Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: The Polyphonic Spree + The O’s + Jealous Creatures + Square and Compass + UPROAR Festival + More

New week, new pile of cool shows coming up, starting with tonight, Thursday, August 29th, when there’s definitely plenty going on. Here goes:

The Polyphonic Spree/The O’s/Seryn @ Fitzgerald’s
First up, I can’t help but love those sincere, wide-smiling, intensely-layered people in The Polyphonic Spree. Snicker if you want at their over-the-top sweetness and cultish trappings, the “band”‘s orchestral pop is utterly sublime, powered by Tim DeLaughter‘s overarching vision, and I defy you to try to come up with a band that sounds like it’s made of sunlight, like the Spree does. They shimmer and dance and grin and sway, and suddenly, you’re in a sunny field somewhere, watching the universe explode around you in all its majesty.

Plus, they’ve got fellow Dallas-dwellers The O’s — both of whom have also played in the Spree, apparently — on board for this tour. Despite the fact that indie-country/folk bands seem to be freaking everywhere this year, I’ve been enjoying the heck out of new album Thunderdog for a week or so now; John Pedigo and Taylor Young play the banjo and mandolin like you wouldn’t believe, and they bring enough of that aforementioned sunlight to the music that it comes off less like murky backwoods murder songs and more like the soundtrack for the best hillbilly hootenanny ever.

Boy + Kite/Jealous Creatures @ Mango’s
First, a bit of sadness: {Funeral Horse} was on the bill tonight up at Mango’s at one point, but they had to drop off for some reason. Never fear, however, because {Jealous Creatures} will still be there to rock you (gently) into a head-nodding, ’90s indie-meets-High Lonesome haze. I know I talk about this band a lot, but trust me, it’s warranted — they’re truly something different and unique and well worth seeing/hearing. They’re like the best parts of Magnapop, The Replacements, and The Cowboy Junkies, all combined into something you think maybe you’ve heard before but haven’t; it’s just one of those sounds your brain’s been wanting to hear.

Square and Compass/VerseCity/The Blackout Heist/Rocket 88/The Lovable Old James @ Warehouse Live (Green Room)
It’s a full bill over in the teeny-tiny Green Room at Warehouse Live tonight, and one you really ought to consider checking out. Headlining dudes {Square and Compass} have surged forwards this past couple of years to establish themselves as one of the best damn post-emo bands in town, and that’s a list that’s getting longer and longer each day. They do an awesomely Braid-like take on emo-ish indie-punk, coming off like about half my ’90s CD collection got stuffed in a blender and then chugged on top of a wall of speakers, with badass, spiraling pseudo-twin guitars and vocalist Thomas Heard‘s desperate-yet-tuneful sing-yelling over the top.

Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR Festival, featuring Alice in Chains, Jane’s Addiction, Coheed and Cambria, & Circa Survive @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Last but not least, there’s the UPROAR Festival out in The Woodlands; I’m sure that looking at this list, a lot of folks would be wondering why this is the bottom of the roster, but eh. While I do like Alice in Chains and Jane’s Addiction, and both bands are bona-fide icons, I’d much rather see the shows above, honestly.

I’d still love to check out those prog-metal oddballs Coheed and Cambria, though, even if I had no clue what their recent, poppier direction was like ’til I saw this strange, Trent Reznor-meets-Peter Gabriel video for “Number City”:

Runners-Up:
2nd Annual Notsuoh Fast Fest Body Art & Fashion Show, featuring Black Cove, Only Beast, Ornaments, The Ramonalisas, & Devil Killing Moth @ Notsuoh ($3)
Nick Gaitan & The Umbrella Man/Tekla Klebetnica @ The Big Top
Chin Xaou Ti Won/Raceway/Cool Piss @ Fitzgerald’s