Yr. Week, Pt. 2: K.Flay + Night Riots + The Suffers + Mac Lethal + J. Roddy Walston & The Business + Melvins + Le Butcherettes + More

Alright, people — it’s now Thursday, October 30th, and while I’m a bit under the gun right at this moment, I can’t let the cool-ass stuff going on tonight slip through my fingers; and yeah, there’s a fair bit of it this evening. Here goes:

K.Flay/Night Riots/Yung Slutty @ Fitzgerald’s
Fitzgerald’s tonight has two full floors of badassery, starting with this show right here. Headliner K.Flay tends to get pigeonholed as a rapper, but honestly, it’s a label that doesn’t really work; the music she makes draws from hip-hop and electro in equal measure, along with punk and rock and a melancholy Goth-y darkness, and the combination comes off sounding like something else. She dances across the lines like Dessa or P.O.S., and it’s as alluring and beautiful and smart as it is hard and jagged. Her most recent full-length, Life As A Dog, is damn good.

She’s touring with Night Riots, who I’ve only recently gotten exposed to but who’ve already gotten firmly stuck in my head. At first blush, new single “Contagious” is just another “eh”-sounding bit of electronicized pop, but once the band hits the chorus, I’m floored — it’s gorgeous and epic, arena-sized and oddly reminiscent of fun., which is no bad place to be. Definitely get there in time to check ’em out, but before you do, here’s the video:

The Suffers @ Market Square Park (7:30PM; free!)
How could I not mention this? I dearly, dearly love {The Suffers} — they’re one of my favorite bands right now, and with very good reason. They blend old-school soul, rocksteady, reggae, and Tropicalia in a way that damn few other bands I’ve heard can, bringing to mind The Upsetters and Sharon Jones at the same time, or maybe underrated soul-ska heroes The Adjusters. And hey, they’re playing for free, outside at Market Square Park on what’s looking to be a beautiful evening, so what’s stopping you from going?

Oh, and I’ve been meaning to post this for a while now but stupidly procrastinated because I’m an idiot; here’s the band’s excellent video for “Gwan”:

Bone Thugs N Harmony/Mac Lethal/Almost Kings/Skinny & Sir Trigga @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)
Okay, so I don’t honestly care too much about Bone Thugs N Harmony (sorry, y’all); instead, what my brain is doing right now is screaming “HOLY FUCK IT’S MAC LETHAL!” over and over again ’til my skull melts around it. Yes, yes, yes. Mac Lethal is awesome, one of the absolute most mind-blowing rapper, the fastest and most fluid I’ve heard since Gift of Gab. I don’t know how I can describe it better than just showing you this:

There you go. That is what’s happening tonight down at The Scout Bar in Clear Lake. Damn.

J. Roddy Walston & The Business/Fly Golden Eagle @ Fitzgerald’s
I saw a lot of bands at FPSF this past summer; I bounced from stage to stage nearly non-stop for two damn days for that very reason, in fact, trying to cram as much in as I could before being forced to return to The Real World of Dad-Hood and Day Job. There were quite a few I liked, but some surprised the hell out of me, truly, with just how good they were.

J. Roddy Walston & The Business was one of those latter bands. Walston pounded away at his piano and roared like a churchified gospel shouter while behind him the rest of the band played alternately like a classic ’70s Southern-rock band on speed and like early-early Kings of Leon. They were loud and furious, raw as fuck but still somehow tuneful and melodic when they needed to be, and before long I was throwing fists in the air and yelling “Woo!” right along with the beer-drinking, flannel-wearing dudes around me. Check out “Midnight Cry,” and you’ll understand:

Melvins/Le Butcherettes @ Warehouse Live (Studio)
Last but definitely far from least, the legendary Melvins are over at the Warehouse Live tonight, stomping and crushing their way through our fair city in a gigantic, mucky, grimy ball of heavy, heavy, heavy rawk. At this point in their career, the band could be forgiven somewhat for calling it a day, but thankfully, Buzz Osborne and crew (which apparently includes Paul Leary and JD Pinkus of the Butthole Surfers, these days; hadn’t realized that) have chugged along resolutely for 30 goddamn years now, releasing a new album nearly every freaking year, it seems like.

I’ve gotten a chance to listen to new album Hold It In, and trust me, the band’s not phoning it in, either. The songs are more varied than the classic stuff, maybe, but they work even still, with the hazy pop of “You Can Make Me Wait” sitting nicely alongside the turbulent, stumbling experimentation of “Barcelonian Horseshoe Pit” and the brutal, thunderous, Barkmarket-esque “Sesame Street Meat” without feeling forced. It’s good shit.

The Warehouse site doesn’t list ’em, for some reason, but the Melvins are bringing along tourmates Le Butcherettes for tonight’s show, and that’s an excellent bonus. The Mexico-bred duo (trio, nowadays?) play garage-y rock that’s creepy and grim and dramatic, an absolutely perfect soundtrack for the fast-approaching holiday weekend, with a sound that reminds me of mr. Gnome at points and The Dresden Dolls at others (oh, and the organ parts are great).

Runners-Up:
Arctic Monkeys @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Abdu Ali/Schwarz/Kilbourne/Fat Tony @ Matchbox Gallery (6100 Main, Rice Univ. campus; free!)
Nick Gaitan & The Umbrella Man @ The Big Top
Dia de Los Muertos: All Vinyl Everything, featuring DJ Demo, DJ BigReeks, & DJ Good Grief @ Fox Hollow (4617 Nett)
Throw Down Thursday, featuring Black Hole Caravan, Old Skull, & Destroyers Of The Sky @ Acadia Bar & Grill
Skalloween Weekend, featuring The Holophonics, Greg Cote, & 54 Problems @ Super Happy Fun Land