UPDATE-UPDATE: Got some more info on tonight's cancellation; according to the good people at SHFL, A Lull's tour vehicle broke down, and they couldn't play, so the listenlisten guys decided to call the show a bust. Just fyi, folks.

UPDATE: sigh. Looks like I was a little quick on the "Post" button, because yes, per the listenlisten crew, tonight's show is indeed cancelled. Dang. Oh, well; enjoy the A Lull MP3, either way...

While I'll gladly give props to Lucas Gorham's Sad Gorilla project and residency at Mango's, I must admit that for tonight, at least, there's only one show on my personal little maybe-go-see list: A Lull, listenlisten, & Smoky Mountain, up at Super Happy Fun Land.

Well, maybe. All of the bands' various Websites, Facey-spaces, & whatnot list the show as going on, but SHFL, unfortunately, has a big "Canceled!" under tonight's date (Monday, February 8th, that is). Still trying to find out what the deal is, but I've got my fingers crossed that the show will go on, because if so, it's going to be pretty damn great...

Chicago-dwellers A Lull, for their part, do a neat, quirky brand of electro-tweaked indie-pop that sounds (to me, anyway) like a friendlier, less-bizarro Four Tet doing covers the best, gentlest songs from the Saddle Creek catalog, and they're pretty incredible at it -- the result is sweet and watery-sounding pop with the guitars and low-key voices up-front and Beta Band-esque electronics burbling along behind, and that's no bad thing, at least not to me.

In case you don't want to take my word for it, though, here you go:

A Lull - "Skinny Fingers"

I dunno Smoky Mountain at all, unfortunately, partly due to the fact that Googling "Smoky Mountain band" brings up a cheeseball-looking bunch of punks from the Philippines, and I'm guessing that's not these folks...

listenlisten, however, are another matter entirely; they're one of my favorite bands in town, and beyond that, they've steadily worked their way to being one of my favorite bands, well, ever. They're dark and spooky and heartfelt all at once, playing an alternate-universe hybrid of Appalachian folk, late-1800s sea shanties, and stark, brooding Americana, and it's freaking awesome, frankly. You owe it to yourself to check out last year's Hymns From Rhodesia full-length, I swear.

There you go; get on out if you can, and hopefully this thing'll actually happen. I'll update this post if I find out otherwise.

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

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Hey, all -- it's Munchkin #1's birthday weekend, and we've got family in town, to boot, so I've got other stuff on my mind beyond shows & whatnot, I'm afraid. Which means that not only did I blow it for last night, but I've got to keep it pretty brief for the rest of the weekend.

Still, there's some good stuff going on, esp. today. Here's what I'd be going to, were I not planning on passing out tonight after riding herd on a baker's dozen kindergarteners for most of the day:

Sat., February 6:
Somosuno/Fiskadoro/Eets Feats/Room 101/Cosmic Sound @ Mango's (9PM)
Damn -- I missed mentioning tonight's Ghost Mountain show, I know, but hey, at least you can still check out GM side project Cosmic Sound tomorrow night at Mango's. There's also Room 101, one-man-band Roburt Reynolds's loud, sprawling mess of surprisingly coherent noise-rock, and Fiskadoro, who I've actually really liked but have a hard time describing...

Components of the Modern Age/Benjamin Wesley/If The War Should End/The Wrong Ones/Monoceros @ Walter's
Heard good things about both Components of the Modern Age and If The War Should End, dig the glam-trash rawk of The Wrong Ones, and absolutely love Benjamin Wesley's crazed, sarcastic Afropop-esque thing. A pretty bizarre lineup, really, but a good one.

Crash 45/Let's Hang Jackson/A Silent Canvas/Clubhouse for Ivy/The True Value/Out Feet First/Swervy & the Nutsacks/Minerva/Maniphest/Oneway Radio/A Bubble in the Sun/Four O'Clock @ Fitzgerald's (4PM; $10)
Wha? Holy shit -- I could've sworn old-school pop-punk guys Crash 45 were dead & buried a long, long time ago. Which was damn sad, at the time, because I really liked what I heard of the band; is this maybe some bunch of young'uns who've inadvertently taken the same name? Anybody know?

Arthur Yoria @ The Corner Pub (Conroe)
Maybe it's my Inner Loop-bred views of the Conroe-area 'burbs, but I'd honestly love to see the looks on people's faces as Arthur launched into "No Messin' With My Rectum If You Like My Erection"...

Graham Wilkinson and the Underground Township/Drew Smith's Lonely Choir @ The Continental Club
51st Annual Rory Miggins Memorial Irish Stew Cookoff, featuring Blaggards @ McElroy's Irish Pub
Dirty Honey, featuring DJ Brett Koshkin & Ceeplus Bad Knives @ Boondocks
Benefit for IGA Nephropathy Foundation of America, featuring Mark McKinney & Neil Austin Imber @ Firehouse Saloon
No Glove, No Love! Fest, featuring Odessa, Cavernous, Dinner at Dahmers, Play For Keeps, On The Rag, Waverly Hills, Rise to Conquer, & Rats In The Attic @ Super Happy Fun Land (6PM)

Sun., February 7:
The Texas Buzz, featuring the last place you look, From Guts to Glory, & Floorbound @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)
Yes, yes, yes. the last place you look freaking rule, I swear to God -- one of the best post-emo rock bands in town, and given the number of competitors, that's saying something. Last year's See the Light Inside You was one of the best albums I heard all year, no lie...

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Wow; now, there's a name from out of the Mists of Time. I remember hearing Lungfish some back at KTRU in the early '90s, around when Rainbows From Atoms came out, and by even then they were fairly well-established icons in the post-punk scene, playing music that was (to my metal/hip-hop-head ears at the time, at least) bizarrely hypnotic and messy, with awesomely scraping, clawing guitars and frontman Daniel Higgs desperately literate, prophet-on-the-corner lyrics. They were pretty mind-blowing, although to be fair, my shifts on the air generally blew my mind on a fairly regular basis...

Unfortunately, I lost track of the band once I left the station and was forced to subsist on music I actually bought or got for review; hell, until today I didn't even realize the band apparently didn't break up 'til 2005 but just kept cranking out new albums every year or two (finishing up with 2005's Feral Hymns, which is an excellent title for either a band or album). Higgs, it turns out, stayed busy not only with the band but also in a bunch of other projects, most notably his own solo stuff -- these days he's "Daniel A.I.U. Higgs" (the "A.I.U." stands for "Arcus Incus Ululat"), and he's playing these oddball, decidedly non-Lungfish-like songs that incorporate the banjo, guitar, piano, & Jew's harp.

And happily, he's also playing right here in Houston tomorrow, Friday, February 5th, over at The Husk, which is that empty storefront at 2808 Milam, right next to Khon's Bar -- aim for the Khon's sign, and you'll see it just to the left. The Resonant Interval Sound Series gang's responsible for bringing Higgs to town, shifting from their usual Sunday slot to accomodate his touring schedule; kudos to Lance and the rest of the RISS crew for making this happen, because it sounds like it'll be damn good.

What's the music like? Well, I've seen stuff like "shamanic" and "similar to that of a tarot experience" thrown around, and no, I've really got no clue what that means, but listening to the guy's music (what I've been able to hear is mostly off of 2006's Ancestral Songs) is mesmerizing and weirdly crooked-sounding, like some hillbilly hermit living somewhere out in the hills, receiving visions of The Divine, and then trying to put it to music with the beaten-down instruments he has on hand. There's a strange, spiritual undertone to it, that's for sure. What's it like live? No idea, but from what I've listened to so far, it should be near to jaw-dropping.

Of course, he's not the only one on the bill -- I'm psyched to see that Austin/Houston gang Weird Weeds are also playing, esp. after getting to see them at the Lost In Space fest back in December. I'd had 'em recommended to me before but hadn't actually heard them, so I was a little skeptical, but by midway through their set, I was fully won over. They're honestly probably one of the best bands I've seen live in the last few years. All expert, laidback-as-hell musicians who know their instruments so well that they can do whatever the hell they want with 'em and still manage to craft songs that are basically pop songs at heart. Seriously: they're good.

I'm less familiar with the other folks playing, I'm afraid, but that shouldn't be a deterrent, by any means. Local guitar/contrabass outfit Roomies! open, and I hear they're good (actually, the description I heard was "dream improv duo"), and there's also the New York/Netherlands-dwelling Stellar OM Source, aka Christelle Gualdi, who does these hypnotic, eletronic drones & washes and is touring with Higgs.

In-between is JD Emmanuel, a Houston-area electro-trance musician whose early-'80s work has apparently been discovered by folks like Wolf Eyes; to be frank, I'd never heard of the guy before, but that's mostly because, hey, I'm more of a guitar-bass-drums kind of guy. Emmanuel's become somewhat of a legend in some circles, though, and this show will be a landmark, since it'll be his first live performance since 1982. Yes, as in nearly thirty fucking years ago. Wow. Listened to some of what's up on Emmanuel's Myspace just now, and it's pretty intriguing, if a bit dated-sounding to me -- the tracks I like best remind me, at least, of the gamelan-heavy soundtrack to Akira, so any of you anime fanboys out there should get the idea.

Get on out to this one, folks -- it promising to be an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime lineup. Things kick off at 8PM, and the cover's a measly $8...

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Yeah, there're other things going on tonight (Sun., January 31st, that is), but honestly, there's only one that really stands out, at least to me. One of the bands in town nearest & dearest to my heart, the ever-awesome Something Fierce, will be playing up at The Mink, at a show that's partly a release par-yay for their brand-new 7" on upstart Action Town Records, with the barn-burning, nostalgic "Where You Goin Man?" on Side A and a cover of the Party Owls classic, "Spray Coat," on the B-side. I'm ashamed to admit I've never heard the Party Owls song, but "Where You Goin Man?" is one of the best tracks on the band's '09 full-length, There Are No Answers, and the fact that it stands out there is really saying something.

Besides all of that, it's great to see the SFers playing back in town again -- they've been a bit absent lately (I think the last time they played in town was back in October), and every time I don't see a band playing regularly 'round here, I get nervous that they've gotten in some kind of intra-band squabble and broken up, so y'know... Anyway, these guys/girl are awesome; they're pretty much my favorite poppy punk/power-pop band in town these days (esp. now that Teenage Kicks is no more), with whip-smart songs that're tuff and sweet at the same time. (I'm happy as hell, btw, to see the band's got some new demos up on the Myspace.)

While it's Something Fierce's release show, they're not actually headlining -- that spot goes to Kentuckians Hey Kid!, who aren't bad themselves, playing more serious-sounding, metallic pop-punk that rides the line between Alkaline Trio and Lagwagon. And get there early to jam out with opening DJS DJ No Fun & King Ghidora. It's gonna be a good time; 9PM, not sure what the cover'll be.

Of course, if poppy punk's not your thing, there're always alternatives:

Other Stuff to Do:
Circulasione Totale Orchestra @ Barnevelder Movement/Arts Complex
Girls/Magic Kids/The Smith Westerns @ Walter's
Aquarian Water Party, featuring Muzak John, Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except, PSA, Rapeworm, Bulletproof Gatorade, Puppetrina, Days n' Daze, Sugar Glyder, Organic Health Monkey, Organ Failure, The Kaboxo Heads, & Exterminating Angels @ Super Happy Fun Land (5PM-2AM)
The Texas Buzz, featuring Otenki, Marquis of Vaudeville, & Radio Ark @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Day 2 of the weekend -- Saturday, January 30th, to be precise -- and yep, there's plenty going on 'round town. Here's what I'm thinking sounds good:

Followed By Static/ Muhammadali/ B L A C K I E/ Legsweeper/ Somosuno/Limb @ Notsuoh
Sweeeet. Two of my favorite bands in town right now -- misanthropic crush-hop pioneer B L A C K I E and loose-limbed, ambiguously-spelled indie-punks Muhammadali -- on the same bill, plus Austinites Followed By Static, who do some nicely droney/rough-edged psych-rock; hard to beat that. The weird thing about this show, though, is that, um, according to the flyer this is a "secret" show at an undisclosed location...and yet, I was under the impression that it was actually going to be at Notsuoh. Hope this isn't blowing the secret...

Artopia, featuring Runaway Sun, Ryan Scroggins and the Trenchtown Texans, Benjamin Wesley, & Ceeplus Bad Knives @ Winter Street Studios
And another lineup with folks I like, esp. one-man-band Benjamin Wesley, whose laidback, quirkily dark groove-pop is ridiculously addictive, and local ska/reggae heroes Ryan Scroggins and the Trenchtown Texans. Plus plenty of artists, fashion shows, & all kinds of other art-related stuff.

Caddywhompus/Female Demand/Smiley With A Knife @ Mango's
Already talked a bit about Female Demand yesterday -- see here -- but I wanted to add my recommendation to definitely, definitely check out fellow hard-rocking duo Caddywhompus, aka Chris Rehm & Sean Hart, ex-(?) of the Riff Tiffs and now splitting their time between here at New Orleans. I still enjoy the hell out of the band's two EPs so far, and seeing 'em live is pretty impressive, too.

