Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Badass Weekend (Still) + Jon Black + Cordial + For The Community IV + Co-Pilot + Rakim + Valens + More

Holy fucking wow, y’all. Here I thought Friday was pretty jam-packed with shows, but it turns out it’s got nothing on Saturday, February 16th. There’s so damn much going on, I’m not entirely sure where to begin, but here goes:

The 1st Bad Ass Weekend, featuring Despise You, Hatred Surge, In Defence, Mammoth Grinder, Kill the Client, Wiccans, Turbokrieg, Porkeria, Criaturas, & Chest Pain @ Walter’s ($17)
The 1st Bad Ass Weekend After Party, featuring Impalers, Iskallt Regn, Mean and Ugly, Forced Fem, Stagnant Youth, & Black Coffee @ Houston House of Creeps & Ballistics Skate House ($5)
Yep, once again, the aforementioned Badass (or is it Bad Ass? not really sure…) Weekend is currently going off, and it’ll be rolling on into tomorrow, too. Saturday’s main lineup includes Austin dudes Mammoth Grinder, who anybody into Texas metal really should know by this point, plus {Hatred Surge}, and Turbokrieg. I was also psyched to see Wiccans on the bill, but it seems they’ve had to cancel due to illness…damn.

Over on the House of Creeps/Ballistics Skate House side of things, there’s {Black Coffee}, who play raw, furious, throwback hardcore that’s practically dripping with venom, Iskallt Regn, who I think are a bunch of H-towners playing Swedish-style punk, and Danish metalheads Impalers. Check out the writeup the {Houston Press} did early this afternoon, too, right over here. The price goes up slightly for tomorrow’s “big” lineup, from $15 to $17, but fuck, it’s still well worth the cost.

Drowner/Co-Pilot/Mansion Jr. @ Rudyard’s
Damn, damn, damn. It’s been far, far too long since I last caught {Co-Pilot}, and it looks like I’m going to have to miss ’em yet again…argh. I truly, truly adore the band’s heavy-yet-graceful brand of spaceward-pointing instro-rock, in recorded form or live, either one, and I need to see/hear them again sometime very soon. (Play H-town more, you guys, please?)

As an added bonus, shoegazer-y band {Drowner} are headlining, doing what I’m told is actually their first-ever(!) live show (thanks to David A. Cobb over at {Houston Calling} for the heads-up on that part); I’m cringing right now, actually, because the band’s self-titled debut has been sitting in my “To Review” pile for a long, long while, and yet I’ve only ever been able to take a cursory glance, er, listen. I’ve liked what I’ve heard so far, though…

On top of that, I’m damn curious to see what “Mansion Jr.”, which is Thatcher Focke & Matt Renfro of long-gone rock band Mansion, sound like; I was a fan of the old band, definitely, but I’m having a hard time imagining ’em without Geoff Bay‘s roaring guitars. Glad to see 2/3rds of the band is back at it, though, either way.

The Escatones/Jody Seabody and the Whirls/Jon Black/Darwin’s Finches @ Fitzgerald’s (free!)
This one’s a lineup that’s as wide-ranging as it is cool. There’s {The Escatones}, doing their sludgy, tripping-balls-in-the-back-room surf-rock; there’s the ’70s-tinged, straight-up rock of Jody Seabody and the Whirls; there’s the smart, Mos Def-esque flow of {Jon Black}; and there’s the murky, strange-headed, noisy rawk of Darwin’s Finches. Oh, and it’s free, making a tough decision even tougher. First World Problems, y’all.

Cordial/We Scare Coyotes/Saya/The Roosevelt House Band/Don Piano @ Mango’s
There’ve been a couple of changes to this one, notably that {Giant Battle Monster} have slipped off the bill & been replaced by {Saya}, but hey, don’t be dissuaded — the bands playing are still pretty great, especially swirly, My Education-like instro-rockers {We Scare Coyotes}, and newish hardcore dudes {Cordial}, who I’ve only recently started getting into but who’re already fairly impressive.

