Spring 2008 Westheimer Survives Yet Another Block Party

No Beer or Jameson fueled review this week folks. This week I'm keepin' it straight edge. But even if you weren't abstaining, I hope you were able to make it out yesterday to the Block Party! I kicked around until 5pm and had to leave due to some other obligations but five hours was still quite the overdose of music. In those five hours I caught 20 acts and the stupid thing is, when I had to leave, I was bummed about having to miss Elaine Greer, The Papermoons, Oh Pioneers, Young Mammals, Rusted Shut and a whole host of other bands. Is that crazy? You'd think I'd have been sick of it all and ready to leave but the day was too beautiful and everywhere you looked you kept running into cool people and cool music. So here are some highlights:

The McKenzies drew me in with their upbeat drums, organ, and poppy melodies. For me, they were my happy pop "discovery" of the day complete with bubble machine. What can I say, I'm a sucker for the well executed pop song. Sadly, no releases yet but they say they are working on it. Highly recommended!

Defenestration Unit were missing a guitarist yet, no offense to Jim Otterson's skills, you never missed him. The band filled in the gaps beautifully and Charlie Ebersbaker's work on the Korg was a great addition to the band's palate.

Come See My Dead Person were a complete surprise. I walked in and there was this big dude with a small-scale acoustic guitar, a mandolin player, and a violinist, atop the usual drums, bass, and guitar. The singer was singing like some gypsy Tom Waits while the whole place was whooping it up. It's probably the only time I've seen a band have this infectious a "drag you in" live performance since the last time I saw the Sideshow Tramps.

Antarctica Starts Here played one of the best sets I saw on Saturday. Oh, this is a band that loves a wash of echo, reverb, and delay ON EVERYTHING. Add the shimmering guitars and their patient buildups leading to some gorgeous crescendos and I'm mainlining.

Sideshow Tramps make it look so easy! I caught a bit of their set and there is the drummer throwing his stick around like some Bennihanna chef, the washboard bassist is taking a solo to hoots and hollers from the audience, the cigar box guitarist is sashaying across the stage like he's Jimi Page, and the singer is making you buy whatever they are selling. Now, that's all fine and dandy but I'd gone to see Perseph One and that stage running late so I headed back to Avant Garden then, sure enough, when I get back, the goddamn stage is filled with people dancing and singing along! Goddamn it, I can't leave those Sideshow Tramps alone for five minutes!

Basses Loaded also fall under the category of bands that make it look easy with their cool bass lines, clever arrangements, and unstoppable skills. Fine cool I can deal with that and the fact that the whole American Sharks thing is also kickin' but I didn't know until later that day that 1/2 of the band was in The Fucking Transmissions. Fuck that! That's Bullshit! Attention Basses Loaded members, you have exceeded your cool band quota! Cut that shit out!

Buxton is a band I'd been curious to hear live since hearing them on Myspace and they did not disappoint. There's a lot to like about them, strong songs, engaging vocals etc. but for me the thing that put it over the top was the lead guitarist. Here was one of those bastards that had an insane control over what he was doing - it was enviable. He'd constantly punctuate the songs with these little guitar lines and phrasing that added texture, nuance, and weight to an already heady brew. One of the best performances of the day!

The Fucking Transmissions' set was hip hop at it's most musically witty. Ben (he of too much talent and too many cool bands) played guitar and bass simultaneously while the vocalists played off each other like droll school kids trying to outdo each other. Jovial and sharp, The Fucking Transmissions should quiet any naysayers who claim Houston Hip Hop is all out of tricks.

The Wild Moccasins got everyone in a tizzy. John Sears turned to me and said "Oh Shit they're the new De Schmog!" We'll, maybe if De Schmog was a bit more rootsy but, yeah, in terms of being upbeat, fun, and getting the crowd all nutters, they had it in spades.

