IT'S THE FREAKIN WEEKEND

While we here in Los Angeles working very very hard to prevent another Sublime record from coming out, we are sure the rest of you will be having a very jolly weekend back in the seven-one-three. Considering how hectic the last few weeks have been, it's nice have a bit of a breather, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty going on. Though we wish we could join you, we hope that atleast one of the following helps chase the rain away.

Friday
Okkerville River, Campus Band and Tee Double – Ray Courtyard @ Rice University
(Ok – we can’t find anything else out about this show other than it’s on the Jagjaguwar tour page and a mention on a website somewhere else that we now can’t track down. It’s not on on the KTRU website or anywhere on the University’s schedule. If you know something about this show, like when it starts, please post it in the comments section.)

Saturday
Jana Hunter’s There’s No Home CD release party, w/ Jracula, Balaclavas and Arthur Bates as master of ceremonies @ The Proletariat

Co-Pilot, Margot, Attack Formation, Sinews @ Notsuoh

Sunday
Keith Sweat, K-Ci & Jo Jo, Teddy Riley, Cut Close, Silk @ Reliant Arena

HOOK, LINE & WIPER

Hey, have you stopped by Satin Hook's MySpace page lately? Oh, No? Well, you might take a minute to do so, because they've posted a rough mix of a track from their recent recording sessions, a cover of The Wipers' song 'Mystery'. Tuff. Singer Kerry tells us that they're not sure if the final version of this track will be on the forthcoming album (which he also revealed will be called FALSE FLAG - ACES!) or an EP following the release. We dunno when the hooks are playing next, but catch em when they do.

JANA HUNTER - THERE'S NO HOME

If our editor in chief would let us, we could easily do several Jana Hunter superfan stories a week. Here she is filling in on bass for the Castanets on their March swing through town; there she is nailing an R. Kelly penned Isley Brothers song; Oh look, over there we see her having the scientifically demonstrated most superior of all birthdates – and those are the things we didn’t write about. You can imagine, then, the Doublemint it is for us that we have something indisputably meritous to write about this evening, namely her new record.

The most striking reflection about There's No Home, almost from the get-go, is that it’s an ideal record for an afternoon on the beach (yes, we realize that some of the album was penned on a sailboat, but we’re saving our Two Years Before the Mast references for another time). This will be surprising to fans of her first LP, which we internalized as a soundtrack for such character forming moments as getting one’s son up before dawn and taking them sleepy eyed to the barn to witness the putting down of the sick old grey mare. But yeah, the beach, though it’s not necessarily California Girls and Beach Blanket Bingo that we’re talking about here.

There are sunburns, and patches where all that glitters is broken glass, and days with flies and rotted kelp and weeks where the morbid beauty of a flotilla of purple invertebrate carcasses will have to make up for the lack of bare midriffs. There is the lurchey stumble forward of footsteps in sinking sand, and the silver danger of the wading angler’s lure as her hooks arc toward you before the reel is cast seaward. Is that really a guitar tossing over and over, or is it a discarded plastic sack, trying to make its own way Home but sentenced forever to summersault and dance in the undercurrent only inches from the respite of packed sand?

Yet, for every moment that we have to remove our headphones to determine that the waves we are hearing are in the world around us and not on the record inside, we’ve got our shoes off and are holding hands and throwing sticks. Here, at that very same beach, we’re laughing and pedaling our cruisers so fast on the sidewalked outskirts that we can’t say absolutely if those circling Vultures aren’t just gulls caught up in the mischievous ocean gale we credit ourselves with making. And at times, we can stop flying our kite only long enough to join the entire collection of our best mates around the bonfire and kick a few rounds of ‘Bird’ up to the moon.

There's No Home is one of those records that fills an empty slot in your go-to list you may have not realized you had before. It plods, it gallops, it cries, it giggles, it hurts, it hopes – and it does it with the comfort of saltwater ebbing from your heels and returning again. That’s a good feeling, no matter how cold the water is. Recommended.

Jana Hunter’s There's No Home Release party is this Saturday night, March 31st at the Proletariat. Also on the bill is her band Jracula and local locals, Balaclavas.

MP3: Jana Hunter - Babies

NEW TRACKS: SOMETHING FIERCE

Hey Something Fierce, remember our first and only skateboard and the frenetic pace of life when backpacks and a set of three numbers and lunch menus and somebody having a cool older brother with a car mattered? Grass was pushing up faster, and the lawn had to be mowed with increasing frequency, but its cool because after another six weeks the three months that followed were gonna last forever, and we don’t even have a job but its chill because allowance will get us by and we got this ten speed and a watch.

Yeah, we could have used you in our walkmen back then, but SERIOUSLY we don’t really hold a beef up on that because you can’t go back, but you can go forward and we just wanna say thanks for posting these new tracks ‘Teenage Ruins’ and ‘On Your Own’, cause they really are taking us back to a seriously better revisionist vision of what our life was back then, and giving old people a trip back to before they had to shave and manage the allocation of their 401(k) assets is a real gift, so please keep doing it. WE DON’T WANNA!

