Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Tom Carter Benefit + Weird Party + False Idols + Free The Water + Silver Snakes (MP3!) + More

Holy shit. That is one hell of a jam-packed evening, y’all; tonight (Friday, August 24th) is literally over-freaking-flowing with great, great shows, so many that I’m going to have to leave a few out, I’m afraid. Here we go:

Tom Carter Benefit, featuring Project Grimm, Linus Pauling Quartet, Dead Mineral, & Hearts of Animals @ Rudyard’s
Already talked about this one earlier on, but it’s worth mentioning again, definitely. Great bands (especially the {Linus Pauling Quartet}, who I swear to FSM somehow manage to get better with each release) + great cause = awesomeness. Go, seriously. Your ears and soul will both feel good about themselves.

Weird Party (record release)/Crime Wave/Hamamatsu Tom and the CIA Unmanned Drone Band/The Vipers @ Mango’s ($7)
Kinda-sorta mentioned this earlier, too, when we reviewed {Weird Party}‘s brand-new full-length, “Hussy” (apparently the quotes are necessary? I dunno…). It’s badass, all knives and shadows and booze cranked up to twelve and then dragged through the gutter, and at the same time, it has these ridiculously hooky, sneaky melodic parts (see “Acne Puncture,” in particular, but also “Turkish Detergent”). I’m damn glad the band decided to give it another shot.

Plus, they’re playing tonight with {Crime Wave}, who I’m liking so far, the well-loved Hamamatsu Tom & his current bunch of crazies, and punks The Vipërs, who I hear are really damn good.

False Idols, featuring Buxton (as Talking Heads), JC & CO (ex-Voxtrot), LIMB, & Little Joe Washington @ The Continental Club
It does my soul good to see {Buxton} playing out more frequently these days — it’s been far, far too long since I last saw them live, and they’re mesmerizingly excellent every time. And yes, I do still think it’s the height of weirdness that their most recent full-length, Nothing Here Seems Strange, which is a bona-fide masterpiece, didn’t make the {Houston Press} Music Awards “Album of the Year” list. But hey, what the fuck do I know, right?

Anyway, tonight’s not a standard Buxton show, mind you, but rather the latest installment in the False Idols series that I think Joe Mathlete is/was behind, at least originally. So the Buxton boys will be playing as the Talking Heads, which means they’ll presumably be playing Talking Heads songs. Sergio as David Byrne has got to be a weird, weird sight to see…

Bury The Crown (ex-A dream Asleep)/The American Heist/The Ballistics/War Master/Defending the Kingdom/Skeleton Dick/Giant Battle Monster/All Dead Here/Omotai @ Fitzgerald’s
Ooh, yesssss. A half-dozen of the best heavy-ass bands in town — especially spazz-noise crushers {Giant Battle Monster}, titanic doombeast {Omotai}, and prog-metal savants {Defending the Kingdom}, all three of whom I love like crazy — all at Fitz for a measly $5. The headliners, by the way, are Bury The Crown, who ’til recently were called {A dream Asleep} and who are releasing a brand-new EP tonight. I’ve yet to hear them, but buddy Dre‘s been a big fan of their previous incarnation for a while now, and that’s a good recommendation.

Free The Water: Benefiting Fluoride Free Houston, featuring Devil Killing Moth, Josiah Gabriel, Nine Minutes, & P.L.X.T.X @ Dean’s (8PM-12AM)
Alright, so I’ll admit that I’m not completely in sync with the whole no-fluoride thing — I grew up on military bases, where we were forced to gargle with fluoride during class, and I tend to credit that for my teeth being rock-solid; my wife, on the other hand, grew up in various European countries where they didn’t do fluoridation, and her teeth practically dissolve when water hits them.

But hey, I’ll fully get behind the bands playing, at least (and I like the Houston Free Thinkers crew in general). {Devil Killing Moth} are pretty neat, and Bradley from {Female Demand}‘s new-ish digital hardcore project, P.L.X.T.X, is bang-your-head-spastically great. Full review of new EP TIME, right over here.

Defeater/Hundredth/Rotting Out/Silver Snakes/Blasé @ Walter’s
Dunno most of these bands, I’m afraid (not even locals Blasé, sorry), but I have been able to check out Silver Snakes this week, and their new album, Pictures Of A Floating World, isn’t bad, by any means. I haven’t fully wrapped my head around it yet, but so far it makes me think of a less-embittered Armor For Sleep, if they found a time machine to travel back and hang out with old-school Fugazi. Take that however you will.

Check out & download (for free!) “Lungs And Lanterns,” right here:

Runners-Up:
MFAH Mixed Media, featuring The Wild Moccasins, ORTHY, DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives, DJ Josh Dupont, & DJ Mr. Castillo @ MFAH (1001 Bissonnet)
Arthur Yoria/Gilbert Alfaro/Sydney Harkreader/Whitney Elizabeth Mower @ Cafe Brasil (9PM)
Runaway Sun @ Last Concert Cafe
Journey/Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo/Loverboy @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Suicide Silence/The Word Alive/Unearth/I See Stars/A Skylit Drive/Winds of Plague/Stick To Your Guns/Attia/Iced Nine Kills @ House of Blues