Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Sarah Jaffe + Benjamin Wesley + For The Community III + Electric Attitude + More

Well, damn. This is what I get for half-grumbling that Friday was a teeny-tiny, little bit light on the shows — we get a freaking torrent of ’em for today, Saturday, September 15th, instead. Multiple festivals, some big-name indie folks rolling through town, and lots of smaller (but still neat) stuff, all happening from pretty much right now on.

With this much going on, btw, there’s no way I can write about all of it; apologies for leaving anybody out. Here goes:

Sarah Jaffe/Ormonde/Benjamin Wesley @ Fitzgerald’s
Let’s start with the top of the heap (although we’re not quite working our way “down” from there, mind you; everybody else on this list is pretty equal in my eyes).

From the first time I heard debut single “Clementine,” I fell hard for Denton-based singer/songwriter Sarah Jaffe. Her rough-edged, half-sleepy but still bitter voice just hits all the right notes for me, coming off like a cross between Chan Marshall and Margo Timmins with the best parts of each. Heck, we even posted “Clementine” a while back for download, before fucking Mediafire deleted all the damn files, but that’s a story for another time…

To make up for it somewhat, here’s a video for the song, instead:

Anyway, her set tonight’s pretty much guaranteed to be great, and the same goes for H-town’s own {Benjamin Wesley}, the ridiculously talented multi-instrumentalist with the gravelly voice and pork-pie hat who you may have seen A) up on a stage somewhere, B) hanging out at various other shows, or C) in Men’s Wearhouse commercials (no, I’m not kidding). He’s awesome to watch/hear, and well worth the price of admission all on his own.

For The Community Pt. III, featuring We Scare Coyotes, Second Lovers, Bury the Crown, Rapeworm, Messier, Female Demand, PAPAYA, Jon Black, Enloom, Juan Moncayo, B.C. Walk, Stress33, Devil Killing Moth, “Downer,” Jupiter Skyline, Nikkhoo, No Reply, Samwell, Abinader, Super Robot Party, Conscious R.A.V.E., The Blackwells, Through Everlast, FLCON FCKER, Josiah Gabriel, Nine Minutes, & Harold Borup @ The Compound (2305 Wheeler; 12:30PM, free!)
This one seriously crept up on me — I hadn’t heard a thing about it ’til yesterday. I’m honestly not sure what the “For The Community” part means, but it’s a free festival that includes a good dozen excellent bands, folks like {Super Robot Party}, {Harold Borup}, {FLCON FCKER}, {Devil Killing Moth}, surprisingly great rapper {Jon Black}, mind-blowingly heavy noise-rock duo {Female Demand}, and downcast roots-folk-popsters {Second Lovers} (whose recent full-length, Wishers, Dreamers & Liars, we reviewed a couple of months ago, over here).

Beyond the music, there’ll supposedly be belly dancing, fire-twirling, glass-blowing(!), hula-hooping, and various kinds of art, and the whole thing’s hosted by the Houston Free Thinkers crew, which is always neat. Get on over there now, eh?

Dam-Funk/Electric Attitude/Journey Agents/DJ Flash Gordon Parks @ Numbers
I dunno Dam-Funk, I’m afraid, but the fact that he’s on Stones Throw alone is enough to make me look favorably upon him; those ST guys know what the hell they’re doing. Plus, he’s got {Electric Attitude}, who are a heck of a lot of fun to watch live — and I hear they’ve been steadily improving since the last time I saw ’em — and the {Journey Agents}, about whom I keep hearing good, good things, both opening for him, and that’s never a bad thing…

iji/James Rabbit @ Vinal Edge Records (239 W. 19th; 7PM, free!)
I thought these two bands — iji and James Rabbit — looked damn familiar, and lo and behold, my memory didn’t steer me wrong for once. The pair of bands both cruised through town in March of last year for the SXSW Overflow Fest up at Super Happy Fun Land, and I dutifully gave ’em a listen and was surprised by how much I liked ’em. Check out the writeup from back then over here.

Plus, I’m psyched that Vinal Edge is continuing to have bands play at their new location. The more of these types of in-store shows folks like VE, Cactus, & SoundEx do, the merrier, in my book…

Vinyl Night, featuring The Tontons (DJ set) @ MKT Bar (1001 Austin; 8-11PM)
Not a “real” set by excellent, soulful indie-psych-pop/rock darlings {The Tontons}, no, but a DJ set, apparently, which is still pretty neat, if you ask me. No clue what all they’ll be playing (or who among the band will actually be there), but go chill and dance and whatever else it is those crazy kids do these days.

Runners-Up:
Swans/Xiu Xiu @ Fitzgerald’s
The Ugly Beats/DJ Bobby Trimble @ The Big Top
Halfway to Paddy’s Day, featuring Blaggards & Think Lizzy @ The Continental Club
Praia Urbana, featuring Lee Burridge, Doc Martin, Gonzalo Menoyo, Henry Chow, Spettro, Esteban Torres, Alex Clavijo, Bobby Blyss, Kyle Berg, Wes Walz, dj Nimubs, & Vicente Martinez @ Last Concert Cafe (2-11PM)
LL Cooper/Orange Is In/TC5 @ Rudyard’s
Fastball @ Monnalisa Bar (800 W. Sam Houston Pkwy. N)
Jack Freeman @ Ovations
Houston Hot Sauce Festival, featuring Zydeco Dots & Silverado Band @ Stafford Centre (Stafford; 11AM-6PM)
Days Drive @ Float Patio & Pool Bar (Galveston)
Montgomery Wine & Music Fest 2012, featuring Cody Johnson, Kelly Austin Curtis, Heather Rayleen, John Slaughter, Zach Tate, Clayton Gardner, Philip Griffin, Troubadore, Jazz Connections, & Jody Booth @ Historic Downtown Montgomery (10AM-9PM)