Yr Weekend: The Factory Party (Reviewed) + Crassmas + Jonbenet (Final Show!) + listenlisten + Nosaprise + More

Got one heck of a weekend coming up, although yours truly will sadly be missing out on all of it — the little guy’s only now beginning to sleep for more than three hours at a time, so that’s taking up a lot of my time, as well as the obligatory Christmas-type par-tays I’ve been invited to (what? hell, it only happens once a year…). This weekend will be me alternately A) dodging the littlest munchkin’s intense stare and B) partaking in holiday revelry, without much music involved beyond whatever band/CD happens to be playing at said par-tays.

That said, just because I’m booked solid doesn’t mean there isn’t anything good to do; on the contrary, there’s a ton. First off, if you happen to be anywhere near a radio around 6PM tonight, make sure you tune in to The Revelry Report on KTRU to catch heavy-ass, improv-but-good rock duo Female Demand as they explode the tight confines of the KTRU recording room. They were kind enough to send in their soon-to-be-out debut EP, and trust me, it’s pretty badass.

Fri., December 18:
The Canvas Presents The Tamales and Live Music Festival 2009, featuring Barefoot The Indian, Room 101, Deux Frupis, The Paperwaits, Nosaprise, The Cadences, The Factory Party, Oncoming Traffic, Dairy Party, Chase Hamblin, Ivan Espinosa’s Band, & The Coalition Band @ Super Happy Fun Land (6PM-2AM)
I’ll be up-front, here — I’ve no freaking idea what The Canvas is. I know there’s some kind of new-ish church/venue with that name, but I don’t think this is them; a magazine, maybe? Eh, whatever the deal, they’ve assembled a nicely diverse cast of local folks to play Super Happy Fun Land tonight, particularly sharp-as-a-razor rapper Nosaprise, New Wave dudes The Factory Party, and retro-’60s popster Chase Hamblin.

By the by, we’ve just now got a review up of The Factory Party’s latest EP, After Death There Is Nothing; all things considered, I do like it, but I had some misgivings I felt I needed to air, which hopefully won’t get me beaten up in a dark alley somewhere. Check it out over here.

Tax the Wolf/Keaton Branch & The Figure Eight/Solanae/The Dellciples @ Dean’s Credit Clothing
I’ve never managed to see most of these folks, sadly, but I did catch Solanae — which includes members of both Golden Cities & Tambersauro — recently and can attest to their excellent goodness, truly. Think Tori Amos fronting Tortoise, and you’ll be about halfway there…

Rooney/Tally Hall/Crash Kings @ The Meridian
Yeah, I’ll admit it — I do like Rooney, at least from what I’ve heard from ’em in the past, and I’ve recently been liking what I’ve heard from attitude-heavy, insanely catchy pop-rock kids Crash Kings, who come off like Jellyfish with a more “rawk” edge…and who, in an odd “Houston connection!” moment, includes a former member of the legendary Guns of August. It’s a small world…

Crassmas, featuring VAARG (mem. of Hearts of Animals), The Wiggins, & Rapeworm @ Sound Exchange (free!)
Okay, I’ll admit to being a little bummed about this one; I’d initially heard that this SoundEx show would be Hearts of Animals, singer Mlee doing her “skewed-yet-pretty indie-pop w/electronics” thing, but it turns out I was misinformed. The headliners of the aptly-titled “Crassmas” will be none other than Mlee’s maybe-joke black metal band, VAARG (named for Norwegian black metal icon, murderer, arsonist, recently paroled jailbird, racist whackjob, and all-round fun guy Varg Vikernes, apparently), who will be bringing to the shindig somewhat, um, harsher sounds than HoA might. Honestly, while I’d heard of VAARG, I’d assumed it was one of those scenester in-joke “hey, wouldn’t it be funny if we…?” bands that never really materialize, but it seems that ain’t the case. Should be a sight to see… (I should note, as well, that I’m heavily intrigued by The Wiggins — odd, yet strangely compelling.)

Paadzzi’s FAN-ttom Christmas Party, featuring Alkari, Electric Attitude, Modulation Hertz, The Lovable James, & Covington @ Paadzzi’s (3535 Bingle Rd.; 9PM)
Nice; not sure how open to the public this actually is, but what the heck, it promises to be a good, good show, particularly headliners/Paadzzi’s owners (I think?) Alkari, a trio of scruffy, cool, unpretentious rock dudes from whom I really hope to hear some new stuff soon. (Please, guys?) Electric Attitude are damn entertaining, too, esp. live — I’m afraid I was a little rough on their most recent EP, Laser Laser Laser Beams, and I’m hoping they’re not plotting to kill/maim me for it, but regardless, the band’s a lot of fun to watch.