Pride Kills (7" release)/Hell City Kings/No Talk/Power Trip/The Burden @ Walter's (8PM; $10, incl. copy of the 7")
Never known much about headliners Pride Kills, I'm afraid, other than they're one of the longer-standing hardcore bands in the city, and um, I could swear they actually broke up back in '08. Am I thinking of another "Pride Kills"? No clue. Either way, I'm thinking this'll be a good show mostly because of openers the Hell City Kings -- who were kind enough to send a copy of their latest full-length my way, although I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, I'm afraid; I've liked their raw, down-and-dirty rawk for quite a while now -- and full-on old-school punk/hc band No Talk. And hey, the $10 cover gets you a copy of Pride Kills' new 7", which is always a nice touch.

Lee Alexander/Arthur Yoria/Petesimple @ Rudyard's
Heard really, really good things about singer/songwriter Lee Alexander, but I have to admit it, Arthur Yoria's the draw for me on this bill -- the guy's a machine, cranking out album after album of pop-rock that never stays in one stylistic place long enough to get stale. Take his last album, (281), for example; just when I think I've got him pegged as a sensitive, murky troubadour, he comes back with a pack of totally bizarro songs, calling himself "stoner-pop." And yet, still good.

Runners-Up:
Bigga Staar/Mr. Blacc Sheep/D.R.U.M./Kozmic Steel/DJ Meshak @ The Continental Club
Spain Colored Orange/The Laughing/The Journey Agents @ Dean's Credit Clothing
Carolyn Wonderland/Richard Cagle and the Voodoo Choir/Idol Hands/Mojofromopolis @ The Meridian
Patrick Godbey/Whurm @ Last Concert Cafe
Lethal Aggression/Scum Allegiance/HRA/Termination Force/Owl Witch @ The Mink (8:30PM)
Anti-Climax/The Lion of Wall Street/Days N Daze/Alimanas/Archaic 3 with Chief/U Not I/LSD/Picking Scabs/Molotov Compromise/Rats In The Attic/Action Frank/Pelly Rodgers/The Delta Block/Freddie Goneria and the Guns @ Super Happy Fun Land
Krunkquistadors/Kemo for Emo/Mike Terror/Cynical/Iminent Success @ Gary's Spot (Tomball)
Safety Suit/Parachute/The Wonderful Future @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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You might remember a while back that the good people at the Caroline Collective were putting on those Bandcamp things; it's been a few months since they've done any of 'em, I think, but this coming Sunday, January 31st, they're putting on something they're calling Bandcampus: BOOKING PARTY.

The idea is to help out bands who want to tour outside of our fair city, giving them real-live experience at booking shows in venues in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi. The BandCampers are providing a handy guide to setting things up in each of those cities -- which'll be published for free download the day after the Bandcampus, although you can check it out online right now here -- free Internet access, and "mad-libs style" email and phone forms folks can use for actually emailing and calling different booking agents & venues. Experienced people will be there to help out however they can.

Needless to say, I think this is very cool. Historically, H-town bands just plain don't leave this city real often -- we're three hours from everybody else, at the very least, so getting elsewhere is expensive and time-consuming as hell. This isn't the East Coast, and gas costs a shitload these days. Bands need to be touring extensively outside our little town, and yet when I hear of bands doing just that, it's pretty damn rare, and mostly with more established bands.

Besides the logistical issues, too, knowledge of this sort of thing is pretty sparse; I'm glad to see the Caroline Collectivites(?) doing their part to try to give everybody a leg up. The more people who play elsewhere, the better they make H-town look and the better things get for everybody in this weird, cool scene of ours.

Anyway, this thing runs from 2-4PM, over at the Collective (naturally) -- 4820 Caroline, Houston, TX. 77004. Make your plans...

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

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 1 comments

Got some new stuff up this week, so I wanted to pop over here & mention it, as well as hit the high notes for this evening (Friday, January 29th, you non-calendar-having bastards).

First & foremost, I'm pleased as heck to announce that we've got the 2009 installment of the "WE LIKE THINGS" series, aka the Official-Shmofficial Space City Rock Best-Of Lists for the Year Past, up on the site, as of the night before last. This time out we were able to drag seven intrepid, hard-working writer types into the fray, and they've expounded on all the cool-ass musical-type stuff they've liked over the past 12 months or so -- check it out right over here. Obviously, I'm a bit biased, since I wrote part of it, but dammit, I like it.

I should mention, however, that in talking about the Greatest Musical Things of '09, I realized there's one big, glaring omission, and that's me totally forgetting to talk/rave about the Free Press Summerfest. Honestly, it really, truly made my year, music-wise (so much so that I unconsciously used a pic of the thing for these lists and then neglected to mention it; argh...). It blew me away, y'all, and made H-town feel like it was someplace where people actually give a shit about music, for once. If you've been in a band here, that's no mean feat. Take a ride in my short-term Wayback Machine right here and here. Thanks, FP crew; I've got my fingers crossed for the next one.

Now, stepping back to the near future, I'm also happy to note that seasoned vet writer Henry and talented newbie writer Preston were kind enough to write up not one but two reviews for tonight's show up at Walter's. Freaky/folky indie-rockers The Fiery Furnaces headline, and we've got a review up over here of their most recent release, I'm Going Away (courtesy of Henry), plus Preston's take on Paint the Fence Invisible, the latest from swooning psych-popsters Drug Rug, on over here. Check 'em out, then go to the show, dammit.

As an added bonus, we've got a review of local boys Female Demand's debut self-titled EP, which is four tracks of noisy, head-smacking, bass-and-drums instro rock that owes equal debts to stoner-rock sludge, lo-fi garage, and flat-out punk. And yes, it's pretty darn good, esp. lead-in track "Sweet Nothing" -- it's ringing in my head, even now. See the writeup over here. They're not playing tonight, but instead tomorrow, Saturday, January 30th, up at Mango's. Good as the EP is, it can't compare to seeing 'em live, trust me.

With that out of the way, yes, there's plenty of other stuff going on tonight -- here're some of the highlights:

The Fiery Furnaces/Drug Rug @ Walter's
Well, duh. See above, and then see here and here. Then go, and enjoy. (No, really.)

Benefit Show for Abbas from Brasil, featuring Robert Ellis and the Boys, Two Star Symphony, Grandfather Child, Chase Hamblin, GRRRL Parts, Davie Graves, Southern Backtones, & The Sideshow Tramps @ Mango's
Ah, yeah -- Mango's is playing host to a cool-sounding benefit show, tonight, a free fundraiser (huh?) for Abbas, who works at fellow cafe-place Brasil and who apparently needs hip-replacement surgery. (Which, obviously, is not cheap. Or particularly affordable for a guy who works in a coffeeshop.) Some good, good musicians are donating their time and talent; the list above is pretty much all worth seeing, particularly Grandfather Child (from whom I really want to see something recorded, and soon), Robert Ellis, Chase Hamblin (whose debut EP we reviewed recently over here, if you're curious), & Two Star Symphony. Go support.

Jonathan Richman/Tommy Larkins/Kozmic Pearl (Janis Joplin tribute) @ The Continental Club
Jonathan Richman. Holy shit. I'll admit that I don't hold the guy in awe quite like some do, but anybody my age who's into music is bound to've been affected by the stuff this guy's done over the course of his three-decade-or-so career. Like punk rock? Then you owe this guy at least a drink. (Although I'm not sure I'd approach him, if I were you; I've heard stories that he's a bit on the misanthropic side...)

Tyagaraja/The Fox Derby/The Language Room @ Warehouse Live
Yes, laydeez & gents, it's The Show That Almost Wasn't; you could almost call this a sympathy mention, since I genuinely feel bad for the locals who got A) rescheduled to two(?) months after their original date and then B) ditched by would've-been headliners Alpha Rev. Damn. Of course, I said "almost," because any praise for ex-Million Year Dance frontman Tyagaraja is in no way a pity vote -- the guy's freaking mesmerizing, truly -- and I like what I've heard so far of The Fox Derby. Go, and be sure to give Alpha Rev the spiritual, long-distance one-finger salute while you're there.

Badfish (Sublime tribute)/Scotty Don't/Full Service/Searching For Signal @ House of Blues
I know, I know -- really? A Sublime tribute band? Nah, nah -- I don't care much for headliners Badfish, sorry (just not my thing; the most I ever got into Sublime was "Santeria"), but I do like opening young'uns Searching For Signal a hell of a lot. They're somewhat of an odd fit, with their moody, eyes-wide-open space-rock/pop, but hopefully folks will give 'em some love, even still. They deserve it...

Runners-Up:
Hermit Thrushes/Free Radicals/Anna and The Annadroids/Fist of Kong/Wiggins and Risk @ Super Happy Fun Land
P.L.F./Abrupt/HRA/Obama Nation @ The Hot Dog Shop (6405 Brittmoore; 8PM, $5)
Wings Burn Away/The 71's @ Fitzgerald's
Grizzly/Radio Ark/The Blue Threads/The Mint @ Fitzdown
If The War Should End @ Dean's Credit Clothing
Morakestra @ The Mink
Cuba Gooding Jr./Kiyoshi/Le Hibou @ Boondocks
Abacabb/Molotov Solution/Upon A Burning Body/Dr. Acula/The Nephilim Terror/No Remorse @ The Junction (8302 N Eldridge Parkway)

More later on...

Labels: Features, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Reviews, Things To Do

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It’s award season and I’ll soon be posting reviews of mainstream studio fare, so I want to post a quick note about an original film commissioned by the Houston Symphony, and made in Houston. The Planets - An HD Odyssey recently debuted to 4 sold out performances in its 3 day run at Jones Hall, and it was a revelation. Tonight the Houston Symphony is on tour with the film at Carnegie Hall in New York City for more sold out performances showing the brilliant HD photography that NASA’s $20 billion a year buys. (give or take a billion)

Filmmaker Duncan Copp previously directed episodes of PBS TV’s Nova, and my favorite film about NASA In the Shadow of the Moon. Although the very nature of the film is experimental, Copp’s use of split screens and a 3D animation process seemed gimmicky and even a bit home computer-ish at first. But moments later the scale of the project swallowed all of my apprehension. The music, composed 105 years ago in England by Gustav Holst, brought to mind the maligned word that only online critics use….. cinematic. I apologize for the term. But as the filmmaker’s camera zooms across a red Martian landscape the symphony distinctly sounds like John Williams’ familiar Star Wars Theme. I couldn’t help it. If there were ever a time to stoop to using the term “cinematic”, this was it.

The rest of the planets are mapped and photographed less comprehensively than Mars for obvious reasons. But the symphony is riveting. I didn’t “feel small” while watching these incredible photographs bring the formerly static planets to life. I felt slightly disoriented. We’re used to seeing the rings of Saturn and the deserts of Mars, but I’ve never seen a collection like this and I never knew that photographs of this detail existed. Sometimes, when confronted with a close-up, I wondered what exactly I was looking at. That is how detailed these photographs are. They look like nothing I have ever seen before. I could not find a reference point to link the images to my vocabulary about the planets. I was stunned speechless. That's how far out into space NASA has gone without us knowing, and that is what makes this piece so special. I remember hoping that members of Congress would see this movie because I believed it could convince them to fund NASA further into the future than they are likely to. I applaud the Houston Symphony and their sponsors for creating what could be a life sustaining work for NASA. They have been doing great work for the past 25 years, but unfortunately only manned flight makes headlines around the world. The unmanned work is cheaper, safer, and able to go deeper into space. This film and this performance showed the glory of NASA’s otherwise unheralded work.

While watching, I couldn’t help but take pride in the film, the symphony, and in NASA. For the rest of this weekend the tony confines of Carnegie Hall will be filled with Houston Musicians accompanying a film made in Houston. I can’t wait to read the reviews in the New York newspapers. Look for them to be posted as links hopefully this weekend.

This was my second visit to the Houston Symphony’s Sound Plus Vision series. I reviewed their resurrection of a silent film classic last season, and I’ll post more later this year for the Alternative Cinema Houston blog.

In February look for another original film made partly in Houston, and with a New York Connection, when So Percussion comes to Diverseworks for a series of live performances of their percussive ensemble while a film showing Houston and other urban landscapes plays in the background.

www.houstonsymphony.org www.nasa.gov www.diverseworks.org

Labels: Alternative Cinema Houston, Moo-vies, NASA

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Got some news a few days back about a new monthly concert series put on by the KTRU crew, specifically the combined forces of the Local Show and the Mutant Hardcore Flower Hour; Kirston, Rosa, and the rest of the gang will be putting on shows on a Thursday each month (during the Mutant Hardcore show), for free, with cheapo beers, and featuring (of course) an awesome bunch of bands. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it could be because Kirston was doing something similar for a while over at the Landmark River Oaks theater, before management shut the shows down.

The shows will be on the Rice campus, over at Valhalla -- if you don't know where it is, I can't really blame you, since it's in the basement of one of the campus lecture halls, but if you can get to the campus, just ask somebody, and they'll surely be able to tell you.

Tonight (Thurs., January 28th), by the way, happens to be the inaugural show for this series, kicking things off with Chelsea Hotel and The Matt Mayo Band, both of whom I happen to think are pretty damn cool. Despite being Conroe residents, the former do a country-tinged brand of old-school punk, harking back to the genre's earliest days but with a heavy dose of rockabilly thrown in, while the latter are more straight-up rock, grafting Hüsker Dü-like melodies onto what're basically roots-rock burners; they both do what they quite nicely. I need to hear more from both bands, seriously.

