Dallas Music Blog

Today, we welcome back an old friend to the blog. That's right: It's the return of Aural Ambush, a feature we hope will be back and running regularly in these confines we call DC9. It's been a while, though, so, for those who may have forgotten the concept, a quick refresher: We grab an mp3 from an act stopping through the region, pop it onto our portable player, head out on the town, and capture man-on-the-street reactions to the track. Makes for a pretty decent time, actually, as the above clip, shot by Danny Fulgencio, more than demonstrates. Check it out.

The subject of this week's ambush: David Bazan, the former frontman of Pedro the Lion, and a group of bicycle polo (there exists such a thing, go figure) players and fans in Oak Cliff. As Daniel Rodrigue points out in this week's paper, Bazan's gone through something of a major religious transition of late...

A number of reviews have called his Barsuk debut a "breakup album" where God gets dumped--but, no disrespect intended, and God aside, Curse Your Branches comes across like a breakup album for a generation that's fed up with meaninglessness, unanswered questions and Bible-belt backwardness taking precedent over common decency. Continue reading...

Even so, a couple of our ambush victims knocked the song immediately for its religious face value. Oh well--at least one guy thinks it's pretty "legit."

Catch Bazan tonight at Dan's Silver Leaf, where he'll be performing a set alongside his labelmates in Say Hi (which was formerly--and awesomely--called Say Hi to Your Mom, a band of which Marky Mark would no doubt would approve). And for those of you playing along? Enjoy a free stream and download Bazan's "Bless This Mess" after the jump, courtesy of Barsuk.

Sarah Wilmer

This week, two new interns joined the Aural Ambush squad and our $20 Discman was replaced with a borrowed iPod. A few weeks/months off and suddenly this is a high class operation? Well, actually, that's fitting: Only the best would do for the esteemed Knox Street patrons and joggers of the nearby Katy Trail, who kindly took a breather for a few minutes of "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" by Los Campesinos!, a seven-piece indie pop rock outfit from Wales.

(We'll have a Q&A with drummer Ollie Campesinos up later this week, too, so keep an eye out for that...)

Most agreed that the track was upbeat, '80s-sounding and British--all pretty spot on. And the song seemed to give our sidewalk critics renewed vigor to return to the trails or the nearby dry cleaners. After such a sweaty day, we promise to generously Lysol our headphones before the next Ambush--so don't worry if we happen upon you next time...

Jump with us to hear the track and see what this batch of listeners thought of it...

You can get away with calling TV on the Radio lots of things -- post-punk, art rock, whatever you like. The amateur music critics we found at Mockingbird Station Monday afternoon tried all those and then some -- even hinting that the track "Golden Age" off the New York set's new album Dear Science, was just way too old for them. After all, it came out a little over a month ago.

TV on the Radio play the Lakewood Theater tonight, but this week's Aural Ambush is playing right now, after the jump.

The British indie pop duo The Ting Tings provide the soundtrack to Aural Ambush this week. We sprung their single "That's Not My Name" on some music-lovers outside the Granada and along Greenville Avenue Thursday night. All liked the song's beat, but there was plenty of disagreement beyond that -- one of our critics couldn't even decide if it was his wife, or his girlfriend, he'd take to see them play live.

The Ting Tings play the Pontiac Garage at the House of Blues tonight -- and you can see them FREE if you're the first one to write back and ask really nicely. Put "Ting Tings" in the subject line.

The Ting Tings play tonight at the Pontiac Garage at the House of Blues.

To hear it in full, here's the song:

--Patrick Michels

Aural Ambush is back this week, with a handful of folks around West Village weighing in on "Morning Tide” by the Little Ones. The Los Angeles fivesome says their sound blends indie, folk rock and psychedelia -- but the shoppers and workers we caught had ideas of their own. "Morning Tide" is the title track off the band's debut album, just released last Tuesday, October 7.

The Little Ones perform with the Walkmen tonight at 10 p.m., at the Pontiac Garage at the House of Blues.

In case you want to hear it without our ambushees' commentary, here's the mp3:

Bonus mp3: The Little Ones -- "Morning Tide"

--Patrick Michels and Daniel Rodrigue

This week, in the blazing afternoon sun, Aural Ambush trudged around West Village on the hunt for citizens who would don our headphones and listen to “Eraser” by No Age. The song is the second track on Nouns, the Los Angeles-based band’s newest album, and its first record on Sub Pop (well, other than the 7-inch-single for “Eraser” that preceded the full-length).

