Update time, and somewhat of an urgent one, to boot -- in the spirit of Just-In-Time Reviewing (which is all the trend these days, don'tcha know), we've got a brand-new review up of Papermoons inaugural full-length, New Tales, and holy crap, they just happen to be playing tonight. Imagine that...

Anyway, the band's playing up at Boondocks (which I've never been to, but which sounds interesting), accompanied by fellow local hero Benjamin Davis Murphy (Bright Men of Learning/ex-Lucky Motors/ex-We've Got Airplanes/ex-Pop Deflation/ex-Panic in Detroit/ex-a billion other bands). It's going to be a frickin' great show, especially as the Papermoons men are bidding farewell to our sweaty hellhole of a city, moving on to bigger, better things, um, somewhere else. No, I've got no clue where they're headed, just that it's "away" somewhere. Damn. I can't say I blame 'em, things in my beloved/behated city being what they are, but it still makes me sad.

Heck, I never even really got to know the guys in the band (which, btw, seems to be the kiss of death for a band; I finally meet you in person, then you break up/move to Poughkeepsie/get in a car wreck -- I hide myself away to protect you, Houston Band People!), having only been introduced super-briefly to one of the 'moons recently. I console myself by quietly murmuring: "They'll be back...they always come back. Hey, look at Indian Jewelry..."

But take heart, because we've got other stuff for you, too, beyond things to make you sad. Writer extraordinaire Brandon H. was so perturbed by Frightened Rabbit's recent no-show here in Houston that he methodically tracked them eastward, following their spoor like Chingachgook 'til he finally cornered them in a dimly-lit bar in far-off Washington, DC., and skewered them with questions. The guy's tenacious, I tell you -- how many writers do you know who, when a band they're due to interview stands 'em up, follows 'em halfway across the fucking country so he can talk to 'em? For free? (Sorry, dude. I'll, um, reimburse you?) The guy's got stones. And hey, it's a great interview besides, so go check it out.

Oh, and skipping back over to here, we've also got a review of the brand-new Sharks and Sailors full-length, probably the most anticipated local disc of the year (when other bands start using your band's release as a deadline for when they'd better release theirs by...). And luckily, it lives up to the hype -- check the review here. The band will perform it all live this coming Friday, August 1st up at Walter's, along with excellent half-expats UME & The Jonx, somebody named This Man Is Art, & DJ Under Warranty (aka ADR from Skyline). It's gonna rule. I'm gonna attempt to be there. If you didn't see them at the HPMAs, you seriously missed out; "Fix Your Radar" and "Builds Brand New" rip walls down live.

Plus, we've got a long-awaited review of Paul Weller's latest disc, 22 Dreams -- writer Damon M. blew off my sad admissions that I just couldn't get a hold of the damn thing for SCR, found it himself, and proceeded to wax poetic over it in spite of everything. Review here, along with reviews of This Holiday Life, Autovein, & a bunch more. Here's the full list:

Interviews: How Heads Roll Off: An Interview with Frightened Rabbit

Reviews: Sharks and Sailors; Papermoons; Paul Weller; Autovein; This Holiday Life; The Delta Block; Aaron English; Los Doggies; Melba Toast; & The Willowz.

See you in August, folks...

Labels: H-Town News, Interviews, Live Reviews, Musical Crap, Reviews, Things To Do

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Yeah, this last update was a big one -- we're gonna have to skip a week or two after this, as I'll be flying out tomorrow AM for Arizona, off on The Great Grand Canyon Adventure/March of Death '08, so we tried to get a large bunch of new things up on the site...

First -- and possibly foremost, your mileage may vary -- we've got a brand-new interview up with super-ultra-badass Party Guy Andrew W.K. Honestly, when I sent out the email, I did not expect a response. Even after talking to his management, I fired off a ton of questions I'd hoped were insightful and witty and what-have-you, in the hopes of drawing out Mr. Wilkes-Krier for a bit of a chat, but I kind of did it figuring, y'know, that'd be the end of it. It's happened before, believe me. (ahem -- guys from The Talk: what the heck happened?)

