Update/Show: So Many Dynamos + Baby Showers + Cast Spells, Tonight

Damn…feels like I’m doing this more & more lately…sigh. Just got a bunch of new reviews up on the site, including (most crucially for the moment) a writeup of the new one by palindromic Illinoians So Many Dynamos, The Loud Wars. My knee-jerk initial reaction was, “okay, so they sound like The Dismemberment Plan; I guess that’s cool” — I nearly dismissed ’em then as just another band aping the late-’90s DC scene (there’s some Jawbox in there, too), but I’m glad I stuck with it.

While I can’t get away from the D-Plan resemblance, the Dynamos’ palette’s broader than that, sucking in The Rapture’s post-funk, The Anniversary’s Midwestern dystopia-rock, and coming out the other end sounding more like across-the-pond-ers Bloc Party more than anything else. It’s good, smart, sharp stuff; check the full review here.

And hey, they’re playing tonight, rocking the hell out of (and undoubtedly roasting to death in) Mango’s, with Cast Spells and Baby Showers as openers. Dunno the band order, but things’re supposed to kick off at 9PM. If it ain’t free, it’s cheap, trust me.

Oh, and I dunno a thing about Cast Spells, I’m afraid, but Baby Showers are hometown boys, and the latest H-town supergroup to come down the pike — the band features Jay from Woozyhelmet on guitars, Joe Mathlete on bass, and Jaime from Giant Princess on drums, the combination of which should rightly make your fucking head explode. They’re just getting started — Woozyhelmet was originally slated to play, although they’d apparently never really confirmed — but knowing these guys’ musical pedigree, there’s a lot to be hopeful about. What I’ve heard so far is raw, jangly pop-rock with Jay’s trademark yelp, and that’s never a bad thing…