Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Creeperfest + Future Islands + Island Reunion + Other Lives + Spelling Bee (x2) + More

Yep, it’s Saturday, November 10th, now, and we’re back with the list of what all sounds cool to hear/see today & tonight. Here we go:

Creeperfest 2012, featuring New York City Queens, Chase Hamblin, The Wrong Ones, Adam Bricks, Benjamin Wesley, Bury The Crown, Bang Bangz, The Virgin Wolves, Black Cock, Featherface, La Armada, B.E. Godfrey, Josey Hall, The Ballistics, Deep Cuts, Rivers, O’Doyle Rules (reunion!), Tiger Party, Hell City Kings, Marshall Forse Walker, Frank Freeman, Crimewave, Square & Compass, Mahayla, England in 1819, The Gents, Funboys, Gospel & The Wolf, The Vipers, Holder, Eli, Knights of the Fire Kingdom, Hoofprints, Gnar World Order, Second Story Under, Sunrise & Ammunition, Field of Bronze, Marry Me, & The Breathers @ Houston House of Creeps (807 William St.) & J.D.’s Bar ($10 pre-sale; $15-20 at show)
Already blathered about this on over here, so go read that; just wanted to point it up one more time, ’cause I honestly think it’ll be a blast…

Future Islands/Talk Normal/Silver Interior @ Rudyard’s
Okay, so take the Magnetic Fields’ early baroque, intricately-spun, quasi-literate torch songs, speed them up by about half, throw a slightly besotted Oxford (UK, not MS) English professor — preferably a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, if you can swing in — out in front, shove the lyric sheets into his hands (or better yet, tell him to just mutter whatever comes to mind), and then just go. What you’ll hear might sound kinda-sorta like Future Islands, and it works better than it really ever should. (And no, I’m not kidding. At all.)

Island Reunion Show, featuring Mydolls, Anarchitex, The Hates, Doomsday Massacre, AK-47, Introverts, Bevatron, Gary Yokie, & Vex @ Walter’s
Unfortunately, the heyday of iconic Houston punk venue The Island was gone by the time I got here, over by half a decade or so. In college, though, I worked with a guy named Scott Gilbert, an astoundingly talented cartoonist & librarian who also happened to be a badass librarian at Rice University’s Fondren Library, and he’d talk about places like The Island and the Yucatan Liquor Stand the way some people talk about seeing bands at CBGBs or The 40 Watt.

And really, in a way, The Island does hold that kind of a place in Houston punk history — every band who played there seemed to spawn a dozen others, who influenced or spawned even more, with the end result that, whether most music fans know or it not, this city’s got a deep, long history when it comes to punk rock. Check out the {Houston Press}‘s recent series of articles on the club itself for proof.

Anyway, pseudo-historical babbling aside, tonight at Walter’s promises to be an eye-opening blast of bands that were probably around before you were born but that you might never have heard of before (aside from {The Hates}, most likely). Go get educated.

Other Lives/Indians @ Fitzgerald’s
For those wanting something more on the mellow/melancholy end of things, I’d highly recommend checking out Oklahoma band Other Lives; when they came through town several months back opening for Radiohead, I was able to check out Tamer Animals, their most recent full-length, and was pretty blown away by the band’s gentle, almost delicate, insistently moody, downtrodden folk-pop.

There’re parts that are reminiscent of Fleet Foxes, to be sure, but on the whole it’s a more “urban”-sounding record, with a rootsy, California-rock kind of feel at points. The music’s dark and somber, a little like the murky bleakness of British band Reigns, or maybe some of Shearwater’s quieter songs; they all share this quiet sense of “seriousness” that somehow works, even though it’d usually come off as pretentious or contrived.

Take a look/listen at the video for the title track from Tamer Animals:

Giant Battle Monster/excuseMesir/Spelling Bee @ Notsuoh ($5)
Spelling Bee/P.L.X.T.X/Harold Borup @ Ponde Rosa (2-5AM)
This one’s turned into a twofer; it seems St. Louis band Spelling Bee are already liking Houston so dang much they’re playing not one but two shows, all in the same night.

First they’ll be over at Notsuoh, rocking out with speedfreak prog-spazz guys {Giant Battle Monster} and quieter/prettier-sounding prog-jazz-pop band {excuseMesir}, both of whom are damn cool, and starting at 2AM they’ll be playing an afterparty at Ponde Rosa — which is somewhere in the North Downtown warehouses, but I’ve got no idea where — alongside Bradley Munoz‘s P.L.X.T.X digital-hardcore project (which is freaking awesome, btw) and Alvin post-rockers {Harold Borup}.

For their part, Spelling Bee are intriguingly wild and frantic, with noodling/skronking horns and scattered rhythms that dart between free-jazz and prog-rock; the whole thing sounds a little like Brown Whornet to me, but I’m not all that up on my spazz-noise-punk-whatever, so your ears may think differently…

Runners-Up:
Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights/Second Lovers @ Fitzgerald’s
The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art and Saint Arnold Brewery Annual Foamraiser, featuring Thunderado @ The Orange Show (6-11PM)
MKT Vinyl Night, featuring Sarah Gregory & Brittany Holland (DJ set) @ MKT Bar (1001 Austin; free!)
HTX Bikefest, featuring DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives, DJ Fredster, & DJ G. Wizz @ Phul Court (1311 Leeland)
Adventure Club/Fredster/Pharmer @ Stereo Live
Anova Skyway/Only Beast/Life as Lions/Sleeper Street @ Dean’s
John Legend @ Bayou Music Center
Come See My Dead Person @ Union Tavern (Webster)
Joe Ely/Joel Guzman @ Dosey Doe Coffee Company (The Woodlands)