Yr. Weekend, Pt. 3: Latch Key Kids + Dead to the World + Buxton + Dana Falconberry + Fat Tony + David Ramirez + Race to the Moon + More

We’re on to Saturday now, August 24th, and yours truly is taking a break from moving/trashing/refurbishing furniture in the hot, hot sun to type a little bit about what all’s going on tonight. And yeah, there’s a fair bit; here we go:

Latch Key Kids/Bury The Crown/Dead to the World/Fat By The Gallon/This Year’s Tiger/Crimewave @ Fitzgerald’s
Yep, yep, yep. A full slate of melodic, fast, in-your-face punk going on tonight up at Fitzgerald’s, with a lineup capped off by local legends the {Latch Key Kids}. The band that first made its name back in the mid-’90s as a straight-up skatepunk band has grown up in the intervening years, and these days they play with a clear-eyed maturity that’s great to witness, even while they’re obviously having fun. Last year’s politically-minded Democracy: The Art of Maintaining a State of Fear was a nice, nice shot across the bow; here’s hoping they’ve got more coming.

Plus, there’s also {Dead to the World}, a band I got to see opening for the LKK last year and was mightily impressed by (despite some tempo problems). They play some damn fine streetpunk that’ll make you want to punch the ceiling while you’re jumping around to the dirtied-up, half-distorted guitars. And hey, then there’s This Year’s Tiger, another band I like quite a bit, with their roots-rock-tinged take on punk; you want to get there early, trust me.

Buxton/Dana Falconberry/Cavern Hymnal @ The Continental Club
The Continental Club looks pretty damn awesome tonight, too, in large part because of roots-pop icons {Buxton}, who I’ve loved for quite a few years now. Sergio Trevino, Jason Willis, Chris Wise, Austin Sepulvado, and Justin Terrell aren’t the flashiest of bands, by far — they just kind of get up there and play — but hell, it works. They’re a working band, the kind that just puts its head down and does what it does; if you like it, great, if not, who cares? Buxton sounds (to me, at least) like a band that would still be making music, playing those rambling, gently insistent, backwoodsy songs to the empty wilderness if they had to. It’s just what they do. It helps, of course, that they’re freaking brilliant at it, but still, the point stands.

I’m embarrassed to admit, by the way, that I totally missed Dana Falconberry when she came through town last, opening for Shearwater up at Fitz. I’ve gotten to listen to her some since, and I’ve honestly been kicking myself for missing out on her subtle, low-voiced, heavy-lidded folk-pop. Check out “Lake Charlevoix,” below:

Fat Tony @ Cactus Music (3PM)
Smart Ass Black Boy Listening Party, featuring Fat Tony, Dayta, & Good Grief @ The Flat (1701 Commonwealth; 9PM)
Okay, so you may not have realized it, but today is apparently officially Smart Ass Black Boy Day, so declared because today’s the day Houston/NY/LA (I can’t keep track where the hell he’s living these days, honestly) rapper {Fat Tony} — who is one of the best rappers to come out of Houston, pretty much ever — drops his hotly-anticipated new album, entitled (duh) Smart Ass Black Boy. Haven’t heard it yet, myself, but I’ve got pretty damn high hopes. Not sure if he’ll be rapping at tonight’s listening party or if it’ll just be a DJ set (I suspect it’s the latter), but check it out either way.

David Ramirez/Erin Ivey @ Fitzgerald’s
Since running across Austin-based troubadour David Ramirez a year or so ago, I’ve been totally, totally head-over-heels for the guy’s warm, smoke-roughened, wise-beyond-his-years voice and heartfelt, soul-baring lyricism, whether it’s on the aptly-entitled “in recovery” album Apologies or this year’s The Rooster EP, which sees Ramirez moving on and trying to make a new life for himself. The man’s got an amazing knack for taking these intensely personal thoughts and making them seem downright universal, like he’s speaking for all of us, as on “The Bad Days,” where he tries to reassure his lover that while, yeah, they’re bound to run into problems on down the road, they’ll still be together.

Race to the Moon (EP release)/Locate/Golden Sombrero/Jim Casino @ Avant Garden ($5)
I’m pretty new to local guys {Race to the Moon} — who are themselves pretty new to the scene ’round here, I believe — but I’ve gotten to listen a little bit to the self-titled EP they’ll be releasing tonight up at the Avant Garden, and I’m liking it a whole lot more than I’d guessed I would. They claim Wilco and Dinosaur Jr. as their biggest influences, but I’m hearing a lot that sounds like Silkworm(!), with some seriously Smoking Popes-esque vocals and Sebadoh-like song structures thrown underneath. And hey, that’s no bad combination, in my book…

Runners-Up:
Funny or Die! Oddball Fest, featuring Dave Chappelle, Flight of the Conchords, & more @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Keeton Coffman @ House of Blues (Crossroads Stage)
Bowel/Beneath Oblivion/Oceans of Slumber/Ten Ton Hammer/Sift Through The Ashes @ Warehouse Live
Free Radicals/Zwee/Pat Brink @ Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar (free!)
Gritsy, featuring Coki @ Walter’s