FML Friday: Art Institute Breaks Up & M83 Cancels Houston Show

Damn, damn, damn. Universe, why are you screwing with me like this? Did I cut a wizard off in traffic or something on my way home from work last night? I know I shouldn’t be taking it so personally, but dammit, when the bad news rolls in like this, it’s hard not to…sigh.

Okay, okay, so it’s not the end of the world — and there’s definitely been worse bad, Houston music-related news this past year — but this morning’s already delivered two separate smackdowns, and it sucks.

Bad News #1: First off, waiting in my Inbox this AM was a note from the Live Nation folks saying that French/Spanish electro-pop outfit M83, whom I love dearly and have missed twice now due to A) a previously-scheduled camping trip with the family and B) the damn tickets being sold out, have cancelled their October 10th show here in town at Bayou Music Center, “[d]ue to circumstances beyond the Artist’s control.”

Given that the band’s last show in town was sold out — and at a bigger venue, if I recall correctly — I can’t imagine that in this case “circumstances beyond the Artist’s control” is code for “we didn’t sell enough tickets.” I mean, hell, we’re still two months out. Looking at the band’s Website, though, it looks like Houston is the only date they cancelled; they’re still playing New Orleans on 10/9 and Dallas on 10/11, but skipping H-town on the way in-between. Fuck. I’d been fully planning on finally, finally going to see them this time; this really sucks.

At any rate, if you’ve already got your tickets for the 10/10 show in hand, you can get a refund wherever you bought ’em…

Bad News #2: Now for the second bit, which is a bit of a harder blow, and one that makes me cringe in shame, to boot. The details are a bit murky as of now — if/when I hear more, I’ll definitely update — but it appears that excellent, excellent, smart-as-hell post-punk/proto-punk band {Art Institute} has called it quits.

This depresses me on multiple levels, believe it or not — for one thing, they are/were an awesome band, one I enjoyed every damn time I heard ’em, and they are/were pretty damn unique in this city, too, with their quirky, literate, desperate melding of early American punk and wiry British post-punk.

Then there’s the fact that I have shamefully sat on the limited-edition vinyl of the band’s first real full-length, People Like It When You Fail, and their more recent split-7″ with Austin band Knifight, for a long freaking time. I listened to both, loved ’em, kept meaning to write about ’em, and kept dropping the damn ball…and now, I apparently procrastined for too long. sigh.

Like I said, I don’t have any details on the breakup right now, beyond some cryptic posts on the band’s Facebook page, but it doesn’t look/sound good. Drummer Ken also hinted that if he made it out to the band’s scheduled show 8/10 at The Mink with {A Sundae Drive}, {Elect Trick City}, and {The Lovable Old James}, he’d be there as “a spectator rather than participant,” which makes things sound even worse.

Damn, y’all. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and this’ll just turn out to be a minor band spat or something, and they’ll work it out and keep on, but I’m not real hopeful at this point. If this is the end, I’m sad as hell to see Art Institute go; you guys may not believe it, being the self-effacing/-hating types you are, but y’all will be missed.