Yep, it's that most patriotic of weekends, July 4th, when even supposedly un-American punks like me feel compelled to smile at our fellow citizens & fly flags & attend parades & whatnot. Oh, and listen to music -- you can pretty much pick your poison in terms of kickass shows this weekend:

Sat., July 4:
Texas Heat Music Festival, featuring The Rapture (DJ set), 2020 Soundsystem, Drop The Lime, Hot Pink Delorean, Ceeplus Bad Knives, Roky Moon and Bolt, Electric Attitude, The Sour Notes, Grandfather Child, Searching for Signal, Shina Rae, Springfield Riots, Workingirls, The Mathletes, Tax The Wolf, Grizzly, DJ Dayta, El Roy Boogie, Suraj K, SDFONE, Page, TDBZ, Kung Fu Pimp, DJ Dan-Knee, G-Wizz, They Call Me Jep, Brad Slack, MC Gremlin, & Bloxwerth @ Jones Plaza (downtown)
Already talked this up, so I'll let it lie -- see here and here, eh?

The Tontons/Caddywhompus/Giant Princess/Limb/sIngs/Brains for Dinner/Rainbows in Your Wildest Dreams @ Super Happy Fun Land
Well, The Tontons don't have this one listed in their Myspace calendar, but I'm hoping that's just a fluke, 'cause this is a damn cool lineup. The Tontons psychedelic soul-blues is mind-blowing, those two Caddywhompus guys blaze mightily for being a mere duo (the guitar crunch on "Absinthesizer" still knocks me down every time), Giant Princess play some awesomely raw garage-blues rock, & Limb does a crazy, single-minded laptop-electronic thing. I've heard good things about the rest, too, esp. sIngs, who I'm particularly psyched about now that the one-man show's expanded to include Pam Cantu of Piano Vines, among others. (Oh, and there're apparently films to be shown while the rock is played, to boot.)

4th of July Punk Bash 2009, featuring The Drafted, Death From Afar, Riot Up Front, Freddie Ghonerea and the Gunz, The Kamikaze Overture, Brutally Normal, Pseudo Section, & Final Warning @ The White Swan
I'm a little bummed that 13 Black Coffins are apparently no longer playing, but The White Swan's "United We Slam" punkfest in honor of the Fourth sounds pretty damn good, even still. The Founding Fathers could be some rough bastards, make no mistake -- I think they'd approve. C'mon, when was the last time a politician challenged another politician to a duel and actually shot the guy?

Ty Segall/Charlie & the Moonhearts/Southern Backtones/Welfare Mothers @ Mango's
If you like your patriotism accompanied by a big, steaming-yet-raw slab of garage-rock, well, here you go, friend -- SF-er Ty Segall roars through some seriously mid-fi, heavily retro-sounding garage-y stuff, and so do fellow Californians Charlie & the Moonhearts and local heroes the Welfare Mothers. The only odd men out are the Southern Backtones, really, in that they're considerably more polished, psychedelic, & modern than their lineup-mates, but given what I've seen of 'em in the past, I'm sure they'll hold their own.

Happy 4th of July Party, featuring Dertybird, Wayward Sons, Miss Ruby Slippers, Grizzly, Miss Leslie & Her Juke-Jointers, Buckshot, & Whiskey Boat @ The Continental Club
Ooh, I'm liking the looks of this one. Miss Leslie I always love, and I've been liking what (little, admittedly) I've heard of Grizzly, too. A nicely rootsy, countrified Fourth, all within sight of the downtown fireworks. And if you're looking for something a little different, just walk down Main a block or so...

4th of July Extravaganza, featuring Robert Ellis, DJ Paramour, Holy Fiction, DJ No Fun, July's, & Psychedelic Sex Panther @ The Mink (7PM; $5)
...to catch Robert Ellis. He's seriously one of the best songwriters in town right now, of any stripe. "Good Intentions" makes me want to sit alone in a mountain cabin & drink whiskey 'til I die; not sure if that's a good thing to do, really, but it's definitely a response. Plus, I like what I've heard of Holy Fiction so far.

Cellcyst/Decimation Theory/Cavernous/Dreaming of June/The Goods/Chin Xaou Ti Won @ Warehouse Live
The Goods rule, and I can't freaking wait for their second full-length. That's all I'm gonna say.

Fourth of July Rock Fest/Star of Hope Benefit, featuring The Wonderland Avenue, Westborn, Sirens and Bombshells, Aberrant Lines, & Distant Lights @ Hard Rock Cafe (3PM; $5)
Dunno these bands, I'm afraid, but I do know the Star of Hope shelter; they do a lot of good for their fellow Houstonians & deserve any help they can get.

Freedom Over Texas, featuring Clay Walker @ Eleanor Tinsley Park
Nah, I don't really care about Clay Walker -- sorry, but he's just another cowboy-hunk country star to me. You, on the other hand, may indeed care, and since I'm trying to be inclusive and embody the spirit of one-country unity, hell, here you go. Besides, the fireworks are always pretty badass. (Good luck w/the parking...)

Southern Fried 4th Picnic & Music Festival/Benefit for Texas EquuSearch & Harleys Angels, featuring Mean Gene Kelton & The Die Hards, The Beat Daddys, Brother2Brother featuring Sandy Hickey, 4 Barrel Ramblers, & Clovis @ The Hawg Stop Ampitheatre (11335 Sheldon Road; 12PM-11PM)

Come See My Dead Person/ EraseTheVirus/ Digi Dancers/Morgue City/We Are Halfnelson/Flawlessly Inadequate/I.O.N. @ Numbers

Freedom Rings Concert 2009, featuring The Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra @ Stafford Centre

Sun., July 5:
Texas Heat Music Festival, featuring RJD2, People Under The Stairs, Felix Cartal, Bird Peterson, Hot Pink Delorean, The Button Freak, Satin Hooks, The Factory Party, American Sharks, Josh Dupont, DJ Red, GRRRL Parts, Sad Gorilla, Glasnost, Female Demand, James Reed, Brandon Silva, Alpaca, The Gold Sounds, Benjamin Wesley, Warbler PL, Bjorn Larsen, Chris Calix, Damon Allen, BMC, Steve Mok, & DJ Maximilian @ Jones Plaza (downtown)
See above...

David Cook @ Moody Gardens (Galveston)
Does it strike anybody else as weird that the winner of American Idol last year is playing Moody Gardens, and not somewhere up in Houston proper? Is he that confident that all his Houston-area fans will make the trek down for him, or is he making a biiiiiig mistake? Just wondering...

A Static Lullaby/Vanna/Asking Alexandria/Motionless In White/Tides of Man @ Javajazz Coffee House

Mon., July 6:
No Talk/Secret Prostitutes/ Loser Life @ The Mink
I just wanted to make sure this one didn't fall through the cracks -- I like No Talk's unapologetically in-your-face leathercore punk, and the Secret Prostitutes' snarling, ultra-basic, lyrics-all-in-Malay(?) Brit-punk is damn intriguing.

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

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Mentioned it a while back, but just wanted to drop a quick reminder -- today marks the start of the two-day Texas Heat Music Festival downtown at Jones Plaza, a festival that really, truly, looks to be living up to its name, considering how it's hot as fuck outside right now.

The too-apt name notwithstanding, though, the organizers of the Texas Heat fest deserve big kudos for bringing some damn good folks to town & making the whole thing look pretty professional & big-time. The show's got a ton of excellent Houston bands & musicians -- Grandfather Child, The Mathletes, Springfield Riots, The Gold Sounds, etc. -- a bunch of cool DJs -- GRRRL Parts, Ceeplus, etc. -- and then some high-flying big names like The Rapture, People Under the Stairs, & RJD2. Don't let the heat turn you away; this shit's gonna be good.

Details: the show runs from noon today, Saturday, July 4th, through something like midnight on Sunday, July 5th. Tickets are $20 per day or $30 for both days; you can buy 'em here or here.

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

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I utterly, completely love the head-on collision that's been going on lately between snarling, four-chords-and-distortion punk and raw-throated, hard-drinking roots-rock. It's probably been going on for longer than I'm aware of, sure, but these days it seems to be boiling right beneath the surface, and I'm psyched as hell about it. The combination of ragged voices, Uncle Tupelo-meets-Springsteen guitars, genuine melancholy (and smirking sarcasm, to boot), and damn fine songwriting with the fire, distortion, and screw-everything attitude of punk rock works for me in a way I honestly wouldn't have guessed would be possible.

I find myself digging stuff like this more and more -- it's like somebody's finally discovering that perfect way to strip all the inane, boring, stereotype-heavy cowboy crap I'd always hated out of country music and left only the best parts, the parts worth listening to. Or, heck, maybe they just combined Hüsker Dü with Steve Earle and drank it down fast in the dim light of some dingy honky-tonk bar.

With the above in mind, tonight's excellent-sounding i.am.we.commUNITY-organized show up at Walter's on Washington reads like a who's who of this whole raw-country thing (I refuse to call it "cowpunk," particularly since very little of this stuff has a damn thing to do with cows, and "alt-country" has way too much baggage). The lineup includes these folks:

Joey Cape: Some might remember Joey Cape from his days in a teeny little band called Lagwagon (not to mention Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, the band singularly responsible for making me like Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline"). These days, though, he's headed down the same road as fellow punks Tim Barry (ex-Avail) and Chuck Ragan (ex-Hot Water Music), going acoustic & re-discovering his country/folk roots. I'm not real familiar with his music, unfortunately, but what little bit I've heard is pretty darn good -- it's gentle, gloomy, and jangly, more folky than anything else, and showcasing a surprisingly sweet voice. Kind of a low-key melding of Iron & Wine dynamics with Rocky Votolato emo-folk-ness, and it works fairly well.

Jon Snodgrass: Jon Snodgrass is also an "ex-..." guy, but he's a little closer to the general sound I'm talking about to begin with, seeing as the band he used to front ('til their breakup in 2007), Drag the River, is/was a pretty prime example of the countrified rock thing. (Heck, they're also a prime example of the punk-gone-country thing, since members of DtR came from Armchair Martian, ALL, & The Nobodys...) Snodgrass solo still sounds quite a bit like his old band, to my ears, albeit a bit more laid-back and "straight" country than rock, with a nicely Steve Earle-esque voice and some sweet mandolin & banjo parts. He can still crank up that not-too-distorted guitar, though, and that's a good thing...

