Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Crooked Fingers + Adelaine (Interviewed!) + Folk Family Revival + Invincible Czars + More

Yes, folks, it’s Friday once again — December 2nd, this time — and there’s some truly, truly good stuff going on at various spots ’round town. Here goes:

Crooked Fingers/Strand of Oaks/Gatlin Elms @ Fitzgerald’s
Yes, yes, yes. I fell in love with Crooked Fingers after hearing 2003’s Red Devil Dawn, and to this day I’m a diehard fan of Eric Bachmann‘s warm-yet-somber, scratched-up-nicely voice, Springsteenian almost-folk stylings, and dark, murky, yet energetic melancholia. He hits some heartbreaking notes with his music — I dare anybody out there to listen to “You Can Never Leave” or “Disappear” and not feel at least a little bit torn-up inside. If it doesn’t affect you a bit, well, I’m afraid you may not have a soul (sorry!).

I’ve only recently cracked open Crooked Fingers’ latest release, this year’s Breaks in the Armor, but so far, I’m loving it, too. It’s not as elegaic as Dawn or prior album Bring on the Snakes, instead treading the more country/folk road Bachmann started down with 2005’s Dignity and Shame, but it works a whole heck of a lot better, to my ears, than anything he’s done since Dawn, blending that album’s majesty with the rootsiness of Dignity.

This show is seriously going to be mind-blowing, believe me. I’ve listened to a bit of tourmates Strand of Oaks, too, and I’m liking their keyboard-accented, slow-moving folk-pop quite a bit. Get there early…

Adelaine/38 Caliber Hero/A Midnight in Chicago/Good Job Underground @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)
I just can’t say enough good things about {Adelaine}; I really can’t. Their debut EP, Take Heart, is a pitch-perfect chunk of hopeful, emo-tinged melodic rock, one that makes me think of Austinites Cruiserweight or H-town’s own sadly-defunct While You Were Gone, marrying the fire of the first to the stately gorgeousness of the second. This is the kind of post-emo rock that’ll make you forget all the godawful poppy/loud bands that’ve floated to the surface in Jimmy Eat World’s wake.

I was able to do a quick interview with the folks in the band, btw, which you can check out right over here. They seem like very, very cool, utterly genuine kids, and if they keep making music like they are right now, well, there’s no telling how far they’re going to be able to go.

Saint Arnolds Foamraiser, featuring Folk Family Revival @ The Orange Show (7-11PM)
Ah, The Orange Show — shows there are almost as much about the venue as they are about the band(s) playing, and to me, at least, that’s a beautiful thing. Of course, it helps when the band in question this time around also happens to be incredible, like the magnetic {Folk Family Revival}. On recent album Unfolding, the boys in the band blaze their way through a roaring, anthemic set of roots-rock gems, all of which sound like they should’ve come from the mouths/hands of much, much older, road-worn musicians. I still think these guys were robbed in this year’s HPMAs, but eh, that’s just me.

Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, featuring The Invincible Czars @ The Capitol at St. Germain
And yes, then there’s Austin’s The Invincible Czars, who are back in our city this evening to play their strange/”wacky” version of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite; while I haven’t heard ’em do the Nutcracker before now, I’ve liked their previous takes on classical music, which tend to come off like a New Orleans “Second Line” band being mugged by Eastern European gypsies while playing along with some other orchestra you can’t even see. Take that however you’d like…

Runners-Up:
Distorted Chicano Fest, featuring Always Guilty, Fuska, A Spanish Disposition, Conflikto, Critical Damage, Johnnys Casket, Mannequin Mishap, & Gutter Rats @ Mango’s
The Wrong Ones/Kill The Rhythm/Only Beast @ The Mink
Honky/The Flamin’ Hellcats/Picture Book @ The Continental Club
Urban Art Exhibition: Art, Beats + Lyrics, featuring Phife (mem. of A Tribe Called Quest) & Hustle @ Warehouse Live (must RSVP)