Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Dinosaur Jr. + Shearwater (Rev’d/MP3s!) + Hatebreed + Vestibule + Adelaine + More

It’s been a hellish week this week, work-wise, so I’m somehow even more behind than I normally am. sigh. Sometimes you’ve got to prioritize, though, and Day Job deadlines tend to win out, since they’re what pay to keep food on the table & whatnot.

Anyway…it’s looking like a damn good weekend, and tonight, Friday, October 5th, is a very cool start (okay, okay, last night should really have been the start, but I couldn’t pull it off; work with me, here). Here’s what looks/sounds good to me:

Dinosaur Jr./Shearwater @ Fitzgerald’s
Oh, wow. This is honestly one of the best double bills I’ve seen in a while — two bands I’ve liked for years, neither of which I’ve ever managed to see, and hot damn, I’m headed up to Fitz tonight to catch ’em both (thanks, Creg!).

I’ve been a Dinosaur Jr. fan since college, when 1993’s Where You Been lived in my CD player/Discman for a long, long, long time, and I distinctly recall listening to “Start Choppin” and “What Else Is New” on near-endless repeat for a while there. The band was like the ultimate distillation of the whole grunge thing, for me: scruffy-looking dudes playing rock that was both noisy and melodic and drew from classic rock, punk, and more indie-rock in equal measure. (And yeah, I’m sure some will take umbrage at me calling them “grunge” to begin with, to which I say: “Meh; bite me.”)

What I’ve heard off this year’s new album, I Bet On Sky, is great, even if they sound like they’ve turned down/mellowed out a bit since WYB; it’s still the same band I fell for, at the core of it. Here’s the video for “Watch the Corners,” as done by those FunnyOrDie.com folks:

In the opposite direction, then, there’s Austin-dwelling band Shearwater, who started their musical life all quiet and delicate and moody and have, with this year’s Animal Life, gotten all loud and epic and, well, still moody. And it’s awesome, seriously, without exaggeration. I could listen to “Animal Life” and “You as You Were” back-to-back all damn day long. Check out the full review of the album over here.

Don’t believe me? Here you go:

Shearwater – “You as You Were”
Shearwater – “Breaking the Yearlings”

This is where I’ll be tonight, folks — say “hi” if you’re up there…

Hatebreed/Whitechapel/All Shall Perish/Deez Nuts @ Warehouse Live
And here’s where the hardcore heads (well, some of ’em, anyway). Can’t say I blame ’em, mind you — old-school metalcore pioneers Hatebreed are freaking badass, and I don’t even tend to like stuff like that all that much. Plus, I’ve heard good things about Whitechapel and All Shall Perish, to boot. Go get in the pit.

Vestibule @ Jet Lounge
Not sure who’s playing with these guys tonight at Jet Lounge, but eh, I don’t care; {Vestibule} are pretty cool all by their lonesomes. They make awesomely shimmery, desperate-sounding dream-pop/rock with surprisingly high-pitched vocals, cloud-walls of guitar, and some Blur-/Rentals-like electro-pop touches, and yeah, I’m liking it. The band’s got an album out, and I’m told it’s on the way to our happy little P.O. Box, but I haven’t gotten hold of it just yet — looking forward to hearing more, definitely.

Safetysuit/Taylor Barrett/Adelaine @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)
I’ll flat-out shrug and admit I don’t know a damn thing about Safetysuit, y’all — sorry ’bout that. I do know {Adelaine} pretty well, however, and the more I listen to ’em, the more I’m loving their heavy-yet-melodic brand of emo-ish alternarock. Frontwoman Stormy Pena can sing, and the songs themselves are freaking great, fists-in-the-sky-style rock; that’s basically my personal blueprint for awesomeness, right there.

Runners-Up:
Sleeper Street/The Avenue/Frants/Battle Between @ Dean’s
500 Megatons of Boogie/The Hates/Zero Heroes @ Rudyard’s
Peasant/Cronophage/Garbage Dump/Cervical Mucus Meltdown @ Notsuoh
Rebirth Brass Band @ Warehouse Live (Studio)