Your Weekend, Pt. 3: Young Mammals + Stereo Total + Caddywhompus + More

If you can’t make it over to Rice to catch the previously-noted KTRU Outdoor Show — since, y’know, folks do have stuff they have to do during the day, generally — you’re happily not out of luck. Plenty, plenty more going on this evening, so I figured to do a quick rundown of all of it.

Young Mammals/ Muhammid Ali/THEART/ Giant Princess @ Mango’s
The big draw of the evening, to my mind; Young Mammals are one of the top five or so most absolutely exciting bands to see live in this town, seriously — the first time I caught ’em, I went into it a skeptic and was utterly blown away. They practically give off sparks, I swear. Plus, bluesy/garage-y rockers Giant Princess are pretty raw & great, and newcomers Muhammid Ali do some cool, noisy, ’90s-esque indie-rock that owes equal amounts to Sebadoh & Black Flag.

Stereo Total/Leslie & the Ly’s/Together. We are Instruments @ Walter’s on Washington
I’m not real familiar with Stereo Total, I’m afraid, but what I have is quirky, unique stuff, like a car-crash collision between Weill-esque cabaret, New Wave pop, and trashy Euro-disco. Entertaining, at the very least. Plus, I’ve heard good stuff about electronicists Together. We are Instruments, so y’know.

Ab Baars Trio with Ken Vandermark @ Talento Bilingue de Houston
Yep, already talked up this one; check out Michelle’s writeup here…

Morrissey/The Courteeners @ Jones Hall
And yes, I realize some will consider me a heathen for not frothing about Morrissey, but honestly, while I get the guy’s influence, I’ve never understood the fascination. The Courteeners are pretty good, though.

Gin Slingers/Flash Boys/The Born Liars @ Notsuoh
No clue on the headliners, no, but the Born Liars are well worth watching — raw, bitter, old-school garage-rock with a punk edge & some fine, fine lyricism going on beneath the roaring guitars.

Searching For Signal/The Handshake/ Summerside Project/ Caddywhompus/ Gamma Ringo @ Super Happy Fun Land
Caught Searching For Signal totally by accident at the Westheimer Block Party and was pleasantly surprised as their sweet, gentle-voiced indie-pop; they’ve got a lot of promise, definitely. Caddywhompus, too, are freaking great — Chris & Sean from the Riff Tiffs eschewing the more drifting psychedelic stuff in favor of harder-edged, poppier/noisier rock. I’ve probably raved about it before, but “Absinthesizer” has a guitar crunch that’s so goddamn cool it makes me want to start a band (again).

Runners-Up:
The Strange Boys/The Wols/The Wiggins (cassette release!) @ 3910 Driscoll (BYOB)
The Caprolites/Leslie’s Dead Friend/Rapeworm @ Sedition Books (901 Richmond; 8PM, free)
Monster Metal Showcase, featuring Necrofaith, Brotherhood, Daylight Coma, Ethreal, Metavenge, Rotting Devastation, Bagheera, & Blood Rooted @ The Meridian