Space and the City
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Schlumberger, Haliburton Plug and Abandon AAPG Exhibits
Apr 27th
It started as a rumor, but a recent stop by the AAPG website has put some fact behind the whispers: both Schlumberger and Haliburton, long-time anchor exhibitors at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ Annual Convention, have pulled out of the conference. Neither is listed as an exhibitor, and the floor-plan now shows IHS, Fairfield, TGS and PGS occupying the coveted ‘four corners’ spaces (where the main aisle and the aisle from the convention hall entrance meet). It’s hard to say what effect, if any, this will have on the on-again, off-again urging of exhibiting service companies that the AAPG and SEG combine their shows. It’s certainly more grape than fodder in the cannon.
That being said, the exhibit hall is mostly sold (though there are some spaces left on the outskirts of the show floor) and so, even without Big Red and Big Blue (and Landmark and WesternGeco), there is still no rival hall when it comes to the latest technologies and information about petroleum geology.
I don’t want it to sound like I’m playing armchair marketer to Schlumberger and Haliburton: their exhibitions at the AAPG have historically been massive, expensive affairs likely costing more than most service company’s annual exhibiting budget (and the AAPG is, by no means, their largest show of the year). Deciding what to cut from a marketing budget is always an exercise in balance; a tradeshow here, an advertisement there.
That being said, cutting out of a conference entirely (rather than reducing your foot-print or shortening the list of attending staff) is not a move I can really get behind (for a national conference). Sure, there isn’t much being spent in these first couple quarters of 2009, but that’s all the more reason to keep in front of your customers, and keep them wistful for your latest and greatest for when their management does finally re-open the spigot. Our industry has always been one based on personal connections (Denver especially, where it’s joked that more deals get done over a drink at Marlowe’s than in any conference room), and being present at tradeshows are a key part in that networking. So if you’re on the fence about where to cut and why, my advice would be go easy on the tradeshows. Not only can they they be done effectively for relatively cheap, they’re one of the few things you can get reliable ROI data from. And in this environment, that’s crucial.
SHAMELESS PLUG: JAY CD RELEASE SHOW
Feb 11th
First there was Elvis. Then Cher. Then Prince. Then Madonna. Then Janet (Ms. Jackson if yr nasty). Then Beyonce. And now finally, our own local scene has its own one named diva of up to the moment pop overproduction: Jay. Jay’s music is a combination of late-era LA Ried fused over the funkiest R&Midi-B Tommy Two Tone ever had the genius to compose. Massively overgated snars, big ass hooks with lyrics that reference big asses and enough new dance grooves to send you back to the store searching for dat dutty wine. FREAK MODE IS HIS STYLE!
Ok, so really not at all. Superstar friend of the Skyline Jay Crossley (Woozyhelmet), as was previously noted, won one of those Anthony Foundation Grants, giving him the opportunity to record with legendary producer Frank Davis and his epic cohort Jerry Page. And though the mixing was wrapped only weeks ago, it will already be available as part of a limited hand-crafted batch at the CD show Thursday at Walters Rudyard’s. In the future, it will be coming out on other formats, including 7″, which we dig. The show itself is somewhat of a fund-raiser to underwrite the venue cost for a number of shows Jay is helping put on during SXSW (part of the absolute TORRENT of H-Town related events carting their way up to the 512 this March. More on that soon).
Shameless plug disclaimer: Our own ADR played bass on four of the songs on this record, which is why we can, unfortunately, never review it. However, that should not take away from the fact that it’s a weird ball of wonderful sweaty beauty that makes us want to fall in love. again.
REVIEW: NEWS ON THE MARCH – GLORY BE
Feb 10th
In the social sciences, the liberal and the fine arts, our favorite cross-disciplinary concept is that of Determinism. The basis of the principle is that environment (or a collective set of sequences or experiences), rather than biology, is the dominating influencer of our make-up on a emotional and behavioral level. It spreads its fun everywhere, from gender and self-identification studies, to (our favorite) language. In Linguistical Determinism, the theory goes so far as to claim that language (the collective set of sequences and experiences) drives thought, and not, as we might expect, the other way around.