It's kind of weird, really, but although I went to the university, I never actually ventured inside Valhalla 'til after graduation; at the time, at least, it was the grad student bar, and undergrads either went to Willy's ('til that asshat set it on fire, anyway) or drank in their rooms at one of the colleges. Granted, I don't generally drink much, if at all, so I may not be a great representative sample for this, but I'd swear that the bar was like a no-go zone for anybody who wasn't either a non-student or working on an advanced degree in somethingorother. (In an odd bit of almost-synchronicity, however, my future wife-to-be did hang out there quite a bit, apparently, during my time at Rice, when she was going to U of H. Funny, that.)

Anyway, these shows sound like they're going to be good. And hey, you can't beat free, right? Get on over to the Rice 'hood tonight -- the show starts at 10PM.

Labels: H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Radio Things, Things To Do

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Some good shows tonight, so I wanted to slap a quick note up here about 'em, mostly because two of the shows feature bands I really, truly like/love quite a bit, and the third I'm pretty intrigued by, as well. Away we go:

10th Grade Cutie/ Muhammadali/ FG and The Gunz/The Wrong Ones/Cop Warmth/Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except @ Super Happy Fun Land
I'm not yet convinced when it comes to headliners 10th Grade Cutie (place umlauts in there wherever you will), never having seen their reportedly epic live show, but hell, I don't care, because I like what I've heard of trashy, glam-y garage-punks The Wrong Ones, a band that seemingly does everything right when it comes to resuscitating that late-'70s snotty Noo Yawk sound, and I dearly fucking love Muhammadali more and more each time I hear 'em.

I very recently finally got off my ass to review the band's early-2009 split-cassette with Black Congress and adored every fucking minute of it -- it now lives in my car so I can howl along with "I Believe," "Cumincide," and "Here To Go," pounding my fist on the steering wheel the whole while. They play rock that's raw, loose, and noisy, yet surprisingly smart and riddled with melodies that carve their way into your skull with an X-acto, and, well, it's pretty damn great. I won't rehash the whole thing in this space, but if you feel like it, my late-to-the-party take on and that's how i forgot about the bomb. is up over here. Looking forward to checking out both the 7" they've got coming on Twistworthy Recs and the split tape they're doing with brothers-in-arms Legsweeper; if you see 'em, grab copies of both. Trust me on this.

The Cor-Tet/The Manichean @ Avant Garden
Not real familiar with experimentalists The Cor-Tet beyond the name and what Google gets me, sorry, but openers The Manichean are well, well worth a listen/viewing. Their sound's a little hard to describe, but it's complex and sweet and busy and beautiful all at the same time, like what Sparta might've sound like if they'd digested a whole lot of the Decemberists and gone all cleverly mysterious indie-prog pseudo-folk. Keep an eye out for the band's debut EP, Whispers, coming out pretty dang soon.

The Julys/If The War Should End @ Boondocks
Haven't seen The Julys yet, either (I just don't get out much these days, sorry), but I've heard the stuff they've put up online, and it's fairly impressive, swooning and gentle at times and upbeat and bouncy at others; there's kind of a Rainer Maria-gone-soul thing going on, and hey, I can't be down on that. Plus, If The War Should End sound promising, in an epic, squished-down early Coldplay way; I'd dearly love to check 'em both out, myself...

Reggie O'Farrell @ House of Tea (1927 Fairview; 9PM)
Cool, cool; happened across this late addition a bit randomly, but it's a welcome thing to see The Western Civilization co-frontman Reggie O'Farrell hit the stage again, even if it's solo. He'll be playing tonight, supposedly, up at the House of Tea on Fairview at an open-mic deal, somewhere in the realm of 9PM. Go check him out & make him feel guilty for taking so long to get the new Western Civ album out...

There you go. Who says Monday nights suck? Nope, nope, nope.

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Another piecemealing of the "Yr. Weekend" thing, I know -- I swear, one of these days I'll have it together enough to be able to run over all of it at once, like back in Ye Good Olde Days, but lately it's been hard to find that big a chunk of time all at once, y'know? Anyway, tonight's surprisingly good for a freaking Sunday (January 24th, to be specific). Here's what's on that I happen to think sounds cool:

The Sword/ Woodgrain @ Warehouse Live
Damn, I love The Sword; I really, truly do. They're the band I used to dream about, back in my D&D-playing days, when I'd scour the local record store for The Most Perfectest Soundtrack EVER to our afternoon RPG sessions -- cool fantasy-epic imagery, good, raw-edged vocals, and (best of all) guitars and drums heavy and ballsy enough to punch any snickering D&D dilettantes in the neck. Beats the hell out of Savatage's Hall of the Mountain King, that's for sure (although yeah, I did dig the hell out of that at the time). While I do dig Agnostic Front (see below), I'm afraid these guys win out -- they blew me away at last year's Summerfest, making me want to headbang for the first time since, well, my freshman year of college, pretty much. If only I still had the long hair to really pull it off...

Agnostic Front/Death By Stereo/Killer Ape/U.Y.U.S. @ Walter's
Creg already posted a bit about this one, I know, but it's a badass enough show that it deserves a second mention, if a brief one: fucking Agnostic Front, the real-live NYcore legends, playing all of their '84 debut, Victim in Pain, for the first time since, hell, probably the '80s. Admittedly, Victim in Pain's only like 20 minutes long, so hopefully the band'll play other stuff, too, but either way, this promises to be a landmark show.

Flashbulb Fires/Mouse Fire/Jennifer Kay @ Super Happy Fun Land
An out-of-the-blue show to me, honestly, with three non-Houston bands I'd never heard 'til now, but it looks to be damn cool. I'm most impressed by Floridians Mouse Fire (and no, not just for their name), who do a quirky, smart type of indie-pop that's part Jellyfish, part Ben Folds Five, and part Talking Heads and beats dull, wispy bands like Vampire Weekend with a baseball bat. Check out "This Is How I Throw My Slider" and "To Celebrate A Suicide", from the band's 2007 release (new one out soon, apparently) for proof.

Flashbulb Fires are darn good, too -- indie-pop, again, but in more of an Elliott Smith-fronts-The Arcade Fire (while Coldplay dances in the background) kind of way. I'm actually kicking myself (mentally, of course) for not checking out both these bands before today, and that doesn't happen all that often for me. Check out the show, esp. if you're not into metal, hardcore, or, er,strangeness (see below).

Resonant Interval Sound Series, featuring Daniel Zajicek, Andrew Zukoski, & Hsin-Jung Tsai & Chairs @ The Husk (2808 Milam; 7:45PM, $5)
Yep, another Resonant Interval show, which pretty much guarantees it'll be interesting, at the very least, if a bit, um, odd. The "headliners" for this one are a trio of separate artists/musicians, who're collaborating for a single multimedia performance -- Hsin-Jung Tsai plays electric piano, Daniel Zajicek uses a laptop (I'm assuming) to manipulate the sounds, and then Andrew Zukoski provides "visual data processed in real time." Which I'm guessing means some kind of light/picture show in time with the music, but which could mean about a bazillion other things. Plus, local experimental/jazz fixture Charlie Naked will be playing in "cosmic jazz" opening outfit Chairs, which also sounds pretty intriguing.

Runners-Up:
Anvil/SID 17 @ House of Blues
Scary Kids Scaring Kids (farewell tour)/Dance Gavin Dance/Modsun @ The Meridian

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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My friend and, according to the Houston Chronicle, "The Best Underground Promoter in Houston" Louis Villarreal's Hate Tank Productions is bringing the legendary CBGBs hardcore punk band Agnostic Front to Walters tonight, Sunday, January 24th.

They're on a world tour supporting the 25th anniversary reissue of their seminal albumVictim In Pain. Rolling Stone wrote that they are as important to New York Music as The Ramones or the Velvet Underground. Plus just yesterday, Louis confirmed for me that they will be playing the entire albumVictim In Pain all the way through.

This is the classic lineup of Roger Miret, Vinny Stigma, Rob Kabula, and Dave Jones playing together for the first time in 25 years. It's really fashionable right now for bands to generate interest by playing their best albums front to back like this, but I'm pleasantly shocked and amazed that a band like Agnostic Front is doing it.

This is a rare Sunday show. After fighting the disgusting traffic in Houston all week, it's nice to enjoy the rewards of living in such a big town. It really is amazing that they are playing here, and Walters is an amazing place to see a show. It should be terrific people watching. I've been in touch with all the fabulous musician types that I know here in town and they're all going to be there. OH, and one more thing: if you're worried about being out late on a Sunday night and having to work early the next morning -Louis, the promoter, told me that they'll be going on as early as 10:00 so it's not like you'll be up moshing at 2:00a.m.

See you there!

www.hatetank.org

www.agnosticfront.com

www.bridge9.com

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

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Day 2 of this weekend today, Saturday, January 23rd, and again, it's a pretty damn good one -- tonight's another tough-to-choose type of evening. Which is a very cool thing, if you ask me... Anyway, here're my picks:

American Fangs/Project H/Meriwether/ Paul Pelc/Carmeci @ Fitzgerald's
Have I mentioned lately how much I freaking love American Fangs? No? Well, let me go there again: AF is really, truly one of the best, most promising bands in town right now, a band that could (whether you're hoping for that sort of thing or not) put H-town on the map, at least alterna-rock-wise. They're not punk, definitely not metal, and not particularly indie -- just straight-ahead, smart, attitude-heavy rock like, say, the Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, or about half of the bands in the whole grunge thing. And they're good, most importantly. See 'em live before they venture out to tour the East Coast...

They've got a "preview" of a new track up on the Myspace right now, btw, "Gimme' Gimme'", and it's pretty enticing -- hopefully the band's eventual full-length will blow the doors off even more than their debut EP did. As for the other bands playing, I dunno most of 'em, but I've heard good things about Project H, so there you go.

Dax Riggs/Roky Moon and Bolt/Benjamin Wesley @ Rudyard's
Yep, tonight is the weekend's second Roky Moon and Bolt visitation, but trust me, they won't wear out their welcome. Besides, there's opener Benjamin Wesley, with his mind-blowing one-man-band Mike Doughty-gone-Afropop sound, and headliner Dax Riggs, who drags "Southern metal" into the hillbilly backwoods by its hair and forcefeeds it moonshine and lots of Soundgarden and Crooked Fingers records. "Demon Tied to a Chair in my Brain" is a fucking BAD. ASS. song.

Scott H. Biram/Sean Reefer & The Resin Valley Boys/Grizzly @ The Continental Club
Still need to see both Sean Reefer & The Resin Valley Boys and Grizzly, although I like what I've heard from both; the latter, in particular, are cool in a nicely Lucero-ish, raw-throated kinda way. Never seen Bloodshot Recs punk-country Scott H. Biram, either, actually, but I'm a bit more familiar with his recorded stuff, at least -- he comes off like a leaner, meaner Steve Earle with the raw edginess of, say, Tim Barry.

Fat Tony/Guerilla Foco Clan/Krylon/Simple Success @ Mango's
Dunno most of these folks, I'm afraid, but it's worth going for Fat Tony alone; the guy's one of the best MCs in town, with smart-as-hell lyrics, nicely subversive beats, and a smooth flow. Go check him out, seriously. "Invasion" was one of the best tracks I heard last year.

J. Cole/The Nice Guys/Mr. Rogers @ Warehouse Live
I'll be honest, here -- I dunno J. Cole, not at all. That said, SCR scribe Daniel Yuan really likes the guy's latest release, even labeling it one of the best of last year, and that's nothing to sneeze at...

Everclear/Clayton Senne @ House of Blues
The hell? I didn't even realize Everclear was still around, much less putting out new music & touring. I'll admit that I haven't listened to a damn thing they've done since So Much for the Afterglow, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for these guys. There're days when I'd trade any alt-rock band on the radio today for a half-dozen Everclears, seriously.

Texas Metal Fest 2010, featuring Lillian Axe, Vital Remains, Rated E The Band, Pinhed (CD release), Lycophile, Consumned, Insidious Decrepancy, Sever The Silence, Bound in Flesh, Uncleansed, Lao Tzu, Anguish in Exile, Zone of Inhibition, Convicted of Treason, Sculpting Atrocity, Krankshaft, Burnt Face Jack, Ninth Kingdom, Sadistic Butchering, & 28th Street @ The Meridian
A bit of confusion regarding this festival, apparently -- at one point, this show was listed at both the Warehouse Live and The Meridian, with some slight differences in lineup. Then there's the poster over there, which seems to say two of the headliners are at the Meridian while the other's at the Warehouse. And now the Meridian's site says they'll honor all Warehouse Live tickets, but the last I checked, the show was listed over at WH, too. Weird. Dueling venues? Double-booking? Hell, who knows...

At any rate, this promises to be a festival of full-on MëTäL, with rejuvenated, New Orleans-dwelling '80s metal dudes Lillian Axe and Rhode Islanders Vital Remains and local heroes Pinhed (for whom this is also a CD release). The full schedule (which, again, appears to be all Meridian) is over here.