Stream: Something Fierce – Teenage Ruins; On Your Own

CALIFORNIA DREARING

We are saddened to report that, for the next ten days, the entire staff of The Skyline Network is on forced assignment in the city that made white Broncos famous, Los Angeles, California. In some ways, the City of Angels could be compared to our own: they have Compton, we have South Park; they have Hollywood, we have many many many Hollywood convenience stores; they have Long Beach, we have Kemah; they have Predator 2, we have Robocop 2; we have they have traffic, we have traffic. But in spite of all that might remind us of home (the air quality, for example), it serves only to make our buckles and brims turn longingly east. Please excuse the sparser coverage of the rock that matters to you during our sabbatical, and likewise send any news you may hear our way. Lord knows, we’re not leaving this hotel room anytime soon. Ok, actually we’re about to goto Knox Berry Farm, but after that, we’re staying put.

Oh wait, is Universal Studios here too?!

SPECTACLE SPECTACULAR

A few scenes from last night's brouhaha at the Proletariat. More pictures here. You can also read more coverage on Handstamp, which also has a video.


David Arquette sings 'You Cannot Kill David Arquette' with the Black Math Experiment


Brandon from Co-Pilot shows off the wrestling belt that Mr. Arquette signed. The two would later arm-wrestle on a pool table.


Ben Murphy (Bright Men of Learning) dons the Reagan mask.


Mr Arquette on Mr. Murphy's scooter, now sporting the promotional Reagan sticker from The Tripper (thanks to Carrie Murphy for the pic).

HAVIN' A RONI: HOUSTON

Usually, we leave coverage of the rap game in our fair city to the far better connected and qualified Houston So Real, but we feel compelled to mention that a documentary co-produced by former local scene maven Lance Walker is being shown on vbs.tv in ten minute segments this week. If you are (like us) completely not in the know about the sound that made South Park famous, take a few minutes out of each day this week to get caught up on slabs, grills, syrup and the next townhome target, the third ward. CHOICE!

CONFIRMED: SLASH AND RIFF TONITE @ PROLO

Well, the rumor that you read here first was out and out confirmed over the weekend. In case you missed the gory details from us or Donewaiting, Handstamp or Hands Up, here’s the beef: David Arquette will be at The Proletariat around nine tonight showing clips from his directorial debut, the upcoming slasher pic The Tripper. The plot? SO SAYETH THE ORACLE: “A Ronald Reagan-obsessed serial killer targets a bunch of hippies who are heading to a weekend-long concert.” Yuss.

Performing as part of the Hollywoodness will be locals Black Math Experiment, who will presumably take an axe to yr skull in their most important performance ever of the song “You Cannot Kill David Arquette.”

After the blood is squeegeed from the floor, find your buddy (NOT the blonde bimbo or the only non-white person) and stick around for the haunted house of acts that includes Greg Ashely (Gris Gris), Brian Glaze (Brian Jonestown Massacre), Jenny Westbury, Josh White (Dizzy Pilot, Drillbox Ignition) and Erin Dance (Southern Bellegosi) This is all free, btw. GET KNIFED IN THE EYE!

A WEEKEND AT THE CITY BLOCK PARTY

After a slow, rain resistant start, a little bit of schedule shifting, and the sausage-on-a-stick vendors not quite ready as early as we would like them to be, Saturday’s Block Party kicked it up into a great afternoon. Along with hundreds of others, our staff wore a path into the sidewalks surrounding the intersection of Taft and Westheimer. Here are some of our highlights (you can check out all of our pictures here).

More than any act, we were determined to get out from behind the curve on Sabra and the Big Brothers. And for our awkward pacing around the venues, moments in the rain and missing of another act on our list, we were generously rewarded. ‘Gentle Man’, the one track we had heard up until the first pluck of the banjo, is far from a fluke (earlier, while conferring about schedule and stage changes, we asked “So, did you just decided to record one ACES song and say ‘ok, that’s enough, we can stop now.’?”). Her songs are beautiful lullabies of dread, spooky and sparse every one. And she’s one of the coolest cats we met up with all day long; every time our paths crossed it was like running into an old friend.


And speaking of cool cats, while waiting for Sabra to go on, we ran into Mlee (who we have decided is a prankster, but we have no proof for this) of Hearts of Animals/Mlee Marie (left). She dished us out the goods on tape on topics ranging from the benefits of solo-ism to her upcoming metal project Vaarg. She also introduced us to crooner Elaine Greer (center), a name we’re sure we’ll be typing more in the future, and artist Terry Suprean.


From Helios, we headed over to catch Flowers to Hide at the Numbers outside stage and then wandered around rather aimlessly as we tried to find something to catch our ears (Western Civilization cancelled, but they packed it in pretty good at Walters later that night for their CD release party).


At one point we happened upon the Medicine Show plying their olde-timey trade on the sidewalk as buses and beamers barreled.


And then caught some Satin Hooks – by this point in the afternoon, everything was running pretty fast – the loitering and rain and extensive note-taking of the noon hour was sliding off the bottle like a wet label.


The Riff Tiffs did not disappoint.


And neither did Spain Colored Orange.


Mega Dittos for the Scattered Pages and the cadre of dancing girls who are an apparition regardless of the setting in which they execute their decidedly unintentionally dancey poppers.


For us, the Party ended with only as long of a glimpse of the Generic Tribe’s set as we could squeeze in before heading the the Western Civilization show (and then from there to Balaclavas, whose CD release was also that night – OUR THOUGHTS COMING SOON). A good day, all told; more pink than red on the neck where the collar stops the burn; many suspicions confirmed, and several must-see-agains added to our calendar. Did you go? Did you take pictures? Did you catch .belville for crying out loud (we missed em, again)? COMMENT!