In the end, though, while Andrew didn't answer about two-thirds of the questions I sent (including an incredibly leading question about "Steev Mike"; Google if you care), the ones he did answer came out pretty nice, I think. I've never, ever done an interview where the interviewee flat-out says not just that he doesn't give a crap if people dislike him or laugh at him, but that it's a perfectly valid reaction to his music to do so. Wow. The guy's starting to sound like some kind of metalhead bodhisattva or something...

Anyway, I'm tickled as hell to have been able to talk to Mr. W.K., especially since he'll be coming to town in the not-too-distant future, nearly right after I get back from AZ on July 5th over at the Keene St. Warehouse for Jacob Calle's gonna-be-epic Keene St. Warehouse Party -- see here for more info. I mean, with Andrew W.K. on hand, how could it not be epic? I'm seriously psyched about this, y'all; not only is one of the most intriguing, mystifying entertainers I've run across playing, but so are local folks I love dearly, like The Riff Tiffs, Bring Back the Guns, Papermoons, & The Watermarks. I liked the thing so much, I, uh, kinda-sorta offered to help sponsor it (I think?). Save the date.

While you're at it, scribble out anything you might've had a week from tomorrow, on Sat., July 28th, 'cause Hollywood Black are playing the release show for their awesome new EP, Crooked Shepherd. I'll admit that I wasn't a big fan of the band in the past, but damn, I am now. It is good, good, good -- the title track alone, with its murky, rock-back-and-forth-on-your-heels threat, is reason enough to check the band out. Plus, they're playing with The Goods, who I really like, and Tambersauro, whose CD I got a really long time ago now & still need to listen to. (Sorry...)

On an administrative note, in my absence you will hopefully start to see new posts to this here blog by people other than me. Y'all may remember Brandon from the SXSW coverage back in March; this time 'round he'll be joined by a few other folks, incl. Jef With One F (formerly of The Black Math Experiment) & Brigitte, who's been writing reviews & such for us for quite a while now. Be gentle with them.

Beyond all that, yep, we also have up shiny-new reviews of the Dengue Fever show at The Orange Show a while back, the French Kicks/Young Mammals/Hearts of Animals show earlier this month, & more reviews than you can shake a stick at. Here's the full list:

Interviews: Andrew W.K.

Live Reviews: French Kicks/Young Mammals/Hearts of Animals; Dengue Fever

Reviews: Hollywood Black; The Raveonettes; Your Black Star; Alkari; Speaker Speaker; Melissa Giges; Jon McKiel; pArAdOx OnE; Plök; & Sunny Day Sets Fire.

There it is, at least for the moment -- see y'all when I get back...

Labels: Interviews, Live Reviews, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Reviews, Things To Do

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[UPDATE: Anybody know how to convert all my blog posts over to WordPress? I posted this damn thing last evening, and yet, when I got back online this AM, lo and behold, it still wasn't up there. Fuck. Sorry, y'all...]

Update time, update time -- if you happen to glance at our happy little homepage, you will notice (hopefully) three things: A). it, uh, looks differnt; B). hey, new reviews!; C). holy shit, an actual interview!

So, in order: A). Yes, it does. While trying to think of ways to make my life easier when deciding what review/feature to put up where & when, I decided to split the dang thing up into two columns and widen the whole shebang. If it now sails off the right side of your screen, my apologies, but my Sanity required it of me. I dunno, btw, how well it'll look on all browsers -- if you've got an older browser, you may only see the one column and have to scroll way down to get to the features. Time to upgrade, yo!

B). Double yes! New reviews, and many, many of them, including cool stuff by The Sword, Wild Sweet Orange, Band of Annuals (more on two out of those three in a sec), The Old Haunts, Normal Love, Fuck Buttons, & more. Enjoy them here. (Caveat!: some reviews may or may not be negative and/or cause bad feelings. Read at your own risk.) Oh, and we've also got some very cool reviews of live shows by Radiohead & Citay -- the former's from May, but the latter's from back in March, 'cause we're still trying to catch up. Look for more show reviews soon.