Runners-Up:
The Wildbills/Keiko/Legacy Fails/Flight to Athena @ Fitzdown
Dead Frail Honesty/Steel Hook Prosthesis/Endless Blinding Sunshine/Violence and Metaphysics/Dead Skeleton @ Super Happy Fun Land
Beans Barton & The Bi-Peds/Tribal Lilies Belly Dance Troupe @ Dan Electro's Guitar Bar

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Tons and tons of good stuff going on this weekend, so I'll start things off with the monumental pile for tonight, Friday, January 22nd... Hell, tonight's full of difficult, painful choices -- here're my recommendations, but as always, your mileage may vary:

listenlisten/Robert Ellis/Gin City @ Free Press Houston Warehouse (3412 Yupon; $5, 8:30PM)
Probably my favorite of the bunch tonight, although it's a close contest, honestly... I just can't help but love-love-love listenlisten, with their mournful, thoughtful, another-timey folk tent-revival vibe; every time I see 'em, I get chills, I swear to God. And no, that doesn't happen real often. Hymns From Rhodesia was honestly one of the best albums I lucked into getting this past year, and that includes a crapload of "big" releases from outside this city.

Then there's Robert Ellis, who in addition to playing in 2/3rds of the bands in the Montrose also does great things solo -- I desperately need to get a hold of last year's The Great Rearranger full-length sometime very, very soon. Opening are Austinites Gin City, who I heard for the first time today but whose name I like, for what that's worth. Some of their stuff's darn intriguing, like Billie Holiday backed by a minimalist dance-pop outfit or something; and hey, I can't help but like a band that does a reverent cover of "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea."

Haiti Relief Benefit, featuring The Factory Party, The Failed Attempt, Shark Attack, Versecity, DJ Sun, Kung Fu Pimp, Brad Slack, & Chris Costello @ Warehouse Live (6PM)
The third in a line of benefits for Haiti, which is most definitely a good cause in my book; this one's somewhat the dance/ska/reggae version, as far as I can tell, with cool folks like The Factory Party, DJ Sun, and Shark Attack on the bill. The proceeds go to the Red Cross, this time 'round. Get on out & help...

Chase Hamblin/The Nightmare River Band/Maryanna Sokol @ Mango's ($7)
Yeah, I already talked this one up a bit, I know, but trust me, it'll be good. Chase Hamblin does some good shit, and I like what I've heard so far of Maryanna Sokol, who does somewhat of a Regina Spektor-ish singer/songwriter pop thing.

Roky Moon & Bolt/Springfield Riots/Passengers/Big Black Spiders @ Walter's
Switchup time for this show -- one of the American Sharks guys reportedly had to leave town tonight, so they can't play, but Sharks frontman Mike is bringing his ever-ready Roky Moon & Bolt gang out to play, instead, running Bowie and T.Rex through some kind of "Punk Rawk" filter like they always do. Which is no bad thing, obviously -- add them to sweet, warm-sounding retro-popsters Springfield Riots, who ride the line between vintage '60s pop and, say, "Wish You Were Here"-era Floyd, and Passengers, who kinda take the psych-rock thing out to the garage and beat it with baseball bats for a while. (In a good way, of course).

J.T. Kerschen's Imaginarium/ Fiskadoro/If the War Should End @ Notsuoh
Can't find a Website for 'em, but J.T. Kerschen's Imaginarium is the latest project by A Thousand Cranes guy Travis Kerschen, so it promises to be interesting at the very least and quite possibly very cool. Plus, there's Fiskadoro, who're nicely murky and hypnotic; should be good.

29-95.com Presents, featuring The Live Lights, Tax The Wolf, & The Dardans @ The Continental Club
Think I've said this about these guys before, but I really need to pay more attention to The Live Lights -- they do some really cool, attitude-heavy, BRMC-sounding stuff. Ditto with Tax The Wolf, who reportedly have some really good new stuff on the way. And hey -- free. Probably should've mentioned that first...

Runners-Up:
Deep Ella/Language Room/Courier/Mahoney @ Fitzgerald's
Four Year Strong/The Bled/This Time Next Year/Fingers Crossed/Title Fight @ The Meridian
Malcolm Rollick @ Sedition Books
Million Stars Missing/The X-Pats/Night Flight/A Silent Canvas/Winter Road/Oscuridad Social/Oncoming Traffic/This Name's Temporary @ The Mink (7PM)
Mark Growden @ Avant Garden

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Just a quick note for your upcoming Thursday (aka January 21st) evening, y'all... A few days back, your humble editor guy finally reviewed local retro-pop singer/songwriter/bandleader guy Chase Hamblin's debut EP, A Fine Time -- apologies to Chase for it taking so damn long (I think I got the damn EP back in the summer -- cringe), by the way; I'm afraid my pile of stuff I need to listen to & write about has grown to monumental proportions. Working through it, honest...

At any rate, now that I've gotten a chance to listen to it a bit more intently & write about it, I'm pretty damn impressed. It's a quick-hit of an EP, skipping cheerily past so I have to go back & try to fix in my head what I just heard, but that's never a bad thing; better still, it's got a nice bit of murky darkness lurking beneath the shiny, bouncy Beatlesque shell (no, really -- just listen to the title track). Kudos to the guy for coming up with an EP of songs that sound not like '60s ripoffs but like songs that grab the '60s sound and use it for their own nefarious ends. Check out the full review here, should you be inclined.

And hey, Chase will be playing tonight (naturally), opening for accordionist(!) Mark Growden, who I dunno, up at the Avant Garden. Show starts at 10PM, and the cover's $5. I don't care what anybody says -- accordions fucking rule.

Oh, and Chase's playing again tomorrow night, Friday, January 22nd, this time with his full band, headlining a show with Noo Yawkers The Nightmare River Band (who I keep wanting to call the Riverbottom Nightmare Band) and local songstress Maryanna Sokol. The show'll be at Mango's The flyer for that one's over there on the right.

And then, um, he's playing a third time in a week or so, next Friday, January 29th, at a fundraiser the Free Press gang's organizing (I believe?) for Abbas from Cafe Brasil, who's had to have hip surgery and needs help with the bills. Mango's, again, for that one. Plenty, plenty, plenty of chances to see Chase, so unless you, like me, are stuck at the casa with a kuato attached to you, you've got no excuse. Right?

Taft Street Haiti Benefit:
While I'm at it, tonight also happens to be the second in a handful of benefits going on 'round town for the earthquake-stricken people of Haiti (who're now coping with aftershocks nearly as bad as the initial quake). According to Houston Calling, local musician Derek Webb is organizing the thing over at the Taft Street Coffee House; he says there'll be "others" involved in tonight's show (which starts at 6PM), but I've got no details at to who. Still, a good cause; thanks to David for the tip.

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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I've been trying to post something about the disaster in Haiti and how horrific it is, encouraging folks to donate what they can to help out, but so far anything I've been able to come up with the write about the still-unfolding tragedy seems trite and pointless, honestly; what the hell can I say that's going to mean anything for the situation? Not knowing anybody from Haiti and having the good fortune to have my family safe & healthy, have a good job, and have a roof over my head, I find myself thinking, "well, not much." I can't say I know what it's like for the people there, because I've got no clue. I can't fathom what it must be like to lose your home, your family, and everything you own, all in one fell swoop. If nothing else, staring in dumbstruck horror at the pictures on the television the past several days has made me appreciate one thing even more -- I am very, very, very lucky.

And the way to show gratitude for that, to my mind, is to help less fortunate people however I can. I'll admit it, I make a decent paycheck, so I've donated already (to Oxfam, whom I like quite a bit) and will most likely donate again soon. I'll put some links below for folks to do the same, if they want, but tonight (today being Monday, January 18th) you Houstonians out there can help in a slightly different way.

How? Well, it turns out that the biggest names of H-town's hip-hop scene are doing their part up at Warehouse Live tonight, at a benefit they're calling Houston 4 Haiti. The lineup includes the stellar Bun B, Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Candi Redd, Lil' O, Trae, Just Brittany, The Party Boys, ESG, Young Problems, Cory Mo, and several others I don't know about besides, all donating their time and talent to help out.

The ticket prices may seem a little steep -- $25 online or $30 at the door -- but 100% of the proceeds go to benefit CARE, who're a group I personally admire and respect. This is definitely a good cause, in my book. The show starts early, at 4PM, and reportedly runs 'til 8PM or so, so if you can get on over to the Warehouse this afternoon/evening, do it.

Big, big thanks, btw, to David over at Houston Calling; I would've missed this thing completely if it weren't for his post on it earlier today. Good one, man.

If you can't make it out tonight, of course, there's plenty of other places you can donate online; here's my personal list of groups I like:

• Oxfam
• ActionAid
• Doctors Without Borders
• Partners In Health
• Save the Children
• CARE
• Mercy Corps

Obviously, this isn't any kind of canonical list -- these are just groups I've supported in the past and that I think do good things. There're plenty of other groups that are trying to help and plenty of other ways to donate (Charity Navigator has a great list over here); do what you can.

Labels: Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Damn, I knew as I posted it that I was totally and completely forgetting something going on tonight (Sunday, January 17th, to be specific). And in this case, at least, it's the latest installment of the Resonant Interval Sound Series -- they're up to #12, which is a pretty impressive benchmark, if you ask me.

This weekend's show features Austinite Brent Fariss, who's also known for his work with the experimental group the Waco Girls; check out his past several releases (including full downloads) right over here. There's also brightbluebeetle, aka Paul Connelly, a Calgary native who does all kinds of neat stuff with electronics and field recordings; a recent piece uses two Wii controllers to control a cello.

As always, the show's at "The Husk", which is also known as the empty storefront next to Khon's Bar (2808 Milam). Things start at 7:45PM tonight; a measly $5 gets you in -- as always, this should be good shit.

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

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Not a huge pile of things going on tonight (Saturday, January 16th), and not much at all tomorrow that appeals to me, but what is going on is particularly cool. Here goes...

Thee Armada (final show)/ Mechanical Boy/Select Start/the last place you look/This Year's Tiger/Amber Skyline @ Warehouse Live
They weren't universally loved, I know, but hell, I don't care; since first hearing their debut EP, The New You, I've been pretty impressed by North Houston kids Thee Armada. They do/did a really nice Jimmy Eat World-ish thing, with a serious nod back to the '80s, melody-wise, and while I never got hear their new album, I like what I've heard of it online. Sadly, it turns out the band's breaking up, in part due to lead singer Josh Caddy being offered a gig as frontman for an as-yet-unnamed bigger band. The other guys in the band are reportedly already working on something new, too, but I have yet to hear what exactly that'll be.

Anyway, they're going out with a bang tonight up at Warehouse Live, surrounded by friends & fellow post-emo rockers like Mechanical Boy, Amber Skyline, and the last place you look, plus raw-throated indie-punk dudes This Year's Tiger and Select Start, who I've never heard of before. On top of the Armada guys, I dig Mechanical Boy (esp. live) and am glad to see TYT still alive & kicking, and I really love the last place you look, who's most recent album's one of the best I heard last year. (Seriously.) Good way to call it a day, if you ask me...

sIngs/Chris Rehm/Giant Cloud/Cedar Boy Bailey @ Mango's ($5; 9PM)
Damn -- I really need to check out sIngs one of these days, I swear, 'cause everything I hear about 'em is pretty damn impressive. They're headlining tonight, but it's a big show for Riff Tiffs/ Caddywhompus guitarist/singer Chris Rehm, too; he's putting out a cassette-only release that sounds very cool, and I love just about everything the guy's done 'til now, so hey... Added bonus? Sergio from Buxton as Cedar Boy Bailey, which I'm told really has to be seen to be believed.

The Lymbyc Systym/ Springfield Riots/Smoky Mountain @ Rudyard's
I hate to admit it, but the one time I saw The Lymbyc Systym, they were just kinda "eh," at least to me. But who cares, so long as Springfield Riots are playing? Really, truly liking these guys, with their warm, fuzzy, retro-psych-pop sound, like Pink Floyd if they came from the American Heartland rather than the UK. Check 'em out -- you won't be disappointed.

Cass's Birthday Party, featuring The Drunks & Hell City Kings @ Big Star Bar
Okay, so I'm not entirely sure this is open to everybody, since it's a birthday party & all that, but what the hell. Hell City Kings are always worth checking out, even if you have to party-crash...

Runners-Up:
Kids At The Bar/American Sharks/Glasnost (DJ set) @ Boondocks
Ian Moore @ McGonigel's Mucky Duck

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Gotten a bunch of cool new stuff up on the site recently, so I wanted to point to it and let everybody bask in the wonderment... First and foremost, I did a writeup this week for an EP sent to me a while back by local boys Giant Battle Monster, entitled Giant Battle Monster vs. The Man With a Gun for a Head, and I have to say, it is one weird-yet-compelling slab of messy noise-prog. It goes full-tilt in every direction, coming off less like a band than a bunch of Surrealists handed instruments and told to just go to town, and yet, I find myself liking it quite a bit. Check the full review up here.

The band's playing tonight, by the way, up at Mango's alongside fellow local luminaries Cop Warmth (who're entertaining as hell) and Darwin's Finches, plus headliners Clockpole. Dunno about them, but definitely get there early for the GBM portion of the show; I hear it blows away the recorded stuff, so that's bound to be something to see.