So, taking the most popularized and generally misunderstood application of this theory, an Eskimo does not have many many more different words for snow that we do because she is always around snow, but that the need to communicate different aspects of snow (such as wetness and density) as part of the process of staying alive has actually created a greater granularity of distinction between individual characteristics in her mind. It’s not that there are more words for snow (though there are), it’s that the utility for each is sufficiently silo-ed from one another to create a greater number of distinct categories in the lexicon than there otherwise would be. This is the opposite of, say, how Frogger views motor vehicles; there is no distinction between vans and cars and trucks from his perspective – they are all automobiles attempting to massacre him. THAT BLOWS OUR MINDS.
We’ve always wanted to see (and perhaps there is an enterprising ethnomusicologist out there who has already, unsung, performed such research) some empirical examination of the role of environment in creating some of the more prominent music scenes in the last 30 years (punk started 30 years ago folks. 30). For example, what role, if any, did the long Minnesota winters have in the creation of Minneapolis punk/hardcore’s (bands like The Replacements and Husker Du) distinctly un-LA or DC sound? Can we create a line of influence between the region’s largely Scandinavian heritage and aspects of their mother tongue to the somewhat poppier, mellower and relaxed content of those bands when compared to their coast-originating contemporaries? Why is the leading factory for the assembly line manufacture of the Country and Western Music Industrial Complex music located on the other side of the Mississippi?
And what is it about Houston’s near and far East Side that has led it to be such a dependable source of re-imagined Americana over the years? From Janis Joplin to ZZ Top to current burners like Buxton and News on the March? Does the ‘March’s Glory Be EP (the first recorded with the full band) sound as though it was recorded in a room with the shutters tightly sealed and only kerosene lamps to light because East Siders dwell in a world where Hurricanes are a psyche-influencing reality (so much so that, after the album was recorded but before it was submitted for pressing, the roof of their studio and practice place was peeled off by Ike’s careless hands)? Is it the chemical plants that mar the vistas of their bayous’ banks that causes their take on country music’s pastoral side to mix so much guile within the glee?
And yet, in spite of these shadows, Glory Be is ultimately a joyful record, one that smiles on the high road with compositions that are catchy without being particularly hooky and grounded in an experienced realism without being hokey. It’s sipping tea on a porch while planning a picnic, even though the clouds tell you otherwise. Though it may be the dead-horse of their many praises, the vocal melodies/harmonies here are a stunning throwback to a time of taken-for-granted vocal prowess long since discarded in favor of affectation to avoid a gap in ability. Album closer “Clappin’ Good Time,” with its kiss of horns and sing-along closing has been a delicious counterpoint to the drat that has been crashing into our lives lately. And isn’t that the role of good music, to be antidote or accompaniment of the particulars of an environment to counterbalance the wave of woe or catch the wave of wonder? Glory Be is good medicine indeed. Recommended.
Glory Be is available at finer record stores around town, including Sig’s Lagoon, or you can pick up a copy at their show tonight at Rudyard’s with Lonely Dear and Alkari. To hear tracks from the album, visit their MySpace.
OUTSIDE THE LOOP: AUSTIN SOUND’S REVIEW OF UME’S SUNSHOWER
Feb 9th
Welcome to Outside the Loop, our monthly feature where we swap blog posts with the fine folks at Austin Sound and We Shot JR, two decidedly dasheeki sites you should be reading regardless. This month we have ASer Franklin Morris’ review of the new EP by none other than the beloved former Houstonians UME. Enjoy!
It may seem a bit early to declare the best Austin record of 2009, but I am prepared to set caution aside and predict that this time next year UME will be topping best-of lists. The band’s new EP, Sunshower is at once beautiful, brutal, flawlessly executed, and completely unpretentious. It’s the type of record that grabs the listener immediately and demands repeated listens. It’s the whole package – as close to a perfect rock record as has come out of Austin (or anywhere for the matter) in quite some time. Like all great bands, UME’s sound is impossible to nail down in simple terms. They are shredding guitars and vocals that shift from beautiful whispers to raspy growls. They merge the anthemic and with the intimate — sometimes delicate and sometimes explosive.
Vocalist Lauren Lagner Larson is a petite blonde and bears a more-than-passing resemblance to Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon – but the SY similarities really do end there. UME is far more melodic than Sonic Youth (they even make their walls of noisy guitars sound pleasing to the ear somehow) and while Sonic Youth is sometimes too weird for mass consumption, UME’s music is so instantly likeable that it will not alienate any listeners. The band runs contrary to a lot of modern musical trends, and is in many ways a throwback to the 1990s, without ever sounding derivative. Where increasing instrumentation (synths, auxiliary percussion, and so on) are becoming the norm, UME is stripped down by comparison, making a mountain of sound as just a three piece – guitar, bass, and drums. It is a formula so simple and timeless, and yet somehow original.
