Great though it was, the Free Press Summerfest brought with it a couple of bad, bad pieces of bad news for Houston music-scene fans. I’ve already moaned about Joe Mathlete‘s announcement that The Mathletes won’t be doing any shows for the forseeable future, but I missed the set from The McKenzies early on Day 2 […]
Yep, I’m a fan of H-town’s very own anarchist bookstore (the only one I’ve heard of, anyway), Sedition Books (901 Richmond) — I certainly wouldn’t call myself an anarchist, but I think it’s crucial to have some kind of a clearinghouse like this in our city, to provide access to information most Houstonians aren’t going […]
Yep, it’s true — after what seems like quite a while, local garage-rock(-ish) supergroup Guitars is finally officially releasing their debut full-length, White Night White Night, this afternoon around 3PM or so (I’ve seen a couple of different times so far) up at Cactus Music. Not sure just how it’ll go, but I think it’s […]
Yep, going for the abbreviated version of the cool-stuff-to-see/hear list, this week; hopefully I’ll be able to post a bit more about some of these later in the weekend but before they actually hit. It’s gonna be a good one, believe it: Fri., August 14: Passengers (ex-Teenage Kicks)/Roky Moon & Bolt/King Ghidora @ The Mink […]
Damn, this one kind of fell by the wayside in all the Summerfest madness… Last week yours truly got some fine new writing-type things up on SCR, and it’d be a shame to let them slip on by without a word, especially since a couple of bits here and there are a sorta-kinda timely. The […]
I mentioned a while back on this little blog how power pop heroes Teenage Kicks were no more, right? Well, drummer John Baldwin hasn’t been doing much relaxing since, apparently — not only has he been DJing as Urbane Guerrilla Sound System, but now he’s drummer for a brand-new band called Passengers, who’re playing their […]
Okay, folks — I’m afraid I don’t have time to ramble about all the good shows going on this weekend, partly because I’m kinda focused on the Free Press Summerfest thing. There is plenty else going on, though, so here’re my picks off the list: Fri., August 7: Method Man/Redman/Ghostface Killah/Duo Live @ House of […]
I’m not generally a fan of black metal, no; beyond my overall aversion to Cookie Monstering when it comes to any kind of singing, my gut reaction when I see somebody in corpsepaint, looking Mëtäl and wannabe-badass, is roughly the same as when I see barbarians with gigantic beer bellies and rode-hard wenches in chainmail […]
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 […]
Unless you’ve been dead for the past few months (or, okay, you don’t happen to live here in Houston), odds are you’ve heard about the sure-to-be-epic Free Press Summerfest spanning Saturday and Sunday of this next weekend (the 8th & 9th, non-calendar-having punks) at Eleanor Tinsley Park. And trust me, “epic” is the word — […]
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 […]
Back again with part 2 of your SCR weekend rundown; here goes: Sat., August 1: ST37/Linus Pauling Quartet/Giant Princess @ Rudyard’s First up, some full-on psych/stoner/garage-rock for your hot summer evening. I’m not all that familiar with Austin’s ST37, but I’m a biiiiig fan of H-town’s own Linus Pauling Quartet — not only does guitarist […]
Those of the long-ago Scene may recall a handful of especially cool-ass shows held at The Oven (now resurrected as Mango’s) about a decade ago, collectively referred to as Hot Pop City and featuring a veritable shitload of excellent bands, folks like Silver Scooter, Red Monkey, Britt Daniels (yeah, that Britt Daniels), Port Vale, Japanic, […]
Rolling up on the weekend, y’all, and for some reason I can’t find very many damn flyers for all the shows going on. The hell? Nevertheless, there’s some good stuff; can’t write it all up now, but here’s Pt. 1: Leave Your Genre at the Door One Year Anniversary, featuring Sound Patrol, The Pocket, Buxton, […]
Not sure exactly what the deal is, but I just heard the news that something’s up over at the recently-moved Javajazz Coffee House up on the north side of town. Apparently they’re having to move all of their upcoming shows, as well, shifting them out to The Meridian (mostly) and Numbers. Wow. Hopefully the situation’s […]
I sorely neglected to mention the last installment of hip-hop/soul diva/entrepreneur Kam Franklin‘s cool-ass Leave Your Genre at the Door showcases, and I really, truly don’t want to make that same mistake again. This coming Friday, July 31st at Fitzgerald’s, she & her crew are celebrating the show’s one-year anniversary, and I seriously hope it’s […]
In case you hadn’t seen/heard of it yet, local H-town scene icon and Bring Back The Guns frontman Matt Brownlie has a new plan, which happens to sound a bit like an old plan. Back in the day, Matt had the grand vision of a series of self-perpetuating showcases for local bands, and he called […]
UPDATE: Just a bit of a note for those who A) can’t make it up to the Heights tonight or B) want an extra dose of Richmondians The Catalyst — just got word that they’ll (hopefully) be making an appearance on the Mutant Hardcore Flower Hour on KTRU tonight, as well. Tune in tonight between, […]
Good weekend coming, definitely, and since yours truly will sadly be out of town, I wanted to hit the stuff going on early next week, too. Here goes: Fri., July 24: Paris Falls @ Cactus Music (5:30PM) The earliest of all of ’em is happening in just a little while, actually — sorry for the […]
Yep, yep, yep — in-between the ultra-short-notice posts I’ve been slapping up here lately, there’s been quite a bit of new stuff going on on the site, and I’m damned proud of the current pile, I have to say… First up, thanks to new-ish Austin-based contributor Chris G., we’ve got a cool preview-type thing for […]