We've got other reviews up, too, as of late last week, of stuff like the Blakroc album, the most recent (and stunning) EP from While You Were Gone, and the latest by ex-Reflux outfit Animals As Leaders (see here, here, and here), among others, plus a long, long, long-overdue review of the Muhammad Ali/Black Congress split-album, and that's how i forgot about the bomb.

I was lucky enough to catch MA early on was very impressed, but I didn't stumble across the actual recorded stuff 'til a ways after (and in CDR form, not the original cassette), but holy crap is it good, on the part of both bands. I'd recommend it highly, but honestly, you're not likely to be able to find it, so that'd probably just be salt on the wound. Check here for the full review, then go see Muhammad Ali on January 25th at Super Happy Fun Land, eh?

Of course, it's not all about the reviews, so I'm happy to say that we've got some new interviews up, namely of Amy Rigby and Def Jam impresario Russell Simmons(!). The former's the first part of a two-part set, courtesy of expat Houstonian Danny Mee, which he originally did back before Ike smacked our Houston-dwelling asses to the floor and pretty much killed all shows in the area for several weeks; it's languished in Limbo ever since, so I'm very glad to help it see the light of day. Keep an eye out for part 2, featuring Rigby's husband/musical compatriot Wreckless Eric, to be up in a week or so.

As for the Russell Simmons interview, hell, I'm convinced writer Rafael Rivas just fronted Simmons while he was out eating lunch somewhere, but I'm psyched to have their little chat up on the site. Both interviews are good shit, trust me -- see here and here.

Yr. Abbreviated Weekend, Pt. 1:
Before I go any further afield, I want to mention a few other things going on tonight... Well, and not going on, as it turns out -- just fyi, it seems tonight's Pierced Arrows/Lullabye Arkestra show's been moved backwards, from January 15th all the way to March 15th. If you were planning on hitting The Mink tonight to see 'em, you may want to make alternate plans. Or, hell, just go anyway, since Urbane Guerilla Sound System will be there doing their "Fistful of Soul" thing, and you know you can't beat vintage soul 45's, right?

Okay, maybe that's not your thing -- you could also head over to the ambiguously-named The Temporary Space (1320 Nance) for the opening of the Persuasion art show. The show features stuff by Michael Dee and longtime scenester/musician Domokos Benczedi, and there'll be music courtesy of Kunst Fascion; it's gonna be cool, I swear.

There's also Jody Seabody and the Whirls up at Super Happy Fun Land, a cool house show out in Richmond at the i.am.we.commUNITY House (819 Land Grant) with Hats & Statues, The County Lines, & Hobomouth, and waaaaay down in Clear Lake, you can hit The Scout Bar to check out the Supersuckers, with cool dudes Come See My Dead Person as one of the openers. Not as jam-packed a night as some, I'll admit, but still, there's some decent stuff going on.

With that out of the way, here's the full pile of new stuff:

Interviews: Amy Rigby; Russell Simmons

Reviews: Giant Battle Monster; Muhammad Ali/Black Congress; Blakroc; While You Were Gone; Skeletonwitch; Animals As Leaders; Grand Archives; Orioles; & Sounds Like BS.

More to come...

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Interviews, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Reviews, Things To Do

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

Yep, that time again -- trying to be a wee bit earlier today, so I'm typing one-handed with our little Kuato attached to my torso and hoping he doesn't wake up five seconds from now... Some good stuff going on both tonight (Sun., January 10th) and tomorrow (Mon., January 11th; hence the "+ Beyond" bit above), so you definitely don't want to be homebound like yours truly. Here goes:

Sun., January 10:
Bubonic Bears/Giant Battle Monster/Fiskadoro/The Manichean/Sunrise and Ammunition @ Super Happy Fun Land
I dunno Bubonic Bears, but the Giant Battle Monster guys sent a copy of their new EP, Giant Battle Monster vs. The Man With a Gun for a Head, and while I still owe 'em a review (sorry, y'all...), I'm pretty damn impressed. They do this weird mishmash of prog-rock, metal, psych-rock, and full-on weirdness that comes out like something you're not likely to hear elsewhere, and that's no mean feat. Plus, there's also The Manichean, who I keep missing out on live but who I really like from the bits & pieces I've heard online, and I've heard good stuff about both Fiskadoro and Sunrise and Ammunition.

Resonant Interval Sound Series, featuring Will Adams & Bret Shirley @ The Husk (2808 Milam; 7:30PM)
Another cool-sounding showcase from the Resonant Interval gang, this time out with Will Adams (ex-Jessica Six, Ka-Nives, & a billion other bands) and Bret Shirley (current Black Congress & ex-a bunch of other outfits) both doing solo guitar sets. Not sure exactly what they'll sound like, but it should be intriguing, to say the least.

The Energy/The Sinks/The Altars @ Khon's Bar (2808 Milam; 10PM, $8)
Nope, still haven't seen The Energy yet, I'm afraid, but I hear they're darn good...

Houston Blues Society "Memphis or Bust" Fundraiser, featuring Sonny Boy Terry Band & Dupree @ Dan Electro's Guitar Bar
You might not've heard, but the Houston Blues Society held the regionals of the International Blues Challenge; local boys the Sonny Boy Terry Band and possible locals Dupree won the thing, so this show's a fundraiser to get the bands out to Memphis for the nationals of the competition. Get out & support, eh?

Warbler/Jeff Hull @ The Mink
The Texas Buzz, featuring Paris Green, Dimitri's Rail, & Black Queen Speaks @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)

Mon., January 11:
Between The Buried And Me/Cynic/Devin Townsend Band/Scale The Summit @ The Meridian
The truly crazy thing about this one is that it's neither headliners Between The Buried And Me -- who I do like, with their kitchen-sink variety of crazy, Alaskan-bred (I think?) prog-metal -- nor sub-headliners the Devin Townsend Project that I'm psyched about for this show, but H-towners Scale The Summit. The latter play the coolest guitar-instro-metal I've heard in years, seriously, even blowing away heavyweights like Pelican and The Fucking Champs; they've already made the covers of national guitar-dude mags, and with good reason. Oh, and they don't happen to play here at home real often, so check 'em out while you can.

Zebras/Somosuno/Cop Warmth/FG & The Gunz/Sabertooth Snatch/Panththherrrr @ Super Happy Fun Land

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Another busy night, and I'm late as always; sorry, the determined few who read this blog regularly. Tonight, Saturday, January 9th, is looking pretty good, though -- here's what I'm liking:

The Tontons/Roky Moon & Bolt/Ghost Mountain @ Walter's
The show of the evening, in my book -- a rare appearance by fiery psych-soul act The Tontons, a sighting of '70s revivalist rockers Roky Moon & Bolt, and what's bound to be an entertaining set of Ghost Mountain's quirky, nerdy electro-hop.

Free Press Houston Worst of Houston Release Party, featuring Dissent, The Handshake, & Guerilla Foco Clan @ Super Happy Fun Land
Dunno much about the bands playing, but hey, I'm all about the "Worst of Houston" deal the Free Press does each year. If you can't poke a finger at yourself, who can you do it to?

Houston Punk Revue: Helping Tim O Fight Cancer!, featuring mem. of The Texas Biscuit Bombs, Mydolls, Party Owls, Homopolice, Born Liars, Really Red, London Girl, Zipperneck, Anarchitex, & more @ The Mink (front bar; 8-10PM)
This one's a nice benefit-type deal, another one put on by David from Hot Punk City, and it promises to be unique -- the idea is to have the members of the Texas Biscuit Bombs back up the folks listed above for two hours' or so worth of old-school punk rawk mayhem. All to help out Tim O'Brien, longtime scenester, writer, and activist, who's fighting cancer. Go help, and enjoy the show in the process.

Elmwood/Ragged Hearts/Duncan, Johnson, and the Gentlemen @ The Mink (8:30PM)
Yep, this one's a reschedule, from the earlier Elmwood show that got cancelled a while back. Glad to see it's back, not so much for Elmwood but for local boys Ragged Hearts, whose Social Distortion-inspired roots-rock I truly dig...

We're Into Survival/Jason and the Punknecks @ Trash Bar
Kinda an oddball show, but I like what I've heard so far of Tennesseans We're Into Survival (and I really like their name), and I'm hoping they'll get a decent reception tonight. Only problem? I've got no idea where the Trash Bar is. Anybody?

Willie Nelson @ Arena Theater
Ah, Willie Nelson -- the last time I saw him, he seemed to be playing completely different songs from the rest of his band, and yet, it was still very entertaining.

Runners-Up:
Commie Hilfiger/Skeleton Dick/Dickey Hands/A Dream Asleep @ Warehouse Live
Monster Music "Rock Your Face Off" Showcase, featuring Necrofaith, Low Man's Joe, Chrome 44, Via Linda, Skeptikal, Ethreal, Metalloyd, Sol 34, & Black Queen Speaks @ Warehouse Live
Clandestine @ McGonigel's Mucky Duck
Odd Toddler/Luchsinger Bros./The Marble Brothers/Daniel Anderson @ Bohemeo's
Snit's Dog and Pony Show @ Cypress Saloon (Cypress)

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Some good shows going on this weekend, so I figured I'd send a quick note on tonight's (it's Fri., January 8th, those without calendars).

First up, though, I've got some bad news, if you haven't heard it elsewhere already. Due to Tom Araya of Slayer's continuing medical issues, it appears that the January 29th show with that band, Megadeth, and Testament has been postponed indefinitely, along with the rest of their current tour; the booking folks are reportedly working on makeup dates for all the shows, so if you bought a ticket already, you'll hopefully just have to wait a little while longer. In the meantime, I'll keep my fingers crossed Tom gets better soon.

In terms of tonight, too, it seems that a show has been postponed from this very evening to January 29th -- according to the Houston Press, tonight's show at Warehouse Live with Alpha Rev, The Fox Derby, ex-Million Year Dance frontman Tyagaraja, & The Language Room has been moved to then. Sorry, any fans of those bands... Here's the other stuff with which you should be able to fill your time:

Clouseaux/The Suspects/Picture Book @ The Continental Club
Cool, cool, cool. I've been a fan of H-town ska legends The Suspects almost as long as I've lived here, and while I've yet to catch their reincarnated selves lately, I can tell you quasi-authoritatively, nonetheless, that they are utterly amazing, esp. live. They once blew The Toasters off the stage as an opening act, and if you know your US ska history at all, that's saying something. Good, good, good shit. As is Clouseaux, too, who I'm glad to see haven't moved on to that great band graveyard in the sky after all. Not ska, no, but I dig their strange, jazzy tropicalia thing. Last but not least, there's Picture Book, which is reportedly a British Invasion cover band led by none other than local songster Chase Hamblin. This show's absolutely my top pick for tonight.

Yellow Fever/Giant Princess/The Wiggins/Psychic Kids @ Mango's
Although yes, this one sounds pretty darn intriguing, as well. I've liked Giant Princess the handful of times I've seen 'em, but for some reason I can't get their brand of messy, bluesy, garage-y rawk to stick in my brain for very long (anything recorded forthcoming, guys? please?). The Wiggins are excellent, as well, in a very, very, very strange way.

The Melodians/We Are Halffnelson/ Always Guilty/Lluvia Dreams @ The Meridian
I know The Melodians only by reputation, I'm afraid -- haven't heard anything they've done, although I know they're fairly iconic and date from the original reggae scene in Jamaica in the '60s. What draws me more to this show, though, is both that H-town reggae crew Always Guilty is playing -- I dig those guys -- and that Lluvia Dreams is apparently back from the dead and playing. Whoa...those folks were around when I was in a band; always wondered what'd happened to 'em. Can't say I remember what they sound(ed) like, mind you, but still, it's nice to see 'em giving it another shot. (Dunno much about We Are Halffnelson, sorry.)

1st Texas High School Rock Off, featuring The Paperwaits, Useful Information, The Handshake, Living Vicariously, Backslash, Searching For Signal, & Disfunkshun @ House of Blues
Argh. I kinda missed the boat on this one, unfortunately, but thankfully, the HP's Chris Gray has picked up the slack, profiling all the bands playing here, here, and here. Personally, I like what I've heard so far of The Paperwaits, and I seriously like Searching For Signal -- see here for a more detailed rundown on those guys. And hey, the winning band from tonight's show gets $500, a trophy, and an opening slot at the House of Blues, none of which is bad at all for a bunch of high school kids rocking out.
Runners-Up:
Patti Labelle @ Arena Theater
Jody Seabody & the Whirls/Skepticynic/Mom Walks In @ The Mink
Darwin's Finches/Jimson Jolly Vagrants/Cemetery Shakedown/GreenHouse/Satanic Punk International Conspiracy/Antigens @ Super Happy Fun Land
Don't Fight It, featuring DJ Good Grief & Young $quaddy @ Boondocks
More later on...

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

I'm a little torn about mentioning this on here, but it's just too damn weird and seems to get weirder by the day. Back in 2008, a very nice woman (I'm not going to put her name up here unless I have to, in case what's going on isn't her fault) emailed me, saying that she was a local artist and music fan, and she wanted to see about helping out with this little site. We emailed back and forth a few times, she seemed pretty cool, and so we sent her a handful of CDs to review; that's usually how it works.

