Got a recent note from John of local power-pop/punk trio Teenage Kicks about new songs they've got up on their Myspace, saying that we SCR folks were apparently among a select few who really liked the band's demo earlier this year. And frankly, that's fucking ridiculous, because these three guys craft some of the best, smartest, savviest songs I've heard in the past few years, local band or no.

The new songs are no exception, either -- with "I'm Not Surprised", "Make It Short", "(I Wanna Be) Your Enemy", and "Genocide", Teenage Kicks further cement their place in the pantheon of truly cool power-pop bands of any era. They wear their early-Britpop/proto-punk influences proudly on their collective sleeve, channeling the best elements of The Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, The Boys, & most of all, The Jam.

The latter really comes through in these new tracks, in particular; the band's not aggressive enough to be the Buzzcocks, but are instead the more thoughtful, socially-aware cousins, just a few steps down the block from Paul Weller & co. They manage to get a message into their songs, but they do it with subtlety and without feeling like they have to beat you over the head with it; I'm fairly sure "Genocide"'s about, well, genocide, but there's no strident/ridiculous fist-pumping going on. It took me three listens to realize "I'm Not Surprised" is about ending a war (the one in Iraq, I'm guessing?). This is politico-punk the way the aforementioned Jam and big brothers The Clash were often able to do it.

Through it all, there's the band's trademark sharp-edged (but still melodic) guitars, rock-solid rhythms, and endearingly cracked, embittered vocals, all mashing together to make a hell of a consistently-good sound. And then they get to the murky-yet-catchy chorus of "you've got / blood on your t-shirt / blood on your t-shirt" at the end of "I'm Not Surprised," and I'm left shaking my head in amazement.

The band reports that the new songs'll be ending up on various 7-inches over the course of the next few months -- do yourself a favor and listen now. (And then buy the vinyl when it's out, duh.)

Oh, and in the meantime, the band'll be playing in a couple of weeks (September 18th, to be exact) at Walter's, with The Queers, The Independents, & fellow awesome local boys/girl Something Fierce. Start pleading for permission to leave the house now...

Labels: H-Town News, Musical Crap, Pseudo-Reviews, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Download, Things To Hear

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Got this one courtesy of the good people at Nasty Little Man, and I find myself liking the song & wanting to hear it repeatedly, so I figured it was only just to post it to this here site. Sounds to me like "Chemtrails" is Beck finally making the full transformation from alt-rock hero into '60s psych-rock icon -- if this sounds like anything recent, it's Spiritualized, albeit with more jazzy drums. I love the wild, live-wire-sounding guitars after the false fadeout, in particular; they come off like some long-lost gem from the vault of sadly-departed Robert Quine. Stuff like this almost makes me forget Beck's a Scientologist. Enjoy...

Labels: Entertainobabble, Free Stuff, Musical Crap, Things To Download, Things To Hear

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[UPDATE: Whoops...I just realized I neglected to mention that the show's also being put on by the I Heart U crew. Sorry about that, y'all...]

Holy shit. Barring a surprise Houston stop by The Weakerthans or (less realistically) the ghost of Joe Strummer appearing in my living room to sing "Spanish Bombs," I honestly didn't think I'd get this excited about a show, but damn, there it is: Andrew W.K. will be playing at the Keene St. Warehouse Party (at 1620 Keene St.) on July 5th.

Yeah, I know -- I was pretty underwhelmed by The Wolf, too (although now I feel like I need to pull it out again & give it a re-listen), but I Get Wet, for my money, is the only true-blue mashup of Big Dumb Rock with Big Dumb Techno that I've ever heard that works. "Party Hard," "Girls Own Love," "I Get Wet," "She Is Beautiful"...they're dancefloor anthems in the awesome rock club that unfortunately exists only in my head. It helps, as well, that the guy's either a genius gone awry or a total whackjob, depending on which interview you read; he's serious about this, one way or another.

And then, of course, there's "You Will Remember Tonight," off the Masters of Horror soundtrack, which is like the theme to a prom night in some Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff where all the partygoers are set to transform into hideously otherworldly beings at the stroke of midnight. Maybe I'm reading too much into the song because of the album it's on, but I just can't get past it -- there's the outwardly positive-sounding message, sure, but W.K.'s voice somehow lends it an aura of menace, promising that you'll remember the night for the rest of your life because it's a night when you're going to change somehow. And oh, yeah -- it's a fucking incredible, pump-your-fist-and-roar anthem of a song. Click here to download & check it out...

