Yep, we've got a pile of new reviews up online as of late-late-late last night, so I figured I'd better point 'em out, esp. since one of the bands reviewed, Austin's Grady, is playing tonight (Fri., April 3rd) up at The Continental Club. I honestly hadn't heard of these folks 'til this Houston visit, but holy fucking shit are they good. The music's like countrified blues as played by a bunch of metal shredder dudes, the lyrics are all about partying down, getting your woman stolen by the Devil (he decides fairly quickly that he wants to give her back), wrangling cattle, and being cheated on, and, well, it's fucking awesome. Seriously. If I hadn't pretty much blown all my Show-Going Points with the marathon Block Party thing last weekend, I'd be there tonight (although I'm torn between it and the Lisa's Sons show @ Notsuoh and The McKenzies @ The Mink, but that's for another post...).

Weirdest of all, the album's a reissue (see the full review here) of the band's 2005 debut -- according to the band, Jello Biafra caught their set at SXSW last year and went nuts, afterwards insisting to the Grady crew that they were "the missing link between Junior Brown and Black Flag" (which is a pretty apt description) and demanded to be able to re-release Y.U. So Shady? on Alternative Tentacles. Good damn thing, too, because otherwise I never would've heard 'em. Anyway, check 'em out tonight with Two Hoots and a Holler & Molly and the Ringwalds.

On top of that one, sporadic contributor/movie guy Creg L. has a nice writeup up of the latest album by The Boss (Bruce Springsteen, natch), who's also playing here in the near future -- April 8th, to be exact, over at the Toyota Center. I've tried to think up something to say about Springsteen, but honestly, I've got nothing -- the guy needs no recommendations from me (although I would like to say "thanks" to homeboy Marc H. for hooking me up with The Essential Bruce Springsteen a few years back; I knew I'd like a lot of it, but "Rosalita" still blows me away every time). Check out the full review here...

And on the more local front, I've become ridiculously addicted to the too-damn-short self-titled EP by H-town boys Bolt. I've talked about 'em before on here, but in the intervening days I've managed to get the two songs on their CD, "Hot Saturday Night" and "The Man Who Couldn't Save the World," solidly lodged in my skull, to the point where I'd swear I'm humming 'em in my sleep, some nights. Totally straight-up, heavily retro-'70s rock that draws on Bowie, Foghat, Steppenwolf, & T. Rex, all in equal measure. If you haven't caught 'em yet (they & Muhammid Ali seem to be playing every show, lately), they're opening the News on the March/The Eastern Sea 7" release show at Walter's on Washington on April 18th. Read the full review up here, then mark yr calendar, eh?

There's more, obviously, including ex-Cotton Matherites Future Clouds and Radar, Foreverinmotion, & The Mother Truckers, among others -- here's the full list for this time out:

Reviews: Grady; Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band; Bolt; Future Clouds and Radar; The Mother Truckers; Foreverinmotion; Stuck Mojo; & Happy Birthday To Me.

That's it for now -- keep checking back...

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

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