C). Yes, yet again! I was able to chat a bit with Tim Guerinot of legendary and now resurrected Houston punk rockers the Latch Key Kids, and I think the interview came out quite nice. Check it out here. I'm afraid we missed their show up in Austin last weekend, but hopefully there're more shows to come -- we'll try to keep you better informed on that front.

Now, naturally, that's not all -- two of our reviewed bands of the day also happen to be playing this very evening, as does another quite-worthy crew of locals. You've got your choice tonight:

1. You can head to Rudyard's to catch full-on sword-and-sorcery-lovin' metalheads The Sword, who're laying down the stoner/thrash jams alongside Torche (who I've heard are good) and Stinking Lizaveta (whose name irks me, for some reason). Haven't seen The Sword live, sadly, but Gods of the Earth is a fine, fine album, especially when listened to while reading old-ass pulp fantasy novels.

2. You can hit Boondocks and alternately drown your sorrows or smile cheerily with the oddly-matched pair of Band of Annuals and Houston's own Program -- I love both bands, don't get me wrong, but melancholy, gentle country and all-out pop/rock? Eh; either way, the bands themselves are excellent. Band of Annuals' Let Me Live has itself been living in my car stereo for the past several days and makes me want to take up drinking in a big way.

3. You can venture over to Mojo Risin', which I think is the cool little coffeeshop right next to the also-cool eatery Spaghetti Western, up in the Heights, and see/experience the swaying, dreampop-y indie-rock of husband and wife team Lenny Briscoe (who are both extremely nice folks, to boot), plus delicately strange folkster Like Yeah. Jerry Orbach would be damn proud.

There's your mission for the evening. Go to it. In the meantime, here's the full pile of new stuff:

Interviews: Latch Key Kids

Live Reviews: Radiohead; Citay

Reviews: Band of Annuals; The Sword; Wild Sweet Orange; Fuck Buttons; The Old Haunts; The Dagger Brothers; The Grand Archives; Normal Love; & The The Pleasures of Merely Circulating.

Stop back in & see us soon, eh?

Labels: Interviews, Live Reviews, Musical Crap, Reviews, Things To Do

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phew...another late night, another update. Big thanks to all the hard-working writer folk, by the by, for getting this stuff in -- this little e-zine would die a sad and lonely death with only yours truly doing the writing for it, I swear. Everybody, your efforts are very much appreciated. I owe you all beers.

Oh, and it seems that for some reason, Blogger and/or Network Solutions is/are working like they're supposed to once more. Wish I knew why...argh. Not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth, though, so please join me in thanking the Gods of the Bloggernet for somehow granting my wish that I be able to blog again without having to republish 17 times and then turn off my computer for the night & go to sleep hoping. I will sacrifice a USB cable in your honor, o Gods...

Anyway, we've got a brand-new interview with local folk-ish mysteriosos listenlisten now, which answers burning questions like, "how in the hell do y'all capitalize your band's name?" and "who came up with the wooden CD sleeve idea?" The band seem a bit on the shy side, and they profess to not be very good at interviews (which makes, uh, four of us, y'all), but all things considered, I think our little chat was damned interesting. Plus, they're playing soon, March 15th up at Rudyard's, opening for Sunburned Hand of the Man & Citay, neither of whom I know a damn thing about, sorry. Go to see listenlisten, if nothing else.

In somewhat earlier news, though, you might recall that I mentioned Paris Falls very, very recently in this li'l blog -- well, now there's a sparkling-shiny-new review up of their newest opus, Vol. II, which happens to be very, very good. Check out the review for the details, then hit Boondocks tonight to see the band play live for their official, fancy-shmancy CD release shindig. Gonna be good, honest.

