Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Listen Around Your Way + Football, etc. + Ruiners + Since Always + Dead Leaf Echo + Emmure + Hip Hop Run Houston + Nikkhoo/P.L.X.T.X + More

Hey, there — it’s now Saturday, March 11th, and while the grand opening festivities that were planned for today over at the rechristened/remodeled Avenida Houston (i.e., the area of Downtown Houston around George R. Brown Convention Center) was postponed to a later date because of the weather, there’s still plenty going on. Here goes:

Listen Around Your Way, featuring Sandy Ewen, Rebecca Novak, Andrew Durham, Megan Easely, Kathy Fay, Danny Kamins, Austin Lewellen, Kate Ann Nichols, Gee Okonkwo, Emmy Tisdel, & Hayden Wright @ MATCH (6PM; free!)
First up, this one’s, um, actually already going on, so hustle your ass on down to MATCH, the new Midtown arts venue on Main St., to check it out. The event features a gang of talented musicians, many of the experimental variety, who are situated in various parts around the MATCH building playing music. Some of them are stationary, some of them are roaming along paths marked by colored tape, and the whole thing is meant to work as one overarching piece of music/performance, with sounds overlapping and complementing one another. I don’t know everybody performing, but I have seen/heard both {Sandy Ewen} and Rebecca Novak, and they’re pretty amazing themselves, so I’m pretty hopeful. Get over there quick…

Football, etc./Pope/Ruiners/Honey & Salt @ Satellite Bar
Then, the Satellite Bar has a full quartet of excellent bands going, all kinda-sorta in the indie-rock vein. At the top of the bill sits great, great emo crew Football, etc., who play slow, deliberate, heartwrenching music that pulls the best elements from the “classic” emo era and makes ’em into something new, but familiar at the same time (and hey, I’m happy to see H-town expat Daniel Hawkins is back around again…).

Further down, the rejuvenated {Ruiners} play fast, intense, melodic rock that’s kinda-sorta reminiscent of the whole mid-’90s Chapel Hill sound, while Austin-based Honey & Salt rides the line between that same era of indie-rock and the whole math-rock/prog-rock realm, and who are damn good besides. Pope, I’m ashamed to admit, I haven’t heard yet, although I’m familiar with one of the dudes in the band, at least — he lives in New Orleans these days, but Alex Skalany used to be in a cool little band right here called Harts of Oak, who were gone far, far too quickly. I really need to take a listen to what he’s doing now.

SXSW Overflow Fest, featuring Divine Kegel, Mallrat, Yatta, Space Fiend, Blood Club, Dead Leaf Echo, Bloody Knives, Boxing Dei Dei, Mangata, Mojave Red, & Since Always @ Super Happy Fun Land
Yeah, so I’ve dropped the ball pretty severely on the whole SXSW Overflow Fest thing this year, which really sucks, because it’s one of the quirkiest, most interesting “festivals” this city has to offer. Oddball bands, cheap as shit, and the ever-entertaining, super-DIY Super Happy Fun Land digs all make this like the weird-yet-fun uncle of music fests, the one nobody really invites to parties but who shows up anyway.

Tonight’s especially cool, because not only are excellent local post-shoegaze rockers Since Always (who you might’ve seen under previous moniker Midnight Norma Lane) playing, but so are fellow H-towners {Mojave Red}, who I keep meaing to check out more, and Brooklyn band Dead Leaf Echo, who are shoegazery and ambient and rocking in the best possible way, who are kinda big names for playing SXSW Overflow in general, and who’ve collaborated in the past with Ulrich Schnauss(!), something I find pretty telling. Get there early for the locals and then hang for the rest, right?

After the Burial/Emmure/Fit For A King/Fit for an Autopsy/Invent/Animate @ Walter’s
Oh, yeah. I’ve gotta say, I can’t really explain why, but NY/CT metalcore band Emmure just clicks for me — they’re like all the things I guiltily enjoyed about the whole nu-metal trend a decade-plus ago, but with a much more technical vibe. Hell, there are tracks on some of their albums where the guitars sound less like guitars than they do colossal machines crushing the ruins into dust. And me? Yeah, I’m totally good with that.

Hip Hop Run Houston Festival and After Party, featuring Paul Wall, Quentin Brown, Q.Guyton.ASE, Sammy Veal, Rome G, L.E.O., D.Keela, & more @ Ayva Center (9371 Richmond)
Alright, so I’ve missed the “run” part of Hip Hop Run Houston, but hey, isn’t it really all about the after-party, anyway? I mean, it sure as shit is if {Paul Wall} will be up on the stage performing; I was pretty stunned when he got busted back in December on drug charges, and I’m psyched to see he’s out and about again (on bail, I’m assuming).

Now, two things: one, this has moved from The Silo on Clinton Dr. across town to Ayva Center on Richmond. Second, and possibly more crucial, is that you might have to prove you actually did the dang run (or at least signed up for it) to get into the after-party. So…it might be a little risky. Just sayin’.

Nikkhoo/P.L.X.T.X @ The Nightingale Room (free!)
Last in the pile, The Nightingale Room has a cool double-bill going, with rapper Nikkhoo, who I could’ve sworn used to do more experimental/noisy electronic stuff, and digital hardcore-esque noisemaker P.L.X.T.X helping out. Just for clarity’s sake, P.L.X.T.X won’t be doing a set of his own, but will be up there with Nikkhoo for his set. An odd bill for the venue, but one worth witnessing, trust me.

Runners-Up:
Thundercat/Zack Fox @ Warehouse Live (Studio)
Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, featuring Alan Jackson @ NRG Stadium
BlastDad/The Coax/The Square Nots/Mother Harvey @ VFW Raymond C. Paul Post 880 (Galveston)
PuraPharm/The Thief and the Architect/Duster @ Rudyard’s
Pinata Protest/The Skatastrophics @ The Continental Club
Mike Stinson/Lisa Morales @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
Experience Hendrix 2017, featuring Billy Cox, Buddy Guy, Zakk Wylde, Jonny Lang, Dweezil Zappa, Mato Nanji, The Slide Brothers, Ana Popovic, Beth Hart, & Henri Brown @ Revention Music Center