I closed it off with Austin's Death Hell Battle Tank upstairs at Avant Garden. The singer (is this the dude from Fuck Emos by the way?) sure had sass. He got on the balcony and began, with his voice running through an octave divider, to taunt the people below to come upstairs all the while addressing the Houston crowd as "Hey Dallas" and telling them how much they sucked. The band - dressed in military headgear, fully in character, and with fog machine in hand - then charged through a really fucked-up version of The Immigrant Song. It was refreshing to see someone just be purely stupid and silly. Now I'll grant you, the shtick may get old but it was worth rolling this one at least once.

The Punk's Not Dead Award though for the day has to go to Cop Warmth and Blackie's guerrilla performance outside the bike shop. If you missed it like I did don't feel to bad; it was thrown together on a whim after the band's performance at Numbers . Cop Warmth are like excitable chimps and - fuck stages and set times - it was time to have some fun and fling some poo: get the equipment, set up by the bike shop, play, make some noise with Blackie, and hope it's all done before the cops shut you down. Just looking at these pictures by Brent (Link) and listening to what people said, Cop Warmth may just have topped everyone else and brought some much needed real chaos to an otherwise orderly event. Amen!

Here are some snapshots:

The McKenzies - awesome pop goodness!

The Defenestration Unit's Mike Switzer
has come to kick ass and chew bubblegum
and he's all out of bubblegum!

Generation Landslide
plays an exclusive set for Indian Jewelry

Skyblue72

Team Death Trap

Come See My Dead Person rips up Mango's
and that's without their entire line-up.

Swans Will Attack

Antarctica Starts Here lay down shoegazer
shit that makes your hair stand on end!

News On the March

Sideshow Tramps!!
I left for five minutes.
When I get back everyone was on stage.
Typical!

Mistress Green

Ill Advisory - the one man supergroup!

Basses Loaded!
Asses Kicked!
Mission Accomplished!

Lovie

Buxton! Holy shit they are good!

The Fucking Transmissions dropping some cognitive
dissonance on that one dude who writes-off Houston as
"a talentless hip hop sewer of uncreative ass clowns "

The Wild Moccasins
wowing an enthusiastic crown outside Mango's

Piano Vines you got that one dude dancin'!!

Death Hell Battle Tank!
Because sometimes you need to get your stupid on!

Cop Warmth & Blackie
proof that punk's not dead!

And Finally!
Best swag of the day was from Johnathan Welch!
He was dutifully workin' it for his spiritual guru,
& handing out the most bad-ass bookmark ever.
(Yes, Johnathan, I linked the pictures to the site.)

More:

Blog Reviews:

Breakfast On Tour review and pictures by Cereal (Link)

Handstamp (Chronicle) review and Pictures (Link), more pictures (Link), and Video (Link) by Sara Cress

Houston Calling Review By David Cobb (Link)

Houston Press review by Chris Gray (with link to a slide show Link)

Impose Magazine review and photos by David deLeon (Link)

Pictures:

My Pictures (Link)

Brent's Pictures (Link)

Groovehouse's Pictures (Link)

William Cordray's Picture's (Link)

Send me you Flickr and other related links so I can add them, eh?

The Music Crumudgeon's preview for the Week of April 10th 2008

THIS WEEK'S SPOTLIGHT IS ON OUR OWN DAMN PARTY

Sat., April 12 -

Westheimer Block Party (More), featuring

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Health, Spain Colored Orange, Young Mammals (Frmly - the Dimes), By the End of Tonight

@ Numbers (Doors at 7:30)

Sabra Laval,Elaine Greer, Oh Pioneers!!!, Papermoons, Free Radicals, Sideshow Tramps, Piano Vines, Buxton, The Watermarks, News on the March, The Defenestration Unit, Guy Schwartz

(Avant Garden - Oustide)

Boo Town Presents, The Gold Sounds, Micah Omega, Econo, Midnight Pilots, Dead Roses, The Electricks, Death Hell Battle Tank, Cop Warmth, Finnegan, Dunnock's Ill Advisory, Antarctica Starts Here, Team Death Trap, Verecity

(Avant Garden - Upstairs)

HISD, Lisa's Sons, Nosaprise, Electric Touch, Three Armada, The Fucking Transmissions, Basses Loaded, Perseph One, American Sharks, Sky Blue 72, Kam

(Ouside - Numbers)

B, Concrete Rose Cabaret, Karina Nistal, Southern Backtones, Fat Tony, Mechanical Boy, Noon, Generation Landslide, Literary Greats.

