Yep, another day, another review — sorry to be late on this one; I wrote it up last night but couldn’t get it posted ’til just now… I really wanted to review the Fruit Bats‘ latest, The Ruminant Band, btw, because I truly, truly dug Spelled In Bones and felt damned bad that we missed […]
Just a quick update this week, I’m afraid — thanks to indefatigable writer (and token in-house Metal Dude) Scott W., we’ve got two brand-new reviews of two bands, both on cool-ass label Tee Pee Records, that’re playing here in town this very weekend. First up is Iron Age, a throwback metal crew from Austin who […]
Good news time, finally. In the midst of all the breakups and whatnot, it’s nice to see a cool, under-appreciated band that never quite hit it reuniting to give things a second shot. A few years back, Margot was one of a handful of mind-blowing bands that (briefly, at least) turned H-town into Texas Spacerock […]
Okay, so I know I’ve talked about this a few times already, but I’m pretty damn psyched about this weekend’s Free Press Summerfest deal — good bands both local and non-, outside in the H-town sunshine (although I’d be really happy to forego the blistering heat), all for not a whole lot of $$$. I […]
I was able to interview Slug, half of Rhymesayers hip-hop masterminds Atmosphere, a couple of years back — he was one hell of a cool guy, very smart and laidback and cool, all at once. And I got out to see the duo on their tour for 2005’s You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re […]
On the pseudo-administrative tip, I wanted to mention a couple of new-ish things… Like the fact that we now have the little “player” version of the official, sporadically-updated SCR H-Town Mixtape up on the main page of the site for all to see, click, & enjoy. You can also check out the full-sized Opentape site […]
Friend Conor has been singing the praises of SF-dwellers Cryptacize for a while now, but I’ve been slow to come around, I’m afraid. It’s mostly a matter of expectations, I think — I went into it knowing guitarist Chris Cohen from his work with Deerhoof & The Curtains and singer/guitarist Nedelle Torrisi from her solo, […]
Yeah, it’s been a while, and the MP3s have been piling, piling, piling up; some are just kinda “eh” to me, but once I get a chance to sift through things, there’s always some good stuff to download, like the tracks linked below. I honestly wish I could post more of the stuff we get […]
Another one (er, two) I can’t believe I let sneak up on me; I still have yet to see The Paper Chase live, although I’ve been a fan of John Congleton and his dark, creepy-ass indie-noise-rock for a few years now. They’re playing tonight, thankfully, up at Walter’s on Washington, along with cool (although more […]
Tonight (Sunday, June 7th) there’re a few less things going on than in the past few nights, but you’ve still got some good, good options. First off, Thrill Jockey Recs signees Pontiak are up at The Mink tonight, doing their heavy-ass, head-twisting variety of psych-rock, intermeshing clouds of messy noise with thick stoner-metal to make […]
I was a diehard Tori Amos fan for several years and a handful of albums, but I’m sad to report that I’ve drifted away from her work these past half-decade or so — I’m not actually sure why that was, except that maybe it was a combination of less $$$ to spend on music and […]
This illness thing has me way, way behind — I’m still pissed that I missed this Tuesday’s reportedly-excellent Loney, Dear/News on the March/Alkari show, not to mention the fact that I totally blanked on awesome post-hardcore guys A Wilhelm Scream coming to the Javajazz. Argh. But dammit, I am determined — I won’t be in […]
Enjoyed posting about the last few piles of MP3s & whatnot back in December, and since we’ve got an assload of stuff flying by, I figured to take a crack at a handful of the cooler free bits o’ music that’ve flowed through the inbox lately. Funeral Party – “Carwars” (The Bootleg EP) It’s easy […]
A good one tonight up at Walter’s on Washington — Austinites Followed By Static will be playing, as will fellow out-of-townies (Dallasians) Nervous Curtains and very, very, very cool local folks Antarctica Starts Here. Beyond the fact that I’m extremely happy to see ASH playing once more (it seemed like there was a quiet period […]
We’re not an MP3 blog. Nope — I’d never claim SCR to be one of those blogs that breaks/hypes new bands by posting new tracks and whatnot; it’s just not what we do, really. I mean, I’m not against posting MP3s we like by bands we like, but honestly, there just aren’t enough hours in […]
A month or so ago, I picked up something I’ve been meaning to get for a while, a little gadget from Ion Audio they call both the U Record and the MixMeister (no, I have no clue why). It’s nothing fancy, just a little box I can hook up to my turntable & tape deck’s […]
Damn, this is gonna be a good one, and it’s looking like I’m gonna miss it. Argh… Sucks to be me. Anyway, for those who don’t know, Peter and the Wolf are pretty fucking awesomely great, this kind of indie-folk-pop collective of sorts helmed by Red Hunter that plays strange, quirky, yet intensely catchy music […]
This is what I get for staying off the email/message boards so I can hang with the family & all that. Trying to be good & do stuff with my mom & little girl & all that, and lo and behold, a fairly big-time show rolls surreptitiously into town, slipping right beneath my (admittedly often […]
Back when I was a wee DJ at KTRU, I ended up hearing a ton of stuff that sounded raw as hell to my relatively-untainted ears. I was reading a shitload of cyberpunk back then, digging up every two-bit Gibson/Sterling clone I could find, and I realized pretty quickly that this music I was hearing […]
Meant to put this up sooner, but as it always is with life, things intervene. Time will tell if it’s the reality (I’ve got pretty high hopes), but right now, a week after, I’m still feeling like celebrating the fact that a smart, practical, rational guy who looks a heck of a lot like America […]