If you're not swayed by the fanboy blathering above, however, have no fear, 'cause this is still going to be a badass show, even if you're not particularly partial to the musical stylings of Mr. W.K. The whole deal's a launch party for organizer/local impresario Jacob Calle's clothing line Golden Ghost Collection, and while I dunno much about that, I do know that there's supposedly going to be free beer, free clothing, free pizza, free ice cream, free movie passes, and free Sparks (whatever the hell that is; I'm assuming not the '70s band). Jacob assures that it will be quite a party, and going by the reports I heard about his We Are The Hollow Men extravaganza, I have a feeling he's not full of shit.

Best of all, Jacob's assembled a fine, fine crew of other bands to play the show (prior to Andrew W.K., I'd imagine), including great locals Bring Back the Guns, The Riff Tiffs, Papermoons, The Watermarks, American Sharks, Welfare Mothers, O Pioneers!!!, B., Lisa's Sons, & BLACKIE, out-of-towners (I think?) like The Octopus Project (whom I love), Winning (mem. of Red Light Sting), & Andy Dixon (also in Winning, plus ex-Secret Mommy, and no, I've got no idea what that is/was), and local DJs Shoe & Damon Allen.

The party starts around 1PM and is scheduled to cruise/crash/slam along 'til 4AM the next day, which, sad to say, is waaaaaay too late for my old ass. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 the day of, and Jacob assures that yes, despite the Keene St. warehouse blowing up a couple of days after (and perhaps because of, hmm?) We Are The Hollow Men, it is up and running and ready to become the vessel of Rock that it's going to have to be. Put it on your calendar, people...

Labels: Musical Crap, Pseudo-Reviews, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Download

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Behind the curve, as always...damn you, New House/Day Job! I'd like to vow that if I ever win the lottery this here blog will be so kickass and up-to-the-millisecond current that it'll fry your hair just to look at it. Except that I know I'm inherently too lazy for that, and so -- hey, I bet they're re-running No Reservations on The Travel Channel right now...

Anyway, today is A Good Day, because you, I, and everybody else in the vicinity have the opportunity to partake in some genuinely good, honest-to-Bubba free stuff. Here's what you can grab hold of for exactly zero dollars:

Something Fierce's new, as-yet-unreleased EP, free!: Well, due to some bad luck on their label's part (nothing intentional, I'm told), the long-awaited Modern Girl 7"/EP by our very own Something Fierce still has yet to materialize. They'd put the title track up on their Myspace for all to hear & admire, but no vinyl has yet reached the shelves.

So, seeing that all us SF fans have been desperately longing for more full-on rawk in our lives, the SF crew decided to take matters into their own hands and self-release the whole EP in digital form on the brand-new (and also very cool) HoustonPunk.com site, all for free-free-free.

Now for the bad news: for some reason (which is possibly on my end, I should note), I can't yet download any of the damn EP tracks in their entirety. I get between 1/8th and halfway each time, then it craps out & leaves me with half a song on my hard drive. Argh. I only hope that this problem is because so many rabid Something Fierce fans are flooding the site that the server just handle all the requests or whatnot. Got my fingers crossed on that one, y'all.

Anyway, if you have problems like I have, keep at it -- thanks to Stephen Fierce, I've got a couple of the tracks (the title track and "Hey Houston") on CDR right here in front of me, and, to put it bluntly, they're bad-fucking-ass. "Modern Girl" still can't supplant "Teenage Ruins" as my all-time favorite SF song, but I'll be damned if it's not a close second.

Plus, while you're frantically downloading and MP3ing, be sure to check out the HoustonPunk.com site itself -- it was started up recently by Teenage Kicks guys John, Stewart, & Kirke, and so far it's looking nice. It's about damn time, really, that somebody did this; I'm no authority on punk stuff in this city, myself, and it seems like just about every other musical niche is well-represented on the World Wide Whatever. I can recall a handful of "Houston Punk" sites from back in the day, but they were all scrappy & scratchy & died early deaths. This one, I would wager, has staying power. Seriously, check it out.

Indian Jewelry @ SoundEx, gratis!: Yep, you might've noticed it on the calendar for a little while now -- local agitnoise experimenters (c'mon, how would you describe these folks in a couple of words?) Indian Jewelry are back in H-town tonight, finishing out their recent tour for new album Free Gold, playing for the sheer hell of it (and the hope that they might sell some records, understandably) over at Sound Exchange at 8PM.

While I haven't yet heard the album (apparently I'm not the only one, at least), I am fully in awe of every ear-destroying/crazily beautiful thing these people do, and you can have no doubt that whatever the heck happens at SoundEx tonight is going to be pretty cool.

Plus, shows up at SoundEx are always fun, in a cramped, hipster-ish kind of way. I think your Scenester Coolness Quotient is raised 34 points just by entering the building, actually... And hey: free. What more do you want?

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, for...free?: Alright, so this one's a bit strange. From David over at Houston Calling, apparently Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are playing an RSVP-only private show tonight at Warehouse Live. I don't know the details, really, beyond what's in David's post, but he says it looks legit. Dunno if they still have openings, but hey, you won't know 'til you try, right?