UME wastes no time – the EP’s post-punk opening track, “East of Hercules”, erupts out of the speakers with blasts of loud guitars and a frantic momentum (laid down by the band’s stellar rhythm section, bassist Eric Larson and drummer Jeff Barrera). Lauren Lagner Larson’s vocal delivery is beautiful and aggressive, her playful phrasing twists in and out of the song’s rhythm. “Sunshower” is a slower track, that builds to an enormous chorus. The quiet-loud dynamic and the interplay between the guitar and bass sounds faintly reminiscent of Trail of Dead’s Madonna album. “Conductor” is the record’s strongest song. It is three minutes of insane energy, pounding toms, and guitar shredding that slides into a dreamy chorus and then into a wall of raging cymbals and guitar noise. The melody is so catchy and irresistible that it will stick with you long after listening. This aggressive, pop-rock anthem demonstrates what UME sounds like at the top of their game. The record’s closer, “Pendulum”, is another highlight with just as much energy and melody as everything else on Sunshower. Frenchie Smith’s production really helps this song sparkle, bringing out both the delicate beauty of the verses and the massive guitar-rock choruses.
The only complaint I have about this EP is that it is too short. I am anxious to see exactly how UME’s passion, energy and authenticity will translate on a longer release. Only time will tell. But either way, Sunshower is an important record for UME. It is the point at which they went from being one of Austin’s biggest potentials, to being one of Austin’s best bands.
ATTN THIS WEEKEND: YOU ARE LIKE ISLANDS IN THE STREAM
Feb 6th
UPDATED. We actually don’t know what it means to be islands in the stream, other than perhaps a deceptively difficult karaoke track.
FRIDAY
The Pons (CD release), Davie “Fathands” Graves, Sad Gorilla, Elaine Greer, Buxton and Paleo @ 1816 Calumet
Austin’s The Pons cited “Low, The Wedding Present, XTC, Galaxie 500 and AC Newman” as their influences in an interview they did with indiehouston.org this week. Kicks! That very same website has put together an all star line up of the 713′s own for their record release party, all kicking off at 6 in the PM for an equally paltry $6. There’s said to be a keg for the 21+ crowd. Party.
Vinyl Ranch @ Leon’s Lounge
Our favorite monthly record spinnin’ boot scoot always has both the hottest shit-kickin classics from back in the country day and all the most roper-tastic single ladies (put a ring on em’). But this month, there’s even more goin on in the game, as they unleash “From the Ladle to the Grave”, their first ever vegetarian chili cook off. That’s right, you can honky tonk with a frito pie in hand well past midnight. YES. 10pm-2am. Free.
Andy McWilliams and the Aboveground Pools, Free Radicals @ Notsuoh
Scattered Pages multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer (and former builder of amps, and sometime builder of effects pedals, and possessor of excellence in denim jackets) presumably brings the decidedly non-shoegaze sounds of his 2008 Shoegaze EP to the stage, a track from which made an appearance on our annual SKYLINE 50 (and eventually we will get off our asses and review the whole thing).
UPDATE: Robert Ellis, Chase Hamblin, Benjamin Wesley @ Avante Garden
Just got the word on this one. As always, you owe it to yourself to check out Ben’s solo set, and Robert Ellis has been burning up the buzz charts. Party. Music starts at nine.
The Appleseed Cast, Golden Cities, The Hungry Villagers @ Rudyard’s
Heh. I bet you are wondering “Gee, why did they review the Golden Cities record when this show wasn’t until this week, rather than post it today and help tie it to their show?” Yeah, we’re wondering that too.
ALSO
Mission Control, featuring Mic Skills (CD release), DJ Remix, & more @ The Mink
Bob’s Birthday Bash, featuring L.A. Guns, Low Man’s Joe, & Laidlaw @ The Meridian
Fredster, El Jeffe, Gracie Chavez @ Boondocks
SATURDAY
SHAMELESS PLUG: The Skyline Network’s ADR will be playing records at the Walker Twin’s 30th birthday sillybration over at the Big Star bar. Every dumb party song you hope to god isn’t going to be played will be played. Twice.
Tody Castillo @ Cactus Records
This is a little later than most of Cactus’ in-stores and is alleged