No time right now to run down the whole list of awesomely awesome shows going on this weekend — gotta go greet the wife’s cousins, in town from little-bitty Soderfors, Sweden — but I’ve got to mention this one… Tonight (Friday, Nov. 7th), NYC noisemakers Parts & Labor are making their third stop through Houston […]
[UPDATE II: And then…they were gone. poof! Congrats to James for being fastest and most articulate on the email. Apologies to other would-be ticket-claimers.] [UPDATE: Per the kindly, ever knowledgeable Marisa at Four Paws Media, it appears that Flying, who was supposed to be playing with Deerhoof tomorrow night, is actually now Fertile Crescent, instead. […]
I honestly can’t remember where the heck I stumbled across this site, but I’ve gotta mention it here — FWMJ’s Rappers I Know is pretty damn awesome, particularly for somebody who’s severely lacking when it comes to knowledge of the local H-town hip-hop scene. I’ve never been big on the cash-guns-honeys school of rap, and […]
Got a recent note from John of local power-pop/punk trio Teenage Kicks about new songs they’ve got up on their Myspace, saying that we SCR folks were apparently among a select few who really liked the band’s demo earlier this year. And frankly, that’s fucking ridiculous, because these three guys craft some of the best, […]
Got this one courtesy of the good people at Nasty Little Man, and I find myself liking the song & wanting to hear it repeatedly, so I figured it was only just to post it to this here site. Sounds to me like “Chemtrails” is Beck finally making the full transformation from alt-rock hero into […]
[UPDATE: Whoops…I just realized I neglected to mention that the show’s also being put on by the I Heart U crew. Sorry about that, y’all…] Holy shit. Barring a surprise Houston stop by The Weakerthans or (less realistically) the ghost of Joe Strummer appearing in my living room to sing “Spanish Bombs,” I honestly didn’t […]
Behind the curve, as always…damn you, New House/Day Job! I’d like to vow that if I ever win the lottery this here blog will be so kickass and up-to-the-millisecond current that it’ll fry your hair just to look at it. Except that I know I’m inherently too lazy for that, and so — hey, I […]
Meant to post this earlier, but eh, shit happens, and so… Seeing as how that whole Muxtape thing is so damn neat, it only makes sense that the Houston Press‘s John Lomax would be into it, too. I missed his “African diaspora” muxtape, sadly, but the one he put up this past week is damn […]
Mentioned these folks already, but I was able to snag a couple of MP3s today & listen to ’em while I wait for the Phone Company Man to show up & make my telephone all better, and now I feel much more knowledgeable about Boston’s The Motion Sick and qualified to say that, yeah, they’re […]
As any more-than-casual reader of this little site probably knows by now, I really and truly heart Austin folk/rock/pop/whatever band Okkervil River. Frontman Will Sheff is hands down one of the best, most talented songwriters going these days; ignore ’em, and you’re seriously missing out. Anyway, the reason I’m bringing up OR now is because, […]
Yep, it’s happening again, believe it or not — since their last reunion show last January went off like a bomb, H-town ska legends The Suspects have decided to, well, do it again. They’ll be playing at The Continental Club next Friday, December 21st, with The Aqua Velva & ’80s cover act Molly and the […]
I have to say that one of the best, most wonderful things about this crazy Interwebs tube thing is the ease with which you can find music. Sometimes I think fondly back to the days of my youth, when I’d comb the racks of tapes at the local music store — which seemed like the […]
Okay, so this is a little weird. When I was a wee musical tadpole back in college, there were a handful of bands that really smacked me sideways, music-wise, and made me realize that hey, maybe there really was all this incredibly cool music out there on the edges where the radio didn’t go. Superhunk, […]
Yep, I’m dragging my sorry ass out of the house this evening to catch The Rentals (Myspace) up at Warehouse Live (with Copeland and Goldenboy, neither of which I know a damn thing about; sorry…). And I’m really, truly looking forward to it; believe it or not, Matt Sharp & co. are one of those […]
Yes, sometimes I do. I’ll admit to being a late-late-late, almost-past-its-peak Myspace user, but I have to admit that I’ve been able to hear some damn cool bands (local and otherwise) just by bumbling about from profile to profile. Did some of that today and found some very cool stuff I’d never heard before: Piano […]
[Ed. Note: Whoops. It’s been pointed out to me that there are actually four people in S&S, not three. Which I knew, but blanked on, somehow, when I posted. Sorry, y’all…] Tonight NYCers Parts and Labor return to H-town for the second time in, what?, three months? And damn if we (well, me, at least) […]
Not sure when they put ’em up, but local boys Radio Pioneer (ex-The Tie That Binds/-Guns of August/-etc.) have got two new awesome songs up on their MySpace page. Both “We’re Not Sorry” and “The World” hit all those emo-indie touchstones we (well, me, at least) love so damn much, from Samiam to Face to […]
It’s been a good week for power-pop, at least ’round SCR HQ. First off we got word that bizarrely catchy British power-popsters Art Brut have released five sneak-a-peek tracks from their soon-to-be-released next album on Downtown Recs. And thankfully, they’re damn good, albeit somewhat of a love-or-hate proposition — if frontman Eddie Argos’s Jonathan Richman-esque […]
This really, truly makes my week. A while back, I stumbled across a two-year-old post over on The Skyline Network about the glory of the ancient-but-amazing It Came From Nowhere… 7″ comp, where long-ago scene vets Mark Caperton of Ojet Recs and former Celindine/etc. guitarist/singer Trey Pool both popped up and offered a copy of […]
Yep, it’s St. Paddy’s, which is a holiday yours truly actually really likes, for no accountable reason other than a lifelong fascination with the Irish (from whom I’m descended, partly, despite being generally a Western European mutt). I kind of got into Irish culture first in high school, being interested in genealogy and history, and […]
