Yr. Weekend, Pt. 3: Searching for Signal (Rev’d!) + Sphynx + Binarium Sound Series + More

We’re partway through Sunday, July 31st, and yeah, it’s a bit less busy than the rest of the weekend, but there’re a couple that stand out to me…

First up is the show tonight at The Mink, which sees transplanted psych-drift rock band {Searching for Signal} return back home from Austin (where they all go to college) for a relatively rare show; they got us a copy of new EP As If Nothing’s Changing a little while back, and I’m liking it a hell of a lot. It’s like a culmination of the past two releases, blending the best parts of each: delicate, gentle-hearted indie-pop with slow-moving spacerock swoon. See over here for the full review.

Never gotten to see ’em live, unfortunately, but I’m more & more impressed with each release these guys put out. They may live up in A-town these days, but screw that; I’m going to continue to claim ’em as Houstonians ’til forced to do otherwise.

Plus, they’re playing with fellow Austin-dwellers Sphynx, who really couldn’t be much more different if they tried — where SfS is delicately deliberate and droney, Sphynx is raucous and bouncy, all primary-colored ’80s synths and dancey drums. They’re another one of the growing gang of ’80s synth-pop revivalists (see Ladyhawke, Chromeo, or Reptar, for three more), and while my initial instinct is to dislike ’em, the music on debut Human Beast is relentlessly, unstoppably addictive.

The band’s seriously distilled all the best parts of the synth-pop scene from three decades back and infused it with a wide-grinning glee to make a concoction that’s hard to resist.

Naturally, that’s not the only thing going on… On the far, far more experimental side of things, tonight’s also the latest installment (number 35) of the Binarium Sound Series run by the very cool Jonathan Jindra. This episode, which’ll be up at 14 Pews (aka the old Aurora Picture Show space) includes Night at Noon, which is apparently a “ritual-ambient” project (dunno what that means, but it at least sounds neat) of California-based musician/filmmaker Brian Traylor, plus a “video art” collaboration between Jindra himself and bassist/composer {Thomas Helton}.

As an added bonus, too, tonight marks the return(?) to the stage after I don’t know how long of {Infant Mortality Rate}, who was part of the experimental/noise scene here back when I was in college, for crying out loud. IMR’s only played about once a year at most since about 2000, so this is a rare treat, y’all.

Here goes the list:

Sphynx/Native America/The Live Lights/Searching for Signal @ The Mink
Binarium Sound Series 035, featuring Night at Noon, Helton/Jindra-I, & Infant Mortality Rate @ 14 Pews (800 Aurora; 7-10PM)
Paige Lewis @ The Usual
The Official H-Town Sneaker Summit After Party, featuring Bun B, Big K.R.I.T,., Casey Veggies, Youngest N Charge, Uzoy, iPod Ammo, Sober, & DJ Candle Stick @ House of Blues (Bronze Peacock Room)