Labels: Free Stuff, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Download

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Meant to post this earlier, but eh, shit happens, and so... Seeing as how that whole Muxtape thing is so damn neat, it only makes sense that the Houston Press's John Lomax would be into it, too. I missed his "African diaspora" muxtape, sadly, but the one he put up this past week is damn cool, focusing on -- yeah, you guessed it -- cool H-town people.

As mux/mixtapes go, while Lomax says the tracks are all from this decade, this one feels like a bit of a trip down Memory Lane; there're a recent tracks, like the one from The Scattered Pages, but I'm digging the Panic In Detroit, Jug O' Lightnin', and The Westbury Squares, in particular, and those bands all broke up (I'm pretty sure they did, at least) a while ago. Man, "The Anti Chorus" really, truly makes me miss The Squares; I feel like I never really gave those folks their due while they were around, but now they sound fine, fine, fine.

Anyway, check it out quick, before it gets replaced w/this week's(?) installment...

Labels: Cool Web Junk, Musical Crap, Things To Download, Things To Hear

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Mentioned these folks already, but I was able to snag a couple of MP3s today & listen to 'em while I wait for the Phone Company Man to show up & make my telephone all better, and now I feel much more knowledgeable about Boston's The Motion Sick and qualified to say that, yeah, they're pretty dang good.

Which is cool, 'cause they happen to be playing this very evening up at Boondocks with local space-gazers Antarctica Starts Here -- who are themselves excellent and whom I need to hear more from. I'd figured both bands were kinda in the shoegaze/space-rock vein, but that's not strictly the case; The Motion Sick are more of a straight-ahead indie-pop kind of thing, w/plenty of sarcastic sweetness & smiling melodies. But hey, there's nothing wrong with mixing up styles, if you ask me...

Anyway, here're links to the couple of Motion Sick MP3s I've run across: "30 Lives" & "Jean-Paul". Enjoy, and if you're not already planning to be at Yo La Tengo/My Morning Jacket, The Slits/This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, Nicole Atkins, Back Door Slam, Municipal Waste, & the other bazillion bands playing tonight (what the hell? isn't it a Monday?), head on over to Boondocks...

Labels: H-Town News, Musical Crap, Things To Download, Things To Hear

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As any more-than-casual reader of this little site probably knows by now, I really and truly heart Austin folk/rock/pop/whatever band Okkervil River. Frontman Will Sheff is hands down one of the best, most talented songwriters going these days; ignore 'em, and you're seriously missing out.

Anyway, the reason I'm bringing up OR now is because, well, they've handed their fans (and anybody else who's interested) a happy little Christmas gift, in the form of their new free, downloadable Golden Opportunities "mixtape". It was recorded live on the road over the past year or so and is a cheery (yeah, right...) little pile of cover songs, with the band interpreting Serge Gainsbourg ("I Came Here to Say I'm Going Away," w/lyrics apparently translated from French by Sheff), John Cale ("Antarctica Starts Here"), Randy Newman ("Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear"), and Joni Mitchell ("The Blonde in the Bleachers"), among others. Just stop by the band's Website, and you can download your own copy (complete with printable CD sleeve) and get to listening.

I've already checked it out, myself, via the iPod and a drive to work or two, and it's not bad -- I feel a bit embarrassed to admit it, but my favorite track's actually the live version of one of the band's own songs, "Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas," but that's largely because it's one of my all-time fave Okkervil tracks to begin with. (It also happens to be the most beautifully, crushingly sad holiday song you're likely to hear, barring maybe Silkworm's version of "In the Bleak Midwinter.") Beyond that, though, I'm impressed by how much the covers sound like, well, Okkervil River songs. If I didn't know better, I'd be fooled on most of the tracks into thinking that the bulk of the rest of the mixtape was penned by the band, as well. Which is a good thing, because they pull it off nicely, especially on the Gainsbourg and Cale tracks.

The only one where I knew immediately -- despite never having heard the song before, mind you -- that it wasn't the band's song was the Randy Newman song. Apparently Randy Newman just plain defies camouflage somehow; take that as good or bad, as you will...

Labels: Musical Crap, Things To Download, Things To Hear

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Yep, it's happening again, believe it or not -- since their last reunion show last January went off like a bomb, H-town ska legends The Suspects have decided to, well, do it again. They'll be playing at The Continental Club next Friday, December 21st, with The Aqua Velva & '80s cover act Molly and the Ringwalds. Which is, uh, gonna sound awful familiar, 'cause I think they played with the A.V. last time, too, and the show was definitely at the Continental. Why mess with a good thing, right?

