We have another great review from Tommy Garcia today. And, again, sit tight because we have a big project in the works that will not disappoint you.

By Tommy Garcia

Band of Horses and Midlake played to a capacity crowd at the Verizon Center in Grand Prairie Thursday night. Both bands expanded their signature sounds to project to a massive venue that surely would have dwarfed lesser acts.

The show opened with North Carolina based singer songwriter Tyler Ramsey. Ramsey shuffled between several open-tuned acoustic guitars throughout his concise six-song set. Carrying the banner for this generation’s obsession with and emulation of Neil Young, Ramsey gently finger picked through melancholy, laconic tunes, often times recalling a stripped down version of Fleet Foxes. Ramsey’s smooth vocals and reflective folk musings provided a nice back drop as the audience slowly streamed in.

Denton’s own Midlake peeked their heads out from Panhandle House Studios, where the band is hard at work crafting their next album, to support their friends Band of Horses. The band opened their set with “Winter Dies”, from last year’s polarizing release The Courage of Others. The band stuck to songs from Courage and their break-out album, 2006’s The Trials of Van Occupanther. As the band kicked in to the driving “Roscoe”, lead singer Tim Smith joked, “This is the song that made us rich and famous.”

With seven musicians on stage playing keyboard, flute, guitar, bass and drums, Midlake projected a massive, majestic sound that lifted and projected throughout the auditorium. The sound stood at odds with the production and presentation of the band on its records, where the arrangements and mood of the songs are often plaintive, sparse and possess a quiet beauty.

Drummer McKenzie Smith pounded on his kick drum and crash cymbal with mallets and led the band into a jam session that gradually transitioned into one of Van Occupanther’s stand-out tracks, “Young Bride,” recalling such ’70s progressive rock acts as King Crimson and Jethro Tull.

As the band proceeded into Courage’s lead-off single, “The Acts of Man”, Smith quipped, “This is the song that didn’t make us rich and famous.” Since the band didn’t offer any new material in their set, it will be interesting to see which direction the band will seek on their upcoming studio release.

Headliners Band of Horses powered through an emotive and powerful set of songs from their three studio albums. The band primarily focused on songs from last year’s Fat Possum release, Infinite Arms. That album elevated the band from indie favorite to full-fledged rock powerhouse, just below similarly styled indie superstars such as Death Cab for Cutie and The Shins.

The band rose from the ashes of Seattle band Carissa’s Weird, who had a tremendous following in the Pacific Northwest. Though they put put out several well-received albums, one could not have imagined that the band members of that outfit would ever headline large arenas on a full-scale US tour.

Band of Horse’s set highlights included loud, passionate takes on “Laredo”, “Blue Beard” and “On My Way Back Home”. Their performance mixed jangly, reverb-laden folk tunes with big rock drums and lifting harmonies. The band’s sound was also nicely accompanied by a driving organ that would have made Garth Hudson of The Band proud.

Classic rock has regained its voice.

Akron/Family has the distinction of being the band that first took Warpaint on tour and as many of you who were lucky enough to catch that rather excellent show at the Granada last year know, A/F doesn’t just take any band on tour, they take bands who can help them turn the venue into a swirling tempest of dancing chaos. This bodes well for Thursday night’s opener (and 35C) performer Delicate Steve.

The most recent A/F offering, Akron/Family II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT, continues the bands deconstruction of what “folk/experimentation” should be as they yet again push the boundaries on what you would expect from their earlier work. We consider this a good thing as it’s actually kind of fun to watch a band continually evolve.

This Thursday you will have a chance to see if anything I just typed is true as the band takes over the cozy confines of The Loft, and because we love you we’re giving away two pairs of tickets for the show. To win, send an email with “Akron/Family loves you” in the subject line and your name in the body (seriously … we only want your name) to giveaways@daybowbow.net by 11:59 p.m. We’ll notify winners tomorrow/Wednesday.

Akron/Family plays The Loft on Thursday, March 31 with the very danceable openers Delicate Steve. The show starts at 8:30 and tickets are $12 in advance and $14 the day of the show.

By Tommy Garcia

Tommy Garcia, the drummer for Fishboy and an all-around bad-ass with impeccable taste in music and a knack for finding the best free shows that SXSW has to offer, wrote a review of the Black Angels’ set at South By San Jose. It’s a surefire distraction from that nasty hangover!

