ATTN THIS WEEKEND: YOU ARE A BEACH

OH MAN! Sadly, we won't be joining you to see any of these shows this weekend, due to the need for michelada and grill maintenance at the famed Skyline Network Most Extreme Spring Break Beach House. It's just like the MTV one except no Kid Rock. Ok we're joking, of course Kid Rock will be there. We'll take some pictures. Sadly, while we're eating chicken wings and trying to convince Mr. Rock that it's really a bad idea to build his next mega-hit around a Eddie Rabbit sample, we'll be missing a ton of good stuff! LIFE IS HARD, CHECK IT:

FRIDAY
Colour Revolt, Snowden, The Riff Tiffs @ Walter's on Washington
CUE THE MARK MORRISON - the Riff Tiffs are back in town. Local purveyors of Texas psychedelics, the quartet is using this show to launch a new single, their first release since last years decidedly underrated Afflictinnitus. They've got maybe 100 copies of it, so hit up this show to be sure you end up with one. Oxfordians who may or may not carry the flame of RL Burnside, Colour Revolt, headline.

Old 97's @ The Meridian
We caught the boys from Dallas the other day at their Cactus in-store, and we have to say, they still got it.

SATURDAY
Sad Like Crazy, Rossi Misior @ Rudyards
SLC PUNK! Ok not really, but we've always enjoyed Sad Like Crazy, even way back when we used to accidentally refer to them as Satellite Crazy. Uh, tribe band, anyone? Glad to see them taking the time to play another reunion show. Catch it!

David Allen Coe @ Hawg Stop
Ok, we don't even know where this place is, but no amount of obscurity can cover up our rednecks. Country DJs knows that he's an outlaw, and they most likely won't go see him in this dive. Note the signs saying he's been in prison and don't be the loudmouth in the corner.

Cop Warmth, Blackie, Giant Princess, Caprolites @ Somewhere in Pasadena
Ok, so, the people who are organizing this show are being tight lipped about where it is (note that we realize how hillarious it is to use the word 'organize' with these bands). We do know it's called "The Patterson Place" and is "appr. 50 yards south of the corner of pasadena blvd and strawberry...on strawberry" according to the Caprolites, which is more words in a row than any of the lyrics on their recent Grey Ghost release. Yes, we are making fun of you.

UPDATE: we are so bad at it. We totally forgot this one:
AWAKE, The McKenzies, Gold Sounds @ The Mink
OUR BAD! YOUR GOOD! We've been meaning to catch the Gold Sounds forever, and this is a rare inside-the-loop opportunity to do so. AWAKE is going to destroy you.

REVIEW: HEARTS OF ANIMALS 7"

The Hearts of Animals 7” is the first non-mix release from local label Dull Knife, who has plenty of other good stuff in the pipeline and can’t do a live show if there isn’t a band called Psychedelic Horseshit involved. HOA completists (is there any other kind?) actually already have all four of these songs from her two 2007 releases, the occasionally sold-at-shows Lemming Baby EP and the obviously out-of-print Grey Ghost #39. Given how small the runs were, odds are you are not in the bullpen with the other dozen people who own a copy of both (or either). Plus, the vinyl mastering sounds great and you’ll absolutely melt in the cuteness when you see the improvised mic stand on the insert photo.

Indeed, cuteness could be the word you would use to describe Mlee Marie herself (Hearts of Animals' sole member), with her blueberry eyes, unintimidating sense of style and dove’s coo voice. She’s the sort of person that shows up to your house with ice cream and fresh fruit, requesting that it be consumed with Champaign (full disclosure: Mlee is a close friend and we have dragged her kicking and screaming into a discussion as to whether she is ‘cute’ or ‘hot,’ the conclusion of which being that she was both. We prolly owe her a Sophia for sharing that). But there’s a storm in there, and HOA, rather than the more folk-based output she does under her own name, is how she lets the tempest out.

