Yr. Weekend: Indian Jewelry + Balaclavas + football, etc. + Benefit for Joey + Adelaine + Chuck Berry + More

Gotta make it a quick little rundown, yet again, but there’s a ton of good stuff happening this evening (Fri., March 4th) — you’ve pretty much got your pick, seriously…

Fans of the loud, strange, and noisy should make their way up to Fitzgerald’s; in that vein, at least, there’s no real way to beat the dual attack of {Indian Jewelry} and {Balaclavas}, for my money. The IJ folks are probably the more oddball of the two, mining this dark, vaguely threatening/foreboding sound that really kills any comparisons I throw at it, and the one time I’ve seen Balaclavas live, they were fucking amazing, honest, a taut, barbed-wire-wrapped post-punk implosion that called to mind PiL, Wire, Gang of Four, and pretty much every Rough Trade band I’ve ever heard.

Next up, there’s a great show over at Houston House of Creeps — a place I’d only heard of this past month, somehow — with long, long, longtime scene-dwellers O’Doyle Rules (who were playing back when I was in a band; ergo, a really damn long time ago), who I’m glad to see are back around again, raw indie-rock dudes {Muhammad Ali}, promising-sounding newcomers {Rivers}, and (most critical to me right now) excellent emo trio {football, etc.}.

I’ve been on the fence about the latter band for a while now, I’ll admit it, but I’ve got their soon-to-be-out full-length, The Draft, right here in hand, and it’s pretty damn amazing. They’re a throwback to the days when emo didn’t mean some whiny kid wearing guyliner, when it was more about music that actually made you stop and think more than any kind of stupid pose, and they do it very, very well, coming off like a cross between Sarge (whom I love/d) and Mineral, with some Pohgoh thrown in for fun.

Lower-key but still cool, over at Rudyard’s there’s a benefit show for {skyblue72} friend Joey, who recently lost everything he owned (and his two dogs, too; awful…) in a fire. His music-making pals are thoughtfully trying to raise money to help he and his family get back on their feet, which is a very cool cause, if you ask me.

A little further afield, there’s a neat-sounding show going on tonight at Nutty Jerry’s out in Winnie, where Chuck Freaking Berry will be playing a birthday party bash for radioman Al Caldwell. Holy crap.

And up at the Wildwood UMC in Magnolia, heavy, melodic, emo-ish rockers {Adelaine} — whom I happen to like quite a bit — are playing the official release show for their just-released-today EP, Take Heart. I haven’t heard all of it yet, but I’m digging it so far; it reminds me of Cruiserweight at times, the gone-to-soon While You Were Gone at others, and even Veruca Salt’s horribly underrated Eight Arms to Hold You (esp. with the vocals). Trust me, these folks are headed for good things.

Here’s the full list:

Indian Jewelry/Cave/Balaclavas/Sic Alps/DJ Chemical Mange @ Fitzgerald’s
O’Doyle Rules/Muhammad Ali/football, etc/Assemble the Skyline/Rivers @ Houston House of Creeps
Omotai/We Were Wolves/Machinotaur @ The Mink
Paul Wall @ House of Blues
Benefit for Joey, featuring Southern Reverb, Penny Arcade, & skyblue72 @ Rudyard’s
Adelaine (EP release)/Jerusalem/The Tempest/Ocean Marie @ Wildwood UMC (5:30PM; $10)
75th Birthday of Radio Celebrity Al Caldwell, featuring Chuck Berry & Longneck Road Band @ Nutty Jerry’s (Winnie)