(Inside - Numbers)

The McKenzies, Swans Will Attack (Frmly - Mexican War), Mistress Green, Lovie, Rise over Ruin, The Delta Block

(Mango's Outside)

CeePlus Bad Knives, Just Jesse, John the Third, Damon

(Mango's Patio)

Release the Controls, Closet City, Come See My Dead Person, Estudiantes Social Club, Giant Battle Monster, Poison Apple Martini, The Takes, JD's Throwdown, Orengus Deltroid, Satin Hooks, Lazlo, Studemont Project, The Chapter

(Mango's Inside)

Jebus bejebus look at that line up! It hurts just looking at it! Just copying the freaking links is taking me for ever! I mean here is the deal. You catch what you can. Don't worry if you haven't heard of every band - it's a freaking block party!! Walk around, check out bands you know, check out bands you don't know, discover new bands to adore, discover new bands to ridicule, say hi to your peeps, ignore your enemies, turn on, tune in, and hang out. Can't make the whole thing? Don't worry, just pop on over for a bit. The point is it's the best party in April and you'll hate yourself for missing it. Hell, when the free stuff ends, come on into the air conditioned comfort of Numbers 2 and check out the not so free show too. See, if you don't get home after our party and aren't near death or at least to the point of collapsing, we have failed in our block party duties. Or to put it another way, we're trying to kill you.

See you there!

ALSO THIS WEEK

Friday, April 11

Whorehound / Son(s) of Evel / Split Hoof
@ Rudyard's
John The Black is one kick ass guitar player so what else can he do on his birthday but rock your ass off with his band Whorehound! Happy Birthday!

Saturday, April 12

Amplified Heat / Scorpion Child / Prodigal Sons
@ Rudyard's
The first of two shows for people who are left alive after the block party and carry their own defibrillator, Amplified Heat are gold when it comes live shows.

Termination Force, Hypo-Christians, HasBeen, Ale Gore, Chocolate Crucifix
@ 2502 Leeland (9pm Sharp)
Here is the other one. Now you may notice this looks a hella lot like last week's canceled show at the Pitt and you'd be right - this is the rescheduled show. So if you didn't get your hit of Hardcore last week - here is your chance!

Sunday, April 13

KTRU 17th Annual Outdoor Show, featuring
Parts & Labor(!), Dead PA, Nosaprise, Balaclavas, KAI/ROS, Social Insects, Miles Ahead, Flying Balalaika Brothers, & Rachel Buchman
@ IM Fields 2/3 (Rice Univ. campus; 12PM, free)
Yeah, a family tradition here. Each year, KTRU brings some of the finest bands onto Rice campus and it makes for a lovely and laid back afternoon. I don't think I've ever attended one and had a bad time. Parts & Labor alone is worth the admission! I'm one of those P&L fans who find the live shows are so good that they make the LPs seem like a pale copy. The rest of the line up (which includes the recently profiled Balaclavas) is pretty amazing. I'll see you there too.

British Sea Power/Film School/Colour Music/The Watermarks
@ Numbers
This show has been burned in my head only because of a ridiculous attack on promoter Pegstar for booking the Watermarks and not the anonymous flamer's own band. The flamer's sour grapes caused a big commotion and the show got much more publicity than had the flamer kept his mouth shut. Which only goes to prove that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Monday, April 14

Born Liars/Black Black Gold
@ Boondocks
You know there are two solid big time shows happening but, no offense to the Boss or the angry red planet, you know where the sweat and craziness will be happening? Boondocks. Born Liars rip up the garage thing like nobody's business. They are so good that we're trying very hard to get around their nutters schedule to do a feature for May's issue.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
@ Toyota Center
Bruuuuuce!

The Mars Volta
@ Verizon Wireless Theater
Get your proggy weirdness on!