HOA tracks, universally, disarm you with their simple lo-fi bedroom pop and Mlee’s pomegranate sweet and mango sticky vocals. But when you sync the lyrics to each song’s progression, you realize that she’s letting you build just enough of that sandcastle to make its loss to the sea terrible, leaving you alone on the beach surrounded by stinking rotting kelp. On opener ‘Stars Say No,’ for example, everything is chipper and playful until “the beach house” becomes “the beach house where we used to stay.” Enter the minor chords and the disconcerting reverb. Is it in the stars that love or good times will last forever? In this case, and others, the stars say no.

"Lost in the Translation" is about as straight-ahead as HOA gets, with guitar and bass pushing forward hard all the while the hands playing them are reticent and ultimately declaring she won’t “get in too deep.” "Stop Talking," with its furious saxophone squawks and disorienting guitar riff is the headache that, unfortunately, probably every woman has suffered when approached by a less-than gentleman at a bar – “Stop Talking to Me/You’re making me Nervous” are the only lyrics (do you really need anymore than that?). The whole thing couldn’t be more disconcerting if it was a musical conversation with the mothership from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

"Underwater Staggie" closes the record and is our personal favorite, with its twilight-on-the-trail drums, grandfather clock bells and playful banjo (or maybe mini-guitar) strummed and plucked toward the end, carefree like sugarless gum. But we know it’s not carefree, is it. It’s Hearts of Animals, and while it sounds adorable and the perfect sort of thing to put on a mix tape for your young niece, there’s too much reality in what we’re hearing to pass the Tipper test.

Just a year ago, most folks hadn’t heard of Mlee or Hearts of Animals. And yet, here we are, enjoying the debut from someone who already found herself playing in enough bands to bridge the grumpy old part of the scene (The Freed) and the young fresh fellows who have recently given us a much needed injection of vitality (Young Mammals). It’s no surprise either. Mlee writes a damn fine song and is about as great a gal as they come. Like the old It Came From Nowhere comp, it’s not hard to think of this as the record that could launch a thousand bands. How ironic that there’s a single person with a pointy red guitar at the center of it. Highly Recommended.

MP3: Hearts of Animals - Stars Say No

REVIEW: WILD MOCCASINS - DIAMONDS FOR CONSTELLATIONS

Reviewing Grey Ghost releases is sort of a funny thing. On the one hand, they’re curated by Mr. John Sears (whose tastes we generally take great delights in), cost a measly $2, and are available at the coolest book and record store in town (which you should be visiting all the time anyways). So, it’s sort of a no-brainer that you should be picking them up every week and we don’t really need to be spending our time reviewing them or convincing you to pick them up. But, on the other hand, if we are able to get a copy and get our noggin wrapped around them fast enough to string together a set of unsettlingly unclever analogies while they’re still on the shelves, we feel we owe it to you to proffer our thoughts and bring you that much perilously closer to finally impulse buying the too-expensive Russian Prison Tattoo coffee table book you eye every time you’re in Domy.

Horray horray horray that the Wild Moccasins’ debut falls into the latter category! This three song gem of a CDR single comes from a quintet out of the same hole in the scene wall Elaine Greer came bursting through like the Kool Aide man disguised as an aw-shucks white girl late last year, and indeed features the ever-polite Holly Hall guitarist Nick Cody on bass and one-time Greer drummer Andrew Ortiz’s rather impressive stick work (though, sadly, it’s not as obvious on this recording as it is live). Consider for a moment that there are now only four degrees of separation between the Wild Moccasins and the American Sharks – now that’s what we call scene-crashing!

Chanteuse Zahira "Also in the Holly Hall" Guiterrez’s voice is thin like a kite-string, whispy like its tail and as whimsical as the lively shoulder-tipping dance your trapezoidal inanimate aeronaut carves out of the wind over Herman Park. Her vocals work just as well on their own as when paired with guitarist Cody Swann’s nice-guy-next-door oral delivery, his every bit as earnest as hers is gentle. Musically, the sound might best be described as the part of The Strokes that doesn’t sound like Tom Petty, minus also the slavish attempt to make the drums sound like a Linn Machine and the too-cool dingy frump that comes from living down-wind of New Jersey.