More schedule updates

After quite a but of lingering and watching and waiting for the numbers outside stage to be setup, we have been informed that Sabra will be moved to numbers inside at 5, and possibly earlier at helios or mangos. Taking a look at the schedules posted outside the clubs, it is pretty clear that other changes have been made, so be sure to take a look at them.

Schedule update

Just talked to Sabra et all, and the outside stages are having their schedules pushed back 50 minutes due to the rain, which has stopped and now the sun is peaking through the clouds. Could turn into a lovely afternoon.

Weather update

At the numbers outside stage, where Sabra and the Big Brothers are about to play. There is intermitten light sprinkles falling and no hear on the stage as of yet. Though somewhat balmy, a light breeze has started in the last few minutes, or perhaps it is our proximity to the hippie huls hooping girls that comprise the entirety of the audience of two.

LIVEBLOGGING: WESTHEIMER BLOCK PARTY

Well, our camera phones are charged, our dictaphones are rewound, our pencils are sharpened and our memory cards are empty - we're just minutes from all piling in The Skyline Network Satellite Live Truck and heading down to the Block Party. Though from where we are (about a mile away) there is a light mist in the air, the weather forecast keeps the chance of rain slim for the whole day, so we are gonna go for it. If you're on your way there too, be sure to browse our recommendations or the complete schedule before you go. We'll be sending updates throughout the day, so tune back in for the latest before you go. SEE YOU THERE.

PHOTOS: LE THARGIC & THE KIMONOS

Photos of Le Thargic and The Kimonos from their show at Rudyard's last night. See the entire collection of evidence that we need a better camera/camera operator here.

ATTN THIS WEEKEND: ARE YOU KIDDING US?

We know that you’re like us, that you thought after two non-stop weeks of Noisy, Smokey, SXSWesty music, you’d finally have a weekend where you could just chill and drink a gallon or two of JUG with your friends. Well SORRY BOUT THAT, ALLEY CAT. The pace doesn’t let up for a second this weekend, and though the end of the dry-clean-only workweek is only hours away, we’re pleased to put in front of your our RECCOMENDZ for the next couple sunrise/sunset pairs.

FRIDAY
Le Thargic, The Kimonos, and The Charms @ Rudyards
Church of Philadelphia, Listen! Listen! and Comrade @ Notsuoh
The Dead Science, Parenthetical Girls, Graustark, Something Really Dirty @ Super Happy Fun Land

SATURDAY
Westheimer Block Party (daytime)
Western Civilization (CD Release Party), Buxton and Peekaboo Theory @ Walter’s
Clipd Beaks, Balaclavas (CD Release Party), Church of the Snake, Wicked Poseur @ Notsuoh

SUNDAY
Good grief, take a night off already!

PRAISEWORTHY: CHURCH OF PHILADELPHIA

Ok, let’s get one thing out there right at the beginning: Woodlands-based Church of Philadelphia sings Gospel. Not gospel the Kirk Frankliny musical genre, where everyone gets a matching shiny graduation gown and stands on risers swaying in synch. No. Rather, Gospel in the literal sense of the praise of Christ and the glory of redemption through Him. Unlike a a Sufjan Stevens song, for example, where spiritual references are in the form of his walk in the Kingdom of Earth interwoven with the intersects of his Walk; or in Bono lyric, where God more often than not is a punching bag/complaint department – these are songs of genuine praise and worship.

If that turns you off, that’s too bad, ‘cause they have a lot of good songs, especially on those where they kick-up the pace a bit and pour on the instruments. While we feel we must tread as lightly as possible on the works of worship of other artists, most praise music we’ve encountered hasn’t done much for us. So, it’s exceptional that the joyful noise unto The Lord that is their self-titled EP hasn’t just found its way onto our iPod, but is in heavy rotation in such dreadfully secular settings as the office, the commute and the room we do the dishes in.

With pianos, folk guitars, and the occasional organ, they sometimes catchily, sometimes almost drearily, offer it up on high with some pretty aces hooks and a bright nod to what is coming from them next. Witness their Witness tonight at Notsuoh with locals Listen! Listen! and touring kids Comrade.

ATTN GUITARISTS: DON'T BLOW IT

Maybe you didn't know this, but there is a non-Houston band that we cover, and that band is SPACEHOG. Why? Well, quite frankly, unless your band is Focus, SPACEHOG is way way holiday better than your's will ever be under any possible circumstances. SPACEHOG snores better jams than you could ever write, learn or attempt to decontruct. UNLESS, that is, YOU JOIN THEM!

Or what's left of them, rather. Most of the original members of SPACEHOG are now in a band called ArcKid, and they are looking for a new guitar player. SO IF YOU THINK WHAT YOU GOT IS WHAT IT TAKES, then we heartily encourage you to apply. Seriously. There are prizes waiting for the people with the most interesting try-out story. Send yours to us. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE CRUEL TO BE KIND!

WE PLAY FAVORITES: WESTHEIMER BLOCK PARTY

Yeah, so, 50 bands. Technically, the venues are close enough together that you could catch all of them, as long as you stayed for no more than a single song, hustled like Hanover and wore a camel-bag. Don’t do that. So, because you must choose (and because you may be in the camp that thinks Guns of Detroit is a Panic In Detroit/Guns of August SUPERGROUP), we are pleased to provide the following suggested path through Candyland. Please note that, just because a name of an act was left off our list doesn’t mean that they aren’t ACES. Indeed, if you’re kind of tired of the sort of music we cover, by all means, use the following as a list of acts to avoid and spend your day in a menagerie of rap, funk, punk and electronica instead. (Complete schedule here).