Cory Branan: It feels weird to say it, but the only reason I've ever even heard of Austinite Cory Branan is because of country/roots-rockers Lucero, who name-check the guy in their excellent song "Tears Don't Matter Much," claiming that "Cory Branan's got an evil streak." And they're dead-on -- you can practically hear the wicked grin on tracks like "Miss Ferguson" and "Prettiest Waitress in Memphis," the whip-smart lyrics delivering a backhand even as he laughs. Seriously, with songwriting chops so good they occasionally make me sit back and shake my head in amazement, this guy has quickly risen to the top of my personal pile of favorite country-rockers, right up there next to the guys in Lucero themselves.

HoboMouth: Never heard these Austin boys 'til now, but they're definitely interesting; the songs are less "country" and more like scratched-voice emo-pop, really, once you get past the vocals & guitars, and I'm enjoying it so far. At least one of the guys in the band also does Rollins-ish poetry, apparently, so there might be some of that at the show tonight. (And no, it ain't bad.)

Details time: the cover's $10, and the doors open at 8PM. It's gonna be good, I swear.

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

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Just a little fyi -- for those who've been watching & waiting anxiously for more details on this year's installment of the ever-entertaining Houston Press Music Awards Showcase, well, you're in luck, because today (I think?) the HP crew went live with the updated version of the HPMA site, including online voting & the full lineup for the showcase. Sweet! (Thanks to David over at Houston Calling for the heads-up, btw. When I'm out of the loop like I've been lately, he always helps me get somewhat back in it...)

I'm happy to see a lot of folks I like on the schedule, although it does feel like there're some glaring omissions (The Wild Moccasins, Something Fierce, & O Pioneers!!!, for three, and I'm bummed as hell not enough people know & love Scale The Summit to have voted for 'em for "Best Metal"). Still, there's plenty in the lineup to get excited about (in totally non-judgmental, alphabetical order):

1. B L A C K I E (does the "show" area of Dean's have a balcony? 'cause if so, damn...)
2. Blaggards
3. The Born Liars
4. Buxton (hoo-ah; keep an eye out for their upcoming 7", 'cause it rules)
5. Fat Tony (I desperately need to see this guy; "Invasion" rules -- check the mixtape)
6. Free Radicals
7. Tha Fucking Transmissions
8. Elaine Greer
9. thelastplaceyoulook (their show at Fitz last month was mind-blowing; they play that heavy, emo-influenced rock like they've done nothing else their whole lives)
10. The McKenzies (great, great, great, addictive, loud pop, like the Wild Mocs snarkier, drunker big brother/sister)
11. Mechanical Boy (on CD, I'm a little eh, but live they're pretty great)
12. Kristine Mills (got to meet her at my one on-air KTRU appearance for the Website, and not only was she very nice, but she could definitely sing)
13. Karina Nistal (yeah, I definitely still need to see her sometime soon, too)
14. Pasadena Napalm Division (full-on Prong-style metalcore from ex-DRI/dead horse/Dethkultur BBQ folks, and not bad)
15. Sean Reefer & The Resin Valley Boys
16. Ryan Scroggins & the Trenchtown Texans
17. Los Skarnales
18. Sideshow Tramps (I swear that someday I'll see these guys play)
19. The Small Sounds (who appear to be basically playing two back-to-back sets, since I believe several of the Sounds are also Katie Stuckey's backup band)
20. Spain Colored Orange
21. The Tontons (please tell me they're on a big stage like they were last year? 'cause that was awesome...)
22. Benjamin Wesley (yes, yes, yes; utterly hypnotic, laid-back, cool, & awesome)

One entertaining bit of errata on the list, btw, is "The Snack Charmers", playing at 6PM at Martell's (wherever the fuck that is) -- I'm guessing they're talking about The Snake Charmers, although "Snack Charmers" has quite a ring to it, too...

Anyway, as I've mentioned here before, the showcase itself is Sunday, July 26th -- just a few weeks off, now -- it starts at 4PM, and it ranges across a bunch of downtown-area venues, including old standbys like the Hard Rock Cafe, Dean's Credit Clothing, & Red Cat Jazz Cafe and a bunch of new-ish venues like the House of Blues, Isis Houston, & Martell's. Like the site says, 50 bands for a measly $10, plus a chance to feel like you live in a city that's actually geared for seeing live bands by roaming on foot/train/shuttle between venues. Make yr plans now, eh?

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

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What, you thought that was it for the weekend? Nah, not quite. Here's some more of what sounds good to me for the next two days/nights:

Sat., June 27:
Indian Jewelry/How I Quit Crack/Wicked Poseur/Flowers to Hide @ The Mink (9PM)
Glad to see Indian Jewelry out & about again. It may be my imagination, but it seems like they fell back off the radar a bit after releasing Free Gold. Cool that that's not the case -- I've got some serious catching-up to do. Unfortunately, it looks like this may be the last chance to catch up for a while now; the band's headed westward next week, charging through Austin, Marfa, & Tucson on the way over to sunny California & then heading up the coast on tour with Psychic Ills. See 'em now, while you can, eh?

For the rest, I dunno late, non-flyered additions How I Quit Crack, I've never yet witnessed Wicked Poseur, although I've heard they (he?) are something else, and Flowers to Hide are pretty dang good, from what I've heard of 'em -- I'm seriously liking "503," in particular. And boy, does the inclusion of that last one feel like one of those "one of these things is not like the others..." deals.

Dash Rip Rock/Ragged Hearts @ The Continental Club
I wouldn't call myself a Dash Rip Rock fan, honestly, although I do remember fondly back in the '90s when they did a cover of Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City" entitled "Trailer Part City" (I think that was it, anyway). Ragged Hearts, though, are pretty great -- I love their glam-/punk-tinged take on old-fashioned, bluesy, bottle-drinkin' country, which ends up sounding like a cross between Cinderella's Long Cold Winter and Social Distortion's rootsier moments. I'd hit this show just to see them, honestly -- they don't play real often these days, so it's worth a drive to Midtown.

The Phlegmatics @ Frenetic Theater (5102 Navigation; 8PM)
You've heard about this from me twice now already, so I'm not going to torment you any further. Go here and here, instead.

Ralpheene/The Goods/Lithium Waltz/Hollywood Black/Two Capitals/Hear You Me @ Super Happy Fun Land
Dunno about half these folks, I'm afraid, but I do know The Goods and Hollywood Black, and they're both well worth checking out. The former make some sweet, mid-tempo rock that's hard to categorize but is raw and noisy and melodic all the same (and they've got a new EP coming out soon on Mia Kat Empire, which is freaking great news, while the latter grab hold of some nicely righteous indignation and use it to set their guitars on fire (and then play them). Recommended.

The Ginslingers/ Chelsea Hotel/Left of the Dial @ Rudyard's
I've been enjoying both The Ginslingers and Chelsea Hotel quite a bit lately, I have to say -- they both do a street-level, old-school garage-rock thing, with some serious glam-rock elements in the first case & dirty-sounding rockabilly stuff in the second. Good either way, obviously (although I am a little bummed The Arcane Flowers're no longer playing; anybody know what happened?). And hey, Left Of The Dial is apparently a Replacements tribute band, and that's a tribute I can get behind...

Houston Pride Festival, featuring Kady Malloy, Low Man's Joe, Freak-in the Frame, James Reese Band, Indie Gruv, Soul Fixx, The Snake Charmers, Fluff the Kat, & more @ Commonwealth & Yoakum
Modern Convenience/The Caprolites/The Takes/Rapeworm @ Notsuoh
Carolyn Wonderland @ McGonigel's Mucky Duck
Summer Slaughter, featuring Last Rosary, Sever The Silence, Diminished, The Brilliance of Suffering, Critical Assembly, & Nailed Shut @ Walter's on Washington
Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash @ Armadillo Palace
Focus On Houston Festival, featuring Kevin Black, Ezra Charles & The Texas Blues Band, Marshall Black, & Coleton Black @ 1025 Judiway St. ($10/$25; 12PM)
Skylar Stonestreet @ Spring Tavern (Spring)

Sun., June 28:
Cryptacize/Wols/Ghormeh Sabzi @ Walter's on Washington (9PM; $8)
Yep, already blathered about this one, too -- go here.

Grizzly/The Wayward Sons @ The Hideaway (The Woodlands)
Hadn't seen much of these guys 'til recently, but I'm already pretty intrigued by Grizzly -- they bill themselves as being "Not your grandaddy's country," and that's fairly accurate -- what they are is a rough-edged, cigarette-scarred roots-rock band along the lines of Lucero & Jr. Juggernaut. Which is no bad company to be in, believe me. Folks up in the northern reaches of Greater Houston, take note.

Ingebrigt Haker Flaten @ Avant Garden
Sex Slaves/The Reely Rotnz/aFreudianSlip/Dead to the World @ Rocbar
Focus On Houston Festival, featuring Roger Creager & Texas Johnny Brown @ 1025 Judiway St. ($10/$25; 12PM)
Otenki/Amely/betterLUCK/Make Your Escape/From Guts To Glory @ Warehouse Live

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

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Friend Conor has been singing the praises of SF-dwellers Cryptacize for a while now, but I've been slow to come around, I'm afraid.

It's mostly a matter of expectations, I think -- I went into it knowing guitarist Chris Cohen from his work with Deerhoof & The Curtains and singer/guitarist Nedelle Torrisi from her solo, folkier stuff, so I felt a bit blindsided when confronted with Cryptacize's brightly-colored, sunshiny, yet still cracked & quirkily minimalist take on pop. The band makes me think weirdly of Raymond Scott's oddball cartoon soundtracks, but paired with heavily indie-sounding funky bits, weirdly tropical vocals, and Wolfie-esque cheer.

Which is no bad thing, once you can wrap your head around it. These folks now come off to me somewhat like children's music as made by people who don't actually have kids of their own but whom still somewhat live in a childlike world themselves. Check it out:

Cryptacize - "Tail & Mane" (Mythomania)
Cryptacize - "Cosmic Sing Along" (Dig That Treasure)

The band's playing tomorrow, Sunday, June 28th, up at Walter's, alongside local openers Wols & Ghormeh Sabzi -- not real familiar w/either one, sadly, but I've heard excellent, excellent things about both from various folks. Show starts at 9PM, tickets are $8.

(And no, despite the fact that the Cryptacize site says they're playing with Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, per CFTPA's Myspace, that's not the case; sorry...)

