Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Funeral Horse + Linus Pauling Quartet + The Ex-Optimists + Jealous Creatures + Asli Omar + East End Trillwave + Ma & God + More

Alright, folks — late again, I’m afraid, due to spending the day doing yet more Christmas-y-type stuff like getting & decorating a Christmas tree, but I didn’t want to let tonight (Saturday, December 6th) slip completely by… Like with yesterday, it’s a pretty massive damn list, but here’s a few brief highlights:

Funeral Horse/Linus Pauling Quartet/The Ex-Optimists @ Rudyard’s
Damn — this is a hard one, honestly. These first two shows on the list are seriously neck-and-neck, at least for me, so much so that I pretty much had to flip a coin to decide which one would come first…and, well, this one won out.

Which is cool by me, because it’s three of my absolute-favorite bands: sludgy, doom-y, thundering metal dudes {Funeral Horse}, quirky, laidback, fantasy-obsessed stoner-rawk guys {Linus Pauling Quartet}, and ’90s-influenced indie-rock gang The Ex-Optimists. All three are awesome, seriously, and each one would be worth catching all on their own; stacked up together, they’re damn near unstoppable…

Fox Parlor/Madisons/Jealous Creatures/Wolverton @ Notsuoh ($5)
And here’s the silver-medal finisher, which is high up in the running pretty much because of excellently excellent people {Jealous Creatures}. I can’t say enough good things about this band, and they just get better and better, truly, with each release and show they do. I don’t really know what it is about the band that hits me so hard, but I dearly love their rough-but-cool, Western-tinged breed of indie-roots rock. If you haven’t heard the band before now, trust me — you need to.

Adornment Past — The Art of A. Ward and Meredith Richey, featuring Asli Omar (mem. of The Tontons), Valeria Pinchuk, The Wandering Bufaleros, & Lomelda @ Sojourn Studio (1834 Westheimer)
This is a cool art opening going on up in the Montrose, at someplace I’ve never been called Sojourn Studios, for artists Meredith Richey and A. Ward, and they’ve brought along some truly great musicians to provide a soundtrack, including perennial best-female-vocalist Asli Omar of {The Tontons} and cool-ass Americana supergroup {The Wandering Bufaleros}. The party’s already started, I’m afraid, but it should still be rolling on, so get on up there while you can.

East End Trillwave, featuring George West, FLCON FCKER, Gio Chamba, & Android Genius @ Wonky Power Live (3534 Navigation)
This one’s neat both because of the people playing and the location. The good people behind newish local record label Wonky Power Records — the home of {Bang Bangz}, whose Mario Rodriguez is the main mover for the label — have not only been releasing new music lately, but now they’ve also apparently got their own venue, the appropriately-named Wonky Power Live.

Not sure what the place is like, but they’re kicking things off with an electrified bang, with cool newcomers George West (aka Vik Montemayor of Bang Bangz) and crazy noisemaker {FLCON FCKER}. Get over to WPL and check it out.

Matt Harlan/Charity Ann/Ma & God/Taylor Gibson @ Alley Kat Bar & Lounge
And last of the bunch is this neat little lineup over at The Alley Kat, where some damn cool country/folk-type people (well, mostly) will be playing. I’m not super familiar with most of ’em, but I did get to see Ma & God a few months back and was utterly blown away. They’re an odd, odd band, a pair of musicians who make old-timey, gospelized almost-blues, something that sounds like it’s from the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? more than anything else. They’re mesmerizing, believe me.

Runners-Up:
Fallcore 2014, featuring Incendiary, The Rival Mob, Die Young, Vulgar Display, Modern Pain, Concrete, Back to Back, Sold Short, Afflictive Nature, Some Nerve, Drown, & Chipped Teeth @ Walter’s (3PM; $17)
Theremin Festival, featuring Armen Ra, A Page of Madness screening with live soundtrack by Dok Gregory, Henry Kaiser, & Damon Smith, & Clara Rockmore Memorial Happy Hour @ 14 Pews (800 Aurora)
Danny Malone/Catch Fever/The Caldwell/Modern Medicine @ Fitzgerald’s
The Specialists (Specials tribute band)/Los Skarnales/Reyno Sabenero @ The Continental Club
Shellee Coley @ La Porte Community Church (La Porte)
Runaway Sun/Electric Attitude/Sherita Perez @ Red Rock Beach Bar & Grill (Surfside)
5th Annual Eyes Behind the Wall Fest, featuring Fouke, Tissa Mawarty Assari, Blood Sacrifice, Brutalest, Servant Girl Annihilator, Folter, The Shutter of Anguish, Painful Vigil, The Godless Girl, Tear, Purity Ball, Female Pedophile, Jellymantis, & Electric Sleep @ Mango’s (8PM-2AM; free!)
Clear Cassette/Category 9/Brumes/Sullivan’s Vessel @ Warehouse Live (Green Room)
Closing Party: Domokos, Fekete 31 – Exhibit Uultra, featuring Future Blondes, How I Quit Crack, Millennial Grave, Book of Shadows, & Pfaffenberg @ Civic TV Collective (2119 Dallas)
Blaggards @ Olde City Pub
Abominations Of Thee Earth VIII, featuring Bestemmia Aeternalis, Votan, Avaris, Sever the Silence, Agony Within, & Metal Swap Meet @ The White Swan
Allison Fisher @ The Big Top
Otenki @ Market Square Park (Downtown)