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!