Most of the songs on the album are fuzzed-out, thick-as-gravy and take repeated listenings to appreciate. And, knowing that, we still decided to discover what people on the street had to say. Not surprisingly, their takes varied...

No Age performs on Monday, June 30, at 6 p.m. at Good Records, and later that night with Abe Vigoda and Infinite Body at The Loft.

And if you like the track and you want to hear it again, feel free to download it below for, um, free...

Bonus mp3: No Age -- "Eraser"

And, while we don’t have tickets to give away for the band’s show at The Loft, well, you don’t need tickets to stop by Good Records for the free in-store. --Daniel Rodrigue

This week, armed again with our discman, headphones and camera, we ambushed unsuspecting citizens at The Shops at Legacy in Plano, where we’ll be spending at least part of our weekend.

We played our victims the song “(My Head)” by Times New Viking of Columbus, Ohio. The track is on the noise-rock outfit’s third album, Rip It Off.

This Saturday night, Times New Viking will be playing at Club Dada with two deserving local acts, Record Hop and Teenage Cool Kids. Should be a great show.

So, if you like the song and you want to hear it again, feel free to download it:

Bonus mp3: Times New Viking -- "(My Head)"

Oh, and the first two people to e-mail Pete with “I like my Vikings new, timely and very, very dissonant” in the subject line will win a pair of tickets to the show. --Daniel Rodrigue

This week, we grabbed our $20 discman, popped in a CD from Grand Ole Party and drove over to the Half Price Books on Northwest Highway. After the ambushees consented to donning our headphones, we pressed play, nudged up the volume up and subjected them to “Look Out Young Son,” the first track off the San Diego band’s debut album.

Grand Ole Party, along with Red Monroe and Man Factory, plays at The Cavern on Saturday night. Doors open at 9 p.m.

And if you like the track, and you want to hear it again, feel free to download it...

Bonus mp3: Grand Ole Party -- "Look Out Young Son"

And also? The first person to e-mail Pete with “I want me some GOP” in the subject line wins a pair of tickets to the show.

Update: Contest is over. Congrats to our winner. (But, remember, we're still giving away tickets to the Evangelicals show...) --Daniel Rodrigue

This week, we again sent Observer interns Daniel Rodrigue and Spencer Campbell out onto the streets armed with a cheap-ass walkman and a copy of a song from a band coming through town.

The song in tow for this go-round was the French Kicks' "Abandon," and the dynamic intern duo found themselves a willing and impressively insightful barista in Mason Weaver out in front of Whole Foods' Lower Greenville location. As a result of their find, this installment's a little different--we liked Weaver's take so much, we let him have the full-length of the song to give his take. Check it out:

And if you want more of the song, feel free to download it.

Bonus mp3: French Kicks -- "Abandon"

And if you really want more of the band, check 'em out tonight at 9 at the Granada Theater. --Pete Freedman

Denton’s had a big week. So, for this edition of Aural Ambush we drove from our Dallas office all the way to Denton’s town square. Our mission: to find out what people think about New York-based Japanther’s poppy-punk track “$100 Cover” off its 2007 album Skuffed Up My Huffy.

Want more of the song? Download it:

Bonus mp3: Japanther -- "$100 Cover"

And catch Japanther playing this Sunday at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios in Denton with The Pharmacy and Naxat. Doors open at 9 p.m. -- Chelsea Ide and Daniel Rodrigue

This week we sent Observer intern Daniel Rodrigue out on the town to find out what real people think about What Made Milwaukee Famous' single "Sultan" ...and videotape their reactions. See what your fellow Dallasites made of the track, which Stereogum, Pitchfork and NPR all dig. (Oh, Pete, Daniel and I all like it, too.)

Wish you could have been on the video espousing your love/hate of the song? Well, you're in luck (sort of), because we're making Aural Ambush a weekly thing here on DC-9. Each Thursday we'll offer up a video of on-the-street (OK, it might be indoor) reviews of songs from bands about to hit Dallas area stages. -- Chelsea Ide