Instead of bitching about the cops or fashion-model ennui, we’re given three bouncy (and unusually long) pop tracks about being better off as friends, writing checks for candy rosaries and the like. The compositions are really fun, and if there is a care in the world, they haven’t made any attempt to document it here.

This is a solid outing for what is surely a recording done on the cheap and a strong indicator that should they avoid the break-up curse, a recording they spend a bit of time and money on will be an even bigger lollypop of a treat. Diamonds for Constellations is available at Sound Exchange and Domy Books until Saturday and is limited to a single run of 13 copies per location.

PS – There is also a guy named Andrew Lee in this band, but we couldn’t figure out a way to work a mention of him into the unnatural context of this review, so we thought we’d talk about him here. Hello Andrew, we’re not sure what guitar you’re playing, but you’re doing a good job. Keep up the good work. Thanks bro.

Stream: Wild Moccasins - Various Tracks

WE ARE NOT STOKED: BLACK MATH EXPERIMENT GOES ON "INDEFINITE HIATUS"

HORSEHOCKEY! Love them or malign them, there aren't any other purveyors of pop that come to mind when we think "unpretentious goof-rockers whose approachable take on music is refreshing in a world where 'different' and 'new' are sometimes thrown together into a blender to make 'crap;' also, have shared the stage with The Misfits and David Arquette." So, we were bummer like an Oilers Coach when we got an email this morning from Black Math Experiment member Jef (with one F) that contained not information about a new CD nor his latest Chuckle Me Badd opinion on this or that, but rather the sad news that the band was going on hiatus. Guh.

Citing a host of personal commitments and not even making a single joke, Jef let us know that the act's final Act will be June 14th at The Mink, and that they'll be filming for a DVD that night - so atleast there's something to look forward to. On the positive side, we were always a little terrified that BME would end up on a bill with The Mathletes and the combined power of their Greyskulls would unleash a tidal wave of malevolent nerdiness onto the world, shifting paradigms with some sort of Ghostbusters 2 wave effect. We wish all of the band our best and hope that "indefinite" is shorter lived than the average Will Freed band.

Review: The Black Math Experiment - All You Need is Blood

TITE JAMS RADIO UPDATE: We've been oh so busy adding new songs for your listening pleasure, thanks to all the bands who submitted songs. Listen now for HOT NEW TRACKS from forthcoming records (or ones recently released) by A Thousand Cranes, Buxton, Fired for Walking, Hearts of Animals, Sew What, Sharks and Sailors, The Monocles, The Sour Notes and The Watermarks. As always bands, if you have a new record coming out, send us a few tracks! Yuss!

ATTN THIS WEEKEND: YOU’RE LOOKING GOOD LIKE WE KNEW YOU WOULD

YUSS! So much great stuff going on this weekend, especially Saturday. Holy crap we’re going to have to clone ourselves to check it all out. Again. Let’s ditch the filler and get right to the filler:

FRIDAY
Crickets.jpg

SATURDAY
Saturday Secret Show @ The Shady Tavern
In addition to the DJs, the bands (rumored this week to include the highly recommended folkers Listen Listen and rapper Nosaprise), there’s a Zine Fest, with zines (duh), comics, records and ‘tons of other stuff’ for sale or trade. They’ll also be an art raffle, with the proceeds to benefit Super Happy Fun Land in their quest to get the doors re-opened. As always, the show is free, starts at two (DJs at noon) and if there was ever a better place in the world to take a bottle of your favorite spirit for an afternoon of setups, we don’t know what that would be. Details here:

Voxtrot, Car Stereo (Wars) and The Mathletes @ MFAH
The return of the Mixed Media series, featuring bloggosphere darlings Voxtrot and the triumphant return of local heros The Mathletes. Enjoy jams, sip drinks and enjoy the John Alexander retrospective exhibit.

