Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Chase Hamblin & The Roustabouts (Rev’d!) + Murder the Stout + Clouseaux + The March Divide + More

Getting a late start tonight, unfortunately; sorry ’bout that. It’s Friday, March 29th, y’all, and there’s definitely some good stuff going on tonight, even starting right now. Here we go:

Chase Hamblin & The Roustabouts (album release)/The Trimms/Bonneville Night Life/Dylan Bryson/Michael Viteri @ Fitzgerald’s
Alright, so up at Fitz tonight is the big one, in part because it’s the album release for VAUdeVILLE, the brand-new album from Chase Hamblin & The Roustabouts, which is Chase himself, Corey Power of {Ragged Hearts}, Jeremy Nuncio of the Kelly Doyle Band, & SugarHill engineer Josh Applebee, among others. The album’s very good, in a surprisingly dark way, despite Hamblin’s love for all things poppy being firmly on his sleeve. Check out the review of the album over here.

The other part of the coolness is that tonight’s release party sounds more like a crazed gypsy circus/carnival than anything else. Mills-McCoin‘s serving as the ringmaster for tonight, and there’s belly-dancing from Y.E. Torres, burlesque by Tifa Tittlywinks, and The Braggart Family SideCircus doing, well, sideshow-type things. Apparently there’re also Tarot card readings, magic tricks, & other stuff, to boot, plus book-ending bands {Bonneville Night Life} & {The Trimms}, both of whom I’ve heard good stuff about. Seriously, this sounds like a blast.

Murder The Stout/The Grizzly Band/The Tyburn Jig/The Medicine Years @ Fitzgerald’s
Then, on the other floor up at Fitz, there happens to be a damn-near-as-cool show, to boot. I’ve been mightily impressed by surf-Western-Goth rockers {The Tyburn Jig}, for one, who sound like what might happen if Nick Cave moved out to Marfa and decided to start a surf-rock band, just for the hell of it.

And then there’s the headliners, {Murder the Stout}, who are a damn, damn fine Scottish/American folk-punk-rock-ska band; I’ve seen ’em live, and they can definitely do things trad-style, but they also tend to amp things up and get a bit louder than your average bunch of Celtic folkies. Think The Pogues but hailing from a bit further north. And frontman/accordion player Hugh Morrison‘s a very cool guy, on top of all the rest. Here’s a live video:

Southern Culture on the Skids/Clouseaux/Morry Sochat/Allen Oldies Band @ The Continental Club
No offense to Southern Culture on the Skids, but honestly, they’re not what gets me excited about this show. They’re good and all, don’t get me wrong, but just after their name on this here listing is — oh, holy fucking hell yes — {Clouseaux}, a band that only comes out of hibernation once every four years or so to do a show or two.

Which is a damn shame, really, because there’s very literally nobody around here doing what they do, which is basically surf-lounge-“exotica” with lots of tropical themes and laidback rhythms and cool-daddy-O shirts. And yeah, I know frontman Thomas Escalante and his crew are all grown-ups these days & all, with jobs & kids & mortgages & whatnot, so there’s just not as much time for the music as there used to be. I get that, definitely. But that’s all the more reason for you to see these guys, now, seriously.

The March Divide/The Big Reveal/Silver Spring Monkey/As Day Breaks/Loch Ness Radio @ Super Happy Fun Land
Alright, so I won’t claim to know a whole heck of a lot about The March Divide, myself, but heck, I read this blog, too, and from Josh Macala’s preview earlier this week makes this show sound pretty damn cool. For one thing, I hadn’t realized frontman Jared Putnam had been in now-defunct El Paso band The Conversation, who I’d always thought was pretty good…

Anyway, The March Divide does a nicely-crafted post-emo folk-pop thing that’s halway between Rocky Votolato and Damien Jurado, and that ain’t no bad place to be. You can catch them (er, him?) tonight at Super Happy Fun Land tonight, and hey, here’s a video, for “Jose Cuervo”:

Runners-Up:
Roscoe Mitchell Quartet @ The Historic Eldorado Ballroom (2310 Elgin; 8PM, $13)
Kirko Bangz/Go DJ JQue/DJ Mr. Rogers/DJ Youngstreetz/DJ Def Jamm Blaster/Go DJ Alo @ Bayou Place (500 Texas)
BODY CTRL, featuring Ceeplus Bad Knives, Mr. Castillo, Juan Calero, & DJ Scorpio @ Avant Garden
Carry The Storm/Ten Ton Hammer/Carrion Sun/The Black 13 @ Acadia Bar & Grill
Selkie, a sea tale, featuring Misha Penton & Divergence Vocal Theater @ 4411 Montrose Special Events Gallery (4411 Montrose)