Anyway, whether you caught them last time they reunited or not, I guarantee that this will be a good show. It can't not be a good show, I swear (well, unless you hate ska, that is, in which case your mileage may vary). I'm gonna try my damnedest to get out of the house & go, myself, despite all the holiday insanity that'll be going on right around that time. Oh, and if you want to check out what the band sounds like, visit their Myspace or download some lovingly-ripped (w/permission, of course) MP3s here.

Of course, seeing as this is the second time they've done this (not counting the everybody-in-from-all-incarnations final shows back when the band actually broke up), I have to ask: could it be that the band's having second thoughts about this whole "breakup" thing? It's been 5 years, they've all had some time apart...maybe it's time to give it another shot? The geographical scattering could make things difficult, sure, but hey, weirder shit's happened...

Labels: H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Download

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I have to say that one of the best, most wonderful things about this crazy Interwebs tube thing is the ease with which you can find music. Sometimes I think fondly back to the days of my youth, when I'd comb the racks of tapes at the local music store -- which seemed like the coolest place in the universe at the time, but probably didn't hold a candle to places like SoundEx or (R.I.P.?) Cactus (ah, the innocence of youth...). The reality, though, is that while I was able to find some things (like Warrior's Fighting for the Earth; woo, yeah!), most days I ended up frustrated & wishing I lived in some bigger city with at least a Tower Records or something. (It was a small town.)

Flash-forward to now, and holy shit, I am loving the ability to say, "hey, what the heck was that song I heard a little blip of the other day?" and -- poof! -- it's on my iPod (cough -- legally, of course). Beyond that, there's a wealth of free MP3s and such floating around out there for those who're curious or open to checking out new stuff. I sift through a ton of links to stuff like that each week, both sent by labels & PR folk or posted on MP3 sites, so here's some of what I've received/stumbled over lately that's been good:

A Wilhelm Scream -- "Die While We're Young"

This one's a limited-timer, apparently, so grab it soon -- it's a sample of AWS's new album, Career Suicide, which I haven't heard yet, and it's good, if slightly less hardcore-sounding than Ruiner (see "Killing It", off that album). Of course, that's what I love about this band: they mash up the best of yell-along hc, pop-punk, and guitar metal and cover the whole thing in emo-boy backing vocals, and against all odds, it works.

The Octopus Project - "Bees Bein' Strugglin'"

Nice...we here at SCR love the Octoproj, have for many moons now, and are pleased as heck that they're still putting out albums. Everything they do is good, but this track just flows so beautifully along it's like the soundtrack to a hazy summer's day; gorgeous.

Peter Bjorn and John - "Far Away, By My Side"

Holy crap, do I love this song. Seriously. I've liked what I've heard of PB&J before now, but that guitar/vocal riff is so familiar, yet insanely catchy at the same time. I could listen to it all day. (And yes, I do know it ain't a new song, but it's new to me; oh, and they're playing Warehouse Live on 11/23. Thanks to Both Sides of the Mouth for the link.)

Yea Big + Kid Static - "Duck, Mother Fuckers!"

I've gotten a lot of hip-hop of late, and sadly, most of it's left me "eh." Not so with Yea Big & partner Kid Static, though -- this track marries thumping, insistent beats with defiant rhymes reminiscent of The Roots at their best.

The Dreadful Yawns - "Candles"

Mojave 3, meet The New You. Cleveland's The Dreadful Yawns pick up where the Mojave crew left off, circa Puzzles Like You, with sweet, poignant strings, gentle drumming, and honestly beautiful male/female vocals soaring off down that long, lonesome road.

Miracle Fortress - "Have You Seen In Your Dreams"

This one's like The Arcade Fire, if that bad were fronted by Wayne Coyne; the vocals are seriously Lips-esque, but the music aims towards a more epic kind of indie-psych. (Thanks to Brooklyn Vegan for the link.)

Emma Pollock - "Adrenaline"

Found this one when I saw that Ms. Pollock (formerly of the excellent Delgados) would be opening for Spoon & The New Pornographers 11/1. Sadly, I won't be there -- already got tickets for Johnette Napolitano @ the Duck -- but this little gem of a pop song makes me even more bummed that I can't be in two places at once... (Thanks to The Yellow Stereo for the link.)

The Drones - "Shark Fin Blues"

Roots-rock from the Land Down Under, but it sounds more like Son Volt, especially in the awesomely rough-edged Jay Farrar-esque guitars, and owes a serious debt to Neil Young, too. Noisy but listenable and warm.

Throw Me The Statue - "About to Walk"

This one's from a few months back, but I only recently got it on the iPod & gave it a listen. And man, is it good -- fractured, vulnerable-sounding pop with cool, crunchy synths and driving-like-a-crazy-person drums. When it's over, I just want to hit Play again, and again, and again...

