Yr. Weekend, Pt. 3: The Sword + Agnostic Front + Mouse Fire + Resonant Interval + More

Another piecemealing of the “Yr. Weekend” thing, I know — I swear, one of these days I’ll have it together enough to be able to run over all of it at once, like back in Ye Good Olde Days, but lately it’s been hard to find that big a chunk of time all at once, y’know? Anyway, tonight’s surprisingly good for a freaking Sunday (January 24th, to be specific). Here’s what’s on that I happen to think sounds cool:

The Sword/ Woodgrain @ Warehouse Live
Damn, I love The Sword; I really, truly do. They’re the band I used to dream about, back in my D&D-playing days, when I’d scour the local record store for The Most Perfectest Soundtrack EVER to our afternoon RPG sessions — cool fantasy-epic imagery, good, raw-edged vocals, and (best of all) guitars and drums heavy and ballsy enough to punch any snickering D&D dilettantes in the neck. Beats the hell out of Savatage’s Hall of the Mountain King, that’s for sure (although yeah, I did dig the hell out of that at the time). While I do dig Agnostic Front (see below), I’m afraid these guys win out — they blew me away at last year’s Summerfest, making me want to headbang for the first time since, well, my freshman year of college, pretty much. If only I still had the long hair to really pull it off…

Agnostic Front/Death By Stereo/Killer Ape/U.Y.U.S. @ Walter’s
Creg already posted a bit about this one, I know, but it’s a badass enough show that it deserves a second mention, if a brief one: fucking Agnostic Front, the real-live NYcore legends, playing all of their ’84 debut, Victim in Pain, for the first time since, hell, probably the ’80s. Admittedly, Victim in Pain‘s only like 20 minutes long, so hopefully the band’ll play other stuff, too, but either way, this promises to be a landmark show.

Flashbulb Fires/Mouse Fire/Jennifer Kay @ Super Happy Fun Land
An out-of-the-blue show to me, honestly, with three non-Houston bands I’d never heard ’til now, but it looks to be damn cool. I’m most impressed by Floridians Mouse Fire (and no, not just for their name), who do a quirky, smart type of indie-pop that’s part Jellyfish, part Ben Folds Five, and part Talking Heads and beats dull, wispy bands like Vampire Weekend with a baseball bat. Check out “This Is How I Throw My Slider” and “To Celebrate A Suicide”, from the band’s 2007 release (new one out soon, apparently) for proof.

Flashbulb Fires are darn good, too — indie-pop, again, but in more of an Elliott Smith-fronts-The Arcade Fire (while Coldplay dances in the background) kind of way. I’m actually kicking myself (mentally, of course) for not checking out both these bands before today, and that doesn’t happen all that often for me. Check out the show, esp. if you’re not into metal, hardcore, or, er,strangeness (see below).

Resonant Interval Sound Series, featuring Daniel Zajicek, Andrew Zukoski, & Hsin-Jung Tsai & Chairs @ The Husk (2808 Milam; 7:45PM, $5)
Yep, another Resonant Interval show, which pretty much guarantees it’ll be interesting, at the very least, if a bit, um, odd. The “headliners” for this one are a trio of separate artists/musicians, who’re collaborating for a single multimedia performance — Hsin-Jung Tsai plays electric piano, Daniel Zajicek uses a laptop (I’m assuming) to manipulate the sounds, and then Andrew Zukoski provides “visual data processed in real time.” Which I’m guessing means some kind of light/picture show in time with the music, but which could mean about a bazillion other things. Plus, local experimental/jazz fixture Charlie Naked will be playing in “cosmic jazz” opening outfit Chairs, which also sounds pretty intriguing.

Runners-Up:
Anvil/SID 17 @ House of Blues
Scary Kids Scaring Kids (farewell tour)/Dance Gavin Dance/Modsun @ The Meridian