30footFALL, Spain Colored Orange, The Tie That Binds, Pretty Boys, LJ All Stars, & Molotov Compromise @ The Meridian
This is a benefit for long-time Houston punk scene notable Alex Arizpe, who’s currently undergoing chemotherapy. 30FootFall shows are impossibly rare and this is a good cause. Do it.

American Sharks, The McKenzies, The Wild Moccasins, News on the March, Audio in the Pregap and Cave Reverend @ Numbers
Food Drive! Put together by the Free Press, and we all know Omar knows how to host a party. Definitely the highst bang/buck ratio of the evening and chance to scoop your cohorts out on rising stars in town. Plus, how hilarious that a band which usually prefers house shows (American Sharks) are going to play the stage at Numbers. Actually, if there was any justice in the world, this would be happening more often. Starts at 8pm.

Ume, Lymbyc System and The Sour Notes @ The Mink
Our sure bet, and if we could gush anymore over The Sour Notes we would. The last time we saw Ume play, it was the best they’ve ever sounded. Their new songs (hopefully going towards some sort of new recording) are going to blow your mind like the ending of The Orphanage. Yusss.

SUNDAY
COOKOUTS! Or go see Type O Negative @ Verizon. Actually, don’t do that.

REVIEW: THE SOUR NOTES - THE MEAT OF THE FRUIT

We really wanted to kick off Memorial Day weekend with a review of a great pop album, because it’s the beginning of summer and we all know that with pop music is the soundtrack for picnics on red checkered tablecloths out in the sunshine. We also know that we aren’t far enough into the heat to focus on the humidity and having to wage a never-ending game of Tower Defense against the insects that would make a mad dash towards the victuals in our collective baskets; no one has on their mind that the mayonnaise in their potato salad will soon turn into a soup of sick.

Ideally, this should have been the time to review Spain Colored Orange’s long delayed full length, but for whatever reason they aren’t quite ready yet (indeed, we’ve got a pool going to see if the next time there is a ‘MUSICIAN NEEDED’ post for the band, that it it will be their record label exclaiming that they need a ‘new guitarist, drummer, bass player, trumpeter and ridiculously talented songwriter/vocalist/keyboard player. We kid cause we love.)

On the face of it, The Sour Notes’ debut might be an odd way to get the space between the Holidays started, especially for a folks like us who generally look down on all things not completely Houston. The Meat of the Fruit, however, has both the local pedigree and the gumption of a realpolitik pop trajectory to make it our weekend cookout and pool-side favorite.

First, the cred. The Sour Notes is a project that features many a Houstonian (even if in exile), including Jared Boulanger, who might have blown your mind if you saw him one of the like two times that Slovak Republic ever played. Plus, it’s got Brandi from Woozie Helmet in it, and they’re 1/3 H-Town now. Plus, anyone who ended up on the Montrose Lawn Seating Mound for last week’s Radiohead show can count these guys as company, because they seem to be in the background of every picture we’ve seen of the day. Also, Liz Molina on back-up vocals FTW! And can we beg the question – how much local cred do you have to have to have to get Rene Cruz to do your artwork? (ATTN RECORD SHOPPERS: Needing to judge a release by it’s cover? Look for something Rene did the design on – he’s been batting 1000 lately.)

Something we must understand about how we perceive summer: it generally could be charted on a pleasure graph like the path of a cannonball. Fresh from the muzzle they blast, optimistically so, initially bearing little regard for Newton and his kill-joy laws of Gravity. But as the seconds flee, Earth’s mass takes hold and drags the spinning black orb back towards the ground, ever downward in a more gentle bell than the original J curve. So too, do we think about summer. “It’s here!” we exclaim “School’s out for Summer! School’s out forever!”