Ryan Scroggins & The Trenchtown Texans/Sugarball Express/Sam Navarro & Lone Star Devils/Ryan Scroggins (acoustic) @ Fitzdown
Just found out about this one, which is a shame, ’cause Ryan Scroggins & The Trenchtown Texans deserve all the digital-type love I can give ’em; I’ve still only seem the band live once, and that was from a distance while waiting to get into Summer Fest, but they’re up at the top of my list of local ska/reggae bands, nonetheless. Good shit, y’all.

The Live Lights/The Watermarks/ Caterpillars @ The Backroom (The Mink)
The Watermarks are another one of those bands that I’ve near-criminally ignored or brushed off, unfortunately, partly because I’ve always had a bit of a difficult time getting a grip on what they actually do. Are they a rock band? Synth-pop? The truth, really, is probably somewhere in-between, judging by their most recent thoughts like bombs EP, and in their case, at least, that’s not a bad place to be. I swear, y’all, I will review the damn thing, and soon. Besides all that, I’ve finally succumbed to the good things I’ve heard about The Live Lights, and…um, wow. These guys sound like what every ’80s-influenced pop band should sound like, seriously.

Lick Lick/HUG/Palit @ Rudyard’s
Red Bull 45’s, featuring Cut Chemist, Ceeplus Bad Knives, DJ Sun, The ARE, DJ John Doe, & Brett Koshkin @ Warehouse Live
A Fistful of Soul, featuring Urbane Guerilla Sound System @ The Mink
The Umbrella Man @ Cactus Music (5:30PM; free!)
Blaggards @ Molly Maguire’s
The Boxmasters/The Rounders @ Fitzgerald’s
Ben Lerman (EP release) @ Notsuoh (9PM)
IParty Toy Drive & Charity Show @ Avant Garden

Sat., December 19:
The Jonbenet (final show!)/At All Cost (final show!)/O Pioneers!!!/Fight Pretty @ Walter’s on Washington
Yep, I’ve mentioned this one before, but it bears mentioning again — this weekend marks the final show of local noise-rock/post-hardcore heroes The Jonbenét, which is a sad, sad, sad thing. I get that they need to move on and do other stuff, but damn. At least they’re going out with a bang — this show promises to be pretty insane, especially with O Pioneers!!!, Austinites At All Cost, and Fight Pretty all in tow.

listenlisten/Til We’re Blue or Destroy/The Small Sounds @ The Continental Club
Yes, yes, yes. Were I free to pick my poison this coming Saturday, I’d have a hell of a time deciding, I swear, but this would be near the top of my list, with two of my absolute favorite country-ish bands in town right now, listenlisten and The Small Sounds, joining forces at The Continental Club. If you haven’t heard listenlisten’s epic Hymns From Rhodesia yet, well, you need to rectify that, and quick — see here for the full review from a while back — and The Small Sounds bowl me over every single time I see ’em. They’re both bands that, if they broke up tomorrow, man, it’d ruin my freaking week. (Memo to members of listenlisten and The Small Sounds: whatever you do, do NOT break up. Or I will hunt you down and trap you in an isolated cabin, Misery-style, and force you to keep making amazing music. ‘kay? Glad we got that out of the way.)

Punxmas, featuring Blackmarket Syndicate, Molotov Compromise, Rats in the Attic, The Ghost Storys, Riot Up Front, Exile, Night Siege, Quarantines, Roots of Exile, Days N Days, Deadlines, & Comatose and Half Retarded @ Super Happy Fun Land
The first of the weekend’s full-on punk assaults, at least in my book. Dunno most of these folks, unfortunately, but I’m a huge fan of Blackmarket Syndicate (formerly Deathbed Repentance), whose Social D-esque take on roots-punk is a fine, fine thing to behold.

Daniel Johnston Hoot Nite, featuring Roky Moon & Bolt, Young Mammals, Sad Gorilla, Giant Princess, & Chris Ryan @ DiverseWorks (post-play show)
Big ol’ caveat to this one: I’m really not sure if you needed to have been to the performance of Life Is Happy and Sad in order to catch this star-studded post-play show. But hey, you should probably be going to see the damn thing anyway, right?

