Tomorrow: Resonant Interval Brings Daniel A.I.U. Higgs, Weird Weeds, JD Emmanuel & More at The Husk

Wow; now, there’s a name from out of the Mists of Time. I remember hearing Lungfish some back at KTRU in the early ’90s, around when Rainbows From Atoms came out, and by even then they were fairly well-established icons in the post-punk scene, playing music that was (to my metal/hip-hop-head ears at the time, at least) bizarrely hypnotic and messy, with awesomely scraping, clawing guitars and frontman Daniel Higgs desperately literate, prophet-on-the-corner lyrics. They were pretty mind-blowing, although to be fair, my shifts on the air generally blew my mind on a fairly regular basis…

Unfortunately, I lost track of the band once I left the station and was forced to subsist on music I actually bought or got for review; hell, until today I didn’t even realize the band apparently didn’t break up ’til 2005 but just kept cranking out new albums every year or two (finishing up with 2005’s Feral Hymns, which is an excellent title for either a band or album). Higgs, it turns out, stayed busy not only with the band but also in a bunch of other projects, most notably his own solo stuff — these days he’s “Daniel A.I.U. Higgs” (the “A.I.U.” stands for “Arcus Incus Ululat”), and he’s playing these oddball, decidedly non-Lungfish-like songs that incorporate the banjo, guitar, piano, & Jew’s harp.

And happily, he’s also playing right here in Houston tomorrow, Friday, February 5th, over at The Husk, which is that empty storefront at 2808 Milam, right next to Khon’s Bar — aim for the Khon’s sign, and you’ll see it just to the left. The Resonant Interval Sound Series gang’s responsible for bringing Higgs to town, shifting from their usual Sunday slot to accomodate his touring schedule; kudos to Lance and the rest of the RISS crew for making this happen, because it sounds like it’ll be damn good.

What’s the music like? Well, I’ve seen stuff like “shamanic” and “similar to that of a tarot experience” thrown around, and no, I’ve really got no clue what that means, but listening to the guy’s music (what I’ve been able to hear is mostly off of 2006’s Ancestral Songs) is mesmerizing and weirdly crooked-sounding, like some hillbilly hermit living somewhere out in the hills, receiving visions of The Divine, and then trying to put it to music with the beaten-down instruments he has on hand. There’s a strange, spiritual undertone to it, that’s for sure. What’s it like live? No idea, but from what I’ve listened to so far, it should be near to jaw-dropping.

Of course, he’s not the only one on the bill — I’m psyched to see that Austin/Houston gang Weird Weeds are also playing, esp. after getting to see them at the Lost In Space fest back in December. I’d had ’em recommended to me before but hadn’t actually heard them, so I was a little skeptical, but by midway through their set, I was fully won over. They’re honestly probably one of the best bands I’ve seen live in the last few years. All expert, laidback-as-hell musicians who know their instruments so well that they can do whatever the hell they want with ’em and still manage to craft songs that are basically pop songs at heart. Seriously: they’re good.

I’m less familiar with the other folks playing, I’m afraid, but that shouldn’t be a deterrent, by any means. Local guitar/contrabass outfit Roomies! open, and I hear they’re good (actually, the description I heard was “dream improv duo”), and there’s also the New York/Netherlands-dwelling Stellar OM Source, aka Christelle Gualdi, who does these hypnotic, eletronic drones & washes and is touring with Higgs.

In-between is JD Emmanuel, a Houston-area electro-trance musician whose early-’80s work has apparently been discovered by folks like Wolf Eyes; to be frank, I’d never heard of the guy before, but that’s mostly because, hey, I’m more of a guitar-bass-drums kind of guy. Emmanuel’s become somewhat of a legend in some circles, though, and this show will be a landmark, since it’ll be his first live performance since 1982. Yes, as in nearly thirty fucking years ago. Wow. Listened to some of what’s up on Emmanuel’s Myspace just now, and it’s pretty intriguing, if a bit dated-sounding to me — the tracks I like best remind me, at least, of the gamelan-heavy soundtrack to Akira, so any of you anime fanboys out there should get the idea.

Get on out to this one, folks — it promising to be an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime lineup. Things kick off at 8PM, and the cover’s a measly $8…