Labels: Cool Web Junk, Pseudo-Reviews, Things To Download, Things To Hear

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Okay, so this is a little weird. When I was a wee musical tadpole back in college, there were a handful of bands that really smacked me sideways, music-wise, and made me realize that hey, maybe there really was all this incredibly cool music out there on the edges where the radio didn't go. Superhunk, Jawbox, Belle & Sebastian, My Blood Valentine -- they totally remade my world.

Also on the list were a band of proto-emo guys from Austin who called themselves Mineral, a dark, urgent, and thankfully non-grunge Seattle indie-rock band called Silkworm, and a patiently surging slocore band called Seam, who also happened to be the first band I ever saw at Emo's (playing with Don Caballero, if memory serves (which, come to think of it, it might not)).

Years went by, and I followed all three bands along, album after album. Mineral died after a handful of 7"s and two stellar full-lengths, then morphed into The Gloria Record, who played what was possibly the most atmospheric, best-sounding show I ever saw at the former Mary Jane's/Fat Cat's. Silkworm fought the good fight in the indie underworld for something like fifteen years, releasing albums that were excellent, good, and okay in varying numbers. Then they lost drummer Michael Dahlquist to a tragic, horrific car wreck in 2005 and, unable to continue without Mike, called the band over.

Seam, for its part, combined folks from both the Chapel Hill and Chicago indie scenes; soon-to-be Superchunk frontman Mac McCaughan actually played drums in the band for a year or so back at the start. The band released albums until '99 or so, when they split up and members went their separate ways (to Ee and Poem Rocket, I think, for two). One by one, the bands either crumbled or drifted off into the ether.

Flash forward a few years, and it seems the people in the bands above couldn't keep away from their instruments forever. So, lo and behold, we now have Zookeeper and Bottomless Pit, complete with sample tracks. Enjoy...

Zookeeper - "Snow in Berlin"

Zookeeper is Chris Simpson of Mineral & The Gloria Record (along with cohorts from Zykos, Sad Accordions, & a few other outfits), whose songwriting talents have taken a decidedly non-"emo" turn this time 'round. I dunno if the whole album, Becoming All Things (out on Belle City Pop), is like this one song, but "Snow in Berlin" is jaunty and swinging, with nicely chaotic instruments and a front-porch hoedown feel to it; despite the Germanic subject matter, this is about as far from cold, Teutonic electro-rock as you can get, don't worry. Think harmonicas, barroom pianos, drums just this side of the Black Crowes, and countrified yelp-along vocals. It's a far cry from Simpson's past work, whether in The Gloria Record or Mineral...and I'm guessing that's kind of the point. But hell, it's still very, very good; can't wait to hear the full-length.

Bottomless Pit - "The Cardinal Movements"

Bottomless Pit, on the other hand, consists of Silkworm members Tim Midgett and Andy Cohen, ex-Seam drummer Chris Manfrin, and Brian Orchard, formerly of .22. This one, off of the band's debut, Hammer of the Gods (due out on Comedy Minus One), comes as a bit less of a surprise -- the guitars are murk and chimey like on the best Silkworm tracks, always with a hint of discordant despair lurking behind the notes, and the vocals (not sure whether they're by Midgett or Cohen; I cringe to admit it, but the only Silkworm-er I could ever tell apart vocally was Joel Phelps) have a detached-yet-threatening tone to 'em, like some kind of inevitable crash is coming near. At first I'm a little bit "eh," probably due in part to me yearning to hear Michael Dahlquist back behind the drum kit, but after a listen or two the track starts to dig in like a wire slowly being tightened across my wrist (but in a good way, of course).

I have to say, it's nice to see that even though things do indeed change, they still manage to come back around in some new form.

Unfortunately, Bottomless Pit isn't coming to town anytime real soon, but Zookeeper (and Simpson) will be in H-town this coming Sunday, September 17th, playing at newbie(?) venue Boondocks (1417 Westheimer) with tourmates Umbrellas.

Labels: Musical Crap, Pseudo-Reviews, Things To Do, Things To Download

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Yep, I'm dragging my sorry ass out of the house this evening to catch The Rentals (Myspace) up at Warehouse Live (with Copeland and Goldenboy, neither of which I know a damn thing about; sorry...). And I'm really, truly looking forward to it; believe it or not, Matt Sharp & co. are one of those few bands out there that I've always wished I got to see back in the day, up there with the Pixies, Nirvana, and the Clash.

The weird part, though (to some, anyway), is that I'm not really looking forward to hearing all the stuff off of Return of the Rentals (beyond the track I swiped for the post title and "Friends of P," naturally), but instead am super-freakin'-excited to finally get a chance to (maybe?) hear some of the songs off of the criminally-underrated Seven More Minutes live. My life just won't be complete 'til I can hear "Hello Hello," "Barcelona," and "My Head Is In The Sun" at full rock-out volume, honest.

