Tonight: Co-pilot + Dead To Me + Silversun Pickups + Candy Claws + Hong Kong Blood Opera + More

Okay, so maybe tonight (Thursday, March 18th) can’t quite measure up to St. Pat’s in terms of “holy crap, there’s that much going on?”-ness, but there’s still a lot to see, hear, & do this evening, trust me. Here’s what looks good to me:

Caspian/Arms and Sleepers/Co-Pilot @ The Mink
Haven’t had a chance to hear Caspian or Arms and Sleepers, I’m afraid, but I’ll thumbs-up this show nonetheless because it includes one of my favorite spacerock bands alive (in any city), Co-pilot, in what’s turned out to be a relatively rare live appearance lately. They’ve been hard at work, apparently, on a followup to their epic EP, and going by the tracks on the Myspace, it’s going to be pretty freaking incredible. Atmospheric-yet-heavy guitars + surging, tidal-sounding rhythms + waves of skyward-aiming melody == good shit.

Smoke or Fire/Dead To Me/Cobra Skulls/American Heist @ 2606 Whitney (7PM; $7)
Gotta love a house show, particularly one packed full of loud, raw punk bands… I really, really dig Dead To Me‘s old-school, melodic, yell-along, reggae-tinged East Bay sound, particularly on 2006’s Cuban Ballerina (but Little Brother ain’t bad, either), and New Jersey-bred headliners Smoke or Fire are pretty damn good in their own right, seemingly aiming more for the post-emo thing these days (at least vocally).

Then there’s the protest-folk-sounding Cobra Skulls, who bring to mind American Steel & Against Me!, and H-town’s own American Heist, who I last heard back when they were pretty much just Tim Blackout and a guitar and called Born Anchor; while I did like the rougher, more acoustic songs back then, it’s nice to hear the bleak, life-gone-wrong story-songs fleshed out with Social D-style guitars, too.

(I think this was originally going to be two separate shows, actually — I saw a bill listed a while back at Walter’s that had Cobra Skulls playing with Off With Their Heads, but now that’s gone, and Cobra Skulls are on this show, instead.)

Muse/Silversun Pickups @ Toyota Center
I’m guessing this is probably sold out, and odds are that if you want to see this show, you’ve already got a ticket (and are maybe even currently standing in line), but what the hell: Silversun Pickups are one of my absolute favorite bands in the whole damn universe, these days, even though I’ll admit that last year’s Swoon was but a pale imitation of 2006’s Carnavas. It’s hard to beat “Well Thought Out Twinkles” or “Little Lover’s So Polite” in terms of knockout-punch guitar roar. I swear, this band is what the Smashing Pumpkins could have been like, had Billy Corgan not been such an egomaniacal wannabe artiste. (And yes, I like some of what I’ve heard by Muse, too, esp. “Apocalypse Please”…)

SXSW Overflow Fest, featuring Michael Miller, Candy Claws, The Felix Culpa, The Constellation Branch, Dangerous Ponies, Jared Mees & The Grown Children, Finn Riggins, Boy Eats Drum Machine, Suns, & Revolt Revolt @ Super Happy Fun Land
Once again, yes, more SXSW Overflow-ation. Full writeup on the bands playing tonight (well, the ones I’m impressed with, anyway) on over here, but I have to say right now that Candy Claws and Boy Eats Drum Machine pretty much made my day today.

Vicente Gayo/The Hong Kong Blood Opera @ Aztecas
No clue on Vicente Gayo, but I’ve been enjoying the hell out of Mexico City’s The Hong Kong Blood Opera, who tread ground halfway between Blood Brothers’ electro-tinged spazzouts and Atari Teenage Riot breakbeat assault, with some sharp-edged guitars thrown in for good measure. And yes, they’re playing Azteca’s, the Mexican restaurant/bar at Richmond & Greenbriar. I predict damage to the premises…

Runners-Up:
Weedeater/ Black Cobra/ASG/Black Tusk/Gates of Slumber/U.S. Christmas @ Wired Live (formerly The Meridian; The Channel)
Rodeo Houston, featuring Black Eyed Peas @ Reliant Stadium
Foxy Shazam @ House of Blues
Will.i.am (DJ set)/DJ Riddler/DJ Johnny J @ Rich’s
Bo Peep/Shit City High/Room 101 @ Wired Live (formerly The Meridian)
Raise It Up, featuring Squincy Jones, Dayta, & King Elroy Boogie @ Boondocks
Mike Stinson @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck