Talk about taking the good right along with the bad… I have to admit, the show tonight (Wednesday, June 30th) up at Röcbar sounds pretty damn awesome, even if it hurts a little at the same time….
There is nothing like a band where the drummer sings, especially when it’s a girl. In Point Juncture, WA, the sweet, silky, alto voice of Amanda Spring complements the clear tenor voice of Victor Nash. Both singers take the lead on certain songs and sing back up on others…
Very, very cool…hopefully, anyway. No confirmation yet, but I’ve heard from a reliable-ish source that German anarcho-electronicists Atari Teenage Riot, who disbanded back in 2000 and reformed just this year, will be playing here in Houston…
Few things are as constant as America’s need for cultural nostalgia. We Americans collectively loved the flower power revival of the mid-1990s and the recent movie remakes of classic 1980s cartoons. In fact, even our environmental disasters are rehashed 1980s tragedies (Ixtoc I, anyone?)…
Back again with the rest of the weekend, and yep, there’s still a lot going on; here’s what looks good to me: Athlete/Carney @ Mango’s — I’m always partial to the locals, these days, but in this case I’m just as psyched at the prospect of British pop-rock crew…
It takes a particular kind of genius to get people to simultaneously dance, sing, and cry to your brand of love-stricken music. However, when you get the balance right, you’re able to create and connect to a devoted group of individuals. Whether it’s manipulation or love…
There’s quite a bit of cool stuff going on this weekend, but I’ve got to break things up & just hit tonight’s highlights right now, I’m afraid… Here’s what looks good to me for tonight, Friday, June 25th: {The Suspects}! Ah, I love those guys, truly I do…
Hey, all — apologies for the confusion, but we’ve had to make some changes to the fledgling Space City Rock WordPress site (which is what you’re looking at right now), so things may not look quite like they’re supposed to just yet…
Wow. There aren’t all that many shows that honestly make my jaw drop (old and jaded; what can I say?), especially reunion shows, but this one hit me like a brick to the face. Er, assuming that brick were actually made of chocolate and I was then allowed to eat it and scream and run around like a crazy person…
I’ve heard a lot about indie dance-punk band Gossip (formerly known as The Gossip) for some time, but never gave them a listen until 2009’s Music for Men. The album is the band’s fourth studio album and has sold over one million copies worldwide since its release last June…
Okay, this one’s so freaky-funny a concept that I can’t help but mention it, at least briefly… Tonight (Thurs., June 24th) the Avant Garden plays host to the Rogue Improv show (troupe?), which is doing this wacky improv thing they call “The Armando Show,”…
No, not talking about the Angelina Movie (really, really, really not, trust me). I’m talking, instead, about a bar, a bar in the Washington Ave. strip of fancy-shmancy trendy bars that are probably driving the Heights-dwelling NIMBYs more batshit crazy…
I’m really damn late on this; apologies for that, but I figured there wasn’t much point to mention it ’til I’d actually reviewed the thing, y’know? And yes, now I have — as of Monday, there’s a review up of The Bible Spelled Backwards Does Not Change the Fact That You Cannot Kill David Arquette, And Other Things I Learned in The Black Math Experiment…
I am so glad Pandora exists. Not the world of James Cameron’s Avatar, but the online radio station. Thanks to it, I discovered Porcupine Tree, and subsequently found The Pineapple Thief…
I can’t believe Tom Cruise movies have gotten old-fashioned. That’s not right. What I should say is: I can’t believe movie stars have gotten old-fashioned. But they have, and the proof is in Knight and Day‘s pudding…
Good songwriters are a dime a dozen, so it’s become difficult to pick out the ones that are truly worth your time and money. And the whole acoustic alternative/indie folk genre has almost become a joke because of all the generically good-but-not-great artists it churns out regularly. Because of that, it might be easy to disregard Brazos’ Phosphorescent Blues after a cursory listen…
If you’d told me a decade ago that in ten years’ time I’d be reading an honest-to-God book written by a guy in a Houston indie band — heck, about not only said band but about the music scene here in general — well, I’d have laughed you out of the room…
One of the best things about going to a Wild Moccasins concert is the audience. Their signature sugary-but-feisty sound and friendly stage presence have gained them quite an impressive following among Houstonites…
While I’m pretty sure that’s not what it’s talking about, the A-side of the new 7-inch single from retro-rockers Paris Falls, “Big Surprise,” actually does find itself a little ways off from what I’ve come to think of as the band’s main musical neighborhood…
It’s shaping up to be quite a handful of days, coming up. Starting tonight, Fri., June 18th, there’s good, good, practically unmissable shit literally each night…
There is nothing about B L A C K I E that is not singular. Despite his undeniable affinity and devotion to his native geography and his home in Chemical City (Pasadena) in particular, the solo endeavor of the man born Michael LaCour stands out as stark as the all-caps-with-spaces typography of his name…
The only time I’d ever seen or heard LIMB before now, the “band” consisted solely of primary instigator James Templeton, a laptop, a vintage-looking keyboard, a mixer, and a bunch of effects pedals. And while it was interesting, definitely, I can’t claim that it blew me away…
Damn…gonna have to just hit it quick tonight (Wed., June 16), I’m afraid; there’s some darn good shit going on tonight, though, so I didn’t want to avoid mentioning it:
Sage Francis/Free Moral Agents/B. Dolan @ House of Blues
Ah, yes. What can I say?…
Music or theater? That’s the conundrum that hits me most frequently when listening to The Manichean’s self-titled debut EP: is this a band, or a theater troupe? Going by the EP itself, the answer may be “both.” It may be comprised of actual songs, but The Manichean strikes me as being far closer to an old-time radio play…
MC Chris is a hilarious white hardcore rapper, one who reminds me of Eminem because of his high-pitched voice and his amazing sense of humor. His new album, MC Chris Goes To Hell, is easily the funniest rap album I’ve ever heard, but beyond the humor…
Damn, tonight (Tues., June 15th, that is) is an easy, easy, easy one, at least from where I sit — The Cowboy Junkies are in town this evening, playing over at the House of Blues, which I’m thinking would actually be a pretty cool setting…
Bright Works and Baton, the first EP by Cast Spells, is something to be played at a summer barbeque or other such lazy social event. It’s bright and pleasant, and it’s not one of those that has to “grow on you,” or that requires a “refined taste” in music…
Although they are “passionate about the blues tradition and hate following the rules,” I wasn’t really impressed by Black Smokers’ music; they could tighten it up a bit. They definitely have an edgy, European-wish-they-were-American rock sound, with underlying country tones…
Eivind Opsvik and Aaron Jennings continue to cover new ground on their third album, A Dream I Used to Remember. More straightforward than their previous projects, it mostly leaves behind the electronic tones and processing of their previous records for more of a traditional band sound…
Sorry for the lateness; as I type this in via iPhone (woo, technology!), there’s a midget on my lap who’s fighting sleep… Right about now, though, the latest {Resonant Interval Sound Series} installment is kicking off over at The Exoskeleton (the successor to The Husk, in the Khon’s Bar shopping center), and I’d be remiss if I skipped it
In spite of the bright, sparkling melodies, wonderfully “round”-sounding notes, and sweet, village-harmony backing vocals, there’s a deep, tragic sense of sadness and loss to Tinariwen’s Imidiwan (which translates as “Companions” in the band’s native language, Tamashek; hence the subtitle)…
The film opens Somewhere In Mexico, with gangsters interrogating Hannibal (Liam Neeson in a bewildering rubber nose). Somewhere Else In Mexico, Bosco Albert Baracus (or B.A., a perfectly cast Quentin “Rampage” Jackson) races cops in a Lamborghini…
Pretty busy night for a Wednesday (June 9th, that is), honestly, and so I’m feeling compelled to pull myself out of the muck, at least for a bit, and remember that yes, life does indeed continue after the weekend. Musically, anyway…
Nothing yet, sorry, on the magnificent insanity of that Free Press Summerfest, except to possibly say “um, wow.” Oh, and photos — lots and lots of photos, some good and some not-so-good. Feel free to check out the Flickr set on over here…
Once again, here we are with yet more preview-type things of this weekend’s looming Clash of the Musical Titans, Free Press Summerfest. I’m going to have to keep these short(-er), I’m afraid, but I’ll do the best I can — seeing as tomorrow’s the start of the fest…
Next pile of bands, right here… I’m a wee bit nervous, I have to say, about the weather — if it’s pouring Saturday & Sunday, the Summerfest is going to be, um, interesting. I saw what Eleanor Tinsley Park looked like last year…
The best way to describe this CD is to say that it’s industrial, with influences from Skinny Puppy and older Ministry but with a well-thought-out Goth overtone. The scraping backgrounds, voice track overdubs, and soft and droning synthesizer beats meld into a grimy, overloaded, distorted-guitar sound…
On In the Crystal Canyon, the follow-up release to the band’s A Cloud in the Cathedral LP, Unsparing Sea doesn’t just stick to the basics, but includes a cello and an upright bass, for a more orchestral sound; think The Arcade Fire. Unsparing Sea even use a vox, vibraphone, flugelhorn, and a saw…
Nearly missed this one completely, dammit — thankyew, Facebook… Tonight (Thursday, June 3rd), the cool folks of {Girls Rock Camp Houston} are having a fundraiser up at a place I’ve never heard of called Beaver’s (2310 Decatur)…
Um. Wow. Just heard the news and feel compell to do my little part to spread it far & wide: legendary proto-indie-rockers The Pixies are touring this fall…