I'm aware that the above sounds like insanity to some Rentals fans, but fuck it -- while I do love Return, it still smacks of "hey, I got a Moog; let's mess around and come up with some songs!" Seven More Minutes, on the other hand, is the sound of a band (and songwriter, in Sharp) becoming a mature outfit and ditching the gimmicks. Beyond that, the songs are bleak and cutting, a glimpse into the not-what-it's-cracked-up-to-be life of a rockstar sideman who decides he wants to get the hell away from it all and go somewhere where he can be anonymous and just lose himself (Spain, to be exact). In my book, Seven More Minutes is up there as one of the best, most criminally overlooked followup albums in rock history (right next to Primitive Radio Gods' White Hot Peach). This may or may not prove my point, but what the hey -- here're some songs from Seven More Minutes to take a listen to (since, y'know, apparently nobody's heard the damn thing but me):

• "Hello Hello"
• "She Says It's Alright"
• "Big Daddy C"
• "Barcelona"
• "My Head Is In The Sun"

Whoop -- better get a move on, since the doors opened at 7PM, and it's already 8...

Labels: Musical Crap, Pseudo-Reviews, Things To Do, Things To Download

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Yes, sometimes I do. I'll admit to being a late-late-late, almost-past-its-peak Myspace user, but I have to admit that I've been able to hear some damn cool bands (local and otherwise) just by bumbling about from profile to profile. Did some of that today and found some very cool stuff I'd never heard before:

• Piano Vines: Oh, wow. The last thing I heard online that was this cool was fellow locals The Western Civilization; sweet-yet-strong indie-pop with vocals just this side of Elizabeth Elmore and a cool Palomar-esque feel. I need to hear more from these two.

• I Miss Being A Kid: Okay, so I was initially suckered in by the Curious George picture -- I have a three-year-old, so I kinda have to like George -- but the music kept me here. Gentle, alluring folk-pop with a melancholy edge to it that's reminiscent of Winterpills or maybe Bedhead. I'm gonna have to check these guys out, too...

• Mantis: Shambling, rollicking, subversively funky/soulful rock with some damn nice keys. I dunno why, but these guys make me think of bands like Traffic or Blind Faith. Badass; the three tracks on their Myspace are definitely going in the ol' iPod.

• Yppah: One of H-town's premiere DJ/remix/whatever guys, I've heard, although I'd never listened to his(?) stuff 'til now. Cool, organic-sounding electronics; some of it reminds me nicely of Bentley Rhythm Ace.

Check 'em out; if you haven't already heard of 'em (I think Yppah, at least, is on an out-of-town label already), I'm guessing you will soon...

Labels: H-Town News, Pseudo-Reviews, Things To Download

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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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Not sure when they put 'em up, but local boys Radio Pioneer (ex-The Tie That Binds/-Guns of August/-etc.) have got two new awesome songs up on their MySpace page. Both "We're Not Sorry" and "The World" hit all those emo-indie touchstones we (well, me, at least) love so damn much, from Samiam to Face to Face to Jawbreaker -- alternately loud/soft guitars, bitterly angry vocals, floor-punching choruses, and just a hint of screamo desperation. Good shit, definitely, a step up from their 2-song "EP" (which I already like). Guitarist/singer/cool guy Dwayne told me a short while back that the reason the band's been absent from the stage of late is because they've been recording some new stuff to release somewhere along the line, and if this little taste is any indicator, it's gonna be great...

Labels: H-Town News, Pseudo-Reviews, Things To Download

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It's been a good week for power-pop, at least 'round SCR HQ. First off we got word that bizarrely catchy British power-popsters Art Brut have released five sneak-a-peek tracks from their soon-to-be-released next album on Downtown Recs. And thankfully, they're damn good, albeit somewhat of a love-or-hate proposition -- if frontman Eddie Argos's Jonathan Richman-esque talk-singing bugged you on Bang Bang Rock & Roll, well, it'll probably bug you here, too.

For my part, though, I'm over the moon. I love the heck out of BBR&R and was a wee bit concerned that any followup could easily jump the shark into a bad joke; the good news is that that ain't happening. The five tracks the band's let slip are the best kind of loud, bitterly sarcastic, guitar-heavy, record-obsessed pop around, all the way from the breakup-in-slow-motion track "Pump Up The Volume" to the disbelieving Cure/Smiths sound of "Nag Nag Nag Nag". Now, I'm fairly certain this'll get me in trouble, but what the hey -- download the songs for yourself here (they're all together in a .zip file).

Now, this week also saw even better news on the H-town front, seeing as local punkish popsters Something Fierce have put up two new tracks on their MySpace page that up the ante impressively even from their excellent debut, Come For The Bastards. "Teenage Ruins" comes off like the band was mainlining The Undertones for the past year or so and then ran the whole thing through a Ramones filter, and then "On Your Own" rips and shreds its way through pretty much any punk band since the late '70s, all while ringing with a hooky-as-hell melody. Can't wait for the next album for either band.