Labels: Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Download, Things To Hear

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Yeah, I've already blathered a bit about this, but I really, truly want folks to get out & see these guys -- The Phlegmatics are absolutely one of the coolest, most intriguing rock bands in town, grabbing hold of the Weezer geekcore torch and holding it high above their Marshall stacks. They play nerdy, angst-y songs about historical figures, kung fu-wielding friends, and sensitive guys who nobody believes aren't gay.

Here's a sample, from the Phleg's one release so far, Alumnus:

The Phlegmatics - "Funny That Way"

(Aside to the band; if you don't want this up here, just let me know & I'll yank the link back down...)

I haven't yet heard much of the band's new stuff, but tonight's the official "record kick-off party" for their forthcoming album, Billy the Starfighter Pilot vs. The Phlegmatics, over in the East End at the Frenetic Theater (which I've never been to, but which sounds interesting, at least). Here's the full info from the band themselves:

The Houston Chronicle's Ultimate Geek Band, The Phlegmatics, are preparing to release their second and possibly also critically acclaimed album entitled "Billy the Starfighter Pilot vs. The Phlegmatics", and everyone is invited to come and celebrate with us!

"When one contemplates The Phlegmatics, the words pithy, terse and raucous spring to mind…"

"They play powerful music with a punk edge and a bit of geek angst thrown in for good measure…"

"Attendance at their concerts has also been known to cure diseases and generate great wealth…"

So come out and check out the hub-bub bub!

The Phlegmatics
Record Kick-Off Party
Saturday, June 27th. 8 pm.
Free
Frenetic Theater
5102 Navigation Houston, TX 77011
832-978-1428
http://www.freneticore.net/frenetic_theater_events

Free + fun, loud, tuneful-yet-awkward music + early start time == good. There you go...

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

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Believe it or not, tonight's a bit of a slow one 'round these parts, at least for my tastes -- not that there's not good stuff going on, but there's, well, less of it. Here's what I may be dragging our out-of-town guests (back in town after 5 yrs. from the pathetically music-less wilds of Roanoke Rapids, NC; one of said friends has to drive 3+ hours just to see bands) to tonight, Friday, June 26th:

Sara Van Buskirk/Prairie Cadets/Frank Freeman/Paula May @ Avant Garden
Yeah, this is probably where I'll end up if we can escape the humble abode this evening -- I'm liking Sara Van Buskirk's thoughtful, sweetly rough folk songs and want to hear more, and I'm heavily intrigued by Prairie Cadets, which happens to be the new musical project of excellent local photog Marc Brubaker & music writer Adam Newton of Dryvetyme Onlyne. They do some cute, quirky folk-pop, and I'm enjoying it, myself, so I'm curious to see what they've got up their collective sleeves. (And hey, if Adam's ever said mean things about your band, now's your chance to heckle. Win!)

The Starlight Mints/Evangelicals @ House of Blues
Torn on this one, seriously -- I haven't heard The Starlight Mints lately, but when I heard them last (waaaaay back on The Dream That Stuff Was Made Of), I liked their sweetly hazy indie-pop thing. I'm guessing they've mutated over the years, although reviews I've seen lately make 'em sound pretty good even now. Evangelicals, on the other hand, I absolutely, completely, do not get. I got suckered in by the indie-hype last year, thought the name was cute, and then...meh. Not horrible, but definitely not great, at least on record. Sorry...one out of two's not bad, though, right?

Unsparing Sea/Maxwell and His Demons @ Super Happy Fun Land
I've got the new Unsparing Sea EP in hand, although I've yet to be able to give it a full listen -- I'm digging the murky, woozy art-rock so far, and I've heard good things about locals Maxwell and His Demons.

This Year's Tiger @ Hot Topic (West Oaks Mall; 7PM)
Argh. I won't be making it out to Hot Topic, but I desperately need to get a hold of This Year's Tiger's newest stuff. Raw-yet-tuneful melodic indie-rock, and good shit, honest...

Carry The Storm/Cryptic Psychosis/Silenced Within/Altercation @ Walter's on Washington
What (admittedly little) I've heard of Carry The Storm has been pretty cool, but I'll admit it: the main reason I like this show is b/c the name "Cryptic Psychosis" cracks me up. (Offended Magnolia death metal dudes: I mean "cracks me up," btw, in a good way. Um, kind of?)

Super Secret Awesome Fest 9000 Deux, featuring The Guns of Detroit, Kidd the Great, Hollywood Floss, Giant Battle Monster & more @ The Factory (10553 Fisher Rd.)
And speaking of "cryptic," here we have Super Secret Awesome Fest 9000, which is apparently so secretly awesome that I can't find a freaking thing online about this show except my listing and the one on Showlist H-Town. So be warned that if you try to go to this, the people at the cement factory this thing appears to be scheduled to be at may have no idea what you're talking about. If the fest's been moved, well, I guess it's really secret, then...

Randy Travis @ Arena Theatre
Oh, c'mon. This is just so cheeseball it has to be entertaining. We're in the Post-Irony Age here, people -- things like Randy Travis & Yanni are now hysterically funny kitsch, at the very least.

Runners-Up:
Fox Derby (CD release)/Ember/Proto-Stereo/Stoneside/Suburban Warfare @ Fitzgerald's
Neon Collars/Tax The Wolf/Journey Agents/Ellypseas @ Dean's Credit Clothing
The Blue Poptarts/betterLUCK/The Hit/Otenki/Tigerparty/Await the Day @ Javajazz Coffee House
Congas by Carlos/Dub Texas @ Last Concert Cafe

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

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We're veering rapidly towards the end of the week and all the work-dodging that entails (not that I'm doing it myself, but y'know), so it seemed appropriate to post some YouTube clips I've seen recently of and/or by local H-town folks...

First is a bit of an afternoon show last weekend at Cactus Music, with Springfield Riots, currently one of my favorite up-and-coming, fuzzy-warm indie-pop acts around town, celebrating the release of their new EP, Say When. Despite the heat inside the store, they put on an impressive show; here's the band doing "Mixtape Melody":

Next up, Jef With One F, co-vocalist for the recently-resurrected crazy pop/theater crew Black Math Experiment, has been hard at work in the intervening time writing the autobiography of the band, tentatively entitled The Bible Spelled Backwards Does Not Change the Fact That You Cannot Kill David Arquette and Other Things I Learned in The Black Math Experiment.

And he's now created a video of the first chapter, with him reading the manuscript over a montage of B&W BME pics, part of which goes like this:

"In one corner, weighing in at a ton-and-a-half of suck, were three nü-metal acts, whose names I have forgotten, for the same reason you never remember the name of your waiter at a restaurant you never intend to return to."

Nice. It's funny and sad at the same time, like a weird, weird cross between Henry Rollins' less off-the-cuff ramblings and David Sedaris. Check out the whole excerpt for yourself:

Then there's the awesomely hysterical video (released a week or so ago) by local power-pop/punkers Something Fierce, for the excellent track "Aliens", off earlier-this-year's There Are No Answers, which is still up on my list of Greatest Things About 2009 So Far.

And the video itself features the punkest fucking pig ever, which automatically makes it rule. The pig gets handed a bacon-burger at Rudz, gets his sand castle kicked over on the Galveston beach, and wanders around the outside of what I think is the Menil. Band frontman/video director Steven Garcia has truly come up with a beautiful, ultra-lo-budget ode to feeling out-of-place and alone and finally finding somebody like you. Do not doubt the power of the pig:

Last but not least, I've been meaning to post something for a while now about a bunch of live videos Kirston Otis from Dead Roses has up on the YouTubes -- he's been taking & slapping up videos of the aforementioned band, obviously, but also Future Blondes & some odd solo performances by FB/DR folks inside a plexiglass box down at the CAM, with more (he promises) to come.

You can check out the full pile here, or watch a sample below, from a noisy, messy Dead Roses gig at Mango's this past May:

Labels: Cool Web Junk, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Hear, Things To See

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Yeah, it's been a while, and the MP3s have been piling, piling, piling up; some are just kinda "eh" to me, but once I get a chance to sift through things, there's always some good stuff to download, like the tracks linked below. I honestly wish I could post more of the stuff we get in the mailbox; sadly, I often don't even have the time to listen to all of it...

Double Dagger - "The Lie/The Truth"
This isn't quite what I was expecting from those Baltimorean Double Dagger guys; for some reason, even after hearing bits & pieces of new album More, I'd had these boys pegged as some kind of broken-amp proto-punk band, but based on this song, I'm way, way off. Rather than being straight-up punk, it's a lot more reminiscent of math-rock/post-rock luminaries like June Of 44 or The For Carnation, mashing spare, bass-heavy (guitar-less, I think?), sideways-leaning almost-melodies with nearly contemptuous, "flat" sing/talking and full-on yelling for a track that comes off less as meditation and more as condemnation. And it works beautifully, for that -- once the drums come crashing down, the Mudhoney-esque fuzz kicks in, and Nolen Strals starts howling out his rage into the mic, my feet can't stop moving and I'm wondering what the heck just happened.

BTW, Double Dagger will also be in town this very evening (Tues., June 23rd), playing at the new-ish Super Happy Fun Land with locals Black Congress (who will fuck your shit up with their roaring, face-punching old-school hardcore and should be seen to be truly comprehended) and Muhammid Ali (whose nicely backwards-looking, sloppy-drunk take on '90s indie-rock noise I'm enjoying quite a bit).

DJ Deckstream feat. Talib Kweli - "Keep In The Pockets (Kero One Remix)"
Okay, so this isn't technically a Talib Kweli track, but hell, he's the one rhyming over Bay Area-based remixer Kero One's gently funky beats, congas, and Santana-esque guitar lines (although, to be fair, I've never heard the original, so I've got no clue what of that's his and what's DJ Deckstream's), so I figure it's appropriate. Not as socially-conscious as I'm used to from Kweli, either, but nobody else but Blackalicious or Kweli's former cohort Mos Def can really do justice to this kind of tongue-twisting flow.

And yes, Kweli will also be in town tonight, playing up at The Meridian all by his lonesome, and I'd highly recommend checking him out -- he's one of the few remaining smart, deep, positive-thinking, non-bitches-&-money rappers out there these days, and more people really, truly need to hear that, I think. Hip-hop does not begin & end with Lil' Wayne, 50 Cent, or Soulja Boy. (Thank God.) Not sure where this track's been released, but I like the other stuff I've heard so far from Ear Drum...