She emailed not long after that about a Christmas-type craft market she was involved in at a local church, and it sounded cool, so I mentioned something about it on the blog, then ended up going to the actual thing. The woman I'd talked to online spotted me and introduced herself, and she seemed nice, friendly, and sane. Over the course of the next year, she wrote a dozen or so reviews for the site, all of which I liked and happily posted up on SCR.

Now, however, I've gotten a series of increasingly deranged emails from this person's email address, and I'm not sure what the hell is going on. She emailed a while back to wish me & the fam a merry Christmas, to which I sent back the same, and then this week I started receiving bizarro emails like this, ostensibly from her:

MR. JEREMY HART,

YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO REMOVE ANY MENTION OF THE NAME 'XXXXXX' AND ANY
AND ALL WRITTEN CONTRIBUTIONS
FROM THIS WRITER.

ATTORNEY AT LAW
JIM ADLER

And this:

PAGE 2 OF 2

MR. JEREMY HART OWNER OF WWW.SPACECITYROCK.COM

YOU ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO PERMANENTLY DELETE/ERASE ANY AND ALL CONTRIBUTIONS
MADE BY XXXXX
WHETHER IT BE WRITTEN OR PHOTOGRAPHIC IN NATURE. HER NAME OR CONTRIBUTIONS
ARE TO BE SEEN NO WHERE ON
WWW.SPACECITYROCK.COM OR ANY AFFILIATES OR SUBSIDIARIES THEREOF.

THIS IS YOUR FIRST AND FINAL WARNING.

ATTORNEY AT LAW
JIM ADLER

Naturally, my first thought was, "holy shit, am I being sued by The Texas Hammer? Badass!", but that probably just shows I watch waaaay too much late-night TV. My second thought was significantly more confused, something along the lines of, "wha?"

I responded that I thought this was a scam and wanted to hear from the writer itself before I did anything. So then the capper came today (with all formatting and language intact, minus stuff that'd identify the actual writer):

To: Jeremy Hart,

XXXXX here. The reason that you totally SUCK at managing and updating your
website is because you are currently living in hell on earth since you
choose money over Jesus & family. You sold your soul to the devil and you
look fucking ugly as shit and have no friends because of it. The only way
that you can get out of the fiery furnace of never-ending hell is when you
remove my name, articles, photos that I provided and/or donated. There shall
be no trace of my name or contributions on this site of yours. I never gave
you copyright permissions. If you choose to deny Christ and you don't follow
these instructions your soul will burn eternally forever and ever and ever
and ever times infinity. WS:

*If you want to get even MORE out of HELL than you should give away *

*everything you own including your house and cars to charity and live in a
homeless shelter or on the street until God directs you further on where to
go and what to do. Let your family take care of themselves. *

*You are an unfit father and deserve only the worst condemnation that's
coming to you.*

- REMOVE IMMEDIATELY --- THE CLOCK IS TICKING AND YOU ARE ALMOST DEAD.

Wow. I'm even more confused about this mess than I was with the first emails. Now, there've been situations in the past where a writer needed me to remove something they'd written -- in general, it's been because they were able to sell a piece to a real-live paid publication, and hey, I can't fault 'em for that. I've always, always, always done what they'd requested and taken it down ASAP. This is a volunteer-driven site, and despite the copyright notice at the bottom of the pages, I don't consider myself to be the final owner of the content; that's primarily there to protect the writers from having their writing swiped by some other site or publication.

In this case, though, I was pretty pissed after reading the last email (there was another in there that quoted Biblical verse and said something about how this person has the keys to Heaven and I don't), and I was not inclined to give in to any demands. Here's my response:

XXXXX -- assuming, of course, that you actually *are* XXXXX, since you sound absolutely nothing like any other correspondence I've received from this address -- I'll make my initial response simple: no. That's the gist of it, but if you'd like further elaboration, read on.

First of all, I suspect this whole thing is a scam by somebody who's pirated this address and who is attempting to make the real XXXXX look bad. Especially because of those initial emails purporting to be from lawyer Jim "The Texas Hammer" Adler (yes, I watch local TV, too), which I'm fairly sure were fraudulent. If I'm wrong about that, and this really *is* XXXXX, I've apparently misjudged you greatly these past several months and sure wish I knew what the heck triggered this.

Second, removing the reviews is extremely unfair to the bands and musicians being reviewed. I'll immediately remove "your" *name* from the reviews, if that's what you'd like, but I'm not taking 'em down. I'll refrain from posting the several sets of pictures you sent, however.

Third, in exchange for the reviews, I sent you CDs (for all but the XXXXX and XXXXX reviews) that were received by me from various PR companies and record labels and for which I am responsible. Unless I am able to return all that promotional material to the labels and PR people in question, I don't feel comfortable removing the reviews. I'm not in the business of giving away CDs just for grins. You want the reviews down? If you really *are* XXXXX, then you should be able to send me back the CDs I sent and delete all related digital media from your hard drive.

Fourth, threats and the like only serve to piss me off and make me *less* likely to do what you want me to do, particularly since you miss the mark repeatedly. I'm choosing money over Jesus and family? Wow -- I'll have to remember to tell my wife when I get home that I've been raking it in all these years with the Website, and we can finally retire to our private island. Please. I have yet to make a single dollar of profit from running this site, but have instead sunk thousands of dollars of my own money into it, because I genuinely love music and want to help out bands and musicians both in Houston and elsewhere.

I suck, as you put it, at managing this site because I have to have a 9-to-5 day job to be able to continue to afford to run it. Claiming that I "choose money" is ridiculous and demonstrates that you don't know what the hell you're talking about. As for how I should give away all my possessions and live in a homeless shelter, well, thanks for the advice, but no.

The ironic thing is that if you'd come to me and said, "hey, I really need you to take down all the stuff I wrote and remove my name from your site; I'm really sorry, but I've got a conflict with having it all up there," I'd have taken it down. Immediately. Since you decided to go about this in this way, however, I'll be damned (get it? ha!) if I give in to your threats and smears. And as for the vitriolic attacks on me and my family, particularly the bit about me being an unfit father, you can go fuck yourself.

Now, I'll admit that I'm no lawyer, so I'm curious to hear what the legal ramifications of this might be. Can I be sued if I refuse to remove the writer's material from the site? As I said above, I've generally done so in the past when it was requested, so I've never run into this before. I definitely can't afford to fight a lawsuit, especially not over some bullshit like this, so I'm just curious as to how long to fight it. Any lawyers out there feel like weighing in? Keep in mind that here at SCR we generally don't use contracts or anything.

I should say, by the way, that if this whole thing didn't seem so damn shady and strange, I'd have gladly taken down the "offending" articles. I'm not going to let a band or musician bully SCR into removing a negative review, no, but I respect the people who selflessly give their time, energy, and creativity to write for this site, and I consider their work to be theirs. So I guess my letter above's a bit of a bluff, or at least just a middle finger to somebody who's either a scam artist or has gone off the rails and started behaving inappropriately.

I'd also wanted to post this up here in the off-chance that whoever's been emailing me is a con artist posing as this writer. If she sees the first part of this post, she'll know I'm talking about her; if this isn't you sending all this crap, email me at "gaijin" at "spacecityrock dot com", please, and let me know. If it is you, well, you can re-read the last sentence of my email above a few more times.

Labels: Admin Stuff, Random Rambling

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 7 comments

Another cool-sounding event for the holidays -- tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 23rd, that crazy gang known as the Sideshow Tramps and countrified songsters Robert Ellis and the Boys will be leading a crew of Christmas carolers around the Montrose 'hood, singing and marching and partying as they go.

They'll start off at Taft Street Coffee (2115 Taft St.), head down to KPFT to play live on Technology Bytes, then meander back up to Mango's to play an all-night free show with drink specials & whatnot.

While the show's free, btw, in the giving spirit of the season, the bands are collecting donations for the Houston Area Women's Center, which is definitely something worth supporting. And plus, Hank Schyma of the Southern Backtones will be filming scenes for a real-live movie he's making called Honky Tonk Blood.

So get on out, bring a flashlight or three, dress in "freaky/trampy holiday attire," and let your Montrose freak flag fly...

Labels: Arty Shit, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

Yeah, I know it's late, sorry; I got the email last night & didn't get a chance to slap the info up here right now. The show, which was set up by Room 101's Roburt Reynolds, is a benefit for a hospital in the impoverished/ coup-stricken country of Honduras, run by a guy named Dr. Luther Castillo, where the poorest Hondurans can get healthcare.

The new Honduran government has repeatedly threatened Dr. Castillo and cut off the salaries of the doctor's at Castillo's hospital, so they need whatever assistance they can get to keep helping people. Definitely a worthy cause, I'd say.

The bad part? Well, the benefit's already going on right now, today -- the show started at 2PM. It'll run through 7PM or so tonight, though, and features a bunch of bands, plus veggie/Mexican food, drinks, and presentations and films on the hospital and the situation in Honduras. Here's the schedule Roburt sent out:

2:00-2:45p Okinawa
2:45-3:30 Evelyn Zuniga Presentation
3:30-4:00 Student Presentation
4:00-4:30 Permanent Vegetative State
4:40-5:15 Anarchitex
5:15-5:30 Geltab
5:30-5:45 Student Presentation
5:45-6:15 Short Film on Honduran Hospital
6:15-6:35 Room 101
6:45-7:15 The Delta Block

Anyway, the benefit's at Sedition Books, over at 901 Richmond -- good bands (esp. Roburt's own one-man-band), good cause, good food, good everything, so get on over there, eh?

Labels: Charitable Things, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Political Stuff, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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On a less-cheery note, apparently on the night of December 16th some asshole confused the whole "giving" spirit of the holidays with a more "taking" spirit and stole the quasi-legendary El Camino belonging to Kirston Otis (of Dead Roses/Future Blondes fame). Kirston was hanging out at Poison Girl and parked the car at Dunlavy and Maryland when the car got jacked.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. If the picture to the right looks weirdly familiar, that's because this is/was the El Camino used as the sound booth for the "KTRU" stage at the last few Westheimer Block Parties. The car's a sweet vehicle and a local icon, as well -- whoever took it deserves to be punched repeatedly in the head 'til they stop moving.

At any rate, if you see a red-and-white El Camino with the license plate BB77SD, call the cops and/or mobilize the H-town Scenester Militia, via the Hands Up board. See here for some more info on the theft...

Labels: H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

Gotta hand it to those Caroline Collective folk -- they always come up with quirky, unique, fun stuff to do. This time out, they're staging what will (hopefully) be their First Annual Gingerbread Build-Off, just in time for the holiday insanity.

You've probably already guessed the idea: teams of up to three (in categories for kids, adults, and real-live architecture or design pros) compete to build the most badass, clever, cool buildings/castles/whatever out of gingerbread. The structures get judged by a panel of experts on food, design, and architecture, and the winners will be displayed at the Architecture Center Houston downtown. Wow. I hear there're trophies, as well, but can't totally confirm that.

The event's tomorrow -- Saturday, December 19th -- and will run from 10AM to 2PM, which, as somebody who's done the generic Target-bought house kit a few times, really isn't all that much time in which to craft your ginger-scented Taj Mahal. Word to the wise: overreaching and running out of time means you don't get any of it done. Just sayin'.

It's $25 per team to enter, and that gets you all the basic building materials -- although you can bring your own extra stuff, so long as it's edible (that's right; none of that Ace of Cakes/Cake Boss fakery going on here, y'all, and I appreciate that). And, of course, there will most likely be some building materials that, um, "accidentally" get eaten.

Even if you don't want to build, this still sounds like it'd be pretty awesome to see; the Collective Website doesn't specifically say people can come by & be spectators, but I can't imagine they're going to turn people away...

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 0 comments

Got one heck of a weekend coming up, although yours truly will sadly be missing out on all of it -- the little guy's only now beginning to sleep for more than three hours at a time, so that's taking up a lot of my time, as well as the obligatory Christmas-type par-tays I've been invited to (what? hell, it only happens once a year...). This weekend will be me alternately A) dodging the littlest munchkin's intense stare and B) partaking in holiday revelry, without much music involved beyond whatever band/CD happens to be playing at said par-tays.

That said, just because I'm booked solid doesn't mean there isn't anything good to do; on the contrary, there's a ton. First off, if you happen to be anywhere near a radio around 6PM tonight, make sure you tune in to The Revelry Report on KTRU to catch heavy-ass, improv-but-good rock duo Female Demand as they explode the tight confines of the KTRU recording room. They were kind enough to send in their soon-to-be-out debut EP, and trust me, it's pretty badass.

Fri., December 18:
The Canvas Presents The Tamales and Live Music Festival 2009, featuring Barefoot The Indian, Room 101, Deux Frupis, The Paperwaits, Nosaprise, The Cadences, The Factory Party, Oncoming Traffic, Dairy Party, Chase Hamblin, Ivan Espinosa's Band, & The Coalition Band @ Super Happy Fun Land (6PM-2AM)
I'll be up-front, here -- I've no freaking idea what The Canvas is. I know there's some kind of new-ish church/venue with that name, but I don't think this is them; a magazine, maybe? Eh, whatever the deal, they've assembled a nicely diverse cast of local folks to play Super Happy Fun Land tonight, particularly sharp-as-a-razor rapper Nosaprise, New Wave dudes The Factory Party, and retro-'60s popster Chase Hamblin.