And as the wool caps are folded and put away during the waxing days of the year, all we can think about is Shakespeare in the park and cookouts and free bobbleheads at Astros games and movies staring Will Smith. But time, the eternal, infernal X axis of our graph marches ever forward. And soon, at the cannon-ball graph’s zenith, we add to our outlook the heat, the humidity, the astonishing power bills and the sunburn we cannot lotion away. We come down to a low plateau, one where we’ve made peace with our revised and more tempered remembrance of how things will be. We’re still in relative climatic bliss, but we are looking forward to the time when we can wear a sweater.

This is the path that The Meat of the Fruit follows, building on the rich history of summer records past (we can taste everyone from the Beach Boys to Granddaddy); a composition by a band whose initial enthusiasm for sweet is still smart enough to get their ice cream in a cup, if only because they’ve had the Mexican vanilla melt on their cone-holding hand one time too many. Album opener 'Weak at Heart', proud and fun like an indie pop Souza march, gives way to the lusher and more tempered ‘It’s Easier to be a Hypocrite,’ who’s backing vocal coos verge on moan and bouncing synth lines are more tragedy than trampoline. From here, till the final track of the six song EP, the strangely blissful slide into darker places continues unabated like too many unfortunate summer lessons learned: roller coasters have long lines; cruise tickets do not include free drinks; the Rockets are never going to make it past the first round of the playoffs.

But just when you’ve given up and are ready to believe your fav hoodie will hang unworn in your closet forever, comes ‘A Woman or a Grave.’ The steady, at-peace state you’ve been looking for – summarizing (pun intended?) what came before with a net to the positive. It’s a short and triumphant finish to a (far too) short and triumphant album, and one that leaves you thinking the Sour Notes went for Option A, chiming xylophone and all.

Most of the music we talk about on this site exceeds our ability to do it justice in writing. The Meat of the Fruit is probably the first record to make us think we needed to take some writing lessons. It’s beautiful, in highs and lows, in songwriting and production. It’s our summer record. Make it yours. The Sour Notes CD release party is tomorrow night (Saturday) at The Mink with fellow honorary Houstonians Ume and The Lymbic System.

Stream: The Sour Notes - Various Tracks

WE LOVE TITE JAMS! WE CREATE TITE JAMS RADIO!

Oh man! We're super pumped like Rambo's shotgun. In our never-ending quest to be the poor man's Stereogum, The Skyline Network is pleased as Mr. Punch to bring you our latest internet device, TITE JAMS. It's a built in MP3 player, sort of like Sunny 99.1, but you can't listen to it in the car, just at work. Go ahead, try out a track. Look, LOOK - it even has a random setting, to get that simulated FM experience (it's the little star thingy). WE ARE NOT JUST THE PRESIDENT, WE ARE A CLIENT!

For right now we've got it populated with some songs we found around the internet that people or their labels put up for general consumption, including tracks from Audio in the Pregap, Arthur Yoria, Black Congress, Indian Jewelry, Something Fierce and The Matletes, but expect it to grow as we die under the torrent of JUST COMPLETED BEDROOM DEMOS that are sure to start flooding in. ATTN BANDS: In all seriousness, if you have a record about to come out and you want to get a track up on TITE JAM RADIO, drop us a line. If your songs are on here and you want them taken off, we will, but you prolly shouldn't have made them a free download in the first place.

PS - The Masthead returns! YUSS!

RUMORS: CHRIS GRAY TO RETURN AS PRESS' MUSIC EDITOR

EGADS! The intrepid gossip hounds that staff our NEXT LEVEL rumor mill have come up with a juicy one! Sounds like former Houston Press Music Editor Chris Gray will soon become current Houston Press Music Editor Chris Gray! Quite a weird turnabout from just a few months ago when, post SXSW, Lomax returned to the role he had held for quite some time. In spite of his hillarious brainfarts regarding Bright Men of Learning and Ben Murphy, Gray, we felt, was doing a good job of noticing things that we like to have noticed. We had a few drinks with the guy and we've seen him at lots of great shows - plus, he's got one of the coolest addresses in town (but we won't tell you what that is). Like Putin, we've looked into his eyes and seen his soul - let's just hope he doesn't start canceling elections. We wish him and Lomax all the best in their new roles and look forward to crashing their awards showcase and drinking lots of delicious sponsorshiped Vitamin Water as a fully credentialed member of O Pioneers!!!