Hungry Villagers - "Tree Full of Ghosts"
This one's been around a while, really -- I picked up a copy of the Hungry Villagers' CD single (which includes "Tree Full of Ghosts" as a B-side to "Little Fingers" -- also a decent song, but not as good as this one) back at the last FPH Block Party, partly because I felt bad for the pair of folks sitting out in the sun at their little booth not seeming to sell many copies of the CD, and now I'm kicking myself for missing the band's actual performance. I was initially a bit leery of these folks, for no real good reason, but this track is flat-out stunning, a deep-voiced, insistent gem of an art-rock song that brings to mind both the Talking Heads & The Arcade Fire and practically gleams with a cool inner light. Plus, it's intriguingly mysterious (why in the hell are all these ghosts infesting this tree, anyway?), and I think there's some kind of Buddhist message buried in there, too. If this is what these guys really sound like, I desperately need more.

Joan of Arc - "Explain Yourselves #2"
I must confess that I've always been fairly ambivalent on Joan of Arc. I tried getting into 'em back when I first discovered The Promise Ring, figuring that if Cap'n Jazz led to one band I liked, it might well lead to another, as well, right? But it just never clicked for me, for some reason; I can't even really explain why, but whenever I heard a track, the best I could do was shrug. With "Explain Yourselves #2", though (from the recently-released album Flowers), there's a nicely jolting drums/congas groove to it that makes me think favorably of Space Needle, some coolly disjointed, half-funky guitars that sound like the guitarist staggered in from the other room just in time to do his thing, and a woozy bed of organ popping in and out at random (and apparently playing a totally different song, at one point), and hell, I'm liking it.

The Rural Alberta Advantage - "Don't Haunt This Place"
With a name that includes the world "rural" and a title like "Don't Haunt This Place," I think I can be forgiven for thinking this track from The Rural Alberta Advantage would be some O Death-y, possibly Okkervil River-y murky rootsiness. Except that no, it's definitely not that. Instead, it's a desperate-sounding, jagged-edged little shard of Brooklyn-esque indie-pop, with awesomely off-beat, skittering drums that drive the whole thing along beneath the pleading, downcast girl/boy duet vocals. (And no offense to Albertans out there, but what would be the advantage to that place? The admittedly little bit I've seen of it makes it look like Texas with more snow...)

Or, The Whale - "Rope Don't Break"
I dunno much of anything about San Francisco-based crew Or, The Whale (the name of which, yes, does include the comma), but this song is a gorgeously melancholy bit of seriously depressed backwoods country-folk, bridging the gap between Low and William Elliott Whitmore. The track lopes along, slow and resigned like a man headed to the gallows for his final dance...which is fitting, since I think is what the song's actually about, a condemned man hoping the hangman's noose is strong enough to end it quick.

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

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A bit over the line, I know -- got some new stuff up this AM, just in time for tonight... As I raved about earlier on, both Paris Falls and The Small Sounds are playing here in town tonight, and so we've got reviews up of both the brand-new Paris Falls disc, Volume III (which I'll admit I had a hard time writing about 'til I thought about it together with Vol. II & Vol. 1), and the older-but-still-awesome eponymous Small Sounds disc.

Obviously, both albums are pretty badass, whether you're talking about bluesy/psychedelic '70s rock or gently understated country-folk-rock. Check out the full reviews here and here, then go check 'em out tonight, eh?

On top of that, we've also got new reviews up of More, the new disc from Double Dagger, who'll be up at Super Happy Fun Land this coming Tuesday, June 23rd, and the new Heartless Bastards' new album, in time for their show here on Wednesday, June 24th, opening for Jenny Lewis at Warehouse Live. (Full reviews up here & here, should you be interested.) And then there's new reviews of stuff by Eleni Mandell, The War On Drugs, & more.

Full list time:

Reviews: Paris Falls; The Small Sounds; Double Dagger; Heartless Bastards; Eleni Mandell; Riverboat Gamblers; Death is not a Joyride; & The War On Drugs.

More to come, as always...

Labels: Musical Crap, Reviews, Things To Do

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Another weekend, more badass music to hear/see. I'll skip the blather this time out & get right to it; here's what I think sounds cool, complete with insane amounts of flyeration:

Fri., June 19: Papermoons/ Buxton/ Airon Paul Dugas & The Religion @ The Mink
Yep, those gentle-voiced folk-pop boys in Papermoons are indeed back in town, albeit briefly, and while they're here, it's the perfect time to enjoy some of those quiet (-ish), gorgeous, swaying songs they do so well. Awesome stuff, as is the music played both by country/pop LaPorte-ians Buxton and Airon Paul Dugas, whom I've yet to see but have heard good things about.

Born Liars/Welfare Mothers/Balaclavas @ Rudyard's
And here's your counterpoint: a night of raw, noisy, drunk-as-fuck guitar rock, sometimes with sharp edges to cut yourself on (Balaclavas) & sometimes with fists thrown at your face (Born Liars, Welfare Mothers). Two of H-town's best garage-y rawk bands going + the truest heirs to the Gang of Four throne in these parts = goodness.

Chase Hamblin (CD release)/Craig Kinsey/Molly and the Ringwalds @ The Continental Club ($10)
Caught Chase Hamblin at the FPH Block Party and was fairly intrigued; he's definitely not what I'd expected from a singer/songwriter folkie type, but is really more of a full-blown pop songwriter in the vein of somebody like, say, Jon Brion or Roger Manning from Jellyfish. I think I'm gonna have to pick up his new album as soon as I can...

Royal Bangs/ Alkari/The Live Lights @ Mango's
Ah, I can't help but love those Alkari guys. Not only are they the friendliest, nicest trio of guys around, but they crank out some nicely label-free rock music, too. I've only heard their Kublai Khan EP so far, but I sincerely hope there's more on the way. Guys?

A Gulf Coast Juneteenth, featuring Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Keith Frank and the Soileau Zydeco Band, Diunna Greenleaf, I.J. Gosey, & Earl Gilliam @ Miller Outdoor Theatre
Never been to a Juneteenth festival since I've lived in Houston -- which is a little depressing, now that I think about it, because it sounds like a cool celebration. Check out Lomax's nice writeup from last year's festival on the history of the H-town version; it's pretty fascinating stuff.

White Lies Black Sheep Screening, featuring Fat Tony, B L A C K I E, The Cocker Spaniels, & Love Field @ 1816 Calumet (6-10PM; $5)
This one sounds cool; it's a screening of the new flick by Afro Punk filmmaker James Spooner, which is neat in and of itself, but it also includes some darn cool music, like Love Field (who apparently did the score for the film), B L A C K I E (who pretty much epitomizes the clash of punk noise with hip-hop fury, to me), & Fat Tony, from whom I've heard some good shit so far (need to hear more). The screening/show starts early, so get in the car asap.

Mixers and Elixirs, featuring The Handsomes @ Houston Museum of Natural Science
Sadly, this is pretty much the only show of the Houston Museum of Natural Science's "Mixers and Elixirs" shows that I'd even consider checking out. And besides, it makes me happy to know The Handsomes are indeed still around. phew...

Michael Schenker Group/Doug Doppler/Metavenge @ House of Blues
Yeah, I'll admit it -- the deeply-buried guitarhead metal kid in me thinks it'd be pretty damn cool to see Michael Schenker shred...

Sunset Rubdown @ House of Blues
Nightmare River Band/Jesse Bonnano/Gnaugahyde/The Small Sounds @ Super Happy Fun Land
Darwin's Finches/Addom/Giant Battle Monster/Daytes/White Zebra/Matty Sullivan @ 1225 Campbell (8PM)
Jesse Williams/Colton Saylor @ Sedition Books (901 Richmond; 8PM)

Sat., June 20:
Paris Falls (CD release)/Airon Paul Dugas/georgia's Horse. @ Mango's
With three releases under their collective belt, Paris Falls have managed to become one of the bands in town that intrigue me the absolute most; they do rock that sounds "classic," in that it pulls from all that stuff from the '60s and '70s, but they never come off as derivative or lame, rather ending up sounding, well, timeless. Smart, rough-edged rock with great melodies and enough darkness to make you wonder. Then there's georgia's Horse., who haven't played much here 'til fairly recently, after a too-long period of silence, and make some of the most incredible murky/folky music I've ever heard. This is one of my ultimate top picks for Saturday, tied closely with...

The Small Sounds/ Elkart/The Literary Greats @ Walter's on Washington
...your second dose of The Small Sounds for the weekend. Got a hold of the Sounds' 2008 full-length a while back, and holy shit, is it good. Seriously; it's "repeated listenings make it better each time" good. And I recently picked up The Literary Greats' self-titled release from a couple of years back, and promptly had to pick my face back up off the floor. How in the hell have I not seen/heard these guys 'til now? I'd heard a song or two floating around over the past few years, but...wow. Stellar, stellar songwriting (and the same goes for the Sounds, too). Both of these bands deserve to be known far outside our little-big city, believe me.

The Cocker Spaniels/Math the Band/Joe Mathlete and the Deluxe Love Field/Ghormeh Sabzi @ Super Happy Fun Land
Not real sure what the deal is with this show -- it almost seems like spillover from the White Lies Black Sheep show the night before? But heck, I'm not going to smack it down for that, especially because I've heard some cool stuff from touring folks Math The Band and because Joe Mathlete writes these great little pop tunes that make you want to giggle uncontrollably and grin at the same time. Dunno much about The Cocker Spaniels, sorry...

Guitars/Nervous Habits @ The Mink (7PM)
I know I've been sorely lacking on the coverage of Guitars, they with the most un-Googleable band name ever (attempting to remedy that, I swear), but I'm glad they survived their post-Block Party tour of these fine United States and have returned to rock us all. And I'm told Nervous Habits are cool, too.

World Beat Music Fest 2009, featuring Chaka Khan, Beenie Man, Steel Pulse, Yellow Man, Notch, & Robert Minott @ Herman Square Park (Smith & Texas)
C'mon, it's Chaka Khan. Still, after many, many, many years, and at a point where a lot of her contemporaries in the world of funk & soul are dying off. How can that not be worth witnessing?

Pimpadelic/LeftBroken/3Hour Shower/Platypus Angst @ Notsuoh
I've gotta say, this one would be worth seeing just to witness heavy rap-funk-metal dudes Pimpadelic take the Notsuoh stage & watch the hipsters & artists scatter.

