A little later than I’d hoped, today; ended up having an, um, interesting day of running errands, being barred from apparently-private parks, and fishing misfired arrows out of the neighbor’s yard with a rake, so I’m a bit behind on the show writeup for today, Saturday, December 15th. Even still, there’s time to get out […]
Got some previously-scheduled stuff I’m trying to get to tonight, Friday, December 14th, so I’ve got to keep this brief, I’m afraid. There’s a lot of good shows happening, though, so I didn’t want to let ’em fall through the cracks…
These days, anybody can put out an album. All it takes is a couple of instruments, a mic, and a computer, and poof: instant bedroom-studio rock that you can dump out onto the Web for all to hear and comment on (and okay, maybe even buy). After a while, though, that whole “album” thing, it gets boring, played out. When that happens, well, what the hell do you do next?…
Yeah, I know I just posted a review of Austin band The Eastern Sea‘s First Christmas, their brand-new album of Christmas tunes — two new ones, “This Is Christmas” and “First Christmas,” both of which…
Some things just can’t be resisted: koalas, M&Ms, re-runs of Doctor Who, and yes, one of my favorite bands in The Whole Freaking Universe doing an album of Christmas songs. Admittedly, if done badly, this kind of thing generally…
Yup, it’s Saturday (December 8th, specifically), and there’s definitely good stuff happening. In fact, there’s pretty much a three-way tie for Most Badass Oh-Crap-Why-Wasn’t-I-There? Show Going this evening; here’s what sounds & looks good to me…
There was a time when I was really, really into politics; I had a lot more time on my hands back then, both because I worked for a slow-moving Big Evil Company that didn’t give a damn what I did at the office, so long as I made my deadlines…
It’s Friday (December 7th), but it’s kind of a light evening, honestly, especially given the jam-packed Friday nights we’ve had recently. But hey, that doesn’t mean nothing good’s happening, by any means; here’s what I think looks cool…
Whoa. Alright, so I may have been listening to Omotai’s brand-new album, Terrestrial Grief, just a little bit too loud. Final track “Yuri” just marauded and destroyed its way to the end, and now I’m just sitting here…
Cool, cool, cool. I hate to admit it, but I never got to see Honky Tonk Blood, the quasi-tongue-in-cheek B-grade (and intentionally so) comedy/horror flick by Hank Schyma of the {Southern Backtones}…
Well, damn. Today — Sunday, December 2nd — kinda-sorta crept up on me, and I totally didn’t realize (despite looking at the shows list all the freaking time) that there was this much going on. And yeah, I completely neglected to talk…
On to Saturday, December 1st, and damn, it’s looking like a good day/night, at least to me. Before we get into it, though, I wanted to mention that the December 21st show at the House of Blues with Boys Noize has unfortunately been cancelled…
With each release, it’s starting to feel like Austin instrumentalists My Education are drifting further and further away from where I’d had them initially pegged — namely, as a spacerock band, more than anything else, in the same vein as fellow Texans Explosions in the Sky or Co-Pilot. Skyward-pointing guitars, swooping melodies, spacey drones…
Yes, folks, it’s Friday once again, November 30th, right at the cusp of December — and not-really-coincidentally, also the time of year when I suddenly realize that holy shit, I let a ton of stuff fall by the wayside that I really, really needed to do. Argh…
Believe it or not, the songs on The Wiggins’ latest full-length, The Myth of Man, are pop songs. Trust me on this; once you scrape away the noise and grime and work your way past one-man-band…
Alright, wow. That’s pretty much what flew through my head the first time through The Manichean’s long-awaited full-length LOVERS, and after further listens, it’s still what rattles around in my brain. Sure, I’ve liked the band’s…
Gah. Fighting the post-Thanksgiving malaise — and feeling a bit cabin fever-ish, too, since there’s nowhere you can really go today and not hit massive crowds — this Friday, November 23rd, so this is a little slow in coming…
Yep, here we are again — in honor of Thanksgiving, we here at SCR are giving away another pair of tickets, not to Saturday night’s (November 24th) show with {The Manichean} (see here), but to another show…
Yeah, where’re still a few days away from it, but I didn’t want to miss out on mentioning it amidst all the Thanksgiving madness… This coming Saturday, November 24th, awesomely dramatic, utterly intense art-rockers {The Manichean}…
When listening to a Blue October album for the first time, I always like to get a feel as to what exactly the emotional state of Justin Furstenfeld is, so as to see how the songs reflected will sound. The majority of Blue October’s music has been…
Sometimes, simple works best. That’s what I’m liking the most about the new 7-inch from Houston outfit the Hell City Kings; there’re no gimmicks, no hyphenated genres, no quasi-ironic synths, nothing but plain old, straight-ahead rock…
Had a long, busy day with the fam at the Renaissance Festival today, so this is running a bit late, I’m afraid; plenty going on this Saturday, November 17th, so get on out there if you haven’t already. Here we go…
After a few years of meaning to, last year yours truly finally got a chance to check out the Houston Via Colori street-painting festival in Downtown Houston. Better still, I was able to drag the munchkins and witness the whole thing through their eyes..