Wed., April 16

Son Volt/Bobby Bare Jr.
@ The Continental Club
Oh man this is a sweet bill. Do I need to explain who Sun Volt is? I didn't think so.

Scout Niblett, Throw Me The Statue, The Ruby Suns + Elaine Greer and Sew What? (solo sets)
@ The Mink Backroom
England's Scout Niblett minimal approach to her music make for some very intimate records. I'm kind of curious to see how it pulls off live. Pairing her with local singer songwriters Elaine Greer and Sew What is a nice contrast in solo styles too. Sandwiched in-between you'll find the poppy goodness of Seattle's Throw Me The Statue and the slightly odder pop stylings of New Zealand's Ruby Sons. In short, this show's kind of a smörgåsbord of styles which is something I find really refreshing.

Music with Jameson & Lone Star: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Clue to Kalo, Hearts of Animals @ The Backroom 06 April 2008

Sunday was just one of those nights where you had two very good choices from which to choose. On the one hand you had the International Noise Conference over at the Jet Lounge while The Mink Backroom had Casiotone and HOA. I'd actually considered trying to catch both but then realized how club hooping is generally a recipe for disaster and simply staked my claim with the show at the Backroom.

Opening was Hearts of Animals who I've seen so many times that it would generally seem pointless and redundant to catch yet another performance but everyonce in a while you catch one performance like this and you remember what's so particularly special about HOA. Sunday night saw HOA perform under some dodgy circumstances: a Mac with its battery nigh dead, an odd little drum machine whose signal never fed properly to the board, and pre-amp tubes that weren't cooperating thus refusing her the crunchy distortion that we have come associate with HOA. But after a futile request for a distortion box, HOA simply forged ahead and, the thing was, I never missed the distortion. Perhaps because she had to fight the circumstances somewhat and knowing that her Powerbook could go at any moment, this HOA performance had a little but of the sass that had been missing from her SXSW performance. The clean guitar was actually quite enjoyable as the clear ringing notes had nothing to hide behind and, being a fan of her simple yet effective finger picking style, it was nice to hear that unfiltered and pure. That being said, despite the excellent performance, one thing kept ruining the music for me and that was the dude who was writhing on the floor, bumping into the microphone, and engaging other generally annoying behavior that would a suggest a person who clearly is desperate for attention. First off, I am still shocked that dude was not on drugs but more importantly the question that should be posed to people like this is "Did I just pay 8 bucks to watch you make an ass of yourself or did I pay 8 bucks to see someone play some songs that they worked pretty damn hard to perfect?" followed by the inevitable "No dude, that is a rhetorical question."

Clue to Kalo followed with a pretty shaky set. Don't get me wrong Clue to Kalo have their share of good solid songs (check out Love Check Music Game on their myspace for a lovely example of the band at their best) yet, there was something that never quite took off. You could argue that the sound didn't do much for the type of clean poppy instrumentation and harmonies in which the band prefers to tread and sure, they came off as pleasant, charming, and droll enough but the set never really left me engaged beyond a shrug of pleasantness. Perhaps this is a band better left to the controlled and precise world the studio which, by the way, is no dis.


Closing the evening was Casiotone for the Painfully Alone who played a sweet set. Now, I've been pretty shaky on his voice on his recordings (perhaps because he at times employs some good vocalists to share duties) but in a live perfoemance his voice is charming, sincere, and endearing. Now don't get me wrong with these qualifiers for his vocals, Owen Ashworth's main strength lies in his ability to write lovely little personal pop songs and arrange them with some lovely keyboards that at times give me the same fun kick I'd gotten when I'd first heard latter day Kraftwerk. His is all about the beauty of simplicity and Sunday's performance was appropriately ungilded; he simply laid out those songs and charmed the audience with his low key and humble stage personae. The oddest and funniest bit of banter came when he explained to the audience how the legs on muppets freak him out which may seem a bit of a shaggy dog but it pretty much captured the spirit of the evening which was simply a bunch of people sitting together listening to some songs and enjoying each others company. Now how much more pleasant a Sunday night would you want?

