Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Clinic + No Joy + Adelaine + Holy Fiction + Square and Compass + Kristine Mills + Houston Celtic Festival + More

On into Saturday, April 27th, today, and again, there’s a crapload of good stuff happening. Here’s what looks/sounds good to me:

Clinic/No Joy/Empty Shells @ Fitzgerald’s
It’s a close, close fight for the top spot on my personal list tonight, but yeah, this one up at Fitz comes out the victor. There’s the headliners, obviously, eccentric/obscure British noisemakers Clinic, whose “Walking With Thee” still lives on my iPod even now, a ball of sharp-edged wire and fuzz and grime all wrapped around a throwback keyboard. I’ve been a fan since the 2002 album of the same name, and every time they pop up again, they’re even stranger than before (and yet still alluring, somehow), like a truly post-rock Radiohead if they’d been more into Pink Floyd instead of Yes and King Crimson (okay, I’m just guessing there, but you get my point).

Even more enthralling to me at the moment, though, is Canadian trio No Joy, whose new album Wait To Pleasure I first heard just a couple of days ago but which bowled me over so mightily that I felt compelled to review the damn thing. The band takes all that shoegaze/dreampop stuff I grew up loving and throws it into a trashcan fire, then dances gleefully around it as it burns, singing sweetly while getting stoned on the fumes. Less MBV/Slowdive/Ride, more Sonic Youth/Primal Scream/Black Rebel Motorcycle Club; yes, please, and more of it, thanks.

Adelaine (CD release)/Sumerlin/Castle Lights/Carter/The Greatest View @ Wildwood UMC (Magnolia; 6PM, $10)
Just got a review online for {Adelaine}‘s brand-new album Currents, which the band is releasing this evening up at Wildwood United Methodist Church in Magnolia; if you can make it up there, definitely do, because the quintet’s heart-on-sleeve, thoughtful-yet-strong melodic rock is well worth listening to & seeing live. They’re one of my favorites of the latest class of Jimmy Eat World acolytes, and I seriously can’t help but bob my head along when I hear them.

And hey, here’s a taste of the band’s new album prior to the actual show:

Walker Lukens/The Marmalakes/Holy Fiction @ Mango’s ($10)
Sweet! Local ensemble {Holy Fiction} plays out far, far too rarely, sadly, so I get really excited any time I see ’em on a bill somewhere. They play this awesomely deliberate-sounding, intricate, gorgeous music that’s warm and melodic and insanely smart all at once; imagine a full band expanding on Peter Gabriel’s more anthemic/elegaic music (“Red Rain,” “I Grieve,” etc.), and you’ll be in the ballpark…

Square & Compass/Cadaver Dogs/Rahab The Monster/Meraki-Toska/Fire Moth/Don’t Poke The Bear/Love Knife/Only Beast @ Dean’s/Notsuoh ($7/$12)
Oh, yes… There’s quite a mishmash of bands playing up at Dean’s/Notsuoh tonight, one that looks very cool. Not only is {Square and Compass}, one of my absolute-favorite indie-rock/post-punk bands around, playing (check out How To Escape, if you haven’t already), but so is Don’t Poke The Bear, who I’ve been meaning to hear for quite a while, and {Fire Moth}, which is The Band Formerly Known As Blackie Dammett; the latter’s especially intriguing, since their name change has seemingly rejuvenated the band and gotten them fully cranking on recording some new tunes. Check out “Still Got It,” below:

Finally, if you make it up to Dean’s & Notsuoh tonight, make sure you give a hearty “congratulations” to Square and Compass frontman Thomas Heard, who proposed to his girlfriend Christy live onstage at the end of last month:

(And yes, she accepted. phew; that would’ve been damned awkward otherwise…)

Adam Bricks/Kristine Mills (CD release)/Charles P & The 10%/Tom Lynch @ The Continental Club
This show’s not generally my cup of tea, but I got to meet & hear {Kristine Mills} a few years ago up at pre-selloff {KTRU}, and she won me over, against the odds, with her sultry pop-jazz crooning. She’s better than I’d ever expected her to be, honestly, and I walked away pretty damn impressed. Then there’s Houston/NY folksinger {Adam Bricks}, whose album City Songs is flat-out stellar, bringing to mind a more citified Bob Dylan, or maybe a less-addicted Lou Reed.

