Tonight: Miike Snow (Reviewed!) + Matthew Good + Bright Men of Learning + BRMC + More

More going on, so much that it’s overflowing out my head, I swear. I really should be doing productive things like, say, putting up shelving or running errands, but I don’t want to leave anybody high & dry tonight (figuratively, at least). Here’s what I think looks/sounds good:

Miike Snow/Delorian @ Wired Live (formerly The Meridian)
I’ve only recently become a fan of Swedish-American electro-pop trio Miike Snow, I’m afraid, but now I’m trying to make up for lost time. I’d taken a quick listen to bits of their 2009 debut and pretty much dismissed it, and now that I’ve finally delved into Miike Snow as a whole, holy crap, was I wrong. The disc is honestly one of the coolest things I’ve heard lately, and that’s really saying something, given the pile on my desk. It’s funky like Prince, soulful and deep like Peter Gabriel, and lighthearted like Peter Bjorn & John, all of which means that it’s really, really good. Really. Check out my full writeup over here.

Matthew Good @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
Weirdly, there was a period in my life (as in, “that period when the show was on the air”) when I heard and liked a really ridiculous amount of music I’d never heard before by way of the TV show Alias. Each episode featured a handful of songs pretty prominently, and whoever they had selecting songs had a good, crazily varied ear — I first heard Cat Stevens’ “Trouble” via Alias, as well as Boomkat, eastmountainsouth, Ryan Adams’ “La Cienega Just Smiled,” Kinky, and Lizzie West’s version of “Prayer.” Plus, the show won big points for me for including a Jimmy Eat World song in an episode of Season 2 and a Mazzy Star track in Season 4.

And, in the midst of it all, I heard Matthew Good for the first time — the song “Weapon” was in one of the early episodes, and it utterly knocked me down. The song is/was melancholy and sinister, delicately-plucked guitars and heartfelt, quavering vocals flying over layers of murky, dangerous-sounding strings and keys…and then it explodes into a fiery warning of a rocker that wouldn’t have been out of place on an early Radiohead album.

I’ve heard other stuff by the guy since, and it’s all been similarly impressive, although I dunno what he’s been doing lately, and the Mucky Duck seems like an odd choice of venue for what I’ve heard of him, at least. The man’s an excellent songwriter, however, and a thoughtful, literate, politically outspoken guy besides; well worth checking out, whatever the music currently sounds like.

Miles Kurowsky (mem. of Beulah)/Pancho-san/Bright Men of Learning @ Rudyard’s
Love, love, love those Bright Men of Learning guys, and it seems like every time they do something new, it gets better & better. I’m honestly not used to that happening with bands from here — traditionally, when a band like these guys sticks around as long as they have, they end sorta half-assing it on into the twilight, but not BMOL. Their Champion Sound EP from last September sounded better than anything I’d heard from ’em to that point.

Not all that familiar with Miles Kurowsky, although I’ve heard bits of his “main” band Beulah (I dunno Pancho-san, at all, sorry); what I have heard, though, is intriguingly psychedelic pop, kind of like the whole Elephant 6 crew and bearing a bit of a resemblance to local boy Chase Hamblin, to boot.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club/Band of Skulls @ House of Blues
Haven’t heard anything off Black Rebel Motorcycle Club‘s newest, Beat the Devil’s Tattoo, but in the past I’ve dug their overdriven, retro-tinged psych-rock quite a bit — Take Them On, On Your Own burned white-hot, at least for me, although I’ve heard from diehard fans that it’s their least-good album. I can only imagine their live shows are pretty awe-inspiring.

A Hero A Fake/Farewell To Freeway/Before There Was Rosalyn @ Walter’s on Washington
I can’t claim to be big on the whole Christian-metal/-hardcore thing, but I can’t deny the badassness of Before There Was Rosalyn, a bunch of H-town boys who’ve now got their debut, The Führer, out on indie metal/hardcore stalwart label Victory Records. It may not strictly be my thing, but it still sounds pretty awesome.

Runners-Up:
SXSW Overflow Fest, featuring Utopia Park, Bucket Flush, Ayurveda, The Slants, Crown Point, & Br’er @ Super Happy Fun Land
StillFresh67 Party, featuring BBC & Tha’ Basix Bros @ The Mink (downstairs)
80’s Reunion III, featuring Bruce Godwin, Robot, & Wes Wallace @ Numbers
Karina Nistal/de Sangre/Mr. Blacc Sheep/Dubtex DJs @ The Continental Club
Kamikazecon, featuring The Slants & more @ JW Marriott Hotel Houston (5150 Westheimer)
Los Desconocidos/The Failed Attempt/Always Guilty/Critical Damage @ The Hot Dog Shop (6405 Brittmoore; 8PM, $5)
Los Skarnales/I-45/Brent Amaker and the Rodeo/Noah Engh @ Fitzgerald’s
Ryan Scroggins @ Mango’s
Boot Camp Clik/DJ Good Grief/DJ Oakcliff/Jus Coz/Harkore @ The Mink
I-45/Irieside/Reason To Rebel/Vocal Polluter @ Fitzdown
Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm @ Crabby Daddy (The Woodlands)
Sevendust/Digital Summer/The Flood/Melovine @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)
Snit’s Dog and Pony Show @ Cypress Saloon (Cypress)