On top of both of those, we've also got new reviews of both big-ish shots The Besnard Lakes and local post-emo heroes While You Were Gone, the latter of which have put out a heck of a compelling new EP that's been stuck in my head for a few weeks now (esp. "Thief"; man, I love that song). WYWG also happen to be playing in the relatively-near future, w/shows on both March 7th & 8th -- the former's at the First Baptist Church in Shepherd, TX., wherever the heck that is, and the latter's up in Humble at Fuel Cyber Cafe with Artist vs. Poet. Again: read about, then go see. This is what we're here for, people...

Anyway, there's more up there, too including happy-slappy reviews of NYC's The Forms, Austin's Built By Snow, & more. Here's the pile:

New Interview: listenlisten.

Reviews: Paris Falls; The Besnard Lakes; While You Were Gone; The Forms; Built By Snow; The King Hen; Miller; & Used Alien Mind.

More next week...

Labels: H-Town News, Interviews, Reviews, Things To Do

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Dang, two updates in a week; must be on a roll (okay, technically the last update was for stuff that went up last week, but still...). This time out we've got a brand-spankin'-new interview with La Porte's own Buxton, who'll be releasing their 2nd full-length -- as we've mentioned here before -- this coming Saturday, January 19th at Walter's on Washington, with Papermoons, By the End of Tonight, & Ghost Mountain. (That's tomorrow, btw, for those who have yet to update their calendars for the new year.) SCR writer Pedro was able to track the band down & wrangle some answers out of 'em, and reading the article I know that I, at least, feel enlightened as to the sonic possibilities of the mandolin, among other things. It's gonna be a good, good show, seriously.

And speaking of shows, Super-Duper Rock Godz Foo Fighters are coming through town this next Tuesday, January 22nd, over at the Toyota Center mondorena in downtown, playing with the ever-awesome Jimmy Eat World and Against Me!, who I know mostly by reputation. In advance of that, therefore, we've got a just-in-the-nick review of their latest album, released late last year, so read & listen & whatnot. I'm pretty psyched about the show, myself, partly because I will hopefully (cross fingers) be there to report on the goings-on; keep an eye out for that in a week or so, barring any unforeseen complications with tickets and such.

And yes, there's more. A little further off, on Saturday, February 2nd, Deer Park-livin' garage-rockers The Gold Sounds will be playing down at The Forum in La Porte...home, again, of the aforementioned Buxton. And The Forum is apparently run by Sergio of Buxton's parents. How's that for tying-in to the tie-in? Yeesh... Anyway, we've got a review up of Gold Sounds' new EP, too, and it is downright awesome, honest. I could listen to "Blow My Head to the Floor" and "College Radio" over and over again for days on end. (Well, if I weren't also weirdly compelled to keep shuffling between the Foo Fighters & Stadium's Change of plans, we're coming home in my car stereo, that is.)

Oh, but we're not done yet, no. We reviewed Beantown band The Beatings a while back and were fairly impressed, so they sent along the solo CD of the band's singer/songwriter/guitarist guy, Eldridge Rodriguez (I keep wanting to call him "Edilberto Rodriguez," dammit, after an old boss of mine). Check out the review of that one here, along with reviews of stuff by Denelian, Liars, and P.A.F. (the latter of which, incidentally, is connected to a guy up in Chicago named Kyle Bruckmann who I knew somewhat back in college; we're all connected, I tell you...it's a conspiracy...agh, my brain hurts...). Here's the whole pile for this go-round:

Interviews: Buxton.

Reviews: Foo Fighters; The Gold Sounds; Eldridge Rodriguez; Denelian; Liars; & P.A.F..

Keep watching the skies, folks.

Labels: Interviews, Reviews, Things To Do, Things To Hear

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Merry Chrismahanukwanzaamas to all! We here at SCR HQ are currently hip-deep in holiday insanity, with bellies full of cookies & eggnog & wassail & whatnot, but I didn't want to leave y'all hanging & wondering, "hey, what the hell happened to Space City since November?" We are still here, yes, and before the actual holiday hits, we wanted to let y'all know what's new.

First off, we've got a very cool new interview up with Cris Kirkwood, variously of the Meat Puppets and the Arizona penal system, courtesy of writer Tom K. Tom managed to catch the Puppets when they swung through back in October and corraled Cris for an entertaining Q&A session at about 2AM at the Proletariat. It's good stuff.