By the by, we've just now got a review up of The Factory Party's latest EP, After Death There Is Nothing; all things considered, I do like it, but I had some misgivings I felt I needed to air, which hopefully won't get me beaten up in a dark alley somewhere. Check it out over here.

Tax the Wolf/Keaton Branch & The Figure Eight/Solanae/The Dellciples @ Dean's Credit Clothing
I've never managed to see most of these folks, sadly, but I did catch Solanae -- which includes members of both Golden Cities & Tambersauro -- recently and can attest to their excellent goodness, truly. Think Tori Amos fronting Tortoise, and you'll be about halfway there...

Rooney/Tally Hall/Crash Kings @ The Meridian
Yeah, I'll admit it -- I do like Rooney, at least from what I've heard from 'em in the past, and I've recently been liking what I've heard from attitude-heavy, insanely catchy pop-rock kids Crash Kings, who come off like Jellyfish with a more "rawk" edge...and who, in an odd "Houston connection!" moment, includes a former member of the legendary Guns of August. It's a small world...

Crassmas, featuring VAARG (mem. of Hearts of Animals), The Wiggins, & Rapeworm @ Sound Exchange (free!)
Okay, I'll admit to being a little bummed about this one; I'd initially heard that this SoundEx show would be Hearts of Animals, singer Mlee doing her "skewed-yet-pretty indie-pop w/electronics" thing, but it turns out I was misinformed. The headliners of the aptly-titled "Crassmas" will be none other than Mlee's maybe-joke black metal band, VAARG (named for Norwegian black metal icon, murderer, arsonist, recently paroled jailbird, racist whackjob, and all-round fun guy Varg Vikernes, apparently), who will be bringing to the shindig somewhat, um, harsher sounds than HoA might. Honestly, while I'd heard of VAARG, I'd assumed it was one of those scenester in-joke "hey, wouldn't it be funny if we...?" bands that never really materialize, but it seems that ain't the case. Should be a sight to see... (I should note, as well, that I'm heavily intrigued by The Wiggins -- odd, yet strangely compelling.)

Paadzzi's FAN-ttom Christmas Party, featuring Alkari, Electric Attitude, Modulation Hertz, The Lovable James, & Covington @ Paadzzi's (3535 Bingle Rd.; 9PM)
Nice; not sure how open to the public this actually is, but what the heck, it promises to be a good, good show, particularly headliners/Paadzzi's owners (I think?) Alkari, a trio of scruffy, cool, unpretentious rock dudes from whom I really hope to hear some new stuff soon. (Please, guys?) Electric Attitude are damn entertaining, too, esp. live -- I'm afraid I was a little rough on their most recent EP, Laser Laser Laser Beams, and I'm hoping they're not plotting to kill/maim me for it, but regardless, the band's a lot of fun to watch.

Ryan Scroggins & The Trenchtown Texans/Sugarball Express/Sam Navarro & Lone Star Devils/Ryan Scroggins (acoustic) @ Fitzdown Just found out about this one, which is a shame, 'cause Ryan Scroggins & The Trenchtown Texans deserve all the digital-type love I can give 'em; I've still only seem the band live once, and that was from a distance while waiting to get into Summer Fest, but they're up at the top of my list of local ska/reggae bands, nonetheless. Good shit, y'all.

The Live Lights/The Watermarks/ Caterpillars @ The Backroom (The Mink) The Watermarks are another one of those bands that I've near-criminally ignored or brushed off, unfortunately, partly because I've always had a bit of a difficult time getting a grip on what they actually do. Are they a rock band? Synth-pop? The truth, really, is probably somewhere in-between, judging by their most recent thoughts like bombs EP, and in their case, at least, that's not a bad place to be. I swear, y'all, I will review the damn thing, and soon. Besides all that, I've finally succumbed to the good things I've heard about The Live Lights, and...um, wow. These guys sound like what every '80s-influenced pop band should sound like, seriously.

Lick Lick/HUG/Palit @ Rudyard's
Red Bull 45's, featuring Cut Chemist, Ceeplus Bad Knives, DJ Sun, The ARE, DJ John Doe, & Brett Koshkin @ Warehouse Live
A Fistful of Soul, featuring Urbane Guerilla Sound System @ The Mink
The Umbrella Man @ Cactus Music (5:30PM; free!)
Blaggards @ Molly Maguire's
The Boxmasters/The Rounders @ Fitzgerald's
Ben Lerman (EP release) @ Notsuoh (9PM)
IParty Toy Drive & Charity Show @ Avant Garden

Sat., December 19:
The Jonbenet (final show!)/At All Cost (final show!)/O Pioneers!!!/Fight Pretty @ Walter's on Washington
Yep, I've mentioned this one before, but it bears mentioning again -- this weekend marks the final show of local noise-rock/post-hardcore heroes The Jonbenét, which is a sad, sad, sad thing. I get that they need to move on and do other stuff, but damn. At least they're going out with a bang -- this show promises to be pretty insane, especially with O Pioneers!!!, Austinites At All Cost, and Fight Pretty all in tow.

listenlisten/Til We're Blue or Destroy/The Small Sounds @ The Continental Club
Yes, yes, yes. Were I free to pick my poison this coming Saturday, I'd have a hell of a time deciding, I swear, but this would be near the top of my list, with two of my absolute favorite country-ish bands in town right now, listenlisten and The Small Sounds, joining forces at The Continental Club. If you haven't heard listenlisten's epic Hymns From Rhodesia yet, well, you need to rectify that, and quick -- see here for the full review from a while back -- and The Small Sounds bowl me over every single time I see 'em. They're both bands that, if they broke up tomorrow, man, it'd ruin my freaking week. (Memo to members of listenlisten and The Small Sounds: whatever you do, do NOT break up. Or I will hunt you down and trap you in an isolated cabin, Misery-style, and force you to keep making amazing music. 'kay? Glad we got that out of the way.)

Punxmas, featuring Blackmarket Syndicate, Molotov Compromise, Rats in the Attic, The Ghost Storys, Riot Up Front, Exile, Night Siege, Quarantines, Roots of Exile, Days N Days, Deadlines, & Comatose and Half Retarded @ Super Happy Fun Land
The first of the weekend's full-on punk assaults, at least in my book. Dunno most of these folks, unfortunately, but I'm a huge fan of Blackmarket Syndicate (formerly Deathbed Repentance), whose Social D-esque take on roots-punk is a fine, fine thing to behold.

Daniel Johnston Hoot Nite, featuring Roky Moon & Bolt, Young Mammals, Sad Gorilla, Giant Princess, & Chris Ryan @ DiverseWorks (post-play show) Big ol' caveat to this one: I'm really not sure if you needed to have been to the performance of Life Is Happy and Sad in order to catch this star-studded post-play show. But hey, you should probably be going to see the damn thing anyway, right?

Doggebi/DEAL/Lance and the Pants @ The Husk (next to Khon's Bar; 2808 Milam)
I swear, Lance Higdon doesn't sleep; how can he, with all the crap he appears to continually have going on, and then teaching Latin to jaded high school kids, besides? I envy the guy his boundless energy, and it's especially cool given his latest gig drumming for Lance and the Pants, which is him plus Sandy Ewen (of The Weird Weeds), Ryan Edwards, and Doug Falk. Add to that the crazy percussion-and-flute-destruction of headliners Doggebi (aka Michelle Yom and Spike The Percussionist), and then brace yourself for full-on noise experimentation madness.

Memphis Pencils/St. Anthony @ Notsuoh (9PM; free!)
Dunno these Arkansas boys well, but the jaunty, gentle folk Memphis Pencils shows off on their Myspace page ain't half bad, and St. Anthony (the band, naturally, not the historical figure) head cheerfully off in the Afro-pop direction of bands like Vampire Weekend, which is cool if you, um, happen to like that kind of thing. I was surprised how much I liked it when Peter and the Wolf did it, so y'know...

Benefit for Luther Castillo's Hospital in Honduras, featuring The Delta Block, Anarchitex (acoustic), Scott Ayers, Permanent Vegetative State, Room 101, & more @ Sedition Books
Anti-Christ Mass XII, featuring Imprecation, Panteon, Abolishment, Scattered Remains, Ninth Kingdom, Diminished, Golgotha, Demoniac Vengeance, & Spectral Manifest @ Numbers
duneTX @ The Big Top
Shithead @ The Husk (next to Khon's Bar)
Crunkmas, featuring Alex C, Andrei Morant, Badbwoy Bmc, Arnebold, Evan Anthony, Jeremy Keas, Brad Slack, Bukkha Suma, Bjorn Larsen, Bobby Blyss, Bizz, Chris Calix, Chris T., Criminal V., Kue, Mikey G., Danny V., Dr. Remix, Chris Costello, El Nino, Fixture, D:Major, Hoshack, Skeezer, Vortex, Lamborghini Crew, J. Oddio, Henry Chow, James Reed, Kung Fu Pimp, Sasha Braverman, John the 3rd, Sines, Little Martin, MC's Full Effect, Oz de Funk, Red, Gremlin, Nick Beatdown, Pejaman, Swift, Steve Mok, Tol Tager, SDFone, Suraj K., 0045, Tbdz, & Upgreyed @ The Meridian
Jerry Christmas KPFT 90.1 FM Benefit, featuring Psychodillos, Guy Schwartz and the New Jack Hippies, Sonny Boy Terry & Rich DelGrosso, Country Store Buffalo, Run Over Twice, & Chase Hamblin @ Dan Electro's Guitar Bar (7PM)
Blaggards @ Molly's Pub (Conroe)
Wayward Sons/Grizzly/Country Store Buffalo @ Rudyard's

Sun., December 20:
Shock Treatment, featuring Latch Key Kids, 13 Black Coffins, The Inanimate Objects, The Failed Attempt, & Mohawk Steve @ Rocbar
Have I mentioned lately how damn glad I am to see the Latch Key Kids back on the scene? No? Well, let me rectify that: these guys were one of the best things about H-town's pop-punk scene back in the day, and while they never got their due, they were still rightly well-loved by those who heard 'em. Now they're back, older & possibly wiser, and still loud and heavy and melodic as fuck.

Trills The Season Toy Drive, featuring Nosaprise, H.I.S.D., Lower Life Form, Dayta, & Squincy Jones @ Boondocks (9PM; bring toy worth at least $7 to get in)
Nosaprise, yes, twice in one weekend -- this time its his show, his annual Trills The Season Toy Drive thing, where to get in you need to bring a toy worth at least $7 to donate to kids in need, and he's put together a nice crew of stellar local hip-hop folks to help out. I have to ask, though -- what the hell kind of a toy does 7 measly dollars buy these days, anyway? A yo-yo? My two cents: $7 is for cheapskate assholes; don't scrimp, folks, but try buying a toy maybe you'd have liked to play with when you were a kid. That's how I do it.

Miss Leslie and Her Juke-Jointers/Mark Halata Christmas Polka Party @ The Continental Club
afton: live, featuring Assylim, John Allen Stephens, Joshua Price, NYA, Jennifer O'Brien, Eyes Like Oceans, & Oz Knozz @ The Meridian

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

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Yes, I'm starting the weekend early, on account of the holidays, y'all... Actually, it's just that there're some extremely cool shows going on tonight (Thurs., December 17th), and I didn't want to skip over 'em. Here goes...

Hawthorne Heights/Just Surrender/The Story Changes/Monty Are I/Nightbeast/the last place you look @ The Meridian
Nice one, although I really give a big "eh" for Hawthorne Heights -- if I were able to escape the wee ones tonight, it'd be to see openers the last place you look, huge-sounding post-emo rocker dudes whose album in the early part of this year blew me away and will be making an appearance on my Top Ten Things of 2009 list. They put on a hell of a show, and this may be your last chance to see 'em in a little while, since they're headed out on tour with 10 Years at the end of the month and won't be back in town 'til February. And hey, if you bring a toy for Toys for Tots to their merch booth at the show, they'll give a limited-edition signed band poster. Aww...

29-95.com Presents, featuring Springfield Riots & Beetle @ The Continental Club
Kudos to the folks at 29-95.com for showcasing some of the best bands in town at The Continental Club every Thursday for the past several months (and shame on me for not mentioning it very often...sigh). Tonight's no different, although the band, Springfield Riots, are somewhat close to my heart with their sweet, warm-and-fuzzy retro-psych-pop sound. They're good guys, seriously -- check out my relatively-recent review of debut EP Say When on over here, then get over to Midtown.

P.M. Dawn @ Lucky's Pub
Wha? P.M. Dawn, seriously? "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss" P.M. Dawn? And they're playing at some sports bar I've never heard of called Lucky's Pub? Wow. Hrm. Maybe it's because it's only half the band (Doc G)? What the hell -- it's free...

Otenki/Eyes Like Oceans/The Factory Party/The Mint @ Rocbar
Again, I'm glad to see the good people at Rocbar hosting bands that aren't strictly of the meathead variety -- downtown seriously needs more places for bands to play that aren't giganto venues or oddball funky places. Rocbar could very well be that cool, middle-of-the-road venue the area needs. And hey, alternarockers Otenki aren't bad, I'm intrigued by Eyes Like Oceans, and I like the Killers-esque vibe of The Factory Party, so there you go.

