Fort Worth/Denton/Oak Cliff, 5.20-21.2025

Going to try and do this fast because it's late and tomorrow will be a busy one.

After giving the Tarrant County Commissioners Court my one-minute opinion of their flagrant attempt at a racist gerrymander via unwarranted, out-of-cycle, hastily and secretively conducted redistricting, I needed a tonic and got one in the form of a four-band bill in the Rubber Room at Denton's Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios where I knew people in three of the bands.

Solan Dorr is the trio of Taylor Collins (Ogonosu) on piano and analog synth, Max Twaddle on vocals and acoustic guitar, and Dorian Marsh on electric guitar. Their performance brought to mind an orchestral performance where different sections are heard at different times, or listening to a rock album from the psychedelic era. Max does a nice line in fingerpicking his 6 and 12-strings, with the resultant output processed by Taylor a la Brian Eno to add texture and color to the organically produced sounds. Taylor then soloed on his synesthetically color-coded keyboard, before Dorian -- a protege of Dallas guitar ninja Gregg Prickett -- showcased his highly distinctive approach on a battered vintage Kay. Tuning to an open C# chord and using an arsenal of effects including ample reverb, Dorian played in a drone-based modal style with a powerful rhythmic attack. A band and individual players I'd dig to hear more.

Second band, a trio called Ten Kilowatt Test Drive, included a couple of familiar faces: drummer Quincy Holloway (Sub Oslo, Dove Hunter), Ean Parsons (Pinkston) on bass, and man for all seasons Paddy Flynn (Tame Tame and Quiet, Werewolf Victim Revival, Goiter Belt) up front on guitar. I remember seeing Paddy playing solo acoustic at the Grackle a few months back, returning to playing after a hiatus, and it's good to see him playing out in a variety of contexts. On this occasion, the sound was thunderous and shoegazy, with Paddy's voice swimming low in the electric tsunami while Quincy propelled the band the way he does (the only musician in Sub Oslo who couldn't stop playing during their dub exorcisms). Bold and bracing.

I'd heard Chris Welch sing his songs a few times since he returned to performing after recovering from a stroke, both solo and with two or three musicians. This was the first time I'd experienced the songs from his new album, Discarded Lives, Forgotten Names (due out in August) with a full band including Holly Manning on violin and backing vocals, Kelly Evans on keys, Cade Bundrick on drums, the ubiquitous Ryan Williams on upright bass, and the aforementioned Paddy Flynn on guitar. While Chris's ragged-but-right voice remains the centerpiece, having strong support, especially from Holly as a second voice and instrumental soloist, opens up the music and gives the songs added depth and dimension. Looking forward to hearing the record.

After that I had to bail before Assisted Living's closing set, as I had plans to go hike in the Fort Worth Nature Center in the morning with my buddy Dan. Which we did.

The following evening, my buddy Mike and I headed for Oak Cliff and The Wild Detectives, which played host to an intriguing triple bill. 

Opening set was by the duo of bassist-vocalist Aaron Gonzalez, playing at a peak creative level since returning from a tour of Europe with Humanization 4tet, and vocalist extraordinaire Lily Taylor, who since her ethereal 2023 album Amphora has been exploring some thornier terrain. In the past, the duo has performed jazz standards -- a challenge in such a stripped-down format, Aaron says -- but more recently, they've been focused on improvisational performance (documented on a recording we may hear soon). The contrast of Lily's impeccable control and dulcet tones with Aaron's manic glossolalia is striking, and they intertwined their voices through several dynamic shifts, with Aaron's bass serving as both a rhythmic and tonal anchor.

Houston bassist-composer Thomas Helton, a familiar of pianist Matthew Shipp (who'll perform solo in Houston's Rothko Chapel on June 20), was making a rare visit to the DFW area, and his presence brought out the likes of Fort Worth Symphony assistant principal bassist Paul Unger and Denton bass eminence Drew Phelps. Helton opened with a demonstration of his pizzicato mastery, using an expansive and highly percussive right hand technique, and is the first bassist I've ever seen fret the instrument with his chin. His arco double and triple stops created a dense thicket of sound, his rapid bowing making the sounds of abrasion and ricocheting overtones palpable. The venue's decision to move the show inside proved to be particularly auspicious for this set and the one that followed, as the wooden-floored room captured the acoustical qualities of the instruments better than the open air would have, however pleasant it might have felt.

The closing set was by Los Angeles-based percussionist Adam Lion, who took a deep dive into the sonic possibilities of the vibraphone. Adam removes the damping bar from his instrument for greater resonance, and opened with an episode where he bowed one of the bars to create a resonant drone, striking adjacent tones to create dissonance as the overtones collided. (Coincidentally, Lily and Aaron had talked earlier about playing all the permutations of a single note, which Adam then demonstrated.) His mallet work was deft, with a fine sense of control, closing with some virtuoso multi-mallet fireworks. Some of the sonic analogs his performance called to mind included Phill Niblock, gamelan, and Philip Glass -- all legit, he said later. He said he got the gig after running into The Wild Detectives music honcho Ernesto Monteil on the street at Big Ears Festival a few years ago, and took him up on an invitation to come to Texas. He's currently on tour, after which he'll spend a couple of months in North Carolina. We hope to hear him back in Dallas (and maybe Denton, too) soon.