Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: The Sour Notes + Jealous Creatures + The Wheel Workers + Delta Spirit + Fox & Cats + P.L.X.T.X + Super Friend Opening + More

Had some other stuff on my mind this week (coughYes,Indeed!cough), so I’m running a wee bit behind, um, as usual. But hey, it’s now Friday, September 12th, and there’s some great, great stuff happening very, very shortly. Away we go:

The Sour Notes (CD release)/The Wheel Workers/Jealous Creatures/Guess Genes @ Mango’s
Oh, man. I’m at home watching The Little Guy tonight, but if I weren’t…well, I’d be at Mango’s. Why? Well, because this one show unites three of my favorite bands ever (plus {Guess Genes}, who are pretty darn promising), all under one dingy roof, and all for a measly $5. sigh.

Anyway, if you are able to go, you really, really need to; you won’t be sorry. Headlining Austin band The Sour Notes, which is currently in a stripped-down touring incarnation, with longtime members Jared Boulanger and Amarah Ulghani joined by drummer Erin Howell, is a straight-up, primary-colored indie-pop juggernaut, unstoppable and beautiful as hell. They’re bright and shiny but with darkness lurking underneath, and isn’t that true of the best pop songs, wherever they come from? I’ve enjoyed watching the band shift and mutate over the years, and I’ve got pretty high hopes for new album Do What May, just out this month.

Before they hit the stage, though, things will be well and truly warmed up by a one-two punch of awesomeness, with {Jealous Creatures} and {The Wheel Workers}. Not only are both bands excellent, but they’re also both genuinely nice people, and frankly, that happens less often than you’d think it would… There’s Jealous Creatures, who play this great, murky, rootsy indie-rock that’s halfway between Superchunk and The Cowboy Junkies, and then there’s The Wheel Workers, who do smart, smart pop songs that are subversively political, making you sing along and then suddenly realize the song’s about saving the environment or giving equal rights to gay people.

Delta Spirit/EDJ @ Fitzgerald’s
Kemo For Emo/The Lotus Effect/The Trimms/Fox & Cats @ Fitzgerald’s
Fitzgerald’s has a pretty varied bill going this evening, especially if you take both floors together… On one floor, you’ve got the hazy, anthemic, spacerock-meets-indie-rock sounds of Delta Spirit, who kind of bridge the gap between Coldplay and The Stills, and EDJ, which is the new-ish solo project of former Fruit Bats(woo!) frontman Eric D. Johnson (not the “Cliffs of Dover” Eric Johnson, mind you).

Then, on the other floor is the triumphant return to the stage of {Kemo For Emo}, a band I remember from the earlier part of the 2000’s and who’ve apparently been on hiatus for at least four years now. They’re playing with two bands I seriously like, prog-alt-rock guys {The Lotus Effect} (who play places like Fitz far too infrequently) and cool, emo-tinged indie-pop/rock duo Fox & Cats, who sound at times like a cross between Dashboard Confessional’s poppier moments and Braid. Get on up there, eh?

Neinwave, featuring P.L.X.T.X, Millennial Grave, Pfaffenberg, Robert Newsome, Mr. Castillo, & Damon Allen @ Avant Garden
Fans of all things electronic and noisy, the Avant Garden is where you need to be. There’s a decent-sized pile of more DJ/EDM-type good people, like {Damon Allen} and Mr. Castillo, but at the top of the “Neinwave” bill is {P.L.X.T.X}, the moniker of one-man digital-hardcore band Bradley Munoz. I really, truly loved his 2012 EP, TIME, and what I’ve heard of his 2013 followup full-length, Selective Mutism, is even better (and yes, I need to review it…sigh). It’s loud, abrasive stuff that’s also near-impossible to not bob your head frantically along to; if you’re a fan at all of Atari Teenage Riot or Alec Empire, you really need to take a listen.

Super Friend Opening, featuring Stoop Kids, Mantra Love, Kosé, & Tejas @ 3621 Canal St.
Last on the list is a neat-sounding “opening” show for a brand-new record label of sorts, called Super Friend. Okay, so it’s not strictly a record label, but is instead an “art collective,” one that brings together musicians and writers and visual artists, and yeah, that sounds pretty cool to me. They’ve got some grand plans for various types of art openings, musical releases, and published work; my hat’s off to their ambition, seriously. I’m afraid I dunno the people playing very well, but I love the idea in general — Houston tends to go through record labels as fast as it goes through bands (if not faster), so I’m glad to see a new one coming up. Hat tip, y’all.

Runners-Up:
Folk Family Revival/The Bigsbys/Mark Jones & The Twenty Paces @ Firehouse Saloon
The Disasternauts/Clouseaux/The Really Rottens @ The Big Top
SKYROCKET!/Little Joe Washington @ The Continental Club
Texas Soul (album release)/Charity Ann/Alton/Ricky Dee @ Rudyard’s
Blaggards @ Ashford Pub
Texas Gatorfest 2014, featuring Wayne Toups, Brian Jack, & J.A.G. @ Fort Anahuac Park (Anahuac; 6:15PM-12AM)
Bomba Estereo/Los Rakas/Bombon DJs @ Warehouse Live
Polish Harvest Festival, featuring Tekla Klebetnica, Brian Marshall, Mazurkiewicz Band, Edward Winiarski and Friends, & Dance Group Wawel @ 1731 Blalock Rd.
Paid In Full, featuring DJ Burb, DJ Nimbus, & MC MistaGoodBar @ Cafe 4212 (4212 Almeda)