There's also a slew of new reviews up, including one for Austin-based instro-rockers My Education. The review's of a split-LP with weirdo glitch-hop guys Dälek, but they'll be playing with good-good-good locals Alkari and Hymn Six when they come through Rudyard's on Jan 5th.

We've also got a meta-review of sorts of the Grey Ghost CD-R series you can currently get a hold of up at Domy -- the review (by yours truly) is a little weird, particularly in that it's a review of three CDs you'll never, ever get. But don't let that get you down; I hear the latest installment, a CD-R of raw garage-punks Teenage Kicks, is up at Domy as of this past weekend, so if you make it there sometime this week, you might be able to snag your own for 3 measly bucks. (And yes, the band's good, although I'm a bit biased; anybody who takes their name from an Undertones song starts out a few yards ahead in my book.)

On the non-review front, we've finally got a couple more band writeups online, too. I'm not super happy with how they came out, but I found myself at a loss for appropriate words when it came to singing the praises of Hearts of Animals and Stadium, both of whom deserve large heaps of love from everybody, even outside this insular little/big city. And yeah, I know that with this HoA writeup and the Mlee Marie review linked above (as part of the Grey Ghost deal), I'm jumping a bit late onto the Mlee Suprean bandwagon. What can I say? I've dearly loved what I've heard over the past year or so, but I'm a Slow Bob when it comes to these things.

Interviews: Meat Puppets.

Featured Bands: Hearts of Animals & Stadium.

Reviews: Mlee Marie; BDM; Linus Pauling Quartet; My Education/Dälek; 1000 Miles From Home; The Story Of; Band of Horses; Caalma; Gnotes; & Tempo No Tempo.

See y'all in the new year!

Labels: Interviews, Reviews, Things To Do

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A little late for this week, I know; what're you gonna do, eh? Anyway, we've just posted a real-live interview with H-town-by-way-of-Katrina prog-metal outfit Rustler -- they haven't been in town long, really, but they've already made quite an impact, and their debut EP, Phonetic Whips, gets me frantically air-drumming and head-banging every time. Plus, the band's playing tonight up at Walter's, with Bowel & The Dead See, so I'd say it's as good a time as any. Get on out, 'cause it's gonna be a good one.

Of course, we've got a whole slew of new reviews up, too, including ex-Silkworm/Seam/.22 deal Bottomless Pit, Richard Hawley, the sadly-defunct Challenger Deep. Check 'em out -- here's the list:

Interviews: Rustler.

Reviews: Bottomless Pit; Richard Hawley; The Challenger Deep; Auralift; Camarada; & Mad Caddies.

Keep watching for more...

Labels: Interviews, Reviews, Things To Do

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Yep, more stuff up for Sept. -- this time out we've got a little pseudo-interview/preview of electroweirdo Dan Deacon, who'll be playing this next Monday, Sept. 24th, up at Walter's on Washington, plus a live review of the recent pre-Labor Day show at The Proletariat with Buxton, Digan, The Church of Philadelphia, and Hollywood Black.

Naturally, we've got a bunch of new reviews up, too, including local instro-metal godz Rustler (whose show this Wed. I sadly missed), Tiny Vipers (coming to town 10/20), and June (coming to town 11/6). There's also a teeny bit of rock-crit schizophrenia going on, 'cause while Peter, the guy who checked out the Prolo show mentioned above, loved Hollywood Black to death, CD reviewer guy Andrew, um, didn't. That's the way it works, though, folks -- different writers have different opinions, even at the same dang e-zine. Hope you can work through the cognitive dissonance...

Interviews: Dan Deacon. Live Reviews: Buxton/Dignan/The Church of Philadelphia/Hollywood Black.
Reviews: Rustler; Tiny Vipers; X27; June; Hollywood Black; Raze to Ashes; Seven Storey Mountain; & Slider.

Keep checkin' on back...

