Texas

This is the first time that I've ever had the pleasure of going to Deep Ellum and I must say, I was thoroughly impressed. Although I did miss the Zombie Walk 2010, there were still plenty of zombies lurking around the area especially when we stopped for dinner at Cafe Brazil.

The Nightmare from what I hear is a new venue...or at least a newly owned venue. $2.50 cans of lone star & pbr were fantastic, and the other beer prices weren't bad at all.

The show got off to a late start and the local opener was an electronic indie duo called "Blackstone Ranger". They have a lot of potential. You know me...I'm a sucker for duos, especially when the drums are artificially manufactured. The girl had a great voice, although it didn't always seem to fit the music and she had interesting synth melodies and even broke out a trumpet for one song. More of that please. The guy sang as well, and played guitar and at points reminded me a bit of Morrissey. I'm not sure how long they've been around but I think they could definitely do something with a little fine tuning.

I'd been looking forward to seeing what Suuns had to offer. (pronounced suns or soons, not sure yet.....there was debate even from Land of Talk's frontwoman) I had heard good things from my friends that caught the show in Cleveland and had checked them out online. I was impressed not only with the perfect amount of noise and melody that they brought to the table but also that they were essentially the backing band for land of talk. Double duty! Check out the video below of Suuns performing 'Arena'. Sorry it's darker than I'd hoped it would be. Also pick up their debut album 'Zeroes QC'. I did and it's amazing.




Land of Talk took the stage shortly before midnight. Elizabeth Powell started the show alone with the title track of their latest album, 'Cloak and Cipher'.



Land of Talk played through a majority of songs from their new album, which I was okay with since it's fantastic and one of my favorite albums of the year. They also played a few of the best tracks from their other albums including 'Speak to Me Bones', 'Some are Lakes', and 'May You Never'.



All in all it was an amazing show and I'm glad Land of Talk finally made it down to Texas and brought Suuns with them.

Thanks to all the Zombies I saw throughout Deep Ellum as you helped make my night even more enjoyable!

11 October 2010

Potential second great metal album of 2010

Intronaut - Valley of Smoke (2010)

Check out the link above to head on over to metalsucks and stream the latest record from Intronaut. 'Valley of Smoke' appears to have what it needs to be the second great metal album of 2010. "Only Second?" you ask? At this point in my life, I'm highly selective and 90% of metal released is mindless music that is stealing from music that was written better 15 years ago. Hrmm, perhaps I sound a bit old but that's just how it is. The other album you should get your hands on is 'After' by Ihsahn. It came out earlier this year and it's fantastic.

Anyways, 'Valley of Smoke' comes out tomorrow and if you pre-ordered this bad boy like I did, you'll be most likely receiving an awesome shirt as well.

Please, do yourself a favor and pick this up from cmdistro.com. If you don't really need the physical disc or vinyl, then head over to amazon.com or Itunes. I'm sure they'll both have it.

03 October 2010

Avia Hotel - The Woodlands, Texas - AVOID THE BAR!

I'd like you to tell me where you see Bourbon in this drink? And how this looks anything like the advertisement which was supposedly Bourbon on the rocks. Isn't that false advertising?



And here's the original ad that made me want to order the drink in the first place.



How is that the same at all? I was just really disappointed. I won't be spending any more time there, that's for sure. Nor will I be recommending it to anyone.

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