Damn…feels like I’m doing this more & more lately…sigh. Just got a bunch of new reviews up on the site, including (most crucially for the moment) a writeup of the new one by palindromic Illinoians So Many Dynamos, The Loud Wars. My knee-jerk initial reaction was, “okay, so they sound like The Dismemberment Plan; I […]
Nice, nice, nice. The Houston Press‘s Chris Gray has a piece in this week’s dead-trees version of the paper called “Progress Report”, where he marks the coming of this weekend’s Houston Press Music Awards Showcase by taking an overview of the scene here in our currently-overheated city. For the most part, I think the article’s […]
Yes, the world of zines (and most other types of printed/self-published art & writing, whatever you want to call it) is a thing near & dear to my heart. And I know firsthand how much of a ridiculous pain in the a–er, labor of love it can be to get a zine from brain to […]
Yep, there’s a crap-ton of good shows this weekend, and not much time in which to type about it. Here goes… Fri., July 17: Austin Collins/The Small Sounds @ Firehouse Saloon I had, had, had to put this one first, not because of headliners Austin Collins, but because of local boys The Small Sounds, whom […]
Promised I’d mention this in a bit more detail, so here it goes… This coming Saturday, July 18th, a group called The Pure Water Project is throwing a festival/benefit, the Pure Water Music Festival, down in the La Porte ‘hood. It’ll run from 1-9:30PM at the Fairmont Park Church (10401 Belfast Rd.), and they’ve managed […]
Another last-minuter — I’d been trying to write up the new RX Bandits album for the better part of a week, without much success, but I finally, at the last freaking second, managed to get it up there. Check out the review up here, if you feel like it. Basically, I found myself enjoying the […]
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve been seeing/hearing me talk quite a bit lately about folks going out on tour — I think it’s a freaking awesome development, and the fact that nearly half of the coolest-ass bands in town right now seem to be either currently touring or planning to tour is one of […]
It was hot. I was hot. Really, really, really fucking hot, the level of hot at which sane adults begin to wonder what the fuck they were thinking in the first place. At least, that’s what was going through my head as the two teenaged members of Ghost Mountain ambled onto the stage to start […]
I’d hoped to wedge this into the pile of reviews that went up late last week, but alas, it was not to be. Part of it, I’ll confess, was due to my reluctance to bother even listening to Pete Yorn‘s latest album, Back and Fourth; fair or not, I tend to lump him into a […]
Alright, so it’s not really “Take Two,” but the last attempt at doing a BandCamp booking thing ended up being somewhat scuttled by the asshole-ish theft of Caroline Collective/BandCamp honcho Matthew Wettergren‘s laptop & all its contents. That said, the aim this time out is a little different — the next installment of BandCamp, BandCamp: […]
Late start to the weekend, I know — big, big apologies to News on the March & Grandfather Child for not ranting & raving about their show last night…sigh. Day/evening just got away from me, I’m afraid… Sat., July 11: Buxton (7″ release)/Ghost Mountain/The Wild Moccasins @ Mango’s See here, eh? Nava’s Birthday Bash, featuring […]
Got some cool new reviews up, some just in time for the weekned-ness. There’s a review of the really new 7″ from countrified indie-popsters Buxton, which’ll be released at a cool-ass show tonight at Mango’s — I’ve been digging the hell out of A-side “Feathers”, in particular, but both sides are darn good. Full review […]
Not a music-related deal, really, but given the circumstances, I think it’s well worth mentioning. Jason Nodler, the founder of the much-celebrated, ultra-indie local theater troupe Infernal Bridegroom Productions and current Artistic Director for (and also founding member of) the relatively-new Catastrophic Theatre, was apparently hit by a taxicab over in Amsterdam right at the […]
It heartens me to see more and more of H-town’s best and brightest flying the coop (temporarily, mind you) to travel the country and spread their musical magic far & wide. It used to be that a touring Houston band was more of an anomaly than anything else, but in recent days lots of talented-ass […]
Yep, it’s that most patriotic of weekends, July 4th, when even supposedly un-American punks like me feel compelled to smile at our fellow citizens & fly flags & attend parades & whatnot. Oh, and listen to music — you can pretty much pick your poison in terms of kickass shows this weekend: Sat., July 4: […]
Mentioned it a while back, but just wanted to drop a quick reminder — today marks the start of the two-day Texas Heat Music Festival downtown at Jones Plaza, a festival that really, truly, looks to be living up to its name, considering how it’s hot as fuck outside right now. The too-apt name notwithstanding, […]
I utterly, completely love the head-on collision that’s been going on lately between snarling, four-chords-and-distortion punk and raw-throated, hard-drinking roots-rock. It’s probably been going on for longer than I’m aware of, sure, but these days it seems to be boiling right beneath the surface, and I’m psyched as hell about it. The combination of ragged […]
Just a little fyi — for those who’ve been watching & waiting anxiously for more details on this year’s installment of the ever-entertaining Houston Press Music Awards Showcase, well, you’re in luck, because today (I think?) the HP crew went live with the updated version of the HPMA site, including online voting & the full […]
What, you thought that was it for the weekend? Nah, not quite. Here’s some more of what sounds good to me for the next two days/nights: Sat., June 27: Indian Jewelry/How I Quit Crack/Wicked Poseur/Flowers to Hide @ The Mink (9PM) Glad to see Indian Jewelry out & about again. It may be my imagination, […]
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, […]