Labels: Interviews, Live Reviews, Reviews, Things To Do

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[Ed. Note: Whoops. It's been pointed out to me that there are actually four people in S&S, not three. Which I knew, but blanked on, somehow, when I posted. Sorry, y'all...]

Tonight NYCers Parts and Labor return to H-town for the second time in, what?, three months? And damn if we (well, me, at least) aren't glad to see 'em. Last year's Stay Afraid was a speaker-destroying ball of staticky-yet-hooky noise, and it was great (esp. "A Great Divide," which I swear I hummed to and from work for about three weeks straight); this year's Mapmaker, however, is even better, a squalling, majestic stormcloud of melodic, noisy, blustery fury that makes me want to pump my fist in the air and make Rock Guy "whoo-hoo!" noises. Every time I hear the album, I can't help but think of the awesome, awesome, overpowering version of "New Day Rising" that kicks off Hüsker Dü's incredible live album, The Living End (incidentally, TLE was also one of the handful of albums I listened to back in college that somehow set me on the half-assed music-reviewing/playing path I've been on ever since). These three grim-looking guys take what are essentially poppy anthems full of yearning and run them through the biggest distortion pedal and amps you can imagine, and the sound is fucking spectacular.

Better still, they happen to be playing with one of my favorite local bands, a trio I can't say enough good thing about, Sharks and Sailors (who I'm told are busily recording for a new album, which is very good news). Pummeling, pounding, angry, but still melodic; I think they'll be a pretty good fit. Cool "experimental" rockers (yuk, yuk) Satin Hooks are playing, too (and recording a new album, as well; weird), and they just seem to get better every time I see 'em. Opening is either Black Congress or L.A.W.S., neither of whom I know a thing about, so you take your chances there -- even still, though, this is going to be a great show.

And because we here at Space City Rock love you, all of you (no, we really do; okay, maybe not you, but the person sitting/standing next to you, anyway), we've got a brand-spankin'-new interview with Parts and Labor's B.J. Warshaw up on the site. (Danny, you are The Man, and while we'd dearly love to keep you around, here's hoping the Press comes to its senses...) It's good stuff, if we do say so ourselves -- we're biased, admittedly, but still. Check it out, listen to the linked MP3s ("Fractured Skies," off Mapmaker, and "A Great Divide," off Stay Afraid), and then get your ass on over to The Proletariat tonight (Wednesday, July 11th, for the calendrically-impaired). Good shit, honest. We wouldn't lie to you.

Labels: Interviews, Things To Do, Things To Download

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Yep, tonight's (Saturday, June 16th, that is) a good one -- crushing, pummeling, NYC noise-rock pioneers Unsane are playing up at The Proletariat, along with 400 Blows, Mouth of the Architect, and locals Dizzy Pilot. Reliable sources (meaning pretty much anybody who's ever heard the damn band) say this show's gonna be freakin' insane. Seriously.

These guys came up with the whole crew of post-Sonic Youth noisemakers in NY during the late '80s and early '90s, folks like Cop Shoot Cop, Foetus (in fact, drummer Vinnie Signorelli used to play with Foetus), & the Cows, and have miraculously managed to outlive just about all of their peers. In the process, the band's influence has filtered into nearly every noisy/rock band currently out there, from The Locust to Wolf Eyes on up. If it's loud, brutal, or hateful, chances are the band's into Unsane.

Just in time for the show, by the way, SCR writer, Jonx drummer, and all-round awesome guy Danny Mee has a brand-spankin' new interview with Unsane up on the site. Check it out, then hit the show, eh? (Tickets available here.) Enjoy the noise...

Labels: Interviews, Things To Do

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Yeah, I'm pretty happy with this one -- I interviewed The Western Civilization, one of my current super-duper-duper favorite bands of the crew who dwell in and around this fair city, a short while back, and we've finally got it online. It's a hell of a lot harder than you'd think to transcribe a rambling, free-form conversation with seven other people, seriously...

