Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: B L A C K I E + The Beans + Guess Genes + The Ones You Loved + Quiet Morning & The Calamity + Seabrook Music Festival + More

Hey, all — yes, here we are once again, making our way into the weekend, starting with tonight, Friday, August 15th. Holy crap; we’re halfway through August already. How in the hell did that happen? Argh… Alright, here we go:

Astrogenic Hallucinauting/Pleasure 2/B L A C K I E/John Calero/Joshua Cordova/Robert Disaro/Rob Harrell/Yes$ @ Mango’s
First up, there’s a great lineup of full-on weirdness over at Mango’s tonight, a pile of bands that includes not only trippy noisemakers {Astrogenic Hallucinauting}, {Indian Jewelry} side project (I think?) {Pleasure 2}, who I keep meaning to check out, and a decent-sized pile of DJ-type people, but the damn-near-legendary {B L A C K I E}, who just released new album (er, EP? I don’t freaking now) Imagine Yourself In A Free And Natural World.

The new stuff is a far cry from what you’ve heard from Michael LaCour in the past, spiraling off into these free-jazz soundscapes constructed from skronking horns, fuzzy bass, and electronic washes/noise as LaCour himself alternately declares and howls his lyrics. It’s less hip-hop than it is beat poetry, truth be told, but it’s damn powerful, even still.

The Beans/Holiday Mountain/Tele Novella @ Fitzgerald’s
Heading on up into the Heights, Fitzgerald’s has a cool, cool lineup headed by Houston’s own swamp-soul rock dudes {The Beans}. I’ll be the first to admit that I started out skeptical of the band, assuming they were yet another bunch of lame-ass blues revivalists walking the same road The Black Keys and White Stripes trod a long, long time ago, but after giving ’em a chance, I’m pretty well sold.

They’re bluesy, sure, but at their core, they’re more of a soul band than anything else, albeit one that hails from some grimy, gritty dark corners. They grab the blues and soul, tack on some gospel influences, add some raw psych-stomp guitars, and coat the whole thing in Southern-fried goodness, and there’s not a damn thing wrong with that, at all.

Also on the bill is Austin band Holiday Mountain, and I kind of scratched my head, unsure how well the pairing would work, before shrugging because, hell, who cares? HM are definitely a different band, more of a hazy, spaced-out reggae/dub/tropicalia thing, but hey, they’re still good; get there early.

The Ones You Loved/Guess Genes (mem. of Buxton)/Black Cove/Shoe Shine @ Rudyard’s
Rudyard’s has a good one tonight, too, with {Guess Genes}, the collaboration between {Buxton} frontman/songwriter Sergio Trevino and anonymous electro-indie-popster {Children of Pop} — I’ve only heard one song so far, “Lilly Vine,” but it’s impressive, haunting, and sweet, merging together Trevino’s low-key, folky vocals with banks of keys and washes of gorgeous sound. It’s a promising start for a band that sounds like it could be truly awesome; listen below, then go see ’em, alright?

Plus, the headliners are The Ones You Loved, a Dallas-based indietronic trio that I also happen to like a whole hell of a lot. They live somewhere between old-school electro-pop band Mates of State and local boys Lisa’s Sons, blasting their way through full-throttle, yell-along pop tunes packed full of retro synths, driving beats, and boy-/girl-next-door vocals.

Quiet Morning & The Calamity (record release)/Ruckus/Matt Harlan/Grand Old Grizzly @ Warehouse Live (Green Room)
If you’re aiming more for the rootsy side of things tonight, though, Warehouse Live is where you need to be. They’ve got a seriously full slate of countryish/roots-rock-ish bands this evening, starting with excellent country-rockers {Grand Old Grizzly}, who were a highlight (for me, anyway) of this year’s FPSF, rolling on through {Matt Harlan}, about whom I’ve heard very good things, and Ruckus, who I’m afraid I don’t know a damn thing about (sorry!).

But the true draw here, I’ve got to say, is headlining band Quiet Morning & The Calamity. I’d kinda shrugged the first time they came to my attention, figuring Houston needs another roots-folk-country-rock band like it needs an HPD officer tasing another touring band, but I’ve been listening a fair amount since, and y’know what? Holy crap, these guys are good.

They’re rootsy, absolutely, and reminiscent of fellow country-tinged folks like Buxton, Second Lovers, and the aforementioned Grand Old Grizzly, but they take it and make it their own nicely, coming off more like Old 97’s than any of those other bands, blending the country influences in with some straight-up rock & roll. Tonight’s their release party, by the by, for new album Son of the Sad Soul; haven’t heard it yet, but here’s the first single from the album, “November”:

Seabrook Music Festival, featuring EraseTheVirus, Cassette Tape, Soul In Tension, The Wayward Sons, The Snow Indian, Matt Cash, Truckstop Assassins, Mr. Peabody and the Way Back Machine @ Rex L. Meador Park (Seabrook; 5PM)
Last but not least, those on the southeast side would be well-served to make their way over to Rex L. Meador park in Seabrook to check out the Seabrook Music Festival. There aren’t any huge out-of-town names on the bill, but frankly, I couldn’t care less; rather, they’ve got some excellent homegrown folks, particularly reggae-ish rockers {Cassette Tape} and excellent folk-punk(?) duo {The Snow Indian}. Screw the big names and hang out with these folks, instead.

Runners-Up:
Darwin’s Finches/Fire Moth/Poor Pilate @ The Continental Club
This Name’s Temporary/Commie Hilfiger/Neon Cobra/The Tyburn Jig/Fifi and the Virgin @ Fitzgerald’s
Atlanta vs. Houston 1st Annual Summer Bash Concert, featuring Propain, Beat King, Boston George, Delo, Doughbeezy, Rich The Kid, Johnny Cinco, Pee Wee Long Way, Sye, Danny Boy Promo, Lady Diplomatz, Breadwinners, Rich Girlz, & Will 365 @ Ayva Center (9371 Richmond)
John Mayall @ Dosey Doe (The Woodlands)
A Fistful of Soul @ The Big Top
Wiz Khalifa/Tyga/Ty Dolla $ign/Rich Homie Quan/Mack Wilds/DJ Drama/Sage the Gemini/Young Jeezy/IAMSU! @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Soul Track Mind @ The Monnalisa (800 W. Sam Houston Pkwy N)
Blaggards @ Ashford Pub
Ermelinda Cuellar, Terry Dunn, Troy Creagh, Christian Werline, & Karle Van Lookeran @ Khon’s Wine Bar (2808 Milam; 10PM-12AM, free!)
Will Hoge @ Cypress Saloon (Cypress)
Audien/Surain/Charles @ Stereo Live
The Turtles/Flo and Eddie/Chuck Negron/Mark Farner/Gary Lewis & the Playboys/Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels @ Stafford Centre (Stafford)