Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Spain Colored Orange + The Wheel Workers + Mikey and the Drags (Rev’d!) + Tron Sack + Flying Fish Sailors + More

Okay, so once upon a time I had relatively few issues coming home on Friday nights and cranking out these little rundown things. Then, we got the kids LEGO Batman 2 for the Wii, and suddenly, every Friday night when I get home, I find myself plopped on the couch next to one or both children, running around LEGO Gotham as Superman or Green Lantern or whoever else, smashing everything in sight. sigh.

Which is by way of explanation as to why this is so damn late tonight, Friday, January 10th. Argh. Luckily, it shouldn’t be too-too late for some of these shows, at least, so get on out there ASAP:

Spain Colored Orange/The Wheel Workers/The Voltage Drop/Little Joe Washington @ The Continental Club ($10)
Here’s half of the Main Street Island one-two punch for this evening, up at The Continental Club, and yeah, it’s a damn good one.

Kenny The Spider was originally listed as the headliner, but they had to drop off for some reason, which, hey, I’m okay with, since it leaves more time for not only the lush, orchestral, Apples In Stereo-esque pop of {Spain Colored Orange}, but also my favorite vegan, sociopolitically-minded gang of indie-pop music-makers, {The Wheel Workers}. Go, smile, sing along, and feel enlightened.

Fuzz-A-Rama Beat Stomp, featuring Mikey and the Drags & The Blind Owls @ The Big Top
And here’s the other half, one door down at The Big Top, where the latest installment of the Fuzz-A-Rama Beat Stomp will be blasting gritty, raucous garage-rock straight into your skull.

I’m not real familiar with Corpus Christi band The Blind Owls, unfortunately, but I do know Mikey and the Drags; I caught them live at FPSF this year, which was excellent, and I recently was able to dig myself out from under the pile of work that’s collapsed on top of me and listened to their “new” (as of September) limited-edition cassette/Bandcamp release, On The Loose!

And dammit, why did I wait so long? I’ve liked what Miguel Ponce and his crew have done before now, to be sure, but this EP feels and sounds like a huge step forward for the band, amping up the energy and broadening their sound quite a bit in the process (to even include some more straightforward surf-rock, which is cool). Check out the review over here.

Dead Mineral/The Tron Sack @ Rudyard’s
A very cool lineup at Rudz tonight, as well, with headlining guys {Dead Mineral}, whom longtime scene-watchers might remember as Novox, nearly a freaking decade ago. They play some seriously atmospheric, kinda Britrock-influenced (to me, anyway) stuff, and I’m liking what I’ve heard so far, definitely.

Then there’s Tron Sack, whom I’ve mentioned pretty recently right around here; it’s a new project of two mainstays of the College Station scene, Kelly Minnis of cool-ass band The Ex-Optimists and Matt Shea of also cool-ass “band” Atarimatt, banding together to make music that is droney and proggy and heavy as fuck. And if you haven’t heard ’em yet, you really need to, especially if you happen to be into droney, proggy, heavy things.

The Flying Fish Sailors/Clandestine @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
Lastly, the Mucky Duck has an utterly fantastic bill tonight, a double shot of folk goodness. I’m not sure if it’s even really an openers/headliners thing, going by the Website, but both bands playing are freaking incredible, if you’ve never yet seen them. Unfortunately, it appears that lilting Celtic folk musicians {Clandestine} have probably already left the stage — arrrgh — but the also-awesome (and even more long-lived) band {The Flying Fish Sailors} should just be getting going right now. If you like music with pipes and strings and a whole lot of humor, you need to see these guys.

Runners-Up:
Royal Bangs/Bad Suns @ Fitzgerald’s
Plague/Thraxis/Malevolent Force/T.H.C./Moral Distrust/The Heroin Kids/K.T.C.M. @ The White Swan
Rebirth 4, featuring Abatu vs. E-Rush, Oscillator Z, TrollPhace, Sadhu, JPhelphz, Darth Fader, Sweetest Taboo, & Buda Love @ Kryptonite (709 Franklin)
The Molly Ringwalds @ House of Blues
Blaggards @ Molly Malone’s (Spring)