Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Brand New Heart + Ragged Hearts + Artopia + Jealous Creatures + March to the Sea + The Phlegmatics + Molly Ringwald + More

On into Saturday now, January 25th, and the icy bleakness of yesterday has given way to, well, a really awesomely nice (if still chilly) blue-sky day outside. Which is a good thing, believe me, because there’s a ton of excellent stuff going on today/tonight; here goes:

Brand New Hearts/Golden Sombrero/Race To The Moon @ The White Swan
Damn, I love these guys. {Brand New Hearts} combines the talents of Nathan Parsons (ex-Ultramagg), Ben Murphy (ex-Panic in Detroit/-Lucky Motors/-Pop Deflation/-a billion other bands), and Jeff Senske (ex-Bright Men of Learning, all guys who’ve made amazing music separately in the past, and turns them, Voltron-style, into a badass juggernaut of head nod-inducing, just-distorted-enough, catchy as hell power-pop. Think Ultimate Fakebook, think (early) Weezer, think The Posies, think Sloan, and you’ll be in the ballpark. And if you can, grab a copy of their self-titled cassette, because yes, it’s great.

Opening the night is another guitar-pop band, {Race to the Moon}, who are similar in sound but kind of on the other side of the “age” spectrum, with the band mostly being a bunch of youngsters as opposed to BNH’s Old Dude Like Me-ness. I’ve liked what I’ve heard so far; they’re one of the more promising young bands I’ve heard lately. In-between’s a bit of a mystery, at least to me — I’d never heard of {Golden Sombrero} ’til this past week, but apparently the band includes Wonko from College Station heroes The Ex-Optimists, and that’s no bad thing…

Ragged Hearts @ Cactus Music (3PM)
I’m putting this one early because I really don’t want you to miss the boat, and yeah, it starts in about an hour from now, so… After many, many years of relative quiet, great, great roots-rock outfit {Ragged Hearts} is alive & kicking once again and making an appearance at Cactus Music this afternoon, and hallelujah for that.

They’ve just released The Champ, their first full-length in six freaking years(!), and even after a quick listen, I’m still having to pick my face up off the floor. There’s less of the “rootsy”-ness this time around, it’s true, but in its place is a more straight-up classic rock/pop sound, sending the band veering over into the rarefied, rough-around-the-edges realm of folks like The Replacements and The Hold Steady (with The Boss peeking in through the trees). These guys are seriously one of Houston’s most unfairly-overlooked bands, and dammit, that needs to change.

Houston Press Artopia, featuring Ceeplus Badknives, Electric Attitude, Featherface, Deep Cuts, & DJ Dave Wrangler @ 2101 Winter St. (8-11PM)
Artsy party people, yep, this one’s for you. Folks have been looking forward to Artopia for a while now, and with good reason — from all reports, it’s a very cool party, bringing together the worlds of art, fashion, food, and music, which encompasses a lot of awesome stuff.

I can’t say much for the art or fashion sides of things, myself, but I can vouch for the bands they’ve tapped to play this year, a list that includes funky rockers {Electric Attitude}, majestically hazy psych-popsters {Featherface}, King DJs {Ceeplus Bad Knives} and {Dave Wrangler}, and {Deep Cuts}, who I’ve been seriously wanting to see. Add that to excellent food, cool art, cool (I guess?) fashions, and great food, and hey, that’s a good time.

The Black Market Club/Luxley/Olivia/March to the Sea/Jealous Creatures @ Mango’s ($7)
No clue on the headliners at this show up at Mango’s tonight, I’m afraid — Luxley, The Black Market Club, and the un-Googleable Olivia are all new to me — but I definitely like the openers. First up is {Jealous Creatures}, a truly excellent band that plays this out-West highway-driving music that points backwards to both classic Cowboy Junkies and Elastica in equal measure.

Then there’s {March to the Sea}, who are relative newcomers but who I’ve gotten to like quite a bit in a short amount of time. Their Forest EP, from back in September, is very cool, kind of brooding indie-emo-rock that crunches and stomps along through a murky landscape while you watch/listen…

The Medrano Brothers Death Circus, featuring Love Knife, The Snow Indian, Wayon For Sex Jennings, The Phlegmatics, Brandi Bell, Kirsten Clingman, Jandro Nerdo, & Artful Dodger @ Super Happy Fun Land
So. What the hell is this? Is it a show? Is it a circus, like the name says? Frankly, I have no idea. Nada. What I do know is that the flyer lists some damn cool people, like gritty folk-punks {The Snow Indian} and one of my absolute-favorite bands, pop-punks {The Phlegmatics}. (Oh, and a band called Waylon for Sex Jennings, which yes, kinda cracks me up.

But back to The Phlegmatics: you really, really need to see this band. Partly because they tend to vanish for years at a time, and partly because they write and play these ridiculously catchy, geeky, unself-conscious songs that take Weezer’s inherent loser-cool shtick and make it actually work. Seriously, do it.

Molly Ringwald & the Brazosport Jazz Orchestra @ The Clarion at Brazosport College (Brazosport; 7:30PM)
No, that’s not a joke, I swear to God. This is that Molly Ringwald, the one you remember from Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles…only nowadays she’s recreated herself as a jazz singer. Again: not even kidding. And yes, she does a cover of “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”. She’ll be playing at The Clarion tonight, on the Brazosport College campus.

Runners-Up:
Cheap Time/Infinite Apaches/The Wiggins @ Fitzgerald’s
Shmu (mem. of Zorch)/Caddywhompus @ Houston House of Creeps
Final Fest, featuring My Friend Me, SAYA, Josiah Gabriel, To Whom It May, Giant Battle Monster, Vox Vocis, Guwange, & more @ The Vanishing Point Cafe (Galveston; 5PM-2AM)
Blaggards @ Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar
13th Annual Trinity Jazz Festival, featuring Eric Essex & Mood Indigo @ Trinity Episcopal Church (1015 Holman; 8-10:30PM)
Badfish (Sublime tribute)/Cassette Tape @ House of Blues
Straight Line Stitch/Day of Reckoning/Five Eyes Wide/Inner Image/Twelve Years Driven/86 Within @ BFE Rock Club