Ah, the midget's awake. Hopefully more soon...

Labels: H-Town News, Pseudo-Reviews, Things To Download

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This really, truly makes my week. A while back, I stumbled across a two-year-old post over on The Skyline Network about the glory of the ancient-but-amazing It Came From Nowhere... 7" comp, where long-ago scene vets Mark Caperton of Ojet Recs and former Celindine/etc. guitarist/singer Trey Pool both popped up and offered a copy of all the old Celindine stuff on CD. Pathetic fanboy that I am, drool immediately began to form at the edges of my mouth.

So I tracked down Mark & Trey and begged/pleaded for a copy of the old stuff, and just yesterday I got a little envelope in the mail with a CD-R featuring a copy of the sick ghost currently covered in secret ants demo tape cover and a kind, sweet letter from Trey himself about hearing yours truly play the tape on the radio late-late-late one night way back when. Holy fuck. I slap it in the CD player, and it all comes back to me -- ahhh, that's it. Yes.

Really, when I think about it, Celindine were a band that was just too good to last. They were like the Squirrel Bait of the Houston scene at the time -- a supremely talented crew of guys who really just seemed to like to screw around, drink beer, and rock to crowds made up mostly of friends and fellow musicians, but who somehow managed to go on to be in a good dozen other influential local bands:

• Trey went on to form Trompedo (which was basically Celindine minus other guitarist/vocalist Damon), then Sad Like Crazy, before moving up to Austin w/his very nice wife Mari and their pal Thane...
• Bassist Shane played in The Linoleum Experiment, then Star City, and then moved off to, um, I've got no clue where...
• Damon (who himself used to front local straightedge heroes Refuse To Fall) played with a rotating cast of characters for a few years as That Gospel Sound and has since shifted over to the sweet life of a DJ with Boys & Girls Club...
• Replacement guitarist Jason played solo for a while as The Last Weak before heading home to Florida...
• Original drummer Jeremy played in The Linoleum Experiment w/Shane...
• Replacement drummer Gram started great-indie-hope Schrasj, played with Jessica Six, and then moved out to Cali and released an album as Golden Gram before joining Sub Pop indie-psych rockers Rogue Wave (yep, that Rogue Wave)...
• and replacement-replacement drummer Jeff played in Buzzie Rifle, then The Wholesome Rollers, then Telluride, which became Chasmatic and later transmuted into today's own alt-country slackers Bright Men of Learning.

I'm probably missing several incestuous band connections, here, but you get the idea. Celindine wasn't around long, really, and only ever put out a couple of tape demos, the aforementioned 7" comp appearance, and another two-song 7" before imploding in the face of some serious personality conflicts, but even now, I still feel like I can hear echoes of 'em in the Houston scene.

And what a sound it was. Equal parts Grifters-y backwoods daze (esp. in Trey's vocals), Yo La Tengo indie sensibility, and an Archers of Loaf-ish sideways take on rock, with lots of off-kilter guitar parts that sounded like they shouldn't work but somehow did, slow nod-inducing grooves, a bit of jam band slapdashery, and it fucking ruled. These guys simultaneously made me want to keep playing music because music was too damn cool and give it up because there was no hope of me ever coming near to their coolness. Celindine was honestly the first local band I ever idolized; they made it look so easy to write/play songs that were catchy and strange at the same time.

Okay, so I'll attempt to quit the fanboy blathering now. With Trey's blessing, here're a handful of tracks from the "Collected Works of Celindine" CD-R he's thrown my way; he says he occasionally toys with the idea of getting it all polished up & sending copies to a bunch of the old scenesters from those days, but eh, time moves on... I think the first two are from the sick ghost tape, the third is from the It Came From Nowhere... comp, and the last two are from what was reportedly going to be the band's first actual "real" release (sorry, there's some static, but Trey swears it was on his CD-R, too):

• "No Crest"
• "Flying Like Sitting Ducks"
• "Starry Eyes"
• "Ole"
• "Good Day"

Download 'em, stick 'em on the MP3 player, and throw your mind back to those days back in the early-to-mid-'90s when Rudyard's actually had bands play on a teeny stage where the dartboards are, the mainstream press gave even less of a crap about local bands than it does now, and touring bands routinely gave H-town the finger as they roared past in the tour buses/vans, barely bothering to even slow down, thus forcing us all to make our own fun. Enjoy.