Anyway, I think it worked nicely, and if you haven't heard the band yet, you really need to A). check out the songs up on MySpace, B). snag a copy of Letters of Resignation, and/or C). make plans to go see 'em play on May 11th @ Walter's with Explorers and The Church of Philadelphia. I'm gonna be there if I can, honest.

Speaking of shows, we've got some new reviews up, too, including one of the newest from The OhSees (Coachwhips/Pink & Brown side deal). It made my two-day headache a hell of a lot worse, but it was still pretty intriguing at points, and the band sounded like they'd be something else live. They're playing tonight, May 3rd @ Super Happy Fun Land (not sure who with, sorry), so go see for yourself. And hey, check out the other reviews while you're at it...

Interview: The Western Civilization. Reviews: 1997; The Brokedowns; H-town's own Program; Nicole Atkins; The Barbarellatones; Ted Leo and the Pharmacists; Low; & Thee OhSees.

Labels: Interviews, Pseudo-Reviews, Reviews, Things To Do

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Yep, got a bunch of new stuff up, just in time for tonight -- two of the bands reviewed, ADULT. and Parts & Labor, are playing together at The Mink, and they sound like they should be darn cool to see/hear. ADULT.'s not really up my alley, but they sound interesting, at least, and P&L's new album drops my jaw every time I hear it. Read the reviews, check out the show...

Interview: He Is Legend. Reviews: Parts & Labor; ADULT.; Love Me Destroyer; The Jennifer Echo; The Agency; The Broken West; Die! Die! Die!; Morello; & Toof. Rock out, y'all.

Labels: Interviews, Reviews, Things To Do

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Got some new stuff online, including an interview with Louis Posen (of Take Action! Tour/Hopeless Recs/Sub City) fame and a bunch of reviews: Palomar; Bayside; Unsparing Sea; Karrie Hopper; Jihad Jerry and the Evildoers; Smoke Or Fire; This Moment In Black History; & Tomihira.

Labels: Interviews, Reviews

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Hey, all -- meant to post when all the stuff went up late-late-late Friday night/Saturday morning, but I was too damn wiped out... As of yesterday, we've got some new stuff up here on the ol' e-zine, including our first-ever attempt at year-end Top Ten Lists (for 2006, naturally); your humble editor/publisher guy threw his into the pile, as did co-publisher Marc and writers Brigitte, Justin, Josh, and David H. (whose ever-present bile we think perfectly caps off the whole mess).

On top of that, we've also got a passel of new reviews online: One Night Band, Turn Blue, Dead Voices on Air, Gist, Frida Hyvönen, The Mall, & the Lujo Recs Happy Together comp. Enjoy 'em, & there'll be more up soon...

Labels: Interviews, Reviews

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Yep, new stuff up on the site -- there's a fairly, um, illuminating interview w/Mark Adkins of SoCal punk icons Guttermouth (be warned: it ain't strictly P.C., but that's Adkins for you...), plus reviews of Ferocious Eagle, Paleo, The Transit War, Nic Garcia, 24hourflu, and Million Dollar Mouth. Enjoy; more next week...

Labels: Interviews, Reviews

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Yep, late again, I'm afraid -- sorry, sent out the update to the list, but forgot the blog... At any rate, there's some more cool stuff up on the site, just in time for Christmas, like an interview with Murder by Death and reviews of Paolo Nutini, Lambchop, The Downfall, Helmet, Sex Slaves, and Robin Trower. We're taking a week or two off now to do the family thing, but we'll be back again in the New Year with new reviews & interviews & such, so check back soon...

Labels: Interviews, Reviews

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I know, I know -- it's been a ridiculously long time since we updated this little blog. Apologies for that; we've run into some (ahem) technical difficulties of late with Blogger, and they only recently magically resolved themselves. We've got our fingers crossed that it doesn't happen again.

At any rate, the shows list is once again being updated, and despite being unable to blog, we've kept right on putting up new reviews and articles. There's an awesome interview Mel did with Norm Brannon/Arenas of Texas Is The Reason, live reviews of The Raconteurs and 311, and a ton of reviews: Silversun Pickups, Form Of Rocket, Les Georges Leningrad, Indian Jewelry, Oxford Collapse, The Slits, Jucifer, Street Dogs, Portastatic, The East Village Opera Company, Parts & Labor, Aspen It Is, Cheer-Accident, Liz Phair, The Lemonheads, and Goons of Doom, among others. Check it out; we think it's pretty good stuff, all of it...