Special Report: Punk Rock Starbucks (Video and Pictures)

The Punk rock Starbucks show this afternoon was a hoot even if it was short. Yeah, you loser, I know you missed it so I posted a few pictures for you. But don't take my word for it, check out my little video at the bottom with bonus six-year-old commentary:

Be My Doppelganger

Dude, is that a Starbucks across the street?

A beautiful day and good music.
What could possibly go wrong?
Something Fierce

Cheese it! It's the cops!

The Man makes his move!Niki "Dude! We're so gonna get shut down!"

And now the video:

More pics at my flickr

The Music Crumudgeon's preview for the Week of April 3rd 2008

THIS WEEK'S SPOTLIGHT

This week we're spotlighting that annoying thing that happens when there are two good shows on the same night.

Sunday, April 6 -

International Noise Conference:

anti-curators Domokos & Rotten Piece
Featuring

Laundry Room Squelchers / Last Rape / Murex / Future Blondes / Meat Glove / A Thousand Cranes / Shithead / The Wiggins /How I Quit Crack / Muzak John / Have a Nice Day
@ Jet Lounge
Here is an interesting idea The International Noise Conference draws bands from around the world to its Miami home. Nice, but what if the tables were flipped and the INC came to you? Well, that's the idea here. Miami's Laundry Room Squelchers are touring from city to city and having local noise artists curate the evening. The Houston leg is being assembled By Domokos (Pink Cloud) and Shawn and Carol Kelly (Rotten Piece, Ouroboros, Sad Pygmy, Etc.). They've assembled quite a cast and it should be a dizzying night as sets are geared to last no more than 15 minutes. Too many bands to describe but I promise it will be a blast of sound and creativity. If you are not familiar with any of this, you may want to check out this short video that was made for Current TV.Current TV: INC2008

Sunday, April 6 -
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone / Clue to Kalo / Hearts of Animals
@ The Mink

Oh the lowly Casio hated by many but admired by many more. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone is definitely a case for this lowly keyboard. Owen Ashworth writes simple hummable pop songs whose keyboard arrangements are horribly endearing. Now sure his vocals are... umm... not the strongest but mercifully Ashworth isn't egotistical and in his recordings he employs a rotating cast of singers who fill in and flesh out his songs in a way that his own voice cannot. If you haven't heard his stuff you should give it a whirl. If you find the Casio too cold and electronic then maybe Australia's Clue for Kalo may be more your bag. With rich instrumentation and a lush sense of melody Mark Mitchell is savvy enough to never let the production overtake the songs but instead utilizes his spaces and textures to great effect. Lovely stuff and quite organic. Opener Hearts of Animals (just back from playing SXSW) needs no introduction in this column. Yes, Lemming Baby was one of the best albums from 2007 , and yes, you should listen to the 7" EP on Dull Knife which features song from her previously issued CDRs (Lemming Baby and Grey Ghost) but there is something very warm and unassuming about her live performances that always make it worth catching too. If you haven't seen her live, this may be a good chance to do so. As Skyline Network's ADR would say "ACES!"

ALSO THIS WEEK


Friday, April 4

Xiu Xiu/Thao and the Get Down Stay Down
@ The Orange Show
If you like subtlety and nuance the histrionic Xiu Xiu may not be up your alley but if you like your instrumentation densely layered and vocals hyper-emotive this will be manna from heaven. A nice contrast to the more laid back Thao whose Bag of Hammers is much too cute a pop song for me to resist.

The Wiggins/Majic Jewels/A Thousand Cranes/Giant Princess
@ Notsuoh
($2, 9PM)
Jon Read is the Wiggins and his one man guitar/echoed vocals/drum machine ensemble is always a blast. Fat on the drums and thick on the guitar you may find yourself even dancing to his madness if you are not too careful. A Thousand Cranes favor more the drone and space that would really go well with that water pipe you bought recently - the one you bought to smoke tobacco with. You know that 60's teen horror B film and there's this scene with some fucked up poppy but gritty garage band playing in the background in some party? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about when I hear Giant Princess' songs like Adventure or Oh Delilah.

