Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: The Tontons + Adam Bricks + Tyagaraja + Alkari + P.L.X.T.X + Keeton Coffman + The Beans + Days N’ Daze + More

Hey, folks — rolling around to the weekend-time again (today being Friday, July 26th), and yes, there’s plenty of cool stuff happening. Here we go, people:

The Tontons/Ishi/The Couch @ Fitzgerald’s
I know, I know — {The Tontons} end up at the top of these little lists a lot, even when there’re tons of other good shows happening alongside.

What can I say? I really, truly love this freaking band, and although every time I see them, I find myself cringing a little bit, afraid they’re going to finally let me down and be…well, not bad, because I’m not sure that’s possible, but merely “okay,” they still blow me away. It happens every goddamn time, honest. The band is just this fiery ball of soul-infused psych-pop, churning away furiously up there on the stage while Asli Omar howls and croons like Lady Day dropped through a timewarp from the 1940s into our modern era.

Adam Bricks and The Dead/B.E. Godfrey/Tyagaraja/Deep Cuts @ Mango’s ($7)
Turning down somewhat, Mango’s has a damn fine bill going this evening, as well, one that includes brooding folk-pop hero {B.E. Godfrey} (of {listenlisten} fame/infamy, although his solo stuff’s equally great), citified folkster {Adam Bricks} and his new(?) backing band, The Dead, and mystical, golden-voiced troubadour {Tyagaraja}, who you really, really need to hear sing at least once in your life. There’s also {Deep Cuts}, a band I keep freaking missing out on seeing, sadly, but whom I’m told are pretty awesome.

Bateman Red/A Room in The Body/The Greatest View/Alkari @ The Concert Pub North
And for the Northsiders… I dunno most of the bands playing up at The Concert Pub North tonight, but I do know {Alkari}, and you need to, too. They play awesome, awesome straight-ahead alternarock like it used to be done back in the ’90s before grunge and pop-punk took over the radio dial, bringing to mind folks like The Replacements, Soul Asylum, The Young Fresh Fellows, Sebadoh, Squirrel Bait, and (no, I’m serious) the Goo Goo Dolls back when they didn’t suck Adult Alternative ass. Throw your mind back to MTV in its 120 Minutes heyday; that’s what Alkari sound like, to me, and that’s definitely no bad thing, at all. Oh, and they also happen to have released one of my favorite albums of last year, Blackout Falls, so grab a hold of that and be amazed.

P.L.X.T.X/Zorch/LIMB/Sunrise and Ammunition/Starfighter Speedship @ House of Creeps (807 Williams; $5)
What’s that? You say you’re tired of all that “rock” stuff and want something, well, kinda weird? Hey, you’re in luck, because the House of Creeps has a full-ass bushel of weird going on tonight, with one-man digital hardcore noise band {P.L.X.T.X} — who’s awesome, by the by, in a cave-your-skull-in kind of way, and who you should check out if you like anything Atari Teenage Riot/Alec Empire have ever done — Austin strange-Os Zorch, glitch-hop/electronics-manipulator {LIMB}, and cerebral jazz-prog-stompers {Sunrise and Ammunition}, all four of which are well, well worth seeing/hearing.

The Beans/Oil Boom/The Docs/Keeton Coffman @ Fitzgerald’s
If the name {Keeton Coffman} sounds familiar, that’s because until last fall he was the bombastic, talented-as-hell frontman for local rockers The 71’s; right after releasing the band’s stellar We Are The Seventy Ones, the band broke up, and Coffman went off on his own to do something else. Happily, that “something else” happens to be just as great as — or heck, maybe better than — his old band’s stuff. Coffman’s solo music these days is dark and turbulent and bluesy, a far cry from the snarl-and-bounce of The 71’s, but he definitely makes it work; take a listen to new song “The Magician”:

He’s opening this evening, but definitely stick around for headliners {The Beans}, a crew from Bellaire who play similarly murky, bluesy stuff, albeit with more of a backwoodsy, tent-revival raveup vibe to it; there’s a serious Robert Plant resemblance in Sam Griffin‘s vocals, but that’s no bad thing to me, especially since it’s married to music that sounds like it crawled out of a hole deep, deep back in the Piney Woods.

Babel Fishh/Communist Kayte/Days N’ Daze/Ex-Girlfriends @ East Side Social Center (4202 Canal; $5)
Finally, there’s some countercultural entertaining-ness happening out in the East End tonight, at the East Side Social Center (aka, the building that formerly housed Vinyl Junkie), with a handful of folks who are united by ideology if not by overall sound.

There’s {Babel Fishh}, first and foremost, who sadly has relocated from Houston over to the Big Easy, I hear, which is a major loss for experimental/indie hip-hop in this city; the guy’s truly awesome to witness, I swear. Then there’s San Jose band Communist Kayte, who do a nicely Jawbreaker-meets-Green Day pop-punk thing that I’m liking quite a bit.

And I can’t overlook local protest-folk-punks Days N’ Daze, either, because they’re a whole hell of a lot of strange, quirky fun — and holy fucking crap, I’m glad they’re okay after the car wreck they were involved in yesterday in New Mexico. Damn, y’all. Last but not least, there’s newish outfit {The Ex-Girlfriends}, who I have yet to hear but mean to very, very soon…

Runners-Up:
Cassette Tape/Idiginis/The Skatastrophics/Gaby Veray @ Avant Garden
Wiz Khalifa/A$AP Rocky/B.o.B./Trinidad Jame$/Joey Bada$$ & Pro Era/Berner/Chevy Woods/Smoke Dza @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
French Horn Rebellion/Josh Dupont/James Reed @ Boondocks
SoulHat/Grand Old Grizzly/The Mavens @ The Continental Club
Mama Tried @ Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe (Galveston)