Tonight: Jay Goes Solo (MP3s!) + Human Party Virus 09 Fundraiser

This illness thing has me way, way behind — I’m still pissed that I missed this Tuesday’s reportedly-excellent Loney, Dear/News on the March/Alkari show, not to mention the fact that I totally blanked on awesome post-hardcore guys A Wilhelm Scream coming to the Javajazz. Argh.

But dammit, I am determined — I won’t be in much shape to go to the actual show, but I didn’t want to miss posting about this & letting other, less-ailing folks know… As if you didn’t have enough to do today, tonight (Thursday, February 12th, for the calendar-less) is Woozyhelmet frontman/urban landscape re-envisionist Jay Crossley’s CD release party for his very own solo CD, Tiny Diamonds, over at the hub of Montrose life, aka Rudyard’s.

The show’ll also feature badass nouveau-garage-rockers Giant Princess and Austinite David Israel, about whom I know zero, sorry, other than he’s Crossley’s partner in his Soda Pop Sounds label venture… It’s supposed to kick off at 9PM or so, and the $6 cover gets you in and gets you a copy of the new CD, which is a trend I’m loving with recent CD-release shows, I have to say (although be warned: there’re only 100 copies available at the show). Jay goes on first, followed by David & then those crazy Pasadena boys. Sounds like a badass combination, to me.

Tiny Diamonds, by the way, is pretty damn cool — well worth those $6. Crossley definitely put the award he got from the Anthony Foundation this last year to good use… The music’s a bit different from the full-band sound of Woozyhelmet; Crossley (who’s going by simply “Jay” for this release) sounds more vulnerable and uncertain, occasionally trying to cram a lot of words into a small space in the music, and the sound’s much folkier, more rambling and loose and shaggy ’round the edges. The album deepens the resemblance to Modest Mouse that’s occasionally evident on Woozyhelmet’s albums, but Jay makes things his own quite nicely, achieving a feel with the whole thing of a friendly bunch of folks hanging out and playing music together.

If you want a glimpse of what Diamonds sounds like, check out the tracks below — the first is wonderfully gentle and delicate, a little akin to the Secret Stars, and the second’s more rocking, almost in a Silver Scooter vein:

“All the Things”
“Night Rider (as in horses)”

To top it all off, the show is also a fundraiser for a coalition of like-minded indie folks of which Crossley’s a part, the 1 Day 1 Hour Coalition, which is planning a bunch of day shows during SXSW called Human Party Virus 09. Check the flyer over there for the details on that; I’ll hopefully be posting a bit more soon on all those H-towners working their asses off to set up stuff around SouthBy, so keep an eye out.

‘Til then, though, get on up to Rudz tonight and drink a Jameson’s for my sick self.