Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: The Western Civilization + Cool Moon + texture: Yellow + Young Mammals + Velveteen Echo + Löwin + Sevendust + More

This weekend, y’all…damn. There is a veritable shit-ton of awesome shows happening, starting with tonight, Friday, September 21st, so I feel compelled to try to blather about some of it, at the very least; apologies if I leave anybody out.

A little bad news first, though — I just learned that Tennessee-by-way-of-L.A. singer/songwriter Meg Myers, whose music I’ve become somewhat obsessed with this past week, has had to reschedule all her Texas tour dates due to an unforeseen surgery. That includes tonight’s show here at the House of Blues, which has been pushed back to Monday, October 29th. It’s a bummer, but hopefully Myers will be back on her feet quickly…

With that done, away we go:

The Western Civilization/Cool Moon/texture: Yellow @ Spruce Goose Social Flyers Club
At the top of my own personal list (which, yes, you’re currently reading) sits this show, which I’m excited as hell about. It’s been too damn long since I’ve seen The Western Civilization play live — something like a decade, I think, going back to when they played the Westheimer Block Party back in 2009. I know Reggie O’Farrell and Rachel Hansbro have done a couple of low-key shows by themselves, but I’m hearing this will be the first Western Civ performance with a full band since the 2010 Summerfest.

Back when I first heard/saw the band, I was at kind of a low point, music-wise. I wasn’t listening to or writing about music as much as I had, partly because I was fixated on politics and partly because a lot of Houston bands I’d loved had faded away around that time. When I listened to Letters of Resignation, though, it blew me away — hell, it still does, with its unassuming-yet-powerful indie jangle-rock vibe, smart, sharp-edged lyrics, are wonderful call-and-response vocals. The guitars are sneaky, seeming to just amble along while they’re really doing surprisingly complex, interesting things, the band members’ voices all wind in and around one another’s, and everything seems chilled-out, but there’s still an undercurrent of bitter resentment flowing beneath. It’s pretty awesome.

The Western Civ were one of two bands (the other being sorely underrated band The Church of Philadelphia) I ran across back then that honestly rekindled my love of music, Houston-made and otherwise. Not even kidding, here; I heard the band, and suddenly, all the reasons I loved music came rushing back in. I owe these folks big. Hearing ’em even got me to do a real-live, sit-down interview with the whole damn band, something that tends to make my socially-awkward self twitch.

So yeah, I’m looking forward to this a whole heck of a lot. Plus, it helps that the show is at the Spruce Goose Social Flyers Club, which I’ve been meaning to check out, and that they’ve got Cool Moon (which includes former/current? Western Civ member Anthony Schillaci on drums!) and texture: Yellow as openers.

The former do a great, supremely tuneful take on indie-rock that’s somewhere between Jawbreaker and Eight Arms to Hold You-era Veruca Salt, the kind that drags me happily back to the late ’90s and makes me wish I could’ve stayed there (musically speaking, anyway); their new EP, Sleep, pretty damn great and makes me wish I’d gotten around to hearing ’em sooner.

Then there’s the latter, who are nicely downtempo and soulful, funky and jazzy in equal measure and with slinky, bluesy vocals from singer/guitarist Alyssia Dieringer, whose voice is freaking stunning. Get on out there early, alright?

In the meantime, while I can’t find any videos from The Western Civ, here’s an awesome video Cool Moon did for their song “Sleep”:

Axelrad Concert Series, featuring Young Mammals & Velveteen Echo @ Axelrad
Not sure how this is going to work logistically, since I think cool bar/hangout Axelrad is also hosting a watch party for tonight’s Beto O’Rourke/Ted Cruz debate.

But hey, this way you can roll straight from the debate into some truly, truly cool-ass buzzy-pop goodness, courtesy of longtime heroes Young Mammals and openers Velveteen Echo. The Mammals guys have a new EP, Sanitation, out this summer, and what I’ve heard from it so far is excellent, bridging the gap between heavy-lidded, hazy, beach-y indie-pop jangle and revved-up, Supergrass-style Brit-pop. I’m gonna have to give it a more thorough listen really damn soon.

As for Velveteen Echo, they’re more firmly embedded in ’90s twee-pop, which is a good thing in my book; I’m reminded of Belle and Sebastian or Marine Research, both of which I love like crazy, although these Houstonians are even a little more turned-down than either of those bands, with more of a drifting, Darling Buds-like feel. The band bounces gently along, jangling and strumming but never getting too rowdy about it. If the weather holds, I’d say this would be perfect music to listen to while lounging in one of the Axelrad hammocks.

Löwin/North by North/King Finn @ Notsuoh
And hey, while we’re on the subject of jangly/buzzy pop bands, I’m mightily, mightily impressed by Austin band Löwin, who will be hanging out up at Notsuoh tonight (Downtown Houston is very much on a roll this evening, amirite?).

This quartet, anchored by Sara Houser‘s gorgeous, high-flying vocals, used to be pretty much a straight-up rawk band, but last month’s Sloop Mixtape shows a band that’s way more wide-ranging than that, slipping from the hazy pop sweetness of “Sloop” to the Pretenders-esque roar of “The Wheel,” where Houser brings to mind fellow Austinites Ume, to the almost country-tinged “Ghost of Mine,” all without missing a beat. And no matter what direction they’re heading in, they pull it off wonderfully.

And hey, get there early for cool dudes King Finn, a band we here at SCR have been fans of for a few years now…

Clutch/Sevendust/Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown @ House of Blues
Just about out of time, unfortunately, but I wanted to hit one last show to potentially check out tonight, primarily because I’ve been a big fan of Atlanta alt-metal guys Sevendust since the band’s 1997 debut. In the decades between then and now, they’ve cranked out a freaking dozen albums, most of which have been really good, culminating in badass new release All I See Is War; if you’re a fan of music that’s heavy and crunchy but still has a ton of melodic, clean singing (courtesy of singer Lajon Witherspoon), you seriously need to check it out. (Oh, and as an added bonus, apparently one of the tracks on the album, “Not Original,” is intended to be kind of a tribute to Stranger Things, so there’s that…)

Runners-Up:
Harley Flanagan @ The Secret Group
Loose Nukes (record release)/Crawler/Reagan Era Rejects/Keno Sims (DJ set) @ Insomnia Gallery (7:30-11PM; free!)
Gov’t Mule @ White Oak Music Hall
Karbachtoberfest 2018, featuring Los Skarnales @ Karbach Brewing Co.
Revocation/Exhumed/Rivers of Nihil/Abigail Williams/Ghost Bath/Wolvhammer/Yautja @ White Oak Music Hall
Sufferer/Kaonashi/And Then Suddenly/An Author, A Poet/Talk In Theory @ Satellite Bar
Konk Pack/Youth Mothers/Morning Scales The Mountain @ Rockefellers
The Sun Machine/HEX/Soft-Wear/The Ghost Party @ The Big Top
Vince Neil @ Proof Rooftop Lounge
R3HAB @ Stereo Live
MDC/Elected Officials/Gen Why?/Noogy/The Real McCoys @ La Playa
Blaggards @ Mo’s Irish Pub (Cypress)
Los Dientes/Tres Leches/Grifters & Shills @ Leon’s Lounge
Sugarcane Jane/Dan Penn @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck