Weekend
I guess I'll write about the music I saw last week.
Friday, Two Star Symphony at Rudyard's
Two Star played mostly new (or at least new to me) material, which I thought was more interesting and complex than their older material. The audience really seemed to like them too. I think. There was at least one fan who turned to the man sitting next to her, glowered, and said, "Why aren't you clapping?" So I don't know if all the appreciation of the show wasn't coerced.
Saturday, Twotennany at the Mink
This was the second of these events (hence TWO-tennany--clever, huh?) where several local bands play a set of covers from a single band. The standouts, to me at least, were Paris Falls doing Rush, complete with an unplanned drum solo while their guitarist changed a broken string; American Sharks as the Cars, somehow being interesting while not changing the thirty year old songs a bit; and Sharks and Sailors as the Police, mostly because, well, you can't go wrong with Police songs. If they had done "Be My Girl - Sally" the walls would not have been able to contain the awesome, particularly if their drummer, did the Andy Summers bit. You can't have everything, I suppose.
Sunday, Houston Press Music Awards Showcase at Several Venues in Downtown Houston
Here is a list of the bands I saw and brief description of each:
Wild Moccasins--Strummy indie rock. They were much better the previus night when they were doing songs of the B-52s. Their own material is largely forgettable.
Yoko Mono--I didn't see much of this, but I did get to see the huge bass player doing a bass solo. Funky.
Umbrella Man--Well, these guys have an acoustic bass and an accordion. You can't really go wrong with that combination. I wish I had seen more of them.
Wayside Drive--By contrast, I wish I didn't see as much of Wayside Drive as I did. This was not interesting. Not at all.
Scattered Pages--More strumminess, but with a 50s pop country twang.
Free Radicals--I always know what to expect from Free Radicals: breezy ska, this time playing with Harry Sheppard on vibes.
The Wiggins--Performance art music. I guess this might have been original in the 70s.
Buxton--They played one of the Bjork songs from the previous night at the Twotennany, doing it better this time. The rest of their material is not as good, but not all that bad either. I might even see them again.
Spain Colored Orange--I hadn't seen these guys for ten years (or some similar long period of time) and was pretty disappointed. They are no longer the little mellow combo they once were and they are weaker for it.
Indian Jewelry--The Indian Jewelry people thrive on schtick and noise. It's not all that different from previous incarnations with similar membership, Swarm of Angels and Japanic. They play rock stars to audiences that often don't know who they are. I'm not sure this would work so well if the audience were actually into it, as some of the humor would be gone.
Sideshow Tramps--These guys have gone from playing pretty straight bluegrass to being a big steaming pile of Americana. In a good way. I'm glad this was the last thing I saw, because it was by far the best.
Friday, Two Star Symphony at Rudyard's
Two Star played mostly new (or at least new to me) material, which I thought was more interesting and complex than their older material. The audience really seemed to like them too. I think. There was at least one fan who turned to the man sitting next to her, glowered, and said, "Why aren't you clapping?" So I don't know if all the appreciation of the show wasn't coerced.
Saturday, Twotennany at the Mink
This was the second of these events (hence TWO-tennany--clever, huh?) where several local bands play a set of covers from a single band. The standouts, to me at least, were Paris Falls doing Rush, complete with an unplanned drum solo while their guitarist changed a broken string; American Sharks as the Cars, somehow being interesting while not changing the thirty year old songs a bit; and Sharks and Sailors as the Police, mostly because, well, you can't go wrong with Police songs. If they had done "Be My Girl - Sally" the walls would not have been able to contain the awesome, particularly if their drummer, did the Andy Summers bit. You can't have everything, I suppose.
Sunday, Houston Press Music Awards Showcase at Several Venues in Downtown Houston
Here is a list of the bands I saw and brief description of each:
Wild Moccasins--Strummy indie rock. They were much better the previus night when they were doing songs of the B-52s. Their own material is largely forgettable.
Yoko Mono--I didn't see much of this, but I did get to see the huge bass player doing a bass solo. Funky.
Umbrella Man--Well, these guys have an acoustic bass and an accordion. You can't really go wrong with that combination. I wish I had seen more of them.
Wayside Drive--By contrast, I wish I didn't see as much of Wayside Drive as I did. This was not interesting. Not at all.
Scattered Pages--More strumminess, but with a 50s pop country twang.
Free Radicals--I always know what to expect from Free Radicals: breezy ska, this time playing with Harry Sheppard on vibes.
The Wiggins--Performance art music. I guess this might have been original in the 70s.
Buxton--They played one of the Bjork songs from the previous night at the Twotennany, doing it better this time. The rest of their material is not as good, but not all that bad either. I might even see them again.
Spain Colored Orange--I hadn't seen these guys for ten years (or some similar long period of time) and was pretty disappointed. They are no longer the little mellow combo they once were and they are weaker for it.
Indian Jewelry--The Indian Jewelry people thrive on schtick and noise. It's not all that different from previous incarnations with similar membership, Swarm of Angels and Japanic. They play rock stars to audiences that often don't know who they are. I'm not sure this would work so well if the audience were actually into it, as some of the humor would be gone.
Sideshow Tramps--These guys have gone from playing pretty straight bluegrass to being a big steaming pile of Americana. In a good way. I'm glad this was the last thing I saw, because it was by far the best.
4 Comments:
The Moccasins have some pretty cool songs - Spanish and Jazz is pretty aces for example and they can whip up a great crescendo when they are firing on all cylinders. John Sears called them the new Schmong which I think, given their ability to rev up a bunch of young 'uns, is pretty apt.
Buxton is also pretty great. Just the Guitarist (or should I say multi-instrumentalist as he plays Banjo, mandolin, and various electronic loops) is pretty amazing.
I also love the Wiggins. He is freaky goodness. And I actually enjoyed the Indian Jewelry set - sans irony.
Just my 2 cents.
There's an Indian Jewelry cd review in the new Bust magazine. Pretty good review though they do slant them for being unoriginal.
Oh and Justin did you see this? Lenny Briscoe covers Jessica Six
I'm not sure why anybody would cover Jessica Six, unless they were having a hard time playing something other than power chords. My ears want a third every once in a while.
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