Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Linus Pauling Quartet (Rev’d!) + 30footFALL + Bickley + Night Moves + David Dove & Jawaad Taylor + CounterCrawl + More

Spent the day with the kids and grandparents down in Stafford, racing LEGO cars at Techno Chaos and visiting the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (which is jaw-droppingly beautiful and peaceful, regardless of what religion you subscribe to), so I’m only now able to hit the different shows going on tonight (Saturday, July 20th, to be precise). And yeah, there are some pretty great ones happening; here goes:

Linus Pauling Quartet (EP release) @ Vinal Edge (7PM; free!)
First & foremost, I’ve got to point over to Vinal Edge this evening, for the official-shmofficial release party for the {Linus Pauling Quartet}‘s new EP, Find What You Love and Let It Kill You. I’ve been an LP4 fan for a few years now, in part because I feel like I never quite know what they’re going to do next — swampy, bluesy classic rock? Check. Thundering, doom-y, fantasy-fixated metal? Yep. Swirling, head-exploding psych haze? Oh, yeah. Quirky, Houston-centric pop? Believe it or not, yes.

And with this EP, they take an even bigger left turn, unexpectedly turning down and getting all dreampop-y and shoegaze-y; seriously, some of it comes off like Sebadoh, some like Mazzy Star, and some like the Chemical Brothers (and some like the Born Liars, but that’s only one track out of three), and it all works astoundingly well. Check out the full review over here, then head on up to the Heights & check ’em out live.

30footFALL 20th Anniversary Show, featuring 30footFALL, Bickley, The Smiffs, & Skeleton Dick @ Fitzgerald’s
Tonight’s runner-up show was a no-brainer, seriously. Ever since I first saw ’em back in college, {30footFALL} have been my local pop-punk heroes, The Band That Wouldn’t Quit; hell, even when frontman Butch moved away to the East Coast, they still popped back up again, year after year, mostly for their annual Christmas show, but sometimes for other things, as well. And after seeing ’em a couple of years back at FPSF, I have to say, they’ve barely lost a step in those years gone by. They still blaze with that roaring, bitter, snarky punk fire, and it’s awesome to see.

Plus, Bickley! Holy shit, I didn’t know they were coming back together, even briefly; “Uncle Borloff” remains one of my all-time absolute favorite punk bands of, um, ever. Hot damn…

Night Moves/Bang Bangz @ Fitzgerald’s
Wow. Honestly, most touring band-local band pairups I’ve see in recent years around here have been seemingly more aimed at shoehorning together as many disparate styles as possible than at bringing together like-minded music-makers. Tonight up at Fitz, though, is the rare exception, with local trio {Bang Bangz} playing host to Minneapolites(?) Night Moves, forming a bill that’s pretty damn perfect. Sure, the Night Moves guys are more glam-rock than darkly electronic like Bang Bangz, but even still, there’s a common thread that united the two bands’ musical styles. Both are dark, murky, night-time music, and I suspect on this night, at least, they’ll fit together like pieces to the same puzzle.

David Dove & Jawwaad Taylor (CD release)/Lisa Harris/DJ Rachel Orosco @ Art League Houston (1953 Montrose; 7:30-11PM)
And over at the Art League Houston tonight, there’s another release show going on, this time for the brand-new CD released by two of Houston’s most well-respected experimentalists, {David Dove} and Jawaad Taylor. They’re releasing new album These Are Eyes, See?, which apparently consists of Dove’s trombone, lots of “sub bass frequencies,” and I’m guessing some spoken-word-ish lyricism. It sounds like a neat album, and the release party sounds equally intriguing…

CC&inf;: CounterCrawl 8, featuring Midnight Norma Lane, The Lizzies, Pocket Full Of Posies, Jordan Michael Pannell, Kung Fu Treachery, & more @ Last Organic Outpost/Bohemeo’s/Buffalo Bayou/The Lost Ward Gallery/Continuum Headquarters (meet at Market Square; 11:30AM-10PM)
I’m not much of a drinker, really, so I must shamefacedly admit that the whole “pub crawl” idea’s never appealed to me much. “Drink, stumble, get loud, repeat” just doesn’t do much for me, y’know? That said, I’ve been intrigued for a while now by the annual CounterCrawl that hits the downtown/Montrose/East End areas of our fair city every year, in part because it seems less about getting hammered and more about a roving party. It helps, too, that they tend to have some damn good bands, and this year’s no exception, with cool loudgaze indie-rockers {Midnight Norma Lane} heading up the list of musical performances.

Runners-Up:
Sonny Vincent/The Snow Indian @ Notsuoh
M.O.D./Shawn Whitaker/Uncleansed/V.B.T./Legion @ Walter’s ($10)
Crash Kings/Nico Vega/Psychic Palms @ Warehouse Live (Studio)
Rock Baby Rock It!, featuring Vicky Tafoya and Big Beat, Levi Dexter, Fabulous Harmonaires, Star Mountain Dreamers, Devil’s Daughters with Danny B. Harvey, Houston Burlesque Revuew, & more @ The Continental Club/The Big Top/Pachinko Room
Gritsy, featuring Youngsta, Goth Trad, & Matty G @ Warehouse Live
Here Come The Girls! @ Mango’s (free!/$5)
The Pit/Gods Of Death Screw/Headcrusher/Lizzy Borden Had An Axe/What Lies Behind/Dysmetria/Blood On The Strand/Sever The Silence/The Hero Must Die/Man Meets Fate/8eTribe/Take This City/All The Dead Pilots @ BFE Rock Club
J. Paul Jr. & the Zydeco Nubreeds/DJ Eddimix @ The Box E (Barrett Station; $5)