Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: The Orbans + Sara Van Buskirk + Art Institute + Jody Seabody & The Whirls + Winter Wallace + More

Behind tonight, I’m afraid — Midget #2’s been sick, so it’s been a rough few days… There’s still some cool stuff going on tonight (Fri., December 3rd), if you hurry-hurry out of the house asap:

The Orbans/Sara Van Buskirk/Winter Wallace/Poor Pilate @ Walter’s
This one snuck up on me somewhat, I’ll admit it; I’ve only today gotten a chance to check out DFW band The Orbans‘ latest, When We Were Wild, and I’m wishing I’d done it sooner. The band plays a cool, laidback, nicely soft-hearted roots-rock, with lots of organ and dusty, windswept guitars, and it all lands somewhere between Clem Snide’s arty, countrified indie sound and Band of Annuals’ delicately melancholy country-folk.

Beyond the out-of-towners, there’s also a pair of darn good folk-y singer/songwriters with {Sara Van Buskirk} and {Winter Wallace}. I enjoyed Wallace’s debut EP quite a bit (and desperately need to dig her full-length out of the to-be-listened-to pile), and the songs I’ve heard of Van Buskirk’s always blow me away, with a new layer of sweet, quirky warmth showing through each time I listen.

Art Institute/Darwin’s Finches/Jody Seabody & The Whirls/Organ Failure @ Fitzgerald’s
Good one tonight up at Fitz, too, with four bands I’ve really been wanting to hear more of. I’ve been shamefully sitting on CDs by both {Art Institute} and {Darwin’s Finches}, but I’ve liked what I’ve heard quite a bit so far, esp. off the Art Institute demo. Plus, every time I listen to {Jody Seabody and the Whirls}, I find myself grinning and thumping my feet along, and {Organ Failure} are impressively quirky…

Little bit of news, btw: apparently the Art Institute boys are recording new stuff this month. Keep an eye out for it…

Runners-Up:
HRA/Krullur/Busy Kids @ Vinyl Junkie
Theophilus London/La Catrin/Fat Tony/Brandon West/DJ Jeff Cashless @ Fitzgerald’s