Givers/Treeson/I am Mesmer @ Mango's
Dunno the headliners, but again, it's the locals that do it for me. I finally caught I am Mesmer a while ago and was left gaping in awe (for a few minutes, anyway, before my head started gleefully bobbing up & down) at the crazed gypsy-carnival troupe as they did their meandering throwback party thing. Wow.

Runners-Up:
The Reverend Horton Heat @ House of Blues
LMFAO/Shwayze/Far East Movement/Paradiso Girls/Space Cowboy/Million $ Mano @ House of Blues
Martin Burniston's Annual Christmas Singalong @ McGonigel's Mucky Duck

Labels: Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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I knew it was going to be cold; I mean, the forecasts all said it'd be chilly. But from when co-organizer Marcus Gausepohl (also of Esotype Records & Golden Cities) told me a couple of months back about this "Lost In Space" festival thing he wanted to put together, with a bunch of spacerock/psych-rock bands playing together at this bar in the Vietnamese part of Midtown, on the roof of the place, I couldn't resist. "Spacerock under the stars" -- how the hell do you beat that?

Of course, plans don't always run smoothly with these things. H-town got hit by the most snow I've seen since I've lived here (at my house, anyway), and when it wasn't snowing or sleeting, it was cold, cold, cold. So yeah, the rooftop thing went away, and I was a little bitter/sad about that, but eh, it was still a damn good lineup. Although the LIS crew had by then opened their arms somewhat wider than the initial plans, scrapping the "psych" thing in favor of bands they, well, thought were cool. (Which, honestly, is a much better yardstick.)

At any rate, yours truly headed out into the cold last Saturday, foolishly wearing only a sweatshirt for warmth (I'd originally planned on bringing a full-on Marmot jacket & be toasty and warm), over to Khon's Bar in Midtown and straight to a parking lot full of smoking, smiling hipsters waiting for the next band to start.

The show was technically next to Khon's, to be perfectly accurate, in a half-finished space one door over with bare walls and not much else. The rooftop, it turned out, was the top of the shopping center's parking garage, but rather than go up there, I figured I'd be better off catching as many of the bands as I possibly could. (Oh, and the space next to Khon's now officially has a name -- it's "The Husk," which seems fitting given the state of the room.)

I missed the first couple of bands, unfortunately, including the one who actually did play upstairs, Forests -- apparently they showed up, shrugged, and said, "what the hell, we don't need a PA, so we'll play up there anyway." Which would've been neat to see, esp. since I've heard good things about the band...

(Pics from the show are all up here, btw, for those who want to see 'em. I chickened out on the flash, as usual, but some of 'em came out decent.)

DEFENDING THE KINGDOM:
This one was probably the biggest surprise of the night, mostly because at the time, I hadn't yet twigged to the whole not- necessarily- psych thing. About all I knew about Defending the Kingdom beforehand was that at least one of the guys in the band used to be in well-regarded metalcore(?) outfit Tana'ri, and that didn't help much, seeing as I totally missed that band when they were around.

They were even more of a surprise due to their sheer metal-ness -- they were heavy as fuck, with crunching, punishing guitars, screamy/roaring vocals, and slow, thundering, bass-heavy, head-rattling beats. The whole thing reminded me at points of Isis, Helmet, pre-melodic Cave In, or even Jawbox (I swear, I caught some nicely math-y bits lurking in there), all welded to a solid metalcore spine.

I didn't have high hopes when they started off, honestly, but the sludgy, heavy-yet-atmospheric sound and impressive musicianly skills won me over. I had to bail before their final song, unfortunately (I've tried making a phone call while standing in the same room as a metal band before; doesn't work so well), but I dug the hell out of what I saw/heard.

THE WEIRD WEEDS:
Wow. Just...wow. Before I say anything else, I feel like I need to declare that The Weird Weeds are the best all-round musicians I've seen in a long, long while. (Seriously.) I'm told guitar experimenter Sandy Ewen (who I hear lives here in Houston these days) does a lot of the singing on the albums themselves, but for this show, at least, drummer/singer Nick Hennies was the main focus, singing the bulk of the songs and drumming, and he was pretty damn impressive. He played fast and folky and offbeat, but with what almost looked like a jazzman's technique; it made my jaw drop.

In fact, the whole evening -- what I caught of it, anyway -- seemed like the Battle of the Mindblowing Badass Drummers, with Hennies throwing down the gauntlet to start things off. Plus, Ewen herself did things with her guitar that were both freaky and understated, guitarist Aaron Russell played appropriately low-key and mellow, and stand-up bassist Lindsey Verrill (who apparently mostly plays in folky neo-backwoods bands when she's not with the Weeds) danced and jumped while playing like she was attending a tent revival.

She wasn't the only one, naturally; it seemed pretty clear from the start that a fair chunk of the crowd had come out primarily to see the Weeds, and they camped out in front, smiling and swaying beatifically. A trio of hippie kids cheerfully waved people to scoot in closer to where they sat, one of them draping herself ecstatically over the monitor as the band played. At one point, a female friend got behind her and hugged her as she swooned, looking weirdly like she was giving her the Heimlich manuever. It was entertaining as hell to watch...

MY EDUCATION:
Shameful confession time: I didn't really see much of co-headliners My Education. I was fairly focused on the Weird Weeds right 'til they finished, and didn't clue in that I should slide quickly over to the second stage of the place for ME's set. Bad move, as it filled in quickly with people, to the point where I couldn't really justify barging through to the front.

So, instead, I sat. I sat and watched the projector play out bits and pieces of old movies on the walls and the heads and backs of the people standing, able to occasionally catch a glimpse of the My Education members standing near the front; at one point a woman projected on the wall appeared to be about to eat one of the guitarists.

And y'know what? Honestly, it wasn't a bad way to absorb the band. In the end, it really felt like they were more of a sit-back-and-absorb sort of deal anyway, so it seemed fairly appropriate. Just sit back, close your eyes, and let the music swirl and crash, crescendoes spiraling upwards and upwards into the sky; they very nearly made me want to quit comparing 'em to Explosions in the Sky and instead refer to them on their own merits. Damn -- it would've been very cool to watch that set sitting up under the stars.

GOLDEN CITIES:
Yes, yes, yes. Golden Cities, more than any other band playing, were who I came to see. I've known drummer Lance Higdon and guitarist/festival-runner Marcus for a little while now and was heartily bowled over by the band's self-titled debut from last year. The roaring/surging guitars, the threatening, foreboing feel, the complex, avant-garde drums -- it all worked, y'know?

So, with that in mind, I was a little surprised when the band set up not only drums, guitar, and bass, but, um, congas? I knew the lineup had expanded from the original trio of Higdon, Gausepohl, and original guitarist Nathan Heskia, but this seemed a little off-kilter even for that.

But nope, the congas were in there, most definitely, and they served to ground the whole thing nicely, bringing what could've been overly math-y, cerebral (mostly) instro-rock down to a more "human" level. Percussionist Scott Ritter kept pace admirably with Higdon's wild-yet-controlled drumming, the combination further upping the ante in the aforementioned Battle of the Mindblowing Badass Drummers (sorry, Hennies, but they've got you outnumbered).

The end result was like a jazzier/more prog-rock version of instro-metal dudes Pelican, but with far, far better drumming and an oddly world music-y vibe snuck in on the side. Then there was the funky, nu-New Wave groove thrown onto the track Higdon announced as a new song, and the tribal abandon when the band dragged "auxiliary" member (and other festival organizer) Meghan Hendley up to pound away at a drum in front of the "main" kit.

To sum it all up: my favorite performance of the night, from any band. The Golden Cities crew played like their lives depended on it while having a blast, and they definitely expanded my own estimation of what they could do.

SOLANAE:
Yeah, I got stuck at the back for this one, too (okay, I probably could have shoved my way up there, but I'm just not that guy), due to hanging out and shaking hands/high-fiving the Golden Cities guys.

When I could stick my head over the crowd & peek at Solanae's set, I was absolutely intrigued. I knew singer/keyboardist Meghan Hendley (who, as hinted at above, used to be in Golden Cities herself) had a classical piano background, so I wasn't too surprised by that part, but her backing band, composed partly of Mike Blackshear and Jeff Price of Tambersauro (plus drummer James Diederich), made things extra-special interesting.

The effect was kind of like a Chicago post-rock band backing up Tori Amos, with Hendley's semi-operatic vocals soaring and swooping over spooky, Exorcist-like keys and murky, brooding (but not too loud or rough-sounding) guitars and bass rumbling beneath. Or maybe Evanescence if bred on a steady diet of Tortoise and Slint. Something like that, anyway -- whatever the oddball combination, it worked quite well...

SLOW MOTION RIDER:
So, right before these guys played, I did something stupid. While hanging out in the parking lot, I decided that what the hell, I wanted to see what the Khon's rooftop was like, bands or no. So I stuck my hands in my sweatshirt pockets and made my way up the unassuming concrete steps to the big metal door at the top -- up and out.

Bad, bad, bad idea. Holy fuck, was it cold up there. The wind cut right through my flimsy sweatshirt, the cold immediately started seeping upwards through the soles of my sneakers, and I felt my body temp drop like an anvil off a cliff. I got a couple of nice photos of the Houston skyline, but I was only able to endure it for about two minutes before I started shivering uncontrollably and had to run for the stairs. I got some weird looks when I burst out of the stairwell, shaking like a leaf.

Sadly, that was the beginning of the end of the evening for me -- no matter what I tried, I just couldn't get my core warmed up again, not even standing around in the actual bar (which was heated; "The Husk" ain't). Which really sucks, because the whole time I watched Slow Motion Rider rock out, I was focused less on the music and more on how fucking cold I was.

And that's a shame, because I liked their heavily retro, '60s-styled retro-rock, all swirling guitars, laidback bass, and thundering, pounding drums. The lava-lamp lightshow behind worked even better for them than it had for the Weird Weeds (apparently the lights belonged to Slow Motion Rider), backlighting guitarist Alan and too-cool bassist Tava (no last names with this band, it seems) in a psychedelic haze. The only bad part? They were loooooouuuuud. Really, head-rattling, chest-vibratingly looooooouuuuud.

GHOST TOWN ELECTRIC:
The last band of the night for yours truly, unfortunately, but at least I went out on a bang. In stark contrast with the Brian Jones vibe of the previous crew, Ghost Town Electric headed down a squarely metal road -- sludgy and heavy-as-hell, a mishmash of breakneck hardcore tempos and bluesy, down-and-dirty Southern metal, all with shredded-throat vocals. They came off like an H-town version of Northwesterners Federation X, or maybe ultimate badasses Priestess.

I couldn't stay for the whole thing, but I loved what I did hear -- weird as it sounds, I feel like I really need to see these guys in a "proper" venue to appreciate 'em fully. And yes, both these guys and Slow Motion Rider continued the whole Battle of the Mindblowing Badass Drummers, although I'll withhold judgement for a sec...

RANDOM NOTES:

• Got to say "hey" to a few folks, not counting the festival organizers & band folk -- a surprisingly un-mustachioed Adam Newton was there for the Houston Press (check out his writeup here), and the indefatigable Ramon Medina was there for the 29-95.com bunch (see here). Good to see you, guys...

• Besides folks I knew I knew, at one point a random guy came up and started talking to me out of the blue, and we had a whole conversation about the state of the Houston scene before we realized we'd actually met before via phone and email -- his name's Zubin, and he was the lucky winner of the wristband SCR gave away way back when for the FPH Summer Fest deal. This is one small town sometimes, y'all.

  
  

• As promised, the winner of my arbitrarily-declared "drum-off" is hereby revealed: hands down, the medal goes to Golden Cities' Lance Higdon. And I say that not just because he's the nicest freaking guy but because when he gets going, his hands go in totally insane, unexpected directions, like a jazz guy gone metal. Watching him is awesomely entertaining -- even when he stops moving (briefly, usually), he has this intense look of furious concentration on his face, making him look like some kind of math-rock Rasputin. Dude, you win!

• I'm bummed I wasn't able to see some of the other folks who played the fest, btw, especially B L A C K I E, who I was told was supposed to engage in rap battle with (yes, here he is again) Lance from Golden Cities. No clue if it actually happened, but hey, it would've been cool to see. Beyond B L A C K I E, I'd really hoped to finally catch Motion Turns It On and get another dose of post-teenage electro-hop kids Ghost Mountain, but both played after I left. The latter were originally supposed to play right around the time I made it over to Midtown, but they couldn't make in time, so they got bumped to a later slot.

• Contrary to what some apparently think, no, this was not any kind of marathon viewing of the TV show Lost In Space. And no, Robbie the Robot didn't make an appearance, sorry.

• If you missed Solanae's set, you're in luck, 'cause they're playing this very weekend, Friday, December 18th at Dean's Credit Clothing (aka That Place Next to Notsuoh). Do yourself a favor & go check 'em out...

All 'round, I had a ball (even with the self-inflicted near-frostbite). Hopefully this won't be the only Lost In Space fest; keep it up, folks. Please?

Labels: H-Town News, Live Reviews, Musical Crap, Pseudo-Reviews, Things To See

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