Labels: H-Town News, Musical Crap, Things To Download

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Yep, it's St. Paddy's, which is a holiday yours truly actually really likes, for no accountable reason other than a lifelong fascination with the Irish (from whom I'm descended, partly, despite being generally a Western European mutt). I kind of got into Irish culture first in high school, being interested in genealogy and history, and then when I got to an actual big city, I was happy to find that Houston's got a fair number of Irish/Celtic/whatever bands, clubs, and such.

These days I use the day primarily as an excuse to blast The Pogues, The Chieftains, and Dropkick Murphys, replace the wife's cheery Spring flag on the porch with the Irish colors, and drink some of the tiny-tiny-tiny amount of booze I generally consume (probably even less today, mind you, since I've still got a stomach bug). If you're out and about, though, I'd heartily recommend checking out the St. Paddy's festival at McGonigel's Mucky Duck (although it's been going on for a bit now, I think) or hitting one of the other clubs in town serving godawful green beer. It's worth it just to watch the drunken idiots, seriously. Check the shows list to see who's where (The Handsomes @ The Continental Club & Flying Fish Sailors @ The Big Top would be a good bet).

And hey, in honor of the day, I've dragged some Irish-themed music out of the stacks of CDs piled in the office; some new, some old:

1. Dropkick Murphys, "The Auld Triangle" (gotta love Brendan Behan)
2. Dropkick Murphys, "The Green Fields of France"
3. Young Dubliners, "Rocky Road to Dublin"
4. Black 47, "Fanatic Heart" (the most sadly-unrecognized Irish-American band ever)
5. Anonymous, "Whiskey In The Jar" (for all those people who think Metallica wrote the freakin' song)
6. Anonymous, "Finnegan's Wake" (this is by far the best recorded version I've ever heard; love the glasses clinking and people cracking jokes in the background)

(To anybody who owns any of the music above, I'm posting it here strictly for sampling purposes; I think these bands & albums are great and deserve to be heard. If anyone wants these taken down, just let me know, and I will.)

Labels: Things To Do, Things To Download

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Damn -- I meant to get the jump on this, but ah, well... Today's the official release date for No, Not Me, Never, by Denver nu-New Wavers The Photo Atlas, and their people were kind enough to hand us an MP3 off the new album for free-free-free, baby. Best price there is, I'm tellin' you... Anyway, the track's "Handshake Heart Attack," and it's fairly addictive, in a frantic, angry, dance-punk kind of way -- I'm not big into that particular scene, I'll admit, but I like this because it feels a heck of a lot less self-aware and hipster-ironic than a lot of other practitioners of this sort of thing. It makes me think of The Rapture if the band got into a knife fight onstage with one'a them crayzee noise-punk bands, and that happens to sound entertaining as hell to me, at least.

Sadly, The Photo Atlas are one of the half-dozen or so SXSW bands not making a stop down here in Helltown, U.S.A., but if you're up there for the festivities, check 'em out (dates on their Website; they're apparently playing five freakin' shows in the span of three days, and I don't have the energy to put 'em all up here, sorry).

On the other side of the coin, the awesomely-cool Palomar will be playing our fair city over at Rudyard's on Wed., March 14th, before the head on up to Austin. When I first saw the listing, it was one of Rudz's "Turbojugend Humpday" things (what the hell's a Turbojugend, anyway?), and I did a bit of a double-take, since those shows seem to be mostly locals -- not that that's a bad thing, of course -- and Palomar are definitely not local. I'd halfway figured this was yet another case of local-band-with-the-same-name-itis (it's happened to me recently, although I'm blanking on the name), 'til I got an e-mail from the label.

At any rate, going by the sample they've got up from their new album (due out 3/20), All things, forests, "Our Haunt," it's going to be quite a show. It's a lot darker than the previous stuff I've heard from 'em, with some murky bass and a little bit of a Neko Case feel to Rachel Warren's gorgeous vocals, but there's plenty of fire there, too, particularly on the guitars. My one complaint is that it sounds like it ends about a minute too early. Hate that; want more, dammit.

Labels: Things To Do, Things To Download

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...here's a handful of Suspects tracks, lovingly ripped by your humble editor (with official permission from 'spects headman Bill Grady, naturally), all from either 1995's Ninety-Nine Paid or 1997's How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Ska. (Sorry, but I just never really got into the last album, Lost Along The Way, as much...):

"Caffeine" (Ninety-Nine Paid) [4.6MB]
"Right On Time" (Ninety-Nine Paid) [4.1MB]
"3-Eyed Fish" (How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Ska) [4.1MB]
"Goodbye Brown Eyes" (How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Ska) [4.2MB]

Plug time (albeit not for me): if you make it out to the show tonight at the Continental Club, I'd be willing to bet you can snag copies of at least the last two of the band's three full-lengths, plus maybe the Panic Button! EP. If you can't get there, though, and you still want some finely-aged Suspects-ness in your life, you can order 'em online here.

Labels: Things To Do, Things To Download

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