Clouseaux

Hot damn, these guys (and girls, too) are good. I never thought I’d say it, but one of my favorite CDs of the past year or so, it turns out, is a blend of cosmopolitan lounge-pop and surfy-sounding “exotica” that sounds like the soundtrack to a freaky B-movie where people shipwrecked on a desert isle have to fight the cannibalistic natives…and then win their trust and hang out sipping cocktails and dancing the tropical night away. I’m talking about Lagoon!, the latest from local tiki-lounge empresarios Clouseaux. The band’s practically a “who’s who” of local rock, funk, and jazz bands, featuring (at various times) ex- and current members of The Suspects, Middlefinger, The Magnetic IV, Three Fantastic, Janitor, Secret Agent 8, The Plus & Minus Show, and Zombilly, but somehow all those influences got set aside to make some of the coolest, most laid-back, swankiest island instrumental music I’ve ever heard. I’ve only heard bits and pieces of their previous EP, Destination Oasis, and none at all of their self-titled debut, but Lagoon! is freakin’ incredible. Absolutely perfect for lounging around out by the pool on a warm summer’s day (even if your pool, like mine, is of the somewhat-worse-for-wear aboveground variety). Plus, the band’s darn good live — I’ve seen ’em once or twice now, and they’re pretty impressive. Go check ’em out…

• Yr Friday Night: PUP + Miears + Ancient Cat Society + Tee Vee + The Tontons + Flower Graves + Bottom of the Food Chain + More
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: The Suspects 25 Anniversary + The Ex-Optimists + The Cryptographers + A Sundae Drive + Wild Moccasins + VODI + John Allen Stephens + More
• Frog Hair — Houston’s Fuckin’ Awesomest Supergroup — Is Also a Really Old Figure of Speech.
• Tonight: The Suspects, Making Old Brand-New Once Again Up at Walter’s
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Chase Hamblin & The Roustabouts (Rev’d!) + Murder the Stout + Clouseaux + The March Divide + More
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: The Eastern Sea (Rev’d!) + Young Mammals + Belle Manoir + Fat Tony + Close Your Eyes + More
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: The Suspects + Blaggards + Houston Free Thinkers + Tyagaraja + Folk Family Revival + FlyFest + More
• Yr. (Late) Weekend, Pt. 1: The Skatalites + Clouseaux + Laura Stevenson + Square and Compass + More
• Yr. Weekend: Quintron + FPH NYE Cataclysm + CSMDP + The Suspects + Bonanzarama + More
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 3: Via Colori + Katz Coffee Porter Party + Indian Jewelry + Folk-Punk + More
• The Wild Moccasins
• Balaclavas
• The Literary Greats
• Scale The Summit
• Muhammad Ali