Waves of reverb-drenched sound emanated from the stage as the Black Angels played a free show to a captivated audience on March 19th at the annual South by San Jose bash, an unofficial SXSW event.

The band kicked off their set with “Bad Vibrations”, the opener from their latest record, Phosphene Dream (Light in the Attic), which was released late last year. Lead guitarist Christian Bland used his dynamic tremolo drone to lead the band into a psychedelic abyss. In true ironic form, “Bad Vibrations” was preceded by the last song of the Angels’ pre-show music–the Beach Boys’ landmark psychedelic opus, “Good Vibrations.”

The set was a mix of songs from the band’s three full-length releases, with more focus on the material from their newest record. A particular highlight of the set was a take on the band’s “Sniper at the Gates of Heaven”, in which the band locked in tight around a dark and heavily distorted groove.

Lead singer Alex Mass picked up a Hofner bass guitar and put down his signature maracas and tambourine for several songs, adding a heavy bottom end to the Angels’ already propulsive rhythm section. Drummer Stephanie Bailey pounded hypnotically on her floor tom and ride cymbal while spacey guitar and swirling bits of organ were added to the mix to bolster the garage rock swagger.

Melding a high potency mix of the Velvet Underground , Jesus and Mary Chain and Austin’s own legendary psychedelic pioneers, the 13th Floor Elevators, and with a flair for the sounds of more modern psychedelic groups such as The Warlocks, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Spiritualized, the Black Angels have consistently raised the bar with each successive release and tour.

The Black Angels’ set at this year’s SXSW performance showed the band exerting an assured confidence and passionate take on their dark, uniquely psychedelic sound.

Hey, loyal readers! It’s been a skimpy few weeks here at DayBowBow. 35 Conferette took center stage, then I found a 9ish to 5ish job that started two weeks earlier than planned. So I haven’t been able to nurture this child that Jaime and I have been raising lately (by that I mean this blog, of course … cos we’re just friends and therefore don’t have an actual baby together). I feel bad for neglecting this site and along with it you guys, but as you may have gathered we have some big plans in the works for it.

Yesterday, while at said job, I was checking my email (for work-related reasons, mind you) when I found a kind message and a lovely song from one of my local favorites, Roy Robertson. (Side note: How many commas does one sentence need? We need an extra copy editor. Wow.)

Apparently the song didn’t fit with the others on an EP he’s been working on, but he still wanted it to be heard. Well, so do I, Roy. I didn’t have time to post it yesterday, but today I can showcase it.

On “Collecting Dust”, Roy goes full-on psychedelic and lo-fi. A lesser music fan would be tempted to compare him to Animal Collective or Ariel Pink … perhaps even one of the seemingly thousands of indie musicians who have chosen to mimic them the past couple of years.

But Roy Robertson is an original. The sound he creates, while clearly revealing its influences, is wholly organic. It comes from within him. He stirs together those influences with his own unique vision and creates something fresh.

Hell … just listen to/download it yourself. I don’t fancy myself a tastemaker, just a lover of music trying to share beauty with anyone who’s willing to listen to or read my opinions.

Roy Robertson–Collecting Dust

The accompanying music video, which consists of what I believe is footage of a Denton street (although I didn’t know anywhere in Denton had consistent sidewalks), filmed from a car. It makes for a near-hypnotic affect. I suggest watching it:

Destroyer began in 1995 as a solo project for Dan Bejar, the Vancouver singer-songwriter also known as a member of The New Pornographers. Since then, the project has expanded to include other various members and has released 13 studio recordings, nine of them full-length.

The most recent Destroyer offering, is a quirky (a style Bejar is a master of) take on 80s pop-rock. It’s a continuation of Bejar’s experimentation with different sounds and genres. No matter what the genre, however, the music is always distinct because of Bejar’s voice.

On Saturday, Destroyer will be bringing its special brand of music to The Loft. And we have two pairs of tickets for the show. To win, send an email with “Destroyer” in the subject line and your name in the body (seriously … we only want your name) to giveaways@daybowbow.net by 11:59 p.m. We’ll notify winners tomorrow.

Destroyer plays The Loft on Saturday, March 26 with openers War on Drugs and Nervous Curtains. The show starts at 8:30 and tickets are $12 in advance and $14 the day of the show.