NOON
Sabra and the Big Brothers @ Numbers Outside Stage - Southern spook-folk under the moss of a cypuss tree.

12:50 PM
NOVICE @ Numbers Outside Stage – Texas City Poprocks and Diet Coke experiment
OR
The Rudyments @ Mango’s Outside Stage – SKA (c’mon – you know you love ska)

1:40 PM
.belville @ Numbers Outside Stage – Remember when we talked about the Skeleton Coast?
OR
Honeysuckle @ Mango’s Inside Stage – Folk rock stompers that should consider pioneering use of the ELECTRIC JUG

2:30 PM
Flowers to Hide @ Numbers Outside Stage – They kinda ruled at Vietnam/Black Angels on Wednesday
OR
The Western Civilization @ Mango’s Inside Stage – We <3 this record, miss them here? Catch them at Walter’s that night

4:10 PM
Guns of Detroit @ Mango’s Inside Stage – COLLEGE STATION REPRESENT

5:00 PM
Rusted Shut @ Mango’s Inside Stage – Make every pore of your body deaf.
OR
Riff Tiffs @ Numbers Inside Stage – Make every pore of your body smell like Numbers

5:50 PM
Spain Colored Orange @ Helios – Go hear our Feel Good Hit of the Summer Nominee
OR
Satin Hooks @ Numbers Outside Stage – WHO ARE THE AD WIZARDS THAT PUT THESE TWO BANDS ON AT THE SAME TIME, DAMMIT!

6:40 PM
The Scattered Pages @ Helios – You shall be entertained, we wish only that their mellotron was portable.
OR
Pennyroyal @ Numbers Outside Stage - GLAM-O-AMOUROUS

7:50
The Generic Tribe @ Helios – Pace yourself, this will be worth remembering

With the weather outlook being as good as it is, the fact that it’s free and crock full of HYPE bands, plus the entire thing wrapping up plenty early to take in more shows that evening, we’re not doing well in the excuses not to go department. So, get in your car or hop on your bike – we’ll see you there.

RUMOR: DAVID ARQUETTE to hang out with Black Math Experiment… AT THE PROLO?!

HAHAH WTF?!! Ok, its been a while since a rumor has come our way, and we guess its must be because the old mill has been busy cranking out a really good one. So, you know the band Black Math Experiment? Right, well they have a song called “You Cannot Kill David Arquette”, which is pretty hilarious, in-fact, even David Arquette himself thinks so. SO – Tuesday (March 27th), Mr. Courtney Cox himself will be in town promoting his upcoming film The Tripper, and that same night, Black Math will be playing a show at the Proletariat – so here’s what we’re hearing: somehow the two parties hooked up, and ARQUETTE WILL BE HANGING OUT AND PROMOTING HIS MOVIE AT THE PROLO THAT NIGHT.

SO YEAH – In addition to the fact that Greg Ashely (Gris Gris), Brian Glaze (Brian Jonestown Massacre), Jenny Westbury, Josh White (Dizzy Pilot, Drillbox Ignition) and Erin Dance (Southern Bellegosi) are playing, you’ll be able to SHOUT ALONG TO YOU CAN’T KILL DAVID ARQUETTE WITH DAVID ARQUETTE. OH – AND IT'S FREE. OH AND ITS TUESDAY, SO FREE POOL TOO! IF THERE WAS SOMETHING TO TOP CAPSLOX WE WOULD ACTIVATE IT NOW FOR GREATER EMPHASIS!

Hilarious. We’ll update when we know more.

MP3: Black Math Experiment - You Cannot Kill David Arquette

SPRINGTIME FOR HEARTS EVERYWHERE

HEY YOU KNOW WHAT WE LIKE? Springtime, which officially began yesterday. HEY YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE WE LIKE? Good shows. AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE? Unusual places too see said jams. Yes, though our heady and virile and totally still in their 20s staff is just as guilty as anyone as sticking to the trusty trifecta of Montrose venues, it doesn’t hurt to get out once in a while.

CONSIDER THEN seeing Hearts of Animals at HBU tonight, where she’ll be doing a set of her fun-in-thee-springtime-sun guitar and drum machine pop as part of the University’s Awareness Concert Series. Totally free. The show is in the MD Anderson Student center at 8pm and also has the impossible-to-Google Sam Jones on the bill.

CAN’T MAKE IT? Then spend about four minutes visiting HOA’s MySpace, download some tracks (SO ACES when bands let you do that), insert into iPod and go take a nice walk down to the dog-park, the vacant lot with all the birds or atleast the pet store. Enjoy your spring – it's not going to last.

PS: After Hearts of Animals, get back to Walters on Washington to catch Dischord Records’ Antelope, along with local kids Bring Back the Guns and Dizzy Pilot.

DUMB QUESTIONS/SMART ANSWERS: THE RIFF TIFFS

Every now and then (Thursdays), we subject someone in a band that reps the real to some pretty dumb questions and post their responses. This week, we sent off our set of music journalism 101 prompts to Sean Harts, drummer for the Riff Tiffs.

What's your favorite record lately?
Closer, Joy Division's second and final album from 1980. I just picked up the vinyl version and re-discovered it in a way, their songs never get old to me and no band has really come close to duplicating their sound. As for the band we all love, the new Explosions in the Sky record All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone. Their best yet? Not sure yet but we love it.

