Dallas Blog

Missed NX35? Or, perhaps, you just wanna relive all the glory (or at least some of it)? Well, today's your lucky day, hotshot, 'cause a Youtuber named wwunderful went and uploaded a whole slew of clips from the fest for your viewing pleasure, including the above clip of Telegraph Canyon performing "All The Good News" at Banter. Enjoy.

Matt Nager

Last of the Interceptors at Andy's Bar on Saturday night.

To cap off our NX35 coverage, we're including a slideshow of photos from a handful of shows on Friday and Saturday night. It's a large set, so to help you navigate through the shots, we'll break it down band-by-band...

• Grassfight
• Clint Niosi
• True Widow
• Possessed By Paul James
• The Theater Fire
• The Chameleon Chamber Group
• Billy Roy's One Man Band
• The Low Anthem
• Last of the Interceptors
• The Fieros
• Bosque Brown

Enjoy!

With so many talented local acts, like Fishboy and Shiny Around the Edges, and touring acts, like Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Moth Fight, it's really difficult not to let the insanity that was Monotonix's packed-out show at Hailey's overshadow all the other bands that played NX35 on Sunday night.

Everyone's heard about bands that are "a force of nature" or a "train wreck", but until you actually see Monotonix live, nothing you've heard about those three long-haired Israelis can prepare you for seeing the real thing.

After Monotonix's set, Michael Seman of Shiny Around the Edges boldly declared, "That was the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life. Ever." 

Sunday night's performance was the kind of memorable show that in five--or maybe ten--years from now people will still be saying, "Remember when Monotonix played at Hailey's?"

Daniel Rodrigue

As promised, our photos from the show, in all the high-contrast, white-striped, goodness that has got to be Polaroid, are up in this slideshow.

It was quite the show, too. Monotonix's three members led the Hailey's crowd all around the venue, from the stage, to the floor, to the sound booth, to the side room and, eventually, outside and into the streets. As expected, the packed house ate up everything the band tossed its way. At one point, even, as one band member hid under a rug in the middle of the venue floor, the crowd began bowing in reverence for the show.

A fitting way to end the festival? You bet. Said NX35 organizer Chris Flemmons as the crowd swirled around him: "This is like the exclamation point on the whole thing."

BANDS: Lydia and PlayRadioPlay!
VENUE: Rubber Gloves
TIME: 10:30pm

After prying myself away from Billy Roy's One Man Show on the Square, I grabbed a bite to eat. Then off to Rubber Gloves it was.

And, actually, the atmosphere inside the venue was stifling. Walking from the bar into the performance space, a palpable 20 degree temperature difference was easily detected. Oh, that and the overwhelming smell of body odor.Just breathe through your mouth, I told myself.

The dusty room had thick coils of various cables hanging from the walls, and the crowd reached as far back as the sound board. Amy Winehouse played overhead between sets, and the sound of shattering beer bottles in the next room wasn't all that startling by the end of the night...

If you managed a band in 1999 and told your clients to forget the major labels and focus on "social networking" while giving away free tracks--you wouldn't have lasted long enough to even be working today.

But at least you could say "I told ya so."

Ten years (and countless futile RIAA lawsuits) later, this is the new conventional wisdom. And  the folks behind NX35 wanted to make sure everyone understood, so they hosted a discussion panel, "Redefining the Music Industry Through Social Networking", which basically amounted to five people telling you to get a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

BAND: Moth Fight
VENUE: Dan's Silverleaf
TIME: 8:30 p.m. 

Having caught Austin's Moth Fight last October at the "Swiss House" in Dallas, I was pretty sure what to expect last night--from the band and the audience. So, watching the group wow an audience of about 50 people was no surprise, nor was seeing a handful of local artists and others in the crowd slide into full "discovery" mode.

Listening to Moth Fight, it's easy to start throwing out a half-dozen or more "sounds-like-so-and-so" comparisons. After all, the band clearly possesses a similar sound and energy to Arcade Fire mixed with the imagination and unpredictability of Animal Collective (with spoons and a bunch of circuit-bent toys thrown in for good measure).

But even if you don't dig either of the aforementioned bands, that doesn't necessarily mean you wouldn't like Moth Fight's catchy brand of "avant-garde children's music."

The show was a blast, but if you couldn't make it to Dan's for the show, take a minute to drop by Moth Fight's MySpace page and check out "Hopscotch."

Kelly Knickerbocker

BAND: Billy Roy's One Man Band
VENUE: Anywhere he wants really--this time it's on the Square
TIME: 9 p.m.

A glass-encapsulated man playing a barrage of instruments at the corner of Locust and Oak Streets got my attention--and the attention of plenty of others--on the Square last night.

He rocked the piano, key bass, harmonica, bass drum, snare drum, hi-hat cymbals, helmarine, ring wong, cow bell, rub-n-roll, headbanger and fiddle--all at once! And he was funny too! A real crowd-pleaser...

BAND: Fishboy
VENUE: Banter
TIME: 9 (or thereabouts)

If you didn't catch Fishboy at its Sunday night NX35 gig, you missed out on on an hour of manic, jangly-stringed, hollow-bodied goodness.

Oh, and stirring mid-song conversation: "Settle a bet for me," singer Eric Michener, aka Fishboy, asked the crowd. "Does 'panini' just mean 'smashed sandwich?'"

The gig was band's the first to feature new drummer Tommy Garcia.

Replacing a member can be a tricky trade-off between skills and musical chemistry, but Garcia's dance-y, Brit-pop inspired beats didn't sound out of place. My knees couldn't help bouncing.

This is a good sign for a band who has two sounds (clean and dirty) and two volumes (hauntingly soft or herd-of-bulls-in-a-china-shop loud)--if you feel like dancing, then you won't notice the absence of guitar solos and the bipolar dynamics become even more dramatic.

The trio plays again Tuesday night at J&J's Pizza and has a trip to Austin coming soon. But bassist Justin Lloyd says the band wants to get more serious about playing shows: "I gave up health insurance so I could go on tour."

BAND: The Show Is The Rainbow
VENUE: Hailey's
TIME: 10:30ish

Crowds aren't really drawn to Lincoln, Nebraska, native Darren Keen's one-man band The Show Is The Rainbow. But once audiences glance over at the pudgy,sweaty Keen gryating/dancing away, they sure have trouble looking away.

Or, at least, as much was the case at Hailey's last night as Keen warmed the swelling crowd for Monotonix's highly anticipated set. Crowd members may have variedly danced to, smiled along with, shook their heads at and poked fun at the performance, but one thing's for sure: They all watched, at once befuddled and entertained.

Nestled comfortably between "sardonic genius" and "utter trainwreck", The Show Is The Rainbow's sound at once recalls Ratatat (with its powerful guitar licks), Cake (with its ironically detached vocals) and hipster hop (with its blips and beeps and sometimes quick-paced vocals) as its show conjurs a mix of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and a bad acid trip.

Was it artful? Sure. Was it entertaining? Absolutely. Was it memorable? Pretty much.

It might not have been a pot of gold, but, at the end of The Show Is The Rainbow, crowds seemed pleased enough (if a littled miffed as well).