Yr. Weekend, Pt. 3: Bright Men of Learning + A Sundae Drive + Thou Shall Not Kill…Except + Paige Lewis + More

Last day of the weekend, today, Sunday, January 8th, and yeah, it’s a little bit quieter than the other two. But hey, that doesn’t mean you have to sit at home tonight, lame & bored. Here’re a couple of ideas:

Bright Men of Learning/Magnificent Snails/A Sundae Drive @ Rudyard’s
I swear, {Bright Men of Learning} have got to be the single most underappreciated-yet-amazing band in this city. No offense to other deserving bands, but c’mon, these guys have been around, in one form or another, for a decade at least, just nonchalantly making music, putting out CDs/records (their most recent album, 2010’s awesome Fired, as a vinyl-only release), and occasionally playing shows (since, y’know, they’ve all got day jobs & families & whatnot).

In a just and good universe, they’d be signed to Sub Pop or something, and the Music World At Large would know their just-rough-enough, Sebadoh-meets-Son Volt country-tinged indie-rock. Hell, even locally speaking, these guys presaged the current crop of country/folk-ish bright lights like {Buxton} and {The Literary Greats}; and hey, beyond that, they’re one of the tightest bands I’ve seen live, and frontman Marshall Preddy writes songs that make me want to smack myself in the face and never touch a guitar ever again. Seriously, they deserve all the praise I can give ’em.

Here’s some cool footage of BMOL from the Fired album release back in 2010:

And hey, there’s an added bonus, in the form of those {A Sundae Drive} folks, who currently seem to be freaking everywhere right at the moment. Which is a good thing, mind you, because they’re very cool themselves, in a laidback, shoegazer-y way. Get there early (which, yes, means 10PM or so, most likely, since it’s at Rudyard’s).

Thou Shall Not Kill…Except/Collective Dreams/Deer Vibes/Galapagos Sound Technique @ Mango’s
I dunno much about of these folks, I’m afraid — although the teeny-tiny bit I’ve heard from San Antonians Deer Vibes is damn cool in an orchestral indie-pop way (and for reasons I can’t explain, I love the band’s name). Local headliners Thou Shall Not Kill…Except are really kind of the draw — for me, anyway — with their enigmatic weirdness. I’ve yet to see ’em live, but I’ve heard good, good (and strange) things.

Paige Lewis @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
And last but not least, sweet-voiced singer/songwriter {Paige Lewis} will be up at the Mucky Duck tonight, and she’s well worth checking out. I still need to see her live, myself, but everything I’ve heard has been fairly impressive stuff, despite her relatively young age (she just graduated from college, apparently). Here’s a little bit of her playing, in front of a fire at The Usual:

That’s it for the weekend; get on out there tonight…