Is there a Houston band who you've been digging lately?
The Rudyments (also known as The Skandals , ex King Louie and the Swinging Monkeys members) play a really fun set with the possibly the most catchy ska songs I have ever heard from a Houston ska band. It seems like they’re playing classic ska covers they are so well thought out, but no, they are all originals. Someone needs to get them into a real studio, because they are gunna make a badass record when they do.

What is your day job?
I work in a law office, filing and taking phone calls. We are all full time students though.

What websites do you frequent?
Because my occupation (see above question) requires me to sit in front of a computer all day, alluc.org is great. I also like to read about random shit on Wikipedia.

What's your secret Houston place?
Tofu Sandwich shop (don’t know the name) in some weird Asian minimall on Milam. 2 dollar sandwiches are delicious! ask for no pepper, unless you’re crazy.

Who is skipping Houston on an upcoming tour that kinda has you bummed?
I havent seen Mars Volta in 18 months, and that is a problem! The Colour Revolt came to Houston last week and I didn’t know about it until after it happened. I am officially bummed.

What do the Riff Tiffs have in the works right now?
We are preparing to release our second album that triples in length from the first. It’s alot of new progressive music we have been working on since last summer. It will be out in April.

You can catch the Riff Tiffs not once but TWICE on Saturday during the Westheimer Block Party(slackers!). Your appointed viewing options are 5PM on the Numbers Inside Stage or 6:20 on the Mango’s Outside Stage.

IN SEASON: THE GENERIC TRIBE

We’ve been into television featuring boats lately. No, not Cruise Ships, but small, weathered, wooden sea-craft whose function is income rather than pleasure. Maybe it’s the start of the third season of the greatest television show of all time (SBT Lost!) Deadliest Catch, on April 3rd. Or perhaps the fact that TNT seems to be playing The Perfect Storm on repeat like it’s an episode of Law and Order. Hmm. OH WAIT – CRAWFISH SEASON.

Yes, as we dig (and oh how we dig) into those hot steaming piles of mudbugs, potatoes and corn, cold beer in hand and friends at our sides, the easy-breezy scene has about zero in common with the oh-dear-oh-my that is life on the Andrea Gayle or the Rollo. And we’d like to think that this is because crawfishing is nothing like the hunt for cod or crab. Rather than ice, waves and terror, it suits our stars better to think that the good ship Lollypop dips her nets gingerly in a placid Galveston bay, in full sight of the patio of the Sunset Lounge, and puts herself on autopilot as The Generic Tribe, plays their rambler ‘Momma Come Quick’ over and over.

For a band with six albums(!) to date, the GTs aren’t showing up much on the local fish finder. Maybe it’s the totally puzzling critical comparisons to Emenem that has kept them out of your nets in the past. But if the MySpace tracks from (their presumably forth-coming SEVENTH record)(!)(!) The Dressmaker, the Drone and the Yellow are any indication of their past work, it’s well worth setting a trap for. Check out The Generic Tribe at Helios this Saturday at 7:50. (Yep. More Block Party Coverage.) Now, please excuse the lack of posts for the rest of the day as our staff is going to drink beer and crack tails for a couple hours. Laterz.

ORANGE NOONERS: SCO@BLOCK PARTY

Dang Spain Colored Orange, 69 SXSW appearences weren't enought for you? Well, apparently not, because rather than, say, have a weekend were they might be warriors, they'll be joining the lineup for the Free Press' Westheimer Block Party. There was a slight shifting of the timeslots as they, Generation Landslide and hip-hoppers Noon joined the bill, with Free Radicals, Prodigal Sons and Skyblue 72 no longer on the list. Check out the updates at our somewhat cited comprehensive schedule. Bewildered by all the choices? Well, for the infrequent among our readers we have been and will do stories about acts we really dig on all this week, culminating with a playing-favorites guide on Friday. See you in the parking lot.

HOOKED UP: SATIN ON THE VERGE?

You wouldn’t know it from our report of their early Wednesday SXSW set, but there may have been no more appropriately named place for Satin Hooks to have played than the “On The Verge” stage (you can’t blame them, after all, for signing up for a showcase that wasn’t promoted). Why? Well, they’re about a year into recording a full length with producer/engineer Sinclair Ridley, at least half of which is brand new material. People that have heard it (off the soundboard, as there sadly isn’t a single track to leak yet) have been saying things. Very positive things. Things like “I don't think anything has sounded like this coming out of Houston in a VERY long time.”

Guitarist/Vocalist Kerry Melonson gave us the skinny during a recent email exchange “It's gonna be 12 pop songs, a few weird interludes, and will come as a double disk on it's first run with either a DVD of the band's videos (Directed by Mark Armes) OR a screwed ad chopped version (Michael 5000 Watts, DJ Princess Cut or DJ Overdose... maybe a collaboration of all three!).”

Screwed and Chopped Hooks? Dang we’re stoked. Guess that explains how a rock outfit won the Houston Press’ 2006 Experimental/Avant Garde award.

So – do you too want to be on the verge? Well, if you play the drums using the elusive make-people-rock-and-dance method, you may be in luck, as the current Hooks drummer is involved in far too many things to be in the band. It’s a high bar to meet, as Melonson has nothing but praise their current stick-er, but if yr N2IT, consider talking to one of the guys when you run into them.

Satin Hooks, who are playing their third festival in as many weeks, will be on the Numbers outside stage at 5:50 during the Westheimer Block Party. Get Yr Hook Up.