Labels: Interviews, Reviews

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What the hell? Yes, we've got even more stuff up, folks, and it ain't yet November. Welcome to the first step towards becoming a real-live weekly e-zine -- if all goes well, we'll be putting reviews, live reviews, and interviews online every single freakin' week from now 'til eternity. This time out, we've got love for The Thermals (and yep, the astute might note that the feature was up last week before the band played our fair city; sorry, couldn't post about it until now), plus reviews of relatively-new releases from Anti-Flag, Strike Anywhere, Aloha, Glue, and Just A Fire. Enjoy...

Labels: Interviews, Reviews

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New month, so there's new stuff up -- interviews with rapper Del the Funky Homosapien and pop-rockers OK Go, both just in time for their appearances in or around H-town this weekend (check the shows list for details). Beyond that, we've got some cool live reviews and reviews of everything from White Whale to J Dilla to The Wiggins. Check it out.

Labels: Interviews, Reviews

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Yep, it's a new month, so we've got new stuff up. This time out, we've got an interview with long-dormant psychedelic/country-rocker Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, a chat with the very intelligent gentlemen of The Dead Science, live reviews, and a bunch of album reviews, including the Drum Nation, Volume 3 comp, the new Chad VanGaalen, Ladyfinger (ne), Richard Cheese, and The Beatings. Enjoy...

Labels: Interviews, Live Reviews, Reviews

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If you've been to our little site before, you may notice a few new or different things lurking around here...

First off, we now have a veritable ton of new stuff online for the month of August, including interviews with indie hip-hop duo Soul Position, local H-town popsters Savoy Special, and indie-rock heroes Don Caballero(!). On top of that, we've also got a review of the few-months-back Sonic Youth show here in Houston, and a dozen-plus reviews, of everybody from Sufjan Stevens to Mika Miko to Scanners to Kill Hannah. Oh, and we've got a new batch of Subliminals hiding up there at the top of the homepage, for those who like that sort of thing.

Beyond that, though, we've made some structural changes to the Space City Rock site. Over on the right side of the homepage, you may notice a couple of big long banner-looking things, courtesy of Google Ads. Call us sellouts if you will, but dammit, this thing doesn't magically pay for itself -- we've got to have ads to pay the bills. And besides, they're purty.

The observant may note, as well, that our Guestbook ain't what it used to be. While we appreciate the kind comments folks have sent us over the years -- and hey, feel free to contact us if you feel like it -- in recent months our Guestbook has been nothing but a magnet for spam, and we've had to kill it dead.

Plus, the new "Guestbook" page streamlines our mailing list process a bit; if you want on the mailing list, just put in your e-mail address and click on the "Join Now" button. You can also sign up down below the shows list on the homepage, if you can't be bothered to click the Guestbook link.

Last -- although far from least -- SCR readers can now visit our Space City Rock Gear store. Yes, you can now sport your very own SCR-tagged t-shirts, coffee mugs, and stickers, and support our happy little e-zine at the same time. We've got a few different designs up there right now, and more are on the way, so check back soon...

Labels: Admin Stuff, Interviews, Reviews

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ATMOSPHERE INTERVIEW + NEW REVIEWS: Sometimes this e-zine thing lets us do very cool things. Like, say, interview Slug from Atmosphere. Holy crap. Plus, we've got new reviews up of stuff by The High Violets, Damone, Buckethead, Holopaw, H-town's own Arthur Yoria, & more...

Labels: Interviews, Reviews

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NEW REVIEWS/FEATURE UP: New stuff up now for Decahedron, Neon Blonde, Rogue Wave, P:ano, & more. Update: Oh, and an interview with Cave In. How the hell could we forget that?

Labels: Interviews, Reviews

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