SKYLINE EXCLUSIVE: NEW BLACK CONGRESS TRACK!!!

YUSS! You know, sometimes going to see a show that's a van and a bus-load of hippies is more than just seeing a show consisting of a van and a bus-load of hippies. Sometimes, you get the inside scoop on something completely new, fresh and mostly unheard of. No, we're not talking about something brought to your cochlear by the van and the bus-load of hippies, we're talking about a NEW EXCLUSIVE TRACK from local de-spotters of owls and defilers of forrests, Black Congress. Yep, while we were taking in the sound of the lead flutist from the van and bus-load of hippies try out her chops on some Peter and the Wolf (the musical, not the band), none other than Roy Mata himself offered up this completely not-yet-released track for the listening pleasure of you and you alone. It's called 'Crooked Faces' and we think it's time you had a listen. PUSH THE BUTTON, PUSH.





If that was any more intense, we'd have to call it Resurrection City! But enough Civil Rights jokes. If you like what you heard, be sure to check them out July 4th, Glorious Anniversary of Freedom, along with actual blacks This Moment in Black History and the racially uninteresting Camp X-Ray and the totally not kicked off the bill locals The Monocles. @ Walter's On Washington.

Photo by Jordan Graber

FREE SHOW! FREE BEERS! FREE GOLD!

Who doesn't love Sound Exchange record release parties? WHO? There's something so fun, so in-the-know about packing it into the little space between the rock LPs and the cash register and watching a band make waste of a space larger in the spiritual domain that it ever could be in the realm of animal/mineral/vegetable. Tonight will be no different as hometown low-downs Indian Jewelery, fresh off tour, unleash lots and lots of FREE GOLD unto the world. RICHES BEYOND SCROOGE McDUCK'S DREAMS! No doubt those of you who follow the red-skinned stone sculptors at tiny scales have already grown tiered of hearing the spam-sounding exultations of their new record's title, but hey, we just want to fit in.

If you too are looking for a way to get in the cool column, consider tonight's Sound Exchange in-store which kicks off at 8pm and includes, as always, free beer and lots of standing around in the parking lot to the confusion of all Metro drivers who might suddenly think the hippest thing in the Montrose is waiting for the bus at the corner of Richmond and Hazard. The kids are cool enough to stand there, but not cool enough to actually get on the bus.

Though even the Foo Fighter's publicist will get in touch with us whenever they swing through town (no joke), we couldn't get a response from anyone at IJ's label for an advance copy or a publicity photo, so we don't have a review yet. Or perhaps we never wrote them and that's why its still on our Remember the Milk task list - nah, writing "YO FREE PUBLICITY FOR FREE GOLD" sounds really familiar. Ok I guess we would file in the trash too if we saw that. Anyways, from the few tracks we've heard, however, its pretty stinking good, and its a long way down the Oregon Trail towards replacing Evasive Exotics as our fav case of dysentery. But ya know, dysentery in a good way. Burp. See you there.

GET THE NEW SOMETHING FIERCE EP FOR FREE. LIKE RIGHT NOW. FOR SERIOUS!

WOAH. So, Something Fierce, when they aren’t ripping it up in the Starbucks parking lot or working inside of it, write and record songs with the unstoppable mailbox-destroying power of Lance Berkman wielding a bat while riding on a bike for two piloted by Lance Armstrong. Their forthcoming, the Modern Girl EP, isn’t due out for a little bit longer. BUT people with internet browsers and the gumption to type houstonpunk.com into their web browsers can go download a copy of it for free. People without the gumption can simply click on this link, but you really should get out more and be careful with the clicking cause you know we love the rickroll.