FLOWERS TO HIDE: ALL UP IN THIS BUCKET OF CHICKEN

Flowers to Hide is a wicked hard band to write about. We suspect that more than a little of that has to do with the fact that TSN’s Publisher and Chief Executive was once in a band with guitarist Mike San Luis. When you rock that closely with someone and spend hours on a shabby little couch in continuous utter awe of what they write and how they play it, the tendency is to quickly crash and burn into a zone of Bruce Dickenson-esque hyperbolics that manifests in phrases like “he doesn’t play guitar, he plays gold records” and “you call it a mustache, we call it a hit machine.”

But no, Flowers to Hide does not have a hit, let alone a machine full of them. And likewise, they don’t have a gold record (actually, they don’t have any record). We agree with Donewaiting’s assessment that there isn’t really any other band in Houston that sounds like this right now – and haven’t really, as they have been doing this thing for years. And this is odd, because it seems like somehow this shouldn’t be the case, given the rising prominence of whatever label you want to throw on the bucket of chicken that includes acts like Serena Maneesh, The Warlocks, stellastar*, Longwave and the Black Angels – all band’s they’ve played with.

As Brooklyn starts to burp out more and more vans containing more and more copies of Catherine Wheel and Afghan Wigs cassettes in their center consoles, it’s not hard to wonder if this year’s expected release of their long-overdue recordings isn’t expertly timed. In spite of their long tenure in this city, they haven’t stood still musically, and it’s certainly not by default that they’ll be opening up again for the Black Angels tonight (this time in the significantly larger Warehouse Live setting - and with VFW fashion raiders VietNam). Don’t have the scratch? Well, they’ll also be on the Numbers Outside Stage at 2:30 for the Westheimer Block Party Saturday. GET LUCKED!

ADD TO PLAYLIST: .belville - Vie Olin

You know that tendency to put labels on things? To give bright and arbitrary edges that separate this from that and the other? That’s probably why we are such big fans of the Skeleton Coast, a stretch of Namibia where the desert meets the Atlantic. Who is to say, in this empty, foggy, inaccessible and utterly demising part of awful earth where the beach ends and the desert begins? Who and why will draw lines in this sand and say ‘Sorry – no deck-chairs in the desert’? How granular a separation between two things can be made when the separation may not be important at all, for if shipwrecked there, you are going to die in the sand.

Maybe that’s why we’re so keen on .belville. They’ve got a dot at the beginning of their name like they’re a file type extension, like you could plug them into a computer and tell immediately if they were a PowerPoint or a Word document or a movie file. But listening to Vie Olin, we can’t tell if the moisture and the salt staining our collective collars is the sweat of running through the desert towards the coast or the last few drops of seawater evaporating away as we hurl ourselves from the ocean towards death inland.

MP3: .belville – Vie Olin

Catch .belville (who we will now give a hard time for having, by their own admission, three albums of material that they have yet to record – GET ON IT) at 1:40 on the Numbers outside stage at Saturday’s Westheimer Block Party.

JANDEK BLOWS UP!

If SXSW is about anything, it is about getting the word out about acts that are still under the proverbial radar (well, for the bands – for the rest of us it is about the proverbial wicked free day parties). Exactly how low that radar goes, of course, depends on what level of Chuck Taylor and beard density one is looking for in their fan-base – so it therefore might come as some surprise (or perhaps not, but we were surprised) to find that the Houston’s SXSW media winner was none other than the Whole Foods-shopping man of mystery himself, Jandek (congrats to Bun-B, who was a close second, but as a consolation prize will sell millions more records).

In addition to mentions in the Chronicle and the Austin American Statesman, our friend on Corwood picked up mentions in old media outlets across the country, including Style Weekly(!) , Canada's National Post and the old grey lady herself, the New York Times. And let us not even begin to talk about the eZines and the blogosphere. Ok, just kidding, let’s begin to talk about that.

Posts that contain Jandek per day for the last 30 days.


The chart above shows the number of posts that Technorati has found on blogs where Jandek is discussed (a big thanks to Jandek for being named Jandek and not something completely un-googleable like Joe Smith). Go here for a list of blogs. And of course you know that the kids over at Pitchfork got some coverage (they also have the best pictures of his set). Add on to that the several Chron.com blogs about waiting for and going to the show, and it’s clear that, in terms of publicity, our local recluse was the one with the big spotlight. Congratz to Jandek. Alanis Morissette is writing a song about it as we speak.

DOES YOU IPOD KNOW: SABRA AND THE BIG BROTHERS

It’s hard to beef on a free festival with five stages all within a block of each other sporting almost 50 acts. But if there’s any performer whose timeslot and stage is out of place at saturday's Westheimer Block Party, it would probably have to be Sabra and the Big Brothers noon appearance outside Numbers. Granted, we have some concern that performing so early in the day might set them up for the sort of audience Satin Hooks was misfortuned with in Austin last week, but more than that, Sabra’s music evokes nothing involving open blue skies above.

MP3: Sabra and the Big Brothers - Gentle Man

'Gentle Man', admittedly the only piece of her music that we have ever heard, really should only be performed at dusk. When the last few shades of white have already been stained grey, and you have to take the long walk alone past the Boo Radley house – the rotting wood palace with no lights inside and a towering ancient oak in the front-yard so immovable that God himself uses it as a foothold to pull the night ever westward. There, on the porch in an old wicker chair, the tip of her boot alone visible through the murk, Sabra plays guitar with only a ghost-rustle of bending leaves as accompaniment.