Penny Royal/Dreamt
the End
@ Rudyard's
Omar really likes Penny Royal.

Saturday, April 5 -

This just in(!!!)
Punk Rock Show at Starbucks!! 5PM!!
Something Fierce / Be My Doppelgange / Alarma
@ the Starbucks across from the Starbucks on West Gray

Wow, if you can make it this is going to rule. Or let just steal Matt Brownlie's post on Handus Up becasue it's brilliant. He writes:

"Punk Show at Starbucks" would make an awesome title for a Wesley Willis song: To whit:

THERE WAS A PUNK SHOW AT THE STARBUCKS.
IT WAS ACROSS THE STREET FROM STARBUCKS.
THERE WERE 400 PEOPLE AT THE PUNK ROCK SHOW.
THE SHOW WAS TOTALLY AWESOME.

PUUUUUUUNK SHOW AT STAAAAARRBUCKS!
PUUUUUUUNK SHOW AT STAAAAARRBUCKS!
PUUUUUUUNK SHOW AT STAAAAARRBUCKS!
PUUUUUUUNK SHOW AT STAAAAARRBUCKS!

THE BAND SOMETHING FIERCE PLAYED.
THEY BROUGHT ON THE VERY TIGHT JAMS.
THE PEOPLE AT THE SHOW WENT CRAZY.
THEY REALLY WHIPPED A CAMEL'S BOOTYHOLE.

PUUUUUUUNK SHOW AT STAAAAARRBUCKS!
PUUUUUUUNK SHOW AT STAAAAARRBUCKS!
PUUUUUUUNK SHOW AT STAAAAARRBUCKS!
PUUUUUUUNK SHOW AT STAAAAARRBUCKS!"

Lazy Horse
@ Notsuoh

I've not heard Lazy Horse and it's impossible to judge a band by its myspace so let me just say they've gotten a lot of props from people I trust, dig?

Hypo Christians / Hasbeen / PLF / Chocolate Crucifix
@ The Pitt (Pasadena)
Hypo Christians (that's hippo as in Hypocrite not high-po as in Hypodermic) prove that you can be goofy, have a sense of humor and still kick ass. Yes, that's right you can come out and get mutilated by a grindcore band with a Hello Kitty fetish. This will be Hasbeen's final show and they are so bad ass that they don't have a myspace. Grindcore gods PLF just got back from touring California - woohoo! They alone should make it worth your while. The fact that Chocolate Crucifix's "band website" links to the Smarties (candy) website should tell you that it has members from Hypo Christians. Cancelled see comments

Blashpherian
and a hella lot of other bands (see poster whiteswan4508.jpg)
@ The White Swan
OK so the Pitt show was canceled, try this on for size instead. $15 bucks is pretty steep (really really steep) but supposedly there are a lot of bands playing.

American Sharks / Be My Doppelganger / Something Fierce / The Takes / Cop Warmth
@ The Crocker House (9PM)

Yes Crocker House party. We have an office pool as to how long until the cops shut it down. JOKE! No, seriously this is going to be the an awesome house busting garage fest. Plus short shorts. Lots of 'em!

Metal Mayhem 08
featuring
Sever the Silence/Cane and Able/Bloodvoid/Lycophile
@ The Engine Room
You know why I love Metal? Because the prototype singer is a blue muppet with googly eyes and the prototype drummer is a coked-up jackhammer! I freaking love that!

Sunday, April 6 - (see above)

Monday, April 7 -

Sabra Laval / The Dead of Night /Cory Derden
@ Notsuoh
Get Your Folk ON! This will be a good aperitif to the barrage of Sunday night. Nothing complicated here, just singular and confident voices. Sabra Laval's quiet music has been among Houston's best and her strong and assured voice easily stands out in a crowd. Brooklyn's Dead of Night is Texas ex-pat Nancy Beth Brown who performs a capella songs in a manner that are direct, simple, and tactile yet hauntingly atmospheric. Corey Derden also deals in the quiet and the atmospheric. It's gonna be chill.