Doggebi/DEAL/Lance and the Pants @ The Husk (next to Khon’s Bar; 2808 Milam)
I swear, Lance Higdon doesn’t sleep; how can he, with all the crap he appears to continually have going on, and then teaching Latin to jaded high school kids, besides? I envy the guy his boundless energy, and it’s especially cool given his latest gig drumming for Lance and the Pants, which is him plus Sandy Ewen (of The Weird Weeds), Ryan Edwards, and Doug Falk. Add to that the crazy percussion-and-flute-destruction of headliners Doggebi (aka Michelle Yom and Spike The Percussionist), and then brace yourself for full-on noise experimentation madness.

Memphis Pencils/St. Anthony @ Notsuoh (9PM; free!)
Dunno these Arkansas boys well, but the jaunty, gentle folk Memphis Pencils shows off on their Myspace page ain’t half bad, and St. Anthony (the band, naturally, not the historical figure) head cheerfully off in the Afro-pop direction of bands like Vampire Weekend, which is cool if you, um, happen to like that kind of thing. I was surprised how much I liked it when Peter and the Wolf did it, so y’know…

Benefit for Luther Castillo’s Hospital in Honduras, featuring The Delta Block, Anarchitex (acoustic), Scott Ayers, Permanent Vegetative State, Room 101, & more @ Sedition Books
Anti-Christ Mass XII, featuring Imprecation, Panteon, Abolishment, Scattered Remains, Ninth Kingdom, Diminished, Golgotha, Demoniac Vengeance, & Spectral Manifest @ Numbers
duneTX @ The Big Top
Shithead @ The Husk (next to Khon’s Bar)
Crunkmas, featuring Alex C, Andrei Morant, Badbwoy Bmc, Arnebold, Evan Anthony, Jeremy Keas, Brad Slack, Bukkha Suma, Bjorn Larsen, Bobby Blyss, Bizz, Chris Calix, Chris T., Criminal V., Kue, Mikey G., Danny V., Dr. Remix, Chris Costello, El Nino, Fixture, D:Major, Hoshack, Skeezer, Vortex, Lamborghini Crew, J. Oddio, Henry Chow, James Reed, Kung Fu Pimp, Sasha Braverman, John the 3rd, Sines, Little Martin, MC’s Full Effect, Oz de Funk, Red, Gremlin, Nick Beatdown, Pejaman, Swift, Steve Mok, Tol Tager, SDFone, Suraj K., 0045, Tbdz, & Upgreyed @ The Meridian
Jerry Christmas KPFT 90.1 FM Benefit, featuring Psychodillos, Guy Schwartz and the New Jack Hippies, Sonny Boy Terry & Rich DelGrosso, Country Store Buffalo, Run Over Twice, & Chase Hamblin @ Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar (7PM)
Blaggards @ Molly’s Pub (Conroe)
Wayward Sons/Grizzly/Country Store Buffalo @ Rudyard’s

Sun., December 20:
Shock Treatment, featuring Latch Key Kids, 13 Black Coffins, The Inanimate Objects, The Failed Attempt, & Mohawk Steve @ Rocbar
Have I mentioned lately how damn glad I am to see the Latch Key Kids back on the scene? No? Well, let me rectify that: these guys were one of the best things about H-town’s pop-punk scene back in the day, and while they never got their due, they were still rightly well-loved by those who heard ’em. Now they’re back, older & possibly wiser, and still loud and heavy and melodic as fuck.

Trills The Season Toy Drive, featuring Nosaprise, H.I.S.D., Lower Life Form, Dayta, & Squincy Jones @ Boondocks (9PM; bring toy worth at least $7 to get in)
Nosaprise, yes, twice in one weekend — this time its his show, his annual Trills The Season Toy Drive thing, where to get in you need to bring a toy worth at least $7 to donate to kids in need, and he’s put together a nice crew of stellar local hip-hop folks to help out. I have to ask, though — what the hell kind of a toy does 7 measly dollars buy these days, anyway? A yo-yo? My two cents: $7 is for cheapskate assholes; don’t scrimp, folks, but try buying a toy maybe you’d have liked to play with when you were a kid. That’s how I do it.

Miss Leslie and Her Juke-Jointers/Mark Halata Christmas Polka Party @ The Continental Club
afton: live, featuring Assylim, John Allen Stephens, Joshua Price, NYA, Jennifer O’Brien, Eyes Like Oceans, & Oz Knozz @ The Meridian