Your Weekend, Etc.: georgia’s Horse. + Nico Vega + Apple Miner Colony + The Business + Scion (+ The Points, Tues.)

Missed today/tonight’s shows, sadly, doing the family thing, which sucks, but fret not, because tomorrow, Sunday, May 23rd, is sounding pretty damn good, as well. Here’s what sounds cool to me:

Apple Miner Colony/georgia’s horse./Maco Terr/Everyone Only @ Super Happy Fun Land
This one’s my absolute top pick, not really because of headliners Apple Miner Colony, although what I’ve heard by the ridiculously huge New Mexican baroque-folk-pop gang is pretty impressive, but because Houston-based murk-folk songstress georgia’s Horse. will be playing here for the first time in a year. Awesome, dark, drifting country-inflected folk that’s equal parts Hem and Nick Cave, pretty and melancholy but dangerous, like a Cormac McCarthy novel. See her now, because you might not get a chance ’til next year.

Gavin Rossdale/Nico Vega @ House of Blues
Yeah, I’m really, really torn on this one. On the one hand, Gavin Rossdale‘s old band (Bush, for anybody who doesn’t remember the ’90s) was once such a benchmark of crappy music for me that I’m having a hard time getting past it — even though nowadays songs like “Glycerine” and “Machinehead” seem like high-concept art-rock when laid beside a lot of the crap that’s currently making it big. Maybe I’m a little on the guy, I’ll admit; and hell, I did like him as Balthazar in Constantine, so y’know…

On the flip side, though, is Nico Vega (which is a band, not a person, btw), whom I do like quite a bit. They’re fairly loud, dramatic alt-rock, to be sure, but there’s a nicely tense, desperate edge to the band’s music, mostly propelled by frontwoman Aja Volkman‘s swooping, menacing vocals. The come off as weirdly futuristic-sounding to me, kind of like Scanners or Denali, although I can’t entirely put my finger on why. Check out “Burn Burn”, off the band’s eponymous full-length, & see for yourself.

The Business/Flatfoot 56/Roots of Exile/Blackmarket Syndicate @ Walter’s on Washington
Do I need to say anything about this? Really? C’mon, it’s The Business — anybody who doesn’t know who these guys are flat-out doesn’t really like punk rock (but probably likes to say they do, all the same). The Oi! pioneers are looking older & balder these days, and it looks like the only original left is Mickey Fitz, but what the hell; I’m just glad the band’s alive once again. Check the resurrected Business out while you can. And plus, I can’t say enough good things about Social D-esque openers Blackmarket Syndicate, who truly play some of the coolest, best-written streetpunk in this city. New album, guys? Please? The old one still says “Deathbed Repentance” on it, so…

5th Annual Scion Expo, featuring Chris Cash, The Legendary K.O., V Zilla, DJ Comp-1, Tat Toe, Squincy Jones, Lower Life Form, V Nice, DJ Gonz, & more @ Northwest Mall (1-10PM; free!)
What’s with these freaking Scion things? It seems like half the time I only hear about ’em after the fact — this one I only heard about thanks to 29-95.com‘s Sara Cress (thanks, Sara!) — and when I do hear about ’em early, the details seem sketchy and secretive. Am I just not the target market or something, or do they really not give a shit about PR? Eh. Either way, this is quite a lineup of mostly-local hip-hop/DJ talent — V Zilla & The Legendary K.O., in particular, are damn good, and I’ve heard good stuff about Lower Life Form. And hey: free!

The Doomsdayers/The Ghost Storys/Mariachis del Infierno/13 Black Coffins @ Jet Lounge ($5)
Dunno a whole lot about these folks, but I happened across 13 Black Coffins a while back and was fairly impressed at their raw, booze-swilling take on the whole hellbilly thing…

Runners-Up:
In Memoriam Fest 3, featuring Before There Was Rosalyn, I Am Ghost, Novista, Skyscrapers Walk Among Us, A Candle Lit City, Antarctica, Scoria, & As Blood Dries @ Javajazz Coffee House (16300 Kuykendahl)
Idiginis/Always Guilty @ Rocbar

Next Week-Ness:
And yep, as hinted at in the title up there, awesome, awesome, awesome DC punks The Points will be at Super Happy Fun Land, playing the coolest, most all-out Ramones-esque shout-along punk since, uh, the Ramones. Thick, fuzzed-out guitars that sound like blocks of solid sound, sneering vocals, and relentless, vaguely similar rhythms — I can’t describe it any better than that, but trust me, it’ll be good…