Leg Sweeper/sIngs/B L A C K I E/Muhammid Ali/DJ Meshak @ The Mansion (2502 LaBranch; 3PM)
Bun B & Friends @ Warehouse Live
Five Dollar Ska/Punk Fest, featuring Unlikely Heroes, Blindfolded Robbery, Always Guilty, Until We Got Caught, & Three 60 @ Javajazz Coffee House
Sisters Morales @ McGonigel's Mucky Duck
Reverend Horton Heat @ House of Blues
thelastplaceyoulook/20-20/Ransom Jack @ Jasmine Hall (Lake Jackson)
Superchango Studios 6th Anniversary Party, featuring Chelsea Hotel @ The 19th Hole (The Woodlands)

Sun., June 21:
afton: push play, featuring Radio Ark, Montezuma's Revenge, The Manichean, Three 60, Low Plane Drifter, Mayor Isaiah, Knight Mare, & Silence Amongst Chaos @ The Meridian
Dunno most of these bands, but Jason from Alkari recommended The Manichean to me pretty strongly last weekend, and I dig his tastes, so...

Ear Pwr/Adventure @ Mango's
Sandy Ewen & Y.E. Torres @ Avant Garden

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

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In spite of having released their latest EP, Thoughts Like Bombs, just a week or two ago, it appears that The Watermarks are still down a couple of members. Frontman/guitarist Cesar Inserny, bassist Jason Petzold, & drummer Nick Dudek have been looking for a keyboardist for a while now, I believe, but they expanded their search not too long ago to include a new guitarist, as well, and they have yet to find anybody suitable.

So, if you happen to play guitar or keys, love that danceable, fuzzy Jesus & Mary Chain thing, and can maybe sing, to boot (not a requirement, sounds like, but a nice-to-have), drop 'em a line at "thewatermarks" at "yahoo dot com" and say so. These guys do some good stuff, and I'd hate to see 'em eventually collapse because they can't find new folks to play with.

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

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Another one (er, two) I can't believe I let sneak up on me; I still have yet to see The Paper Chase live, although I've been a fan of John Congleton and his dark, creepy-ass indie-noise-rock for a few years now. They're playing tonight, thankfully, up at Walter's on Washington, along with cool (although more "drunk" than "dark," at least in the first case) local boys Muhammid Ali & sIngs (a band that now includes the awesome Pam Cantu, of Piano Vines fame, which is excellent).

I haven't heard all of the band's latest, Someday This Could All Be Yours (released just last month on Kill Rock Stars), but I've caught tracks here & there that make me think things haven't veered all that far from the disturbing, crashing stomp of crazy-man pianos, vocals that skip from frantic shriek to sugary-sweet melody in a heartbeat, and scraping, Jesus Lizard-y guitars. You can check out the "single" (um, should that word ever apply to a band as out-and-out scary as this) below, "What Should We Do With Your Body (The Lightning)", as well as "We Know Where You Sleep" (off 2006's Now You Are One of Us) and my all-time favorite TPC song ever, "Said the Spider to the Fly" (from 2004's God Bless Your Black Heart). Enjoy:

The Paper Chase - "What Should We Do With Your Body (The Lightning)"
The Paper Chase - "We Know Where You Sleep"
The Paper Chase - "Said the Spider to the Fly"

And hey, just for fun, here's the video for "Said the Spider to the Fly", which I should note in no way matches what I'd always envisioned Congleton as looking like, but which is all the freakier for it...

While I'm at it, I should mention that Steve Earle is playing the Crighton Theatre tonight up in Conroe, for all you north-of-Houston-ians, and per the Houston Press, there are (or were, as of Monday) still tickets available. I caught Earle a few years back at the Houston International Festival, playing songs that were fairly critical of rah-rah über-Americanism and war in general at a time when making statements like that -- particularly in an oil-fueled metropolis like ours, and in front of a crowd primarily composed of boozed-up thirty-/forty-somethings and their spouses -- was a pretty damn brave thing to do, and he was (if you couldn't guess) pretty incredible.

I can't make it out to Conroe this evening, unfortunately, but heck, maybe you can. Here's a teaser, also courtesy of the HP via writer/videographer Craig Hlavaty, from Earle's recent daytime appearance at Cactus; doing "Taneytown", he's looking a bit older and more like my crazy Uncle Bill than he did the last time I saw him, but he still performs like it was the only thing he was ever meant to do. Here goes...

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

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Can't believe I let this one creep up on me like this -- one of my absolute favorite, most intrigued-by music-makers going, and I nearly freaking forgot she was playing here this week. Gah...

Anyway, Santigold will be playing tonight, Wed., June 17th up at the House of Blues, and while I've been burned by the HoB recently and am somewhat disgruntled, I can't help but point folks to this show; Brooklyn's Santi White, the woman behind Santigold (she apparently had to update her name after some crap-ass late-night infomercial gold seller called "Santo Gold" threatened to sue), is fucking phenomenal. I know she's been around for several years, popping up on Wu-Tang spinoff albums & all that, but I'll be damned if when Santogold appeared last year, it wasn't like she'd fallen through some crack in the sky from an alternate universe where R&B has a brain and soul and some damn intelligence, to boot.

Seriously -- if there's any justice, Santigold will wipe all the annoying, fake, light-as-air R&B singers out there (I'd throw out some names, but hell, I can't even remember their freaking names at this point, there's so many of 'em) off the planet. Tracks like "L.E.S. Artistes", "Lights Out", and "Creator" are like the missing link between Blondie-era NYC pop and wall-rattling dub & grime, and it's utterly jaw-droppingly cool.

Don't believe me? Hell, you don't have to; just watch & listen:

(I know it's slow as dirt at the beginning, but it gets better; wait for the paint to start flying...)

Afraid I dunno Trouble Andrew or Amanda Blank, sadly, but eh, enjoy 'em when you go -- as you should -- to check out the headliner. The show's gonna rule, I swear.

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

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Mentioned this briefly earlier on, but the next installment of the BandCamp series up at the Caroline Collective is set for today (again, Sun., June 14th). I haven't seen a lot in the way of details, unfortunately, but here's what I've got from co-organizer Matthew Wettergreen:

Next Bandcamp: Booking Party
Bring your press kit, a list of dates that you are available to play shows and a laptop. We will be gridding out the surrounding cities, dates and venues and contacting all of them over the course of a couple hours to help book Houston bands for the next several months.

It'll run from 2-5PM this afternoon, so make plans to head over to the Collective around then with all your press-type stuff. This sounds like it'll be an extremely handy thing; admittedly, the one band I was ever in never "toured" further than San Antonio or Austin, but still, booking shows is quite possibly the roughest, most pain-in-the-ass part of band life. I'm thinking any assistance/guidance is a good thing to get.

In semi-related bad news, apparently some imbecilic asshat came to the Caroline Collective Anniversary Party a week or so ago and walked off with Matthew's laptop, which, naturally, contained all the myriad secrets of the Collective & BandCamp, and all kinds of personal life-type junk besides.

And no, from the pics, it's not likely you accidentally grabbed it, thinking it was yours. If you're the fucking troll who decided it'd be fun to rip off the people throwing the nice, free party you're attending, you need to pick up the nearest heavy object and club your lame-ass head with it. And then get back in your car & return the damn thing. Got it?

If you yourself are innocent, keep an eye out, and if anybody you know magically appears one day with a slightly-used Dell Inspiron 6000 sporting a ton of KTRU, Caroline Collective, Amoeba Music, WordPress, & Yelp stickers, drop the Caroline folks a line at "carolinecollective" at "gmail dot com". Failing that, check out the link for how to use ChipIn to donate to help Matthew replaced the computer the thief/thieves swiped. The Collective isn't exactly raking in the dough, y'know, so he needs all the help he can get.

Shit like this pisses me off, could you tell? Esp. because I know that if some fuckwad stole my laptop, I would be well and truly screwed...

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

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This afternoon's a good one for heading over to Midtown, because today (Sun., June 14th), from noon-6PM, is the rejuvenated & resurrected Swap N Bop fair/festival at The Continental Club. There'll apparently be lots of folks there selling and/or trading stuff, Mr. Adam the BBQ Man will be cooking away, and there're some darn good bands/musicians playing, besides.

I'm told Chango Man, Opie Hendrix, the excellent Carrie Ann and the Apocalyptics, & Carl "Piano" Smith will be playing, although I've got no clue as to the schedule. And hey, it's all free; sounds like a pretty cool thing, at least to me.

To celebrate, btw, the good folks at Continental Club "companion" store Sig's Lagoon will be having a sale in conjunction with the Swap N Bop, with some nice deals on CDs & records & books & such. Check it out...

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

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And on it goes... Saturday & Sunday night're looking just as busy as last night did; plenty of good stuff to choose from:

Sat., June 13:
Something Fierce/Be My Doppelganger/Fat Tony/American Sharks @ The Mink
It's seriously been too damn long since I saw Something Fierce play last, and that's a damn shame, because I really, truly love that freaking band. They're one of the best things going in this city, in any musical genre, and one of the absolute best punk bands around, period, in my book. Plus, I've heard really good things about rapper Fat Tony, and I dig what I've heard of garage-y punks American Sharks.

Springfield Riots (EP release) @ Cactus (4PM)
A good early show, and one well worth seeing; more info about this already up here...

U.S. Air Guitar Championships - Houston Regionals @ Warehouse Live (7:30PM)
Yeah, you've already heard about this one from me, too -- get out & give Jacob Calle some fans to wow, eh?

Miniature Tigers/ listenlisten/ Forests @ Walter's on Washington
Not super familiar with Miniature Tigers, but I've been digging the jaunty, smirking pop of "Cannibal Queen", which marries the snarkiness of OK Go with the lightheartedness of, say, Fountains of Wayne. It's a bit of an odd fit with listenlisten's murky, gloomy, other-century sound, but hey, they're both cool bands, so I can't complain, right?

The Tontons/Mystery Flavor/Focusyn @ Mango's (free!)
I swear The Tontons get better even damn time I see 'em; I only briefly caught 'em at the FPH Block Party, but even that little taste was good. The combo of fuzzed-out psych-rock and singer Asli's sultry-smooth soul vocals is, in a word, amazing. Each and every time.

