Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Matt Pond + Hoofprints + Brand New Hearts + Junius + Featherface + We Were Wolves + M.O.D. + More

Brace yourselves, folks, because tonight, otherwise known as Friday, February 22nd, is promising to be one hell of a night, rain or no. There’s a metric crap-ton of good shows happening this evening, so you’ve honestly got your pick; here’s what I think looks cool:

Jukebox The Ghost/Matt Pond/The Lighthouse and The Whaler @ House of Blues (Bronze Peacock Room)
Philly-bred Matt Pond — who’s dropped the “PA” from his group’s name, finally — is one of those “oh, yeah — those guys!” bands, to me. I’ve loved every damn thing I’ve heard from ’em, but then they kind of slip my mind ’til the next time I stumble across one of their songs on my iPod. It’s sad and stupid, I know, because they really are an incredible band, and I’m always kind of bemused as to why they’re not bigger than they are; maybe everybody else has the same issue I do? I dunno.

Check out “Love To Get Used,” from the band’s forthcoming album The Lives Inside the Lines in Your Hand, due out this coming May:

I’d be remiss if I didn’t point a big thumbs-up over towards Jukebox the Ghost, as well — the band does a brilliantly addictive kind of sugary/shiny-sweet pop-rock that points over to Fountains of Wayne and Ultimate Fakebook and Cheap Trick all at the same time.

Hoofprints (tape release)/B.E. Godfrey/Brothers Or Not/Brand New Hearts @ Houston House of Creeps (807 Williams; $5)
This one has three of the bands/musicians I’ve most been wanting to hear lately, believe it or not. First off, there’s {Hoofprints}, which includes ex-members of Stadium, Little Compass, Golden Cities, & The Mahas, and whose tape-release party tonight’s show happens to be, for their recent cassette out on Better Days Will Haunt You.

Then there’s B.E. Godfrey, better known to the H-town music crowd as one of the main guys behind murk-folk gang {listenlisten}; while that band’s on a break of sorts, Ben’s out on his own and using the inimitable voice of his for a set of songs that are less dark than his band’s music generally tends to be but are still great nonetheless.

And last but far from least, there’s {Brand New Hearts}, the new band from Nathan Parsons of Ultramagg, Ben Murphy of {Bright Men of Learning}/Panic in Detroit/etc., Jeff Senske of BMOL, and Ryan Hull of {Bring Back The Guns}. If you don’t think that sounds awesome right there, well, you apparently didn’t live in Montrose in the late ’90s (or hate good music, whichever), because these four guys were responsible for some of the most awesome bands I was fortunate to witness back then.

Rather than wax all hyperbolic and get stupid, I’ll leave it at that for now — check out the interview I did very recently (i.e., today) with Nathan, right on over here.

Caspian/Junius/Co-Pilot @ Rudyard’s
Yes, yes, yes. Initially, this was just Caspian and Junius, and that would’ve been damn cool all on its own, I have to say. The latter put out one hell of a surprise this past year with Reports From the Threshold of Death, which grabs hold of Neurosis’s thundering, menacing sound and throws it up to the cold, uncaring, glittering stars, while the headliners are similarly epic and majestic in scope, albeit with a bit more grime on the overall sound.

Late addition {Co-Pilot}, then, comes in like the icing on the cake. They’re easily one of the best spacerock bands I’ve ever heard, and they only seem to get better with repeated listens/shows. If you’re into high-flying, nod-your-head-and-rock-out instro-rock and you haven’t yet heard The Course of Empire, trust me: you really, really should.

Featherface/Frank Smith/Glass the Sky/Pageantry @ Walter’s
Oooh, damn. This is getting to be rough, actually; tonight’s a hard call, and this show over at Walter’s doesn’t make it any easier. I truly, truly love {Featherface}, and their Actual Magic album is a slow-simmering gem, seriously — plus, they knocked me flat with a Fleetwood Mac cover the last time I saw ’em play. To make matters worse (er, better), they’re playing with {Glass the Sky}, who are extremely promising and cool themselves, melding prog with pop and unabashedly thoughtful lyricism on their self-titled debut EP. Catch ’em while you can, folks.

Electric Six/Gabriel the Marine/DuneTX @ Fitzgerald’s ($7)
Oh, wow. I’ve never caught Electric Six live, unfortunately, but damn, I think I need to. Going by what I’ve heard so far off the band’s new live album, Absolute Pleasure (and the utterly insane videos they’ve released up to now), their shows must be one hell of a spectacle. Get on up to Fitz tonight to see for yourself.

The Boxing Lesson/Purple/Purapharm/We Were Wolves @ Mango’s
Okay, so I’ve got a cringing admission to make: I had no, no, no idea {We Were Wolves} were calling Houston home these days. The last I’d heard, the band was still out in Beaumont, but Jeoaf from {Knights of the Fire Kingdom} was kind enough to let me know that his compadres in WWW have been living here for several months now.

Egg on my face, seriously…I’m glad to hear it, though, because I really do dig the hell out of the Wolves’ stomp-your-face-in, sludgy, overfuzzed breed of no-labels rawk, which rides the line between garage-y rock and metal while giving the finger to both sides (and then stealing their girlfriends, to boot).

M.O.D./Carry the Storm/Will to Live/Uncleansed @ The 19th Hole (Spring)
Wait…what? Am I reading that right? Okay, apparently I am — legendary thrashers M.O.D. are playing tonight up in Spring, at The 19th Hole, of all places. And while it boggles my mind heavily to think of those dudes playing at what’s basically a sports bar, hell, I’d be willing to pay to see the faces of the locals as Billy Milano & his crew, not to mention local hardcore heroes {Will to Live} and metal guys {Carry The Storm} make the building explode into tiny, tiny bits of wood and glass.

Okay, okay — so apparently the place does book quite a few bands, and I’m being unnecessarily harsh. Sorry, y’all; either way, it makes me happy as hell to see M.O.D. roll through the area once again…

Runners-Up:
AR*V, featuring Zoofelia, The Lotus Effect, & Downer @ Dean’s (free!)
Garden Fest the Second, featuring Elixir Kid, Say Girl Say, We Scare Coyotes, Cosmic Bug Loaf, Forever Miles, FLCON FCKER, Super Robot Party, The Huxtables, The Dead C Scales, & Lion Among Men @ Avant Garden
Teya’s House Party, featuring Craig Kinsey & Hank Schyma @ 2201 Preston (8-11:30PM)
Metal Summit VII: The Ossuary Industries Showcase, featuring Demoniacal Genuflection, Mourning, & Spectral Manifest @ Sound Exchange (8:30PM)
Every Time I Die/The Acacia Strain/Vanna/Hundredth/No Bragging Rights @ Warehouse Live (Studio)
Papa Grows Funk/Moreland & Arbuckle/Little Joe Washington @ The Continental Club
11th Annual Carnaval do Brazil, featuring Luiz Coutinho, Fernando Seixas, Loiz Albez, Gibi Dos Santos, & more @ Stereo Live