The Linus Pauling Quartet is dead; sad, I know, but it’s the truth, and I’ve been meaning to post about it for a long while now, since I got the bad news in July of last year. It’s definitely signified the end of an era in terms of the H-town music scene, at least for me — the LP4 had been fixtures here since 1993, practically the entire time I’ve even been aware of Houston music…
Written on June 2, 2018 | Posted in
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Alright, back with Part 3 of this rundown thing for Madness on Main Street 2016, which may well be the last, since this thing starts in less than 24 hours — see Part 1 and Part 2, over here…
Written on May 7, 2016 | Posted in
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Not too far back, low-key Mexican restaurant/venue Mango’s shuffled up their booking people, and ever since, they’ve been throwing some excellent, excellent shows on the pile. Most lately seem to have been mostly in the punk/noise realm — which is a bit of a shift for Mango’s, I have to say — but tonight, Wednesday, February 19th, is a damn cool show that falls in a different bucket entirely…
Written on February 19, 2014 | Posted in
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Yep, we’re well into Saturday, January 5th, now, and weirdly, things seem a little quiet on the show front (unless, of course, I’m just plain missing a bunch of shows or something, which is a possibility). But hey, what’s on is largely pretty damn good, so don’t miss out. Here we go…
Written on January 5, 2013 | Posted in
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We’ve gotten word recently about several musical-type things people are currently giving away for free to anyone who wants ’em, so I figured we’d run ’em down real quickly in this spot. Here goes…
Written on December 22, 2012 | Posted in
Posts
For some bands, the only real goal they have in mind, ultimately, is the music equivalent of The Big Score. They want the mythical perfect record deal, where somebody’ll just throw money at them to make music, and they never have to worry about working again…
Written on December 15, 2012 | Posted in
Features,
Interviews
These days, anybody can put out an album. All it takes is a couple of instruments, a mic, and a computer, and poof: instant bedroom-studio rock that you can dump out onto the Web for all to hear and comment on (and okay, maybe even buy). After a while, though, that whole “album” thing, it gets boring, played out. When that happens, well, what the hell do you do next?…
Written on December 13, 2012 | Posted in
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It’s early, I know, but we just got some good, good news from those crazy guys in the {Linus Pauling Quartet} and wanted to share and offers congratulations to ’em…
Written on October 25, 2012 | Posted in
Posts
Got good news on a couple of fronts recently and wanted to share & virtually high-five the bands on the receiving end. This one’s a little more time-sensitive, since it’s happening, um, tomorrow, Sunday, September 9th. See, that’s when Slash, legendary guitar-god…
Written on September 8, 2012 | Posted in
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Holy shit. That is one hell of a jam-packed evening, y’all; tonight (Friday, August 24th) is literally over-freaking-flowing with great, great shows, so many that I’m going to have to leave a few out, I’m afraid. Here we go…
Written on August 24, 2012 | Posted in
Posts
A month or two back, avid readers might recall that we mentioned that expat Houstonian and psych-rock hero Tom Carter had been hospitalized in Berlin for pneumonia and had to be put into a medical coma to recover…
Written on August 24, 2012 | Posted in
Posts
Yes, folks, I’m happy to say that I’ve now got some actual good news to even out a lot of the bad we’ve been getting lately, with people dying and bands breaking up and shows being cancelled and whatnot. Namely, total fukkin badasses the {Linus Pauling Quartet} have finally released the much-ballyhooed official video…
Written on August 3, 2012 | Posted in
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Aaaargh. How does this happen? I always, always plan to get this shit posted earlier, and yet, without fail, things conspire to stop that from happening. sigh. Sorry about the slowness, y’all, but there’s still some really great stuff going on tonight, Friday, June 22nd. Here goes…
Written on June 22, 2012 | Posted in
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Leave it to the Linus Pauling Quartet to come up with something like this, seriously: a monolithic, fuzz-drenched, utterly badass chunk of headbanging stoner-psych-rock all about Cimmerian gods, post-Apocalyptic wastelands, playing D&D, and (of course) somebody else smoking all your pot. If you think I’m kidding, well, you’ve probably never heard the LP4 before…
Written on June 22, 2012 | Posted in
Features,
Reviews
Whoa. Tonight, Saturday, May 26th, is a full, full night of cool stuff, so much so that I’m having a hard time picking a favorite show. Damn. Here’s what I’m liking…
Written on May 26, 2012 | Posted in
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On to Saturday, May 12th, and if anything, it looks like there’s more going on today than there was yesterday. Before I get to that, though, I wanted to mention a couple of things. First, in case you didn’t see the very nice {Rocks Off} post about it…
Written on May 12, 2012 | Posted in
Posts
Moving on to Saturday, April 21st, and there’s still plenty going on; got a crapload of stuff I need to get done this afternoon, so I’ll get right to it…
Written on April 21, 2012 | Posted in
Posts
Late, I know, but I couldn’t pass these by… Tonight’s Sunday, February 19th, right before Ye Olde Day of Presidents, and while there’s not that much going on, there’re two lights shining bright out there this evening…