Super Happy Sat Afternoon Matinee Show, featuring AWAKE, Eminent Hero, & more @ Super Happy Fun Land
Dunno who all's playing this little "matinee" show -- I think they're a regular thing at Super Happy Fun Land, btw, and you can sign up beforehand if you want to play -- but I'm very happy to see AWAKE playing out again. I'd feared the worst, honestly... I've only caught 'em live twice now, but they're intriguing, to say the least, thundering and slow and heavy as fuck in the vein of older Isis or Ocean. Worth checking out, definitely.

Heartworn Highways Benefit for Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, featuring Robert Ellis, John Hogan, Matt Harlan, & Carey Wolf @ The Orange Show (7PM; $10)
This was originally supposed to happen back in March, but since The Orange Show doesn't generally handles storms all that well (being outdoors), they had to reschedule to sunnier/warmer days, like right now. It's a benefit for Galveston's Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, which was heavily damaged by Ike back in the fall, and is meant to be a tribute to the music of Townes Van Zandt, which sounds cool all by itself. Personally, I'd say it's worth seeing just for the excellent, excellent Robert Ellis...

Miss Leslie & Her Juke-Jointers @ The Continental Club (2PM)
Not sure if this is an every-Saturday deal or what, but even if it's not, it's still cool -- old-school, Patsy Cline-esque country fave Miss Leslie will be playing (for free, I think?) over at The Continental Club in the early afternoon, and that's never a bad thing.

Blaggards @ The Continental Club
Raging Gulf Coast Bikini Fest, featuring P.L.F., Nibiru, Bowel, The Delta Block, SUS, Sodomorrhea, Bleach Boys, H.R.A., Dissent, Strugglebear!, Room 101, Warcola, Slowly Truth Dies, Cop Warmth, Criminal Mischief, Rapeworm, Rusted Shut, & Power Pellut @ The Rats Nest (2305 Lyons; 3PM, $10)
Benefit Show, featuring Searching for Signal, Your Amsterdam, & Bows and Arrows @ Houston Lighthouse (3602 W. Dallas)
Under the Sun/Roots of Exile/Ballistics/Molotov Compromise/Always Guilty @ Notsuoh
Lovel46 Benefit Show, featuring Three 60, The Ride Home, 5 Years and Counting, 2Ate1, New Era, & Just Us @ Javajazz Coffee House
Come See My Dead Person/We are Halffnelson @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)

Sun., June 14:
Swap & Bop, featuring Chango Man, Opie Hendrix & the Texas Tallboys, Carrie Ann and the Apocalyptics, & Carl Piano Smith @ The Continental Club (free; 12-6PM)
I'd figured to post more on this separately, too, because it sounds like a very cool deal -- swap meet meets outdoor music fesival...

Revolution Mother/Trian Woodburns/The Scandal/Rats In The Attic @ Walter's on Washington
MeWithoutYou/The Dear Hunter/Bear Colony @ Javajazz Coffee House (16300 Kuykendahl)

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

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It's been a hell of a week for good news, I have to say. 2009's already been a good year for H-town music, but with some recent little bits of news, things are looking upwards even more.

Springfield Riots Release an EP:
Firstly, pseudo-newbie band Springfield Riots is officially releasing their debut EP, Say When, tomorrow, Sat., June 13th, at 4PM over at the ever-awesome Cactus Music. I've seen & heard quite a bit of these guys -- ex-members of popsters Program, plus current members of Co-Pilot & Spain Colored Orange -- lately, both live and in recorded form, and it's damn impressive.

Now, I know I'm sounding a bit like a broken record, by this point, but I absolutely cannot say enough about good things about this band or their music -- warm, fuzzy, expertly done, slightly '70s-tinged indie-pop that hits all the right marks. They've got two of the songs from Say When up on their Myspace, and if anything, they build on the stuff I've heard before now, adding to the purplish haze of the addictively poppy concoction they've created. Check 'em out now -- the show's free, you get free beer, & you get to hear very cool music, to boot. Can't beat that...

The Phlegmatics Re-Emerge with a New Full-Length:
Just when I'd started to get worried... About this time last year, I'd gotten word that some of my favorite smart, nerdy, hook-writing, Weezer-loving indie-rockers, The Phlegmatics, were working on the followup to excellent debut album Alumnus, tentatively entitled "Sophomore Effort." Then...nothing. Not a word, 'til now.

Per the email I got yesterday, those crazy Phlegmatics guys thankfully hadn't succumbed to the H-town curse and collapsed on themselves, but have indeed been hard at work on the new album, now called Billy the Starfighter Pilot vs. The Phlegmatics, and they're emerging from hibernation to play a show, lo and behold, on Saturday, June 27th at the Frenetic Theater (5102 Navigation), starting around 8PM. I can't tell from the email if they're done with the disc -- they just say they're "preparing to release their second and possibly also critically acclaimed album" -- but hell, just getting to see these guys is a rare treat these days. Mark the calendar, y'all.

Black Math Experiment, Alive Again for Phase 2:
Ah, this makes me happy. After years of missing the band by a hair, I finally got to see strange-yet-addictive, over-the-top popsters the Black Math Experiment at last year's Houston Press Awards Showcase, and they were a blast to witness. Only one problem: by the time of the showcase, they'd already broken up, only reuniting because their devoted fans nominated 'em for an award. After the show -- poof! -- they vanished back into the ether, another piece of Houston Rock History.

Or not, as it turns out. As divined by the wise souls over at 29-95.com (namely, Sara Cress), the BME are supposedly re-forming right now and preparing to rock Houston yet again. Sweet. No word on when they'll be playing again, but they're claiming it'll be within the year. Good to hear, definitely...

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

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

There's a ton of stuff to check out this weekend, as often seems to be the case these days -- so much so that I almost dunno where to start. [deep breath] Okay, here it goes...

First off, I'm sad to report that the awesome-sounding (if, yeah, kitschy as hell) Yo! MTV RapFest that was supposed to be tomorrow night at the Arena Theatre and featured such blasts-from-the-past as Naughty By Nature, 2 Live Crew, Tone Loc, Ed Lover, & more crucially, Big Daddy Kane & Rob Base, has been postponed to Fri., October 23rd. Dang.

With that out of the way, on we go with tonight's madness...

Houston Press Benefit for Craig Hlavaty, featuring Room 101, 10th Grade Cutie, Benjamin Wesley, & Muhammid Ali @ The Mink ($5; 9PM)
Good music + a good cause... While valiantly covering SXSW up in Austin a few months back, Press writer Craig Hlavaty managed to accidentally smash up his arm something nasty. Which sucks, because shit like that gets damned expensive, and I'm guessing Craig doesn't have health insurance, so... Anyway, while I can't claim to know him all that well, he's good people & worth lending a hand to. Plus, Room 101's noisy punk electronics are extremely cool, Muhammid Ali's mid-'90s indie-rock rules, and Benjamin Wesley's meandering, trippy one-man-band is awesome.

Young Mammals/News on the March/Deleted Scenes/Flowers to Hide @ Mango's
Talked this one up some already right over here, but I'll reiterate very briefly: good shit. Seriously.

The Last Starfighter/American Fangs/Eldridge/Floorbound/Legacy Fails @ Fitzdown ($10)
It's looking like a night of heavy-ass rock up at Fitz -- I like The Last Starfighter's raw-throated screamo quite a bit, and those American Fangs guys blow the roof off and get the mosh pit going even when they're being relatively quiet. Gonna be a good one.

The Menzingers/O Pioneers!!!/Muhammid Ali/Football, Etc. @ 2500 Summer St. (8PM)
I dunno how those crazy guys in Muhammid Ali are going to manage to pull off both this and Craig H.'s benefit show, but I guess we'll see... This looks to be a good one in its own right; it's a house party, I believe, over by those weird-ass plaster heads of past Presidents, and I seem to recall hearing that free beer would be involved. Add Muhammid Ali, recent transplants Football, Etc., out-of-town punks The Menzingers, and our very own punk-folk troubadours O Pioneers!!! to the mix, and we're talking awesomeness abounding.

30footFALL/Al Shire/Battle Rifle @ Fitzgerald's
Yay, 30footFALL! Does my soul good to know these poppy punk heroes still live, at least sporadically...

Cornbreadd/Benjamin Wesley/Bolt @ Dean's Credit Clothing
Why in the hell did I not know Dean's Credit Clothing had moved from next to Notsuoh in downtown to the Montrose, barely three blocks from my old house? Or are there two of 'em, now? Damn...I am one uninformed music-type guy, and that's just plain embarrassing. Eh, anyway, they've got a very cool show tonight -- at the downtown location, maybe? -- with rapper Cornbreadd & multi-instrumental guy Benjamin Wesley, both of Tha Fucking Transmissions, plus retro-'70s (done right) rawkers Bolt.

Runners-Up:
Holy Fuck/Crocodiles/Limb @ Walter's on Washington
Hell City Kings/New Disaster/Born Anchor @ Rudyard's
Alpha Rev/Pale @ Warehouse Live
Space City Records Showcase, featuring Krunkquistadors, 7 Miles from the Sun, After Time Has Passed, & Linda Ln. and the Chaos that Ensued @ Last Concert Cafe ($10)
thelastplaceyoulook/Before There Was Rosalyn @ San Jacinto College Central (Friendswood)

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

gaijin || Link || E-mail || 2 comments

I desperately need to talk about what all's going down this weekend, but I've got to first mention, though, that we've got a bunch of new reviews up, most notably for the recent full-length from Deleted Scenes, who'll be playing up at Mango's with Young Mammals, News on the March, & Flowers to Hide tonight. It's a good disc, if somewhat scattered -- lots of very cool songs, definitely, but they don't necessarily fit together as a whole, y'know? When it does work, though, it really goes the distance, melding New Pornographers-style pop melodies with Death Cab/Modest Mouse hypnotic phrasing.

Check the full review here, and you can check out the band for yourself right here:

Deleted Scenes - "Fake IDs"
Deleted Scenes - "Ithaca"

And hey, even if that doesn't float your boat, the show's very much worth checking out for the YM guys, who throw down a frenzied, fist-pumping bag of indie-rock goodness every damn time they play, and News on the March, whose Beach Boys-meets-O Brother, Where Art Thou? pop-folk is pitch-perfect and unique as hell. I've heard really good things about Flowers to Hide for years, too, but have yet to catch 'em live, sadly. (Check the awesome Eli Sebastian Brumbaugh flyer, btw; H-town flyer art fucking rules, these days, I swear...)