Because we couldn’t possibly turn off the Sour Notes forthcoming debut even if we tried, we can’t really comment as to Modern Girl’s content, though the demo of the title track has been floating around for the past year or so and is more excellent than hearing there’s a sale on wig powder (if you wear a wig, that is). Download and post yr thoughts in the comments! OBEY!

PS - we apparently now have a punk message board in our city now. Who knew? If only we could get one for emopop. Oh wait.

FYI: The second track in Arthur Yoria's you-pick-the-songs-athon is up for download. Mosey on over and pick up "He Can, She Can, We Can" from his website. Maybe take a minute to decide if you like his new haircut. But really, you should have a gCal reminder set for these tracks or something, just like you do to take out the trash or download all the eMusic you can before your credits refresh.

ATTN ZOMBIES: STAR IN A YOUNG MAMMALS VIDEO!

Holy last minute casting call Batman! (F.Y.I. - we included this term so it would show up on Tom Adam’s Bat Radar! Be a zombie dude!) Houston’s own video-maker of the stars, Mark Armes, is sure not taking much time off lately. Not only did he film a video for Hearts of Animal’s killer track “Hearts Break” (our personal favorite) over the weekend, but tomorrow he’s going to be spending the day with those dime-turning kids we all call the Young Mammals. You may recognize the name "Mark Armes" from his fun-as-all hold-up video for the YM's "Delilah" and on for Satin Hooks' eternally forthcoming debut that we can't seem to find online anymore.

Though the details of tomorrow's shoot are secret, we do know three things 1) It’s for their song "Wires and Buttons," which was on their Grey Ghost release last year and may or may not be a new recording of it (they’ve been in and out of the studio a lot lately). 2) It involves zombies. 3) You can be in the video.

That’s right, if you have nothing going on tomorrow between 9am and 6pm and want to spend the day undead, hit up Mark for all the details, either on MySpace or by email (markarmes at gmail dot com). Man. Party time. Sure wish we didn’t have to spend the day working. Anyone who goes, give us the inside scoop and you will be rewarded with a Skyline Network prize pack, most likely consisting of a T-Shirt and whatever local record we went out and bought lately that was terrible and we don’t want to review.

Getting back to the video for "Hearts Break," we spoke to Mlee herself about it, asking simply “is it about freedom?” Her quick, and most assuredly non joking response was “Yes, very patriotic. Yuss. Stars and Stripes. Me, naked, wrapped in a flag. With Sparklers.” Uhh, ATTN BETSY ROSS: THANK YOU. Our Skyline Insider with the Viewfinder said the footage looked fantastic (duh), and we’re primed like a one-pull mower to see it. Keep your bookmarks here and we’ll let you know first.

ATTN THIS WEEKEND: YOU ARE LIKE A GIANT ROLLING PIECE OF ART

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, START YOUR STEPPENWOLF REFERENCES! Yes, it’s that one weekend a year where you might actually be finding yourself sitting front and center for a parade, watching the various contraptions you occasionally see making their way around the Montrose, all piloted by people who are even more outsider than you could possibly ever hope to become. Just kidding, it’s at one PM on Saturday, so sleep in. But first – boo to the blatantly corporate vehicles or politicians riding in the back of rental convertible Mustangs. Shame on you, this is not your day. Except the Ronald McDonald car, that one’s pretty BA. Also, if the Weinermobile ever makes an appearance we could die happy. BUT WHAT ABOUT THINGS FOR PEOPLE WHO SLEEP IN PAST ONE?

FRIDAY
Hearts of Animals, Young Mammals and Wicked Poseur @ The Orange Show
This is the semi-official kick-off event for the weekend, held in the citrusy spot that’s at the center of it all. We don’t have to tell you how decidedly un Rockets-in-the-Playoffs this lineup is. Free.