Written on February 19, 2012 | Posted in
Posts
It feels like a slow-moving day to me, for some reason, but today (Saturday, January 21st, that is) is really anything but. There’s a crapload of stuff going on; here’s what I think sounds cool…
Written on January 21, 2012 | Posted in
Posts
Alrighty, y’all, it’s now Saturday, December 3rd, and it’s time to hold on to your shit, because today/tonight is where it gets a little bit crazy. Before I get to that, though, I wanted to mention a few changes/odd things…
Written on December 3, 2011 | Posted in
Posts
Hail, mortals! We at SCR are pleased to hear that long-running/utterly badass stoner-rock dudes the {Linus Pauling Quartet} have returned, at long last, from what they say is a two-year hiatus/tour in the wilds of Hell…
Written on December 2, 2011 | Posted in
Posts
Damn. First off, yes, I do realize it’s been two freaking weeks since the end of this year’s Free Press Summerfest, and a week-and-a-half since the first installment…
Written on June 20, 2011 | Posted in
Features,
Live Reviews
Yep, yep, yep — it’s a Friday (May 6th, to be precise), and here we are again, with a full slate of shows staring us (er, me) right in the face all damn weekend. I’ll try to hit some highlights, or at least what seem to me like highlights…
Written on May 6, 2011 | Posted in
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I’ve always felt that grieving the dead by being all somber and quiet and melancholy is generally a bad thing; you shouldn’t celebrate the dead by acting like you’re dead, but rather by celebrating life and survival and all the other good things that continue on…
Written on May 3, 2011 | Posted in
Posts
Holy freaking crap, y’all. I’d thought last night was busy, but today (Saturday, April 30th) has turned out to be downright insane. There’s so much going on today & tonight that I’m not entirely sure where to start; I definitely can’t talk about all of it, I’m afraid…
Written on April 30, 2011 | Posted in
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Day 2 of a busy-as-hell weekend… Today (Saturday, December 18th) is a pretty massive one, particularly on the local front — and believe me when I say that that’s nothing to sneeze at. Anybody who thinks nothing worth listening to…
Written on December 18, 2010 | Posted in
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Lots of good/big shows coming up, and I wanted to get a little bit of a jump on ’em, at least, and mention one that’s pretty near & dear to my heart. If you’ve read this blog much, you probably know how big a fan yours truly is of the Girls Rock Camp Houston deal…
Written on December 9, 2010 | Posted in
Posts
A very cool new-ish local label, run (I think) by the Digital Warehaus guys, and one that’s got pretty wide-ranging (and excellent) tastes in music…
Written on November 29, 2010 | Posted in
Labels
You may’ve heard already, but just in case, be warned/psyched/aware that awesome psych/stoner-rocker dudes the {Linus Pauling Quartet} will be imploding the confines of the {KTRU} studios tonight as part of the ever-entertaining Local Show…
Written on November 9, 2010 | Posted in
Posts
Another busy night in H-town tonight (Sat., October 23rd, specifically), but unfortunately, I’m not there — off visiting the fam, so apologies for this being a bit late-notice. There’s some really good stuff that’s literally about to start, so get on out of the house…
Written on October 23, 2010 | Posted in
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First things first: no, this isn’t the next “real” Linus Pauling Quartet full-length. Per the LP4 guys, that’ll be the Bag of Hammers double-LP(!), which’ll be out sometime next year. So, what the hell is Horns of Ammon, then? Well, it’s a mixed pile of odds ‘n ends…
Written on October 23, 2010 | Posted in
Features,
Reviews
Time for the second installment of the weekend’s cool shows, and tonight’s actually more jam-packed, if anything, than last night. Let’s just cut to the chase, eh? Here’s what sounds good to yours truly: ST-37/Linus Pauling Quartet (split-7″ release)/Golden Cities @ Rudyard’s
Written on May 29, 2010 | Posted in
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Hard though it might be to imagine, the new split-7″ release by Houston stoner-sludge-rock dudes the Linus Pauling Quartet and Austinite psych-rock heroes ST37 kind of took me by surprise, in good ways and bad. First off, the Quartet’s track, “Monster,” eschews the band’s trademark thundering guitar attack…
Written on May 27, 2010 | Posted in
Features,
Reviews
Long time coming, this one. Six freakin’ albums in, and I’ve finally been sucked in by the LP4’s heavy-ass, sludgy brand of psych-rock. Their latest, All Things Are Light, is what really hammered it home for me, honestly — it’s got fuzz thick enough to slice and spread on toast…
Written on January 7, 2008 | Posted in
Bands
Okay, so this is going to be a little weird. I’m sitting here reviewing three CDs that you’re not real likely to ever be able to hear or find, in spite of how good they are, because, well, they were released in super-limited-edition sets of 13 (I think?) and only sold for a week apiece…
Written on December 20, 2007 | Posted in
Reviews
Damn. I’ll admit it: I may’ve been a bit hard on the Linus Pauling crew over the years. I’ve always liked the guys, definitely, they’ve always seemed nice and friendly and all that, and they’ve been supportive of the Houston scene since before I even came here…
Written on November 9, 2007 | Posted in
Reviews
Update time, update time… This time out, we’ve got 2 things in particular that I’m very excited about. The first is a review (by yours truly) of the brand-new Linus Pauling Quartet CD, All Things Are Light. And while you should really go read the review for yourself, I can give you the upshot here: […]
Written on November 9, 2007 | Posted in
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