A Little H-Town Music News Madness

I’ve been way, way behind on the local music news-type stuff, unfortunately. I have a stupid tendency to just kind of “collect” news I get for long periods of time, waiting ’til there’s enough (in my OCD brain, that is) to post about…by which time most of it’s, um, no longer news.

Of course, most of the time it doesn’t seem that pressing a thing, especially with Bru over at {Rocks Off} and {H-Town Rock} doing it a lot better than I’m generally able to. Check out his latest Magnolia City Mixtape deal & be copiously updated on the goings-on ’round our little scene here.

But hey, there’s been some interesting news coming through the Inbox, so I figured I’d mention some of it here. First, though, something I’m totally psyched about, courtesy of the very, very cool news from the good people over at {29-95.com} (more specifically, from Joe Mathlete), who broke the news yesterday that iconic local mathcore(?) band {By the End of Tonight} is planning a reunion show.

It’ll be on March 5th at Fitzgerald’s, and the main reason’s to try to raise some money for ex-BTEOT members Brett Taylor & James Templeton‘s respective bands ({LIMB} & {sIngs}), who recently had their tour van swiped a few weeks back. So it’s not a permanent deal, sadly, but hey, it’s better than nothing, right?

Here’s the rest of what we’ve heard about lately (apologies if some of it’s not the newest of news)…

• PARIS FALLS HEAD NORTHWARDS: Okay, so it’s not all of them — drummer Mike Deleon‘s reportedly still hanging out down here, but Jennifer & Ray Brown, the multi-instrumental duo of retro-rock trio {Paris Falls}, have indeed moved up north-ish, to the almost-Austin environs of Taylor, TX. They’re apparently living up near the HQ of SST Records & have seen Greg Ginn roaming around, which, since I hadn’t kept up on SST much at all, was kind of surprising news to me all by itself.At any rate, they’re planning on coming back down for shows, it sounds like; they’ve got an in-store at Cactus on March 26th, so mark that on the calendar. Even still, I’m bummed they won’t be calling Greater H-Town home anymore — I always liked picturing the three of ’em way out in Rosharon, banging out those fuzzy-edged songs in a cabin or something with nobody around for miles to complain about the noise. Ah, well; gotta do what you gotta do.
• FISKADORO STARTS A LABEL & LOSES A BAND MEMBER: Got word a while back that Travis Kerschen was no longer part of the quasi-funky, Gang of Four-y tribal-rock outfit {Fiskadoro}; everybody’s still friends, don’t fret, and Kerschen’s even doing (done?) a video for the band’s song “Johnson Space Center” (off the See Jungle EP), but for the moment the Fiskadorians are a duo. (The last I heard, anyway…)But hey, there’s better news on the horizon: the band’s also starting a record label, Early Astronauts, with Kirston Otis (of {Dead Roses}, {Future Blondes}, etc.), with an aim to releasing some awesomely cool stuff from bands here in Houston. Starting, of course, with Fiskadoro itself, who’re working on a 7″ with “Wax Lips” on the A-side and “Dead Eaters” on the B. Keep an eye out for it, as well as the other stuff they’ve got planned for the label.
• LATCH KEY KIDS POP UP ON LESS THAN JAKE TOUR COMP: Damn, I love it when two bands I can’t get enough of come together like this… If you’ve looked at the shows list lately, you might’ve noticed that Florida ska-punks Less Than Jake are coming through town February 14th, and that rejuvenated/resurrected local pop-punks the {Latch Key Kids} are playing with ’em; a cool lineup, if you ask me.Well, it turns out the Kids are also playing with LTJ the next night in San Antonio, and even better than that, they’ve got a song on a brand-new Less Than Jake Tour Compilation the band put together in conjunction with Absolutepunk. The LKK contribution is new song “March On,” and yeah, it’s pretty damn cool. Plus, it’s one of the 14 tracks on the new album the Kids have coming out in the not-too-distant future.
• OTHER PEOPLE HAVE STUFF COMING OUT, TOO: It’s already looking like a banner year, music-wise. On top of the folks above, there’s new stuff due out in 2011 from {The Wheel Workers}, {Something Fierce}, {The Literary Greats}, & {Holy Fiction}, plus (I’m guessing) a crapload more. Again, keep an eye out.

More to come, hopefully soon…