The Death Head Art Opening @ Aerosol Warfare
Yuss. None other than queen of the completely sickest of jams, Paramour, will be playing records at this thing, along with Rad Rich no less! Remember your New Years resolution to go do one art thing a month? Oh wait, that was our resolution. Flyer!

SATURDAY
Awake, Golden Axe and The Jonx @ The Mink
Woah! A solid bill with two increasingly difficult to catch locals and the decidedly cochlea shredding newcomers Awake. SBT townhome buyers!

SUNDAY
Blood on the Wall, Flowers to Hide, Minipop, Wicked Poseur @ Walter’s
Hectic though ultimately danceable, BOTW is like a pool party where everyone loses their glasses in the neighbors yard but feels ok about it the next day. Also, have you checked out the new Flowers to Hide songs they’ve posted? This band is consistently underrated, and we’re not just saying that cause we’re tite with the dudes and they bought our editor in chief’s THUNDERBIRD. Second chance this weekend to see what that wacky Wicked Poseur crew will do next!

Photo by The Orange Show

YORIA DROPS NEW ALBUM ON YOU SLOWER THAN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY PROCESS!!!

SPUMONTE! Now, without a doubt Arthur Yoria’s Handshake Smiles was one of our favorite records in 2007. Its catchy. Its sexy. Its got banjo. So you can understand how we were stoked like sunstroke to get the news that not only does he already have another album coming out soon, but that people with access to the so-called ‘internet’ can get tracks from it ahead of time. For free! Peep the entry from his website:

Beginning May 4th, 2008, i'll be releasing a digital single every 2 weeks for 6 months. Then i'm going to let you guys vote on the 10 that will make up my new record.

WHAT?! Not only do we get a new treat every couple weeks for almost the rest of the year, at the end we’ll get to be involved in the tracking process?! HOLLA! Please credit our input in the process to “Party Call Me Productions”.

First impression from our first listen: RUN FOR IT MARTY!

mp3: Arthur Yoria - The Libyans

HOOTENANY 2: TWOTENANNY UPDATES!

HI! Did you miss us? We missed you. We're back in town for a few days to refuel and restock the mini-bar on the fabulous most extreme all access pass Skyline Industries Mig Private Stock Jet. We gotta tell you, it was a helluva trip. San Antonio kinda rules - but you knew that. Minot, North Dakota is a total dump - but you could have guessed that. On the plus side, they do have a Gol Stave Church and Blackjack tables in every bar, which is technology we have not yet invented. Sadly, in their own personal version of Civilization, the Minotians did not allocate science research points to the internet. Bummer.

BUT OH THE POWER OF THE BLACKBERRY! Thanks to its magic, we and the rest of the TWOTENANNY! committee were able to nail down EVEN MORE bands for the forthcoming even of spectacular excitement. Ladies and gentlemen, start your bass boats:

The Kimonos as Blondie
Buxton as Bjork
Custom Drinker as Rod Stewart
Tody Castillo and Friends as Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and Friends
Sharks and Sailors as The Police
American Sharks as The Cars
Judas Bear as Spoon
Paris Falls as Rush

STRAP ON YOUR BEEFEATER HAT, YOU KNOW YOUR MIND IS BLOWN! This impressively impressive lineup joins the afore-confirmed Ka-Nives (as The Lemonheads) and Flowers to Hide (as The Cure). For those in the not-know, TWOTENANNY! is the second time you'll be treated to an evening of non-stop band-covering-band action at the Mink, this time on July 26th, all for a measly $5. Yuss. In the meantime, it's off to Calgary and the beautiful Canadian snows for us. Thanks to all the bands who sent us updates we were unfortunately unable to get posted - please understand it was not a snub (except for Jenny Westberry, who we ignore out of pure hilarity. Ok, so she never actually sent us any updates). LIKE AVIS, WE WILL TRY HARDER!