Is it a lullaby to calm the beasts in the walls behind her? Is it a siren song to lure you to them? Is it both? Can such a mystery ever be pierced without peril? It can, we guess, if she’s playing in the sun – but of all the acts we are looking forward to this weekend, Sabra and the Big Brothers may be the only one where we sit in the alley, back to the fence in listening bliss, and hoping that she and Boo don't see us.

REST UP: YOU HAVE ANOTHER FESTIVAL TO ATTEND

Oh dearest March. Your weather is as beautiful as a Spring Break bar tab; you are the month when southern Oaks shed their leaves; and you are the month in which we are given music upon music upon music. Tis true, this month, not only will Noise and Smoke and SXSW be making major guest appearances in your Live Journal, but you've still got The Free Press' Westheimer Block Party to go. Yes, with no fewer than seven separate spaces to be entertained Saturday starting at noon, you'll need to think long and hard about perhaps not going and checking out Widespread Panic Friday night afterall. SCHEDULE THYSELVES:

Numbers Outside Stage
NOON - Sabra and the Big Brothers
12:50 - Novice
1:40 - .belville
2:30 - Flowers to Hide
3:20 - Thee Armada
4:10 - Stadium
5:00 - Medicine Show
5:50 - Satin Hooks
6:40 - Penny Royal

Numbers Inside Stage
NOON - Deep Above Surface
12:50 - The Prodigal Sons Generation Landslide
1:40 - The Chapter
2:30 - Bowel (link not safe for work)
3:20 - Ninja Stars
4:10 - Mic Skills
5:00 - The Riff Tiffs
5:50 - Concrete Rose Cabaret

Mango's Outside Stage
NOON - Soledad Sons
1:00 - The Rudyments
2:00 - Suspenderman
2:20 - Doo Doo Butter
3:20 - Muzak John
3:50 - Cartwheels in Central Park
4:20 - Brains for Dinner
5:20 - Organ Failure
6:00 - Police State America
6:20 - The Riff Tiffs
7:20 - The Krinkles

Mango's Inside Stage
Noon - The Jane Frequency
12:50 - The Ride Home
1:40 - Honeysuckle
2:30 - The Western Civilization
3:20 - Nine Volt
4:10 - Guns of Detroit
5:00 - Rusted Shut
5:50 - Buxton
6:40 - The Umbrella Man
7:50 - Poison Apple Martini

Helios
Noon - Jesse's Delight
12:50 - Skyblue 72 Noon
1:40 - Arthur Yoria
2:30 - The F'ing Transmissions
3:20 - Guy Schwartz
4:10 - Nosaprise
5:00 - Million Year Dance
5:50 - The Generic Tribe Spain Colored Orange
6:40 - The Scattered Pages
7:50 - The Free Radicals The Generic Tribe


Also, all day long (as best as we can tell) you will be treated to the Rebel Crew and Joe B on the Mango's Patio and CeePlus Bad Knives at La Strada. NOW - HOW EVER SHALL YOU SORT THROUGH WHICH BANDS TO SEE? How will you be sure that you don't miss out on an ACES gem because you wandered into a beer line at the wrong moment? WELL NEVER FEAR. We'll be shining the light on our favorites from the lineup all week - so keep reading, and we'll try and put this champagne down long enough to keep writing.

UPDATE: Schedule change, the Free Radicals and Skyblue 72 are out, Spain Colored Orange and Noon are in.

EXCLUSIVE - FATAL FLYING GUILLOTEENS: WE <3 EXTREME SPORTZ

No, they may not be a new RAPMETAL version of your favorite Huey Lewis and the News record, but at SXSW the Fatal Flying Guilloteens were interviewed by none other than the extreme-sports cable television channel Fuel TV. Taking a moment out from covering snowmobile racing and people doing untoward things with motorcycles, Spike TV's younger, angrier brother took note of one of the G_TEENS many sxsw sets and pulled in their cameras for a close up and a few questions.


Though we don't know when the segment will air, we were given the razor thin on the final moments of the interview, when the Frenchkiss boys were asked to say "We're the Fatal Flying Guilloteens and you're watching Fuel TV." According to our source, after a bit of prodding, the coup de gras went down as follows: Guitarist/Drummer and Skyline contributor John Adams stared into space while Vox/Guitardo Shawn Adolph talked on the phone and other guitarrior/singer Brian McManus applied ample amounts of Fuel branded chap-stick, all the while mustachioed bassoonist Roy Mata spoke into the microphone as voxy/drummery Mike Bonilla whispered into his ear what to say.


It was pointed out to us that the above Fuel TV button looks very much like an ACES illustration of said bassist. In other SXSW/Guilloteen related news, we were informed that they were, infact, at the Vice Party when the structure of the building at which the party was being held gave way. According to our source, again, no one was hurt, but it did pretty much end the show and will lead to a pretty bummerific Monday meeting for the local Elks Lodge. BRUTAL.

MORE FRIDAY & SATURDAY TEXT MESSAGE UPDATES!

OH ME OH MY! Many more good updates came in yesterday and today from our tireless field reporters. Here are thee updates:

FRIDAY
7:04 PM Will Adams (The Ka-Nives)
Wiggins confuses the crap out of a bar full of working class Mexicans on the East side.

8:25 PM John Adams (Fatal Flying Guilloteens)
Beauty Bar was mini Houston and Kiss Kiss Kill Kill Played. Free drinks, my new fave is whiskey and grapefruit.

8:50 PM Chris Ryan (Dead City Sound)
Stood in line for Les Savy Fav for 3.5 hours. Got 4 people from the front and then they told eveyone to go away. Pissed!

