Good News Time: Springfield Riots EP (Cactus, 6/13) + The Phlegmatics CD (6/26) + Black Math Experiment Resurrected

It’s been a hell of a week for good news, I have to say. 2009’s already been a good year for H-town music, but with some recent little bits of news, things are looking upwards even more.

Springfield Riots Release an EP:
Firstly, pseudo-newbie band Springfield Riots is officially releasing their debut EP, Say When, tomorrow, Sat., June 13th, at 4PM over at the ever-awesome Cactus Music. I’ve seen & heard quite a bit of these guys — ex-members of popsters Program, plus current members of Co-Pilot & Spain Colored Orange — lately, both live and in recorded form, and it’s damn impressive.

Now, I know I’m sounding a bit like a broken record, by this point, but I absolutely cannot say enough about good things about this band or their music — warm, fuzzy, expertly done, slightly ’70s-tinged indie-pop that hits all the right marks. They’ve got two of the songs from Say When up on their Myspace, and if anything, they build on the stuff I’ve heard before now, adding to the purplish haze of the addictively poppy concoction they’ve created. Check ’em out now — the show’s free, you get free beer, & you get to hear very cool music, to boot. Can’t beat that…

The Phlegmatics Re-Emerge with a New Full-Length:
Just when I’d started to get worried… About this time last year, I’d gotten word that some of my favorite smart, nerdy, hook-writing, Weezer-loving indie-rockers, The Phlegmatics, were working on the followup to excellent debut album Alumnus, tentatively entitled “Sophomore Effort.” Then…nothing. Not a word, ’til now.

Per the email I got yesterday, those crazy Phlegmatics guys thankfully hadn’t succumbed to the H-town curse and collapsed on themselves, but have indeed been hard at work on the new album, now called Billy the Starfighter Pilot vs. The Phlegmatics, and they’re emerging from hibernation to play a show, lo and behold, on Saturday, June 27th at the Frenetic Theater (5102 Navigation), starting around 8PM. I can’t tell from the email if they’re done with the disc — they just say they’re “preparing to release their second and possibly also critically acclaimed album” — but hell, just getting to see these guys is a rare treat these days. Mark the calendar, y’all.

Black Math Experiment, Alive Again for Phase 2:
Ah, this makes me happy. After years of missing the band by a hair, I finally got to see strange-yet-addictive, over-the-top popsters the Black Math Experiment at last year’s Houston Press Awards Showcase, and they were a blast to witness. Only one problem: by the time of the showcase, they’d already broken up, only reuniting because their devoted fans nominated ’em for an award. After the show — poof! — they vanished back into the ether, another piece of Houston Rock History.

Or not, as it turns out. As divined by the wise souls over at 29-95.com (namely, Sara Cress), the BME are supposedly re-forming right now and preparing to rock Houston yet again. Sweet. No word on when they’ll be playing again, but they’re claiming it’ll be within the year. Good to hear, definitely…