Yr Weekend, Pt. 1: Scott H. Biram (MP3s!) + wood & felt + My Milky Way Arms (MP3!) + The Tyburn Jig + More

Yep, it’s that time — weekend roundup time, and plenty going on. (And yeah, it’s at least mostly good; those Blood On The Dancefloor kids are just way, way, way too young for me…) Here goes the first bunch:

Scott H. Biram/The Wayward Sons/DeadEnd Cowboys @ Rudyard’s
Oooh. This is gonna be a good one — Scott H. Biram does that awesome mashup of country-boy rootsiness with full-on rawk that I’m coming to love more and more, and he does it supremely well (double bill with him & Grady, anybody? please?). It’s raw and hard-drinking and melancholy, all when it needs to be. Here’re a couple of tracks:

Scott H. Biram – “Judgement Day”
Scott H. Biram – “Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue”

It’s stuff like this that’s making me take a hard second look at country music in general, and that’s no mean feat.

wood & felt/My Milky Way Arms/Casinos/Sils/Chairs @ Super Happy Fun Land
Nice, nice, nice. wood & felt (who I think used to call this place home) play here far, far too infrequently these days, seems like, and that’s a shame, because their (his?) little drifting, head-nodding electronic symphonies always make me think fondly of stuff like Tangerine Dream, Spiritualized, & Ulrich Schnauss — all in a good way, btw.

And yes, I know SCR and My Milky Way Arms have had our — ahem — differences, but I still have a soft spot for those former Houstonians’ (also now dwelling in A-town) brand of swirling, spacey/loopy electro-pop, and their new stuff sounds pretty good — check this one out:

My Milky Way Arms – “Fillenium Malcon”

There’s supposedly some kind of a Star Wars connection, but beyond the title, I ain’t getting it, sorry…

Giant Battle Monster (CD release)/Fucking Thief/Female Demand/Tax the Wolf @ Mango’s ($7)
Another cool one, this time with an all-Houston cast. It’s Giant Battle Monster‘s CD release, obviously, so they’re the stars of the show, and I’ve heard very good things about ’em, but I’ve heard similar about Fucking Thief and Tax the Wolf, too, and the one time so far I got to see Female Demand, my jaw hit the floor, I swear. Busy, jazzy but not pretentious, bass/drums nü-prog, and I mean that in the best possible way.

The Tyburn Jig @ Walter’s on Washington
Awesome…I was afraid The Tyburn Jig were dead & buried, but now they’ve resurfaced and started playing shows again, which is very cool. Anybody remember Death Valley, the Austin spaghetti-Western/surf-rock band from the ’90s? Well, these guys take that whole murky/spooky, A Fistful of Dollars feel, grab onto the rockabilly/surf guitars, and throw in a heavy dose of Nick Cave on top of it. They’re pretty great, truly.

Ember/Forever Falls/Fake Believe @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)
Dunno the headliners, sorry, but I caught Fake Believe recently and was fairly impressed — solid, solid pop-rock, definitely, and well worth a listen.

Woodstock 40th Anniversary Celebration, featuring Rory Jagdeo, The Psychodillos, Johnny Smith, Tom Loud, Dr. Rick & the Burners, TATE, Kozmik Steel, Lisa E. Harris, New Jack Hippies, El Gato Negrito, Revolving Minds, Moonshine Summit, Jimmy Lee Dean, Sils, Hilary Sloan, Fahl & Folk, Bateman Red, 2 Dollar Sound, & Kid Red @ Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar
Not sure what the schedule is for this, since it runs from Friday, Sept. 4th through Sat., Sept. 5th, but eh, just show up & you’re bound to catch some great local folk/rock/jam-band stuff.

Runners-Up:
Flametrick Subs/Sean Reefer and the Resin Valley Boys @ The Continental Club
Project H/Irene @ Fitzgerald’s
Ian Moore @ Listening Room (NiaMoves; 508 Pecore)

More soon…