SATURDAY
2:59 AM Will Adams (The Ka-Nives)
Ran into Thurston Moore at a party. He asks "Hey are you in the Ka-Something?"

6:32 AM Jana Hunter
[Jana sends us a video of Health playing, but we can't get it from our phone to YouTube]

10:20 AM John Adams (Fatal Flying Guilloteens)
Jordan Graber is throwing some d's on it. Taking pics of basketball players at the hotel.

2:37 PM Will Adams
A wasted Ariel Pink was man-handled by a sound man because he wouldn't stop playing.

2:38 PM Will Adams
I'm having difficulty finding [the right accessories] to take before the Jandek show.

2:39 PM Will Adams
Boris [unprintable]ing ruled.

SXSW UPDATES

Our intrepid cadre of reporters continues to scour Austin's streets for all the REAL TALK info about SXSW goings on. Here are some check-ins and check-outs:

Carrie Murphy (Awesome!)
Open barz. Wasted by noon. Lotsa Vanz. Hipsters. More Later.

John Adams (Fatal Flying Guilloteens)
Heard Spacehog yesterday. MSTRKRFT mashed it up with Matt and Kim

Matt Brownlie (Bring Back the Guns)
At the Mess With Texas party front and center. Matt and Kim about the play, the someone, then ERASE ERRATA. Not moving from this spot until after Les Savy Fav. Having way more fun than expected.

Jana Hunter
First stop: Marnie Stern, then Health, again. Furniture Records was putting this (amazing show) on, free, at Hole In the Wall. Met Will Adams to pick up the bell set. Biked (in pain) with a heavy bag and a heavier bell set to the church, dropped off the set, biked to Pedernales and 5th for as much as possible of the Dirty Projectors packed and incredible set. Stopped by Arthur tent at the French Legation Museum, to say hi, no one was on. Further gathering of equipment for the show. Ate pizza (and like, wtf, cause I work at a pizza place.) Ran the set. PLAYED IN A CHURCH. Ate a myspace hot dog, slammed beers in the van, watched Nina Nastasia & Jim White.

Highlight of the day - hearing Jim White play in that church. Somehow missed every Baltimore related event all day long, still bummed. Watched Vashti and crew. Watched Castanets (full band, so goooood!) Met Houston at a bar, more Houston, punched folks, had to go, had to
get out of there, helped tremendously by [Guilloteen Shawn] Adolf and [notorious Houston photographer Jordan] Graber in getting a cab, went "home", crashed hard, crashing ever since.

EDIT:

Marnie Stern got turned down and then cut off cause the Willie Nelson bartender fcking HATED it. I liked it.

UPDATE:
sorry. wet brain.

THE MELVINS! were great. Sharber got me in to free food. Rhapsody party? I think. A+ tacos. I think that makes for tacos, pizza and hotdogs yesterday. I win. Ran into [impossible hot/cool Houstonians] Delaney HF and Adriana on campus. They're even hotter when you think they're in college. This is all out of order. There is no method of keeping track. There is no allowance for open containers on 6th street.

In talking to Jim White, discovered that the friend at his side was from Houston. Jonathan Tobin, I think? Dated somebody in deSchmog, left way before I got there, but was familiar/friends with a lot of the old Lexington scene. We talked Houston, mostly to try to explain it to Jim, who seemed curious but wary. Appropriate!

John Hunter (Inoculist, Dethro Skull) and Will Adams decided on starting an annual music conference in Houston.

I won't be out again til later tonight, to bounce around between the Monitor, Carpark, and Ecstatic Peace showcases. I'll try to get some vids, pics, soundbytes.

Thankee to all our contributors, especially Jana, who obviously had more than a cell phone at her disposal for sending in the latest. We'll keep you updated throughout the day and night. ACES! Are you at SXSW? Do you have Houstonesque updates, texts, camera phone pix or videos? Send them to adifferentryan@gmail.com or (713) 202-8968. Don't forget to include your name.

Danny and The Nightmares tape Sugarhill Session

YO - CHECK IT. Did you know that there is sometimes music played on KPFT? No, we're not talking about when a guest on The Prison Show bursts into song. For atleast an hour a month Pacifica's ditches the talk and gets to the rock in an hour-long live-on-tape show called the Sugarhill Sessions. And, on Wednesday night, Waller-based but Houston-claimed Daniel Johnston brought his band Danny and the Nightmares up to the studio to record a some songs for an upcoming broadcast.

The tracks, recorded as part of the Houston-is-crazy-right-now SXSWeek, will be on the air at a TBD time in the future - You'll know when we do.

For those of you reading from Austin and sporting one of those bandgey/wrist-bandy things, you can catch Johnston in the home-town of his most famous graffiti, playing with his Nightmares at the Austin Convention Center Day Stage today at 5PM or tomorrow at the Ritz/Blender Bar at 11pm.

(ok - before leaving a sensy-fensy comment about there being lots of music on KPFT and that its Klan-inciting talk programming serves an important role in the community, please understand our propensity for JOKEZ and let us take this opportunity to send big shouts to everyone involved with the station, especially some of our favorites like Soular Grooves, Reprogram Radio and radioACTIVE.)

VIDEO: FFG @ Frenchkiss Records Showcase

YUSS. First video from our WIDE ANGLE LENSE on everything SXSW. From Brian McManus' Hanging Out His Onion, video of the Fatal Flying Guilloteens at their record showcase last night. BE THEE DESTROY-ED.


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