Of course, there's other recent stuff, besides, like the recent Vaselines reissue(s), evil metallic pseudo-Buddhists Kylesa, two-piece mess-rockers The Ax, & some cool interviews I posted about earlier in the week -- here's the full list:

Interviews: The Wild Moccasins; The All-American Rejects.

Reviews: Deleted Scenes; The Traditionist; Kylesa; The Ax; The Vaselines; Star Fucking Hipsters; Invention; & Like Bells.

More to come...

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

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Apologies to anybody else who's playing a show this evening, but if you're in town tonight, there's only one place you really, truly need to be: The Wild Moccasins' tour kickoff party at Mango's, on Westheimer next to the Avant Garden/Helios.

In honor of the event, I hit the band up with some (fairly lame) questions, to which Moccasins frontman/guitarist Cody Swann, guitarist Andrew Lee, and bassist Nick Cody (and yes, there are many "Codys" and "Andrews" for a band with only five people) were kind enough to respond in very entertaining fashion. You can check out the interview up here, should you feel inclined...

Anyway, they'll be playing with awesomely cool Riff Tiffs side project-run-wild Caddywhompus (who've released their two EPs as one collected digital download just called EPs, by the way; I've heard half of it and love it but still need to listen to the other half), the speaker-imploding, hoodie-wearing spectacle that is underground hip-hop supastar B L A C K I E, and the sweet sounds of the Urbane Guerilla Sound System, which is former Teenage Kicks guys John and Stewart spinning lots of Northern Soul, reggae, & old-school R&B stuff. (They were both enthusing about Sharon Jones the last time I talked with 'em, which makes them good people in my book.)

Seriously, this promises to be one awesomely cool show. In addition to things musical, Cody has warned/informed that the band will be silkscreening special limited-edition Mocs designs free onto any T-shirt you bring 'em, giving away copies of their extremely limited-edition tour posters, and selling cassette(!) copies of the excellent Microscopic Metronomes EP they released earlier this year (review up here, if you're curious), and they'll have Mango's all nicely decorated, I'm guessing kinda like they did for the sold-out EP release show at Walter's.

It's a measly $6, and the doors open at 8PM -- the show doesn't start 'til 9PM, but given how insane the crowd was when they did an all-out party like this back in January, it's a good bet the place will be filled to overflowing with hipsters & other lovers of good music. (Remember, as well, that this is their tour kickoff, so the band won't be playing these parts again 'til early July at the earliest.)

The Other Stuff: Well, not so much "stuff" as "thing," I guess... In addition to the Wild Mocs interview, hard-working writer Rafael Rivas managed to somehow talk his way into an interview with one of the guys from The All-American Rejects during their recent stop here in town.

I can't claim to know the band real well, myself (although I do like "It Ends Tonight", off 2005's Move Along, but that may be more because I first heard it in a commercial for Battlestar Galactica & thought it was really well-used), but I like Rafael's take on the band, even still. Check out the full interview here.

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

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= UPDATE: FYI, since the initial post I've heard from The Golden Ghost himself, and apparently not only has he recovered from last year's injuries, but he will be competing again this year. Go support, y'all!

I know, it's a little hard to fathom, even for somebody like me who's spent countless hours air-guitar-ing (okay, I actually mostly air-drum, to be honest) to the metal albums of my youth. But the U.S. Air Guitar Championships do exist, even still, and the Houston regionals are this coming Saturday, June 13th, at Warehouse Live. Hordes of fame-hungry vapor-lick-playing heroes will "rock" the stage in garish, sometimes terrifying outfits, doing anything and everything they can possibly think of to blow the audience away and win a coveted slot at the nationals.

Just ask Jacob "Hurricane Bear" Calle -- last year he entered the competition as "The Golden Ghost" and, as (weirdly) uncovered by the heeb'n'vegan blog (and hilariously pondered upon after by the Houston Press's Dusti Rhodes), he broke his freaking leg jumping down from the ceiling of the club. While "playing" Mötörhead's "Ace of Spades," naturally. Rumor has it that he was favored to win 'til his fall, but he ended up placing third, with Houston sending Rip Darko to The Big Show instead.

Folks, that's dedication, right there. Breaking a limb's bad enough when you're rocking out on an actual guitar with a real-live band, but doing it with nothing up there to back you up...damn. I can't even contemplate it.

Now, with that in mind, we here at Space City Rock are happy to announce that we're in a position to hand out 2 guestlist spots to one lucky winner -- it could be you, ladies and/or gents. If you want to check out the air-wankery for yourself this weekend, just drop an email to "gaijin" at "spacecityrock dot com" with the Subject line "The Golden Ghost lives!". Do it fast, because we've got to pick a winner pretty quickly...

By the way, in case you think this is all utterly ridiculous, um...okay, yeah, you're pretty much right. But hell, I'm all for ridiculousness, and I have to admire the U.S. Air Guitar folks' sincerity and dedication. Here's their official mission statement:

US Air Guitar is devoted to taking our nation's unofficial pastime out of the bedroom and putting it up on the world stage. Founded in 2003, the US Air Guitar Championships have grown into a major national event that reaches more cities, fans and competitors every year.

In a time when US political, economic, military and athletic dominance faces unprecedented challenges around the world, it is our belief that air guitar represents one endeavor our country can dominate without controversy. US Air Guitar is here to make this possible.

Wow. Air guitar as the key to world peace? I can't even really make fun of that; it's too damn cute to mess with, y'know? And c'mon, how cool would the world be if we all air-guitared one another instead of shooting and blowing one another up? It certainly couldn't be worse.

Final Note: For all you wannabe pseudo-rockstars out there, be aware that yes, you can still enter the H-town regionals. Should you dare...

Labels: Cool Web Junk, Free Stuff, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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SCR blogger Lance Higdon is currently out and about in this grand country of ours, criss-crossing the land in a borrowed minivan to bring the space-y, atmospheric noise-rock expanses of his band Golden Cities to folks outside of the Houston metro area for the first time (I think?).

They're in Richmond, VA, as I type this, headed on up the East Coast after to hit such Cities-less places as Brooklyn, Philly, & Rochester before they veer westerly towards Ohio, Illinois, & the rest of the Midwest. And along the way, Lance is chronicling the band's travels on the quasi-official band blog, Space Rock From Space City (a site which, as you can probably imagine, we feek a weird kinship to).

Here's the most recent post, excerpted somewhat from that site:

We are staying tonight with a friend of Meghan's uncle in a cabin on a mountain in northern Georgia. This is the first place we've been with steady internet access so i'll have to give the highlight reel of the past two days:

-Staying up all night Friday moving out of my old house, packing the van, packing my bag for tour, doing inventory on merch & forgetting to buy either shampoo or soap.

-Driving 12 hours from Houston to Birmingham without major incident.

-Playing a good set with a good band at a great bookstore/community center/performance space in Birmingham on a Saturday night...to the staff & the other band.

-Trying to get into Sarah Sheridan's apartment & having her landlady open the window over the course of a minute wherein we were waiting for something akin to the judgement of God.

-Getting free breakfast from the same landlady.

-Trying to fix Seymour the Projector's film loop.

-A car literally turning across three lanes of traffic & crash into a barricade in Atlanta, with the driver walking away from a completely totaled car.

-Playing a great house show in Athens, where we were gifted with homemade beer soap!

-Driving to the top of a mountain in a minivan with a trailer hitch making lovely scraping noises over the roots & rocks in the road.

As with all of Lance's writing, it's entertaining shit; I'd highly recommend subscribing or otherwise keeping an eye on his blog while G.C. make their way 'crost the US of A. And best of luck to the band -- hopefully their luck'll hold out...

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

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This is a cool one; I'd missed it last time out, but apparently the folks at Houstonist are doing a followup photography show to 2007's 600 sq mi: Photos from Houston exhibit, and the idea this time is to get local photogs here in our fair city to come up with pictures of the "hidden Houston" -- the stuff that people might overlook but that is really, truly the best part, to my mind, of this city.

I've always maintained that Houston's a city that goes misunderstood because it's not an accessible place, a place where people can easily jump from one cool thing to another; it sucks to be a tourist here, unless you've got somebody who knows the city showing you around, because the really good things about H-town are the ones that lurk beneath the surface, where a casual glance can't uncover it.

I think the Houstonist's idea of getting Houstonians to expose some of that unknown beauty is excellent, something that needs to happen more often. They're calling this exhibit, appropriately enough, 600 sq mi: Hidden, and here's the gist of it from the Website:

It's a juried exhibition of photographs showing the hidden side of Houston. What does that mean to you? Maybe it's a corner of the city that only you know. One of those glimpses of nature that makes us forget, even for a second, that we live amid a tangle of asphalt and glass. It could be a festival that people don't really know about, or perhaps one of those things that's hidden in plain sight — something wonderful that we usually speed past on the freeway or an architectural detail most people never notice. Big or small, literal or figurative, these are the things that make Houston a great city, and we want to see your take on them.

Entering the show is easy. Just check out the official rules, then get your photos together and submit them using our online entry form. You can submit up to three photos with a flat $15 entry fee, which you send to us via PayPal. Entries are due by the end of the day Monday, July 13, 2009. If you have any questions about the process, the show in general or anything else, read through our FAQ. If you don't find the answer you need there, drop us a line and we'll be happy to help. The show will open in October at Xnihilo Gallery in the Montrose — more details on that later.

Our 2007 show, 600 sq mi: Photos from Houston, featured the work of 39 local photographers and was (we say modestly) a great success. This year's show will be even better. So enter already!

See? Cool deal. If I can get my photographic shit together, I'm tempted to fork over the $15 and give it a shot, myself...

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

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I saw some mysterious promo stuff about this a while back & didn't know what to make of it, but now the full lineup's been released, so...

Apparently H-town's in for not one but two awesome-sounding summertime music fests this year (and hopefully the next, if all goes well?); along with the Free Press Summerfest, now there's the Texas Heat Music Festival, scheduled for Sat., July 4th & Sun., July 5th downtown at Jones Plaza. It's a little pricier than the Summerfest, at $15 a day or $25 for both right now (soon to go up to $20/$25 or $30/$40), and it aims a bit more at the dance-minded than Summerfest, but hey, both festivals have excellent lineups.