For the Community IV with CO: Creation, featuring Tyagaraja, Days N’ Daze, Yello Echo, Devil Killing Moth, BrokenQuote, Nine Minutes, Enloom, P.L.X.T.X, Toxic Steel, Lion Among Me, B.C. Walk, In Pursuit, Jupiter Skyline, Love Horse, Darry Holiday, We Scare Coyotes, EndIsNow, iLL LiaD, Cassette Tape, “Downer”, 72 Names, Elyse, 3 Birds and a Stone, Rampancy, Gut Radio, Jon Black, Metaloyd, Mugsy, Marissa, & Electric Bubbles @ The Compound (2305 Wheeler; 12PM-2AM, free!)
I thought this was originally some kind of a fundraiser-type thing, but going by the flyer — which explicity declares “FREE” — I’m not so sure. I do know this is another show put together by the Houston Free Thinkers group, which is always cool, and they’ve got a hell of a lot of damn good bands.

They cover a wide range, too, from the funkiness of {Yello Echo} to the rowdy punk-folk of Days N’ Daze to the serene vocals of {Tyagaraja} to the ridiculously awesome hip-hop of {iLL LiaD} to the world-eating noise of {P.L.X.T.X}. Not a bunch of bands I’d ever have figured to see together, but hell, who cares? As long as they’re good — and yes, a lot of these are — who cares?

2013 All-Star Weekend/Space City Beat Battle After Show, featuring Rakim, Roosh Williams, H.I.S.D., DJ Nimbus, DJ iPod Ammo, & BBC @ Fitzgerald’s
Okay, let’s think about this — how often does it happen, really, where the afterparty sounds cooler than the actual show? And yet, that’s where I am with this one; while I definitely do like the Space City Beat Battle, don’t get me wrong, it’s the Battle afterparty at Fitzgerald’s that really, truly gets me.

I mean, c’mon, how can it not? You’ve got Rakim as the headliner, for crying out loud, plus {H.I.S.D.}, who are one of the top couple of rap crews in this city, period. Between ’em, I’d bet they can blow damn near anybody else in the house off the freaking table.

Valens/Ideophonic/Tigerparty/Midnight Norma Lane @ The Hive (413 CR 27; Angleton)
For you outside-the-loopers… I’ve been liking {Valens} quite a bit lately, although I’m dying to hear the band’s indie-ish pop-punk — which reminds me, happily, of late-’90s Houston proto-emo like Dig Dug or Badger — better recorded and shinier, since all they’ve got online so far is live stuff.

Then there’s {Midnight Norma Lane}, who knocked me flat with last year’s Moxy Kid EP, which I’d heartily recommend to damn near anybody who likes shoegazer-y rock or just plain old awesome guitars. Get on out of the house, Youth of Angleton…

Runners-Up:
Scott H. Biram/Black Eyed Vermillion/Whiskey Dick/Upside @ The Continental Club
Arthur Yoria/Pale @ The Brewery Tap
Space City Beat Battle Championship Episode 10: Duel Of The Fates, featuring Kelvin K. Brown, Tommy Gunz, DJ Space City, King Henry, Code REDD, yPhoenix, the Kracken, Tony dArk, & more @ Fitzgerald’s (5PM)
Secret Lover/White Crime/Daze of Heaven/Cyclea/Nikkhoo/Sandy Ewen @ Super Happy Fun Land
TRIO 3 (Andrew Cyrille, Oliver Lake, & Reginald Workman) @ Historic Eldorado Ballroom (2310 Elgin; 8PM)
The Core Trio @ Cactus Music (3PM)
Trashed, featuring Psychemagik, GRRRL Parts, Angie Audio, & Ceeplus Bad Knives @ Boondocks
The Journey Agents @ Buffalo Bayou Brewery (12-3PM)
2013 All-Star Weekend, featuring Jay-Z @ Rich’s
Theory of Thieves/Signal Rising/Five Eyes Wide/Gold Star Revenge/Black Kennedy @ Acadia Bar & Grill (3939 FM 1960 W)
2013 All-Star Weekend, featuring Birdman & DJ Khaled @ Warehouse Live
John Legend & Terrence Howard’s {Gifted} All Star Saturday Celebration, featuring John Legend @ Scott’s Skybar Pavilions (1201 Fannin)