2013 Houston Celtic Festival and Highland Games, featuring Brian McNeill, Jiggernaut, Ed Miller, Clandestine, Jil Chambless & Scooter Muse, Celtic Voyage, Simply Scottish, Dene Foye, The Celtic Chorus of Houston, Earl Grey in the Morning, The Jig Is Up, Flashpoint, The Pride O’ Bedlam, Kilderkin International Dancers, The Tomfooligans, Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, The Travelling Murphy, Sia LaBelle Beaton, Wyndnwyre, Ricket Pittman, & Willow and Her Giant @ The Houston Farm and Ranch Club (1 Abercrombie; 10AM-7PM)
I dunno how today’s rainstorm will affect the festivities, but either way, fans of Irish/Celtic/folk music would do well to check out this weekend’s Houston Celtic Festival & Highland Games. I can’t claim to know all of the folks playing, but I’m a fan of {Wyndnwyre} and {Clandestine}, in particular, and have heard good things about The Jig Is Up! & {Jiggernaut}, as well. This is seriously the best lineup you’ll see outside of the Mucky Duck’s St. Patrick’s Day madness (which, yes, you’ve already missed for this year).

Runners-Up:
The Besnard Lakes/Infinite Apaches/Vacation Eyes @ Rudyard’s ($8)
2nd Annual It Came From The Bayou Printmaking Festival, featuring DJ Psychedelic Sex Panther @ The Continental Club (12-6PM; free!)
the last place you look/Mechanical Boy/Catch Fever/In Memory Of @ Fitzgerald’s
Texas Crawfish & Music Festival, featuring Black Joe Lewis, Deap Vally, Shakey Graves, Max Frost, Jake La Botz, Matt Ellis, & Tenlons Fort @ Old Town Spring (Spring)
Robbie Fulks @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
Buffalo Bayou Brewery Spring Fair 2013, featuring Chase Hamblin & a bunch of other cool musicians @ Buffalo Bayou Brewery (5301 Nolda; 5-8PM)
Crashing Colors/P.L.X.T.X/Aokigahara/Proud Member/Three Bitter Words/Bang Topanga @ Cornerstone (Baytown; 6:30PM)
43rd Annual Houston International Festival, featuring Casa Samba Brazilian Extravaganza, Oliver Mtukudzi, SambaDa, Rob Curto & Forro Matuto, Jovino Santos Neto with Kellye Gray, Texas Brass Band, Seu Jacinto, Bombasta, Jose Miguel Yamal Latin Jazz Conjunto, & more @ Downtown Houston
Mindset2, featuring Orents Stirner, Albas Serenatas, & Damon Allen @ Super Happy Fun Land (7PM-1AM)
The Great Tequila Shoot Out Tequila & Cocktail Festival, featuring Kevin Charles, Otenki, Los Skarnales, Kyle Berg, DJ Senega, Wolf Creek Pistoleros, DJ Ill-Set, & DJ Bizz @ Hughes Hangar (2811 Washington; 12-6PM)
Gipsy Kings @ House of Blues
Soul Sessions, featuring A Fistful of Soul @ MKT Bar (1001 Austin; 8-11PM)
Nightlife, featuring Ceeplus Bad Knives & Mr. Castillo @ Clutch City Squire (410 Main)
The Hectic/Shotgun Rebellion/Oceans of Slumber/Project Armageddon/Mechanisms of a False Reality @ Garage Mahal (7068 W. 43rd)
Placid Blue/Channel K @ Jet Lounge
Scout Bar Nine Year Anniversary Party, featuring EraseTheVirus, Saturate, Trancend, & more @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)