Here's who all's lined up for Texas Heat:

• The Rapture (DJ set only)
• RJD2
• People Under The Stairs
• 2020 Soundsystem
• Drop The LimeHot Pink Delorean
• Uzi and Ari
• Roky Moon and Bolt
• The Factory Party
• Grandfather Child
• The Mathletes
• Spain Colored Orange
• American Sharks
• Glasnost
• Alpaca
• Benjamin Wesley
• Electric Attitude
• Female Demand
• Warbler
• Shina Rae
• The Gold Sounds
• Peekaboo Theory
• Sad Gorilla
• Tax The Wolf
• Working Girls
• Grizzly
• Searching for Signal
• The Button Freak
• Ceeplus Bad Knives
• GRRRL Parts
• Josh Dupont
• DJ Red
• James Reed
• Damon Allen
• Bjorn Larsen
• Chris Calix
• Suraj K
• Bmc
• SDFONE
• Page
• TDBZ
• Brandon Silva
• Steve Mok
• Bloxwerth
• Kung Fu Pimp
• DJ Dayta
• G-Wizz
• They Call Me Jep
• El Roy Boogie
• DJ Brad Slack & MC Gremlin
• DJ Maximilian

I dunno a fair number of the out-of-towners (that first eight or so), but RJD2's one of my favorite producers ever -- I like his Soul Position stuff w/Blueprint better than the vocal-less stuff, but I'll take what I can get of the guy. Plus, there's The Rapture, although for my money a full-band show'd be much cooler than a DJ set. And hell, I didn't even know People Under The Stairs were still around.

The Music Lords, it would seem, are smiling down on us all, dancefloor mavens & indie-hipsters alike...

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

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Tonight (Sunday, June 7th) there're a few less things going on than in the past few nights, but you've still got some good, good options.

First off, Thrill Jockey Recs signees Pontiak are up at The Mink tonight, doing their heavy-ass, head-twisting variety of psych-rock, intermeshing clouds of messy noise with thick stoner-metal to make something that crosses the line between Mogwai and Monster Magnet. Thanks to relatively-new writer Gos, there's a brand-new review up of their latest full-length, Maker, which I enjoyed, myself -- check the full review here.

They're also playing with locals Ghost Town Electric, about whom I've heard good things, and Cavernous, who I really need to check out... The show starts at 9PM, and the cover's $5; hard to beat that, eh?

Of course, if psych-rock's not your thing, there's an evening of sometimes-raw garage-y rawk going on over at Mango's tonight, too. The headliners are Mika Miko, who play some squalling, ear-shredding (yet addictive) stuff, but I'm honestly more interested in The Strange Boys, a bunch of Austinites who play some nicely barebones garage-rock. You can check out a bit of what they do below:

MP3: "Heard You Wanna Beat Me Up"

Then there's Houston's Born Liars and The Caprolites -- I truly, truly love the former, with their boozy, sweaty take on rawk (second full-length Ragged Island is one of the best things released this year, I swear), and I've heard promising stuff about the latter.

Oh, and apparently folks who make it to the the Mika Miko/Strange Boys show get a free T-shirt, although I'm not sure whose T-shirt it is; Free Press Houston, maybe? The FPH crew's also throwing a patio par-tay beforehand, complete with BBQ, flea market, & record swap. That part's going on right now, I believe, with the actual show starting at 9PM; cover's $8 for the of-age, $10 if you're not. Enjoy your Sunday...

Runners-Up:
Child Bite/Yatagarasu/The Delta Block/Cop Warmth/10th Grade Cutie @ Super Happy Fun Land
RunnAmucks/SuperAids/The Delta Block/P.L.F. @ The White Swan
Kid Liberty/The Hit/The Tastydactyls/betterLUCK/This Years Fashion/The Rad/Zac Seif @ Javajazz Coffee House

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

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Yep, it's Saturday, and there's still a crapload of stuff going on; here's a too-brief rundown on my personal picks for this evening... And yes, I'm well aware that the folks I'm most psyched about all happen to live/play here. They're that good, y'all.

Bachelorette/Springfield Riots/Benjamin Wesley @ Walter's on Washington Top pick of the night, definitely. Springfield Riots are still new-ish, but they meld the pop hooks of ex-band Program with a beautifully warm, '70s-esque haze; they've got an EP coming out in just a few weeks, and it's going to rule, trust me. Plus, there's Benjamin Wesley, a one-man-band phenomenon who plays this crazy, nerdy-cool pop with an oddly Afrobeat feel to it, and he does all the damn instruments at once. Well worth witnessing.

Vacant Stairs/Aunt Belle/Ghost Mountain/The Ride Home @ Bohemeo's
I'm seriously enjoying Baytown boys Ghost Mountain's self-titled(?) release -- "Good Heart" is a mind-blowing bit of electro-damaged noise-pop -- and I've been intrigued by The Ride Home for a while now, to boot, ever since running across 'em on the Mia Kat Empire comp from a year or two back. Their songs burrow into my brain and refuse to leave.

Brian's Johnson/Butch & Chris/Generation Landslide/Davey Graves @ Mango's
I'm not competely sure who all's playing or when, but this one promises interesting-ness, mostly because Butch & Chris of punk legends 30fotFALL are supposed to do a set of some kind (together? separately? I have no clue).

Arthur Yoria/Spain Colored Orange @ Rudyard's
Damn, I just heard about this one, but it sounds good -- I've enjoyed the heck out of every Arthur Yoria show I've seen (although it's been a while, now), and he's honestly one of the best songwriters I've ever seen. Spain Colored Orange these days confuses me a bit, but hell, I'm still dying to hear the new album & see what I've been missing...

CO2 Caroline Collective Anniversary, featuring You(genious) @ Caroline Collective
Yeah, I already talked about this one, but what the heck; it's gonna be a good time, honest.

Meggs/A Bubble In The Sun/Await The Day/Verbatim/Low Plane Drifter/Searching for Signal/Fight With Flash @ Numbers
No, I dunno most of these folks, but I got a hold of a copy of Searching for Signal's self-titled album from last year recently, and I'm liking it so far. A little wobbly around the edges, I'll admit, but these guys are waaaay young and have the potential to be really, truly great. Catch 'em early, eh?

Runners-Up:
The Morakestra/We Were Wolves/Guns of Detroit/Holy Fiction @ The Mink (9PM; $6)
The Jane Frequency/Tax the Wolf/Another Run/Nosaprise/Last of our Breed @ Super Happy Fun Land
Jesse Dayton @ The Continental Club
The Omega Project/Downfall 2012/Harem Festival/Letters to Voltron/The Bobby Boys @ The Jet Lounge
MySpace Showcase, featuring From Guts to Glory, Tate, Bayou Monster, The Live Lights, The Ginslingers, & Suckerfish @ The Meridian
The Battle of Sam Battle of the Bands, featuring Peekaboo Theory & more @ Sam Houston Race Park

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

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Hard to believe, but today marks the one-year anniversary of coworking space the Caroline Collective. So, to celebrate, the CCers are throwing a party, complete with music by You(genious) & the Don't Fight It crew, drinks/snacks from St. Arnold's & Sweet Leaf Tea, and a cool-sounding photography show featuring the works of a bunch of talented young folks from HCC. It sounds like it's gonna be a good time.

The festivities run from 6-10PM tonight, and as far as I know, it's free to get in & hang. I've met a few of the Caroline Collective gang, and they're good people; big, big high-five to 'em on getting their first year under their belt -- here's hoping they're able to stick around for many, many more.

Side Note: And fyi, there won't be a BandCamp installment this weekend, but next weekend, Sunday, June 14th, the CC will be hosting BandCamp yet again, this time focusing on that horror of horrors, booking a goddamn tour. I'll post more details later on...

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

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Dammit, dammit, dammit. Crapload of excellent stuff going on tonight (and the rest of this weekend), but I've been running so fast these past few days I haven't been able to write it up. Here's what I'm liking for tonight, with more to come later on, hopefully...

Glasnost (CD release)/Motel Aviv/The Watermarks (CD release) @ Rudyard's (free CD! w/cover)
Dear Watermarks and Glasnost crew: I suck, suck, suck. I swear that I had planned to review the stuff both of y'all sent in in time for tonight's show, but sadly, it doesn't look like it's going to happen 'til probably right before the damn show, if not tomorrow. Sorry, you guys... On the positive side, I do really dig both releases, Glasnost's Great Divide single and Watermarks' Thoughts Like Bombs free-to-download EP (and hey, you can get your own real-live copy tonight at the show, free 'til they run out); both have a throwback feel to 'em, but I'm enjoying it more than I'd initially guessed I would, which is a damn good thing. "It Only Rains On You," in particular, on the Watermarks' disc, is a fine, fine, fine song.

Mechanical Boy (tour kickoff)/ American Fangs/The Tastydactyls/ Magnolia Sons/ betterLUCK @ Fitzgerald's
I dunno most of the openers, I'm afraid, but every time I see Mechanical Boy, they impress me more & more -- they do do the rockstar thing a little much at times, but fuck, they can pull it off, at least (this is the kickoff show for their tour, btw). And American Fangs? Holy... Talk about your full-on, stage-destroying, fist-pumping rawk; these guys are hands-down one of the best things going in H-town right now. I mean that. Just go.

Sir Richard Bishop And His Freak Of Arraby Ensemble/ Oaxacan/ Doggebi/ Ether @ Notsuoh
There's also the Sir Richard Bishop show, and while I'm not real familiar with his work lately, I do dig the Sun City Girls, of which he's an ex-member. His new "Freak of Araby" stuff sounds very cool (and hey, I like the Louis Prima reference). Plus, there's Doggebi, who do a crazy experimental-flute thing I find myself enjoying in very odd ways...

Au Revoir Simone/Oh No Oh My/The Antlers @ Walter's on Washington
I was initially a little eh on this show, because I'm not all that big on Au Revoir Simone, but after hearing The Antlers' latest, Hospice...wow. Excellent, crystalline-sounding, heartbreakingly slow indie-sad-pop. Get up to Walter's early for them, and then go elsewhere; that's what I'd do, anyway.

Belaire/The McKenzies/ Ceeplus Badknives @ Mango's ($5; 9PM)
Have I mentioned this months how much I love The McKenzies? No? Well, they fucking rule. There.

Runners-Up:
Ryan Scroggins & the Trench Town Texans/Channel One/Trian Woodburns/ Molly and the Ringwalds @ The Continental Club
Hafaza (album release)/Mic Skills/DJ Gonz/ Krackernuttz @ The Mink (10PM; free!)
Patrice Pike/ Skyblue72/ The Handshake @ Warehouse Live

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

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