It’s funny, but Glass the Sky’s self-titled debut EP manages to pull of a neat trick, against all odds. Over the course of six tracks, the band does an impressive balancing act, teetering on the line between serious and playful, and they make it work in both worlds…
There’ve been some truly neat-sounding shows lately, that’s for damn sure, and tomorrow (Saturday, November 17th) promises to be another one, this time over at The Artery (5401 Jackson), northeast of Downtown…
Rolling on into the weekend… It’s Friday, November 16th, kicking off a couple of days packed full of cool, cool stuff to do, so I definitely didn’t want to drop the ball on tonight’s installment. Here we go…
The fact that Title Fight formed in 2003 has a lot to do with why their latest album, Floral Green, reminds me of high school. I’ll ignore the fact that these guys were in sixth grade at the time (and that I was already well into my college years) and move on to say…
Caught wind of this band completely by accident a few months back and was utterly enthralled by their debut Moxy Kid EP, to such a degree that I found myself compelled to listen over and over and over again, skipping right back…
If nothing else, Counting Crows needs to be awarded points simply for staying around for this long. After their megahit single “Mr. Jones,” people were quick to write the band off as a one-hit wonder, although throughout the years…
It’s a pretty sparse night tonight — Sunday, November 11th — in terms of shows, I’m afraid, but the one bright spot on the calendar’s extremely bright, as they go… See, tonight Fitzgerald’s is playing host to one of my all-time favorite bands in the whole wide universe…
Yep, it’s Saturday, November 10th, now, and we’re back with the list of what all sounds cool to hear/see today & tonight. Here we go…
Meant to post about this last night, but sleep got the better of me… Today/tonight marks this year’s incarnation of Creeperfest, a cool, cool, fun-sounding mini-festival thrown by the gang of oddballs & scenesters who hang out/live at the Houston House of Creeps…
Hey, all — sorry for the quietness all week this week. I foolishly believed the little touch of cold I felt coming on last Sunday was just a minor thing, but yeah, I turned out to be way, way wrong. I’ve been knocked-out flat all freaking week, unfortunately…
Last day of the weekend, and while it’s turned into a fairly crappy one for me — a sick kid, elementary school drama, and me feeling like I’m now coming down with what the kid’s got — it definitely doesn’t have to be for you, dangit…
sigh. Another late, late Friday (November 2nd) evening, and I’m running far beyond due to having promised our ailing 8-year-old a took-way-too-long game of Scrabble. Apologies, all, for this being so damn late; I’ll have to keep this short…
I never thought I’d say it, but after listening to new album Peel It, I think Houston-spawned noise-punk nomads Indian Jewelry may just be mellowing out. Just a wee, tiny bit, mind you, and “mellowed out” for this quartet…
Eddie Vedder’s Ukulele Songs is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It is, in fact, simply Eddie Vedder singing along to a ukulele. However, when you listen to this, you will come to realize the music doesn’t quite…
Sometimes, you miss things; it can’t be helped, y’know? Only so much time in the day, only so much musical headspace to fill in. That’s pretty much the reason I was nervous about the new album from Why?, Yoni Wolf’s onetime…
I’ve heard plenty of political punk tunes over the years, but not many that state their case quite so baldly or defiantly. Of course, nobody’s ever accused Boston punks Street Dogs of being shy…
Rolling through Sunday, October 28th, and there’s still plenty going on that sounds/looks cool, at least to me. Running late talking about ’em, I’m afraid — spent the evening taking the munchkins to multiple trunk-or-treats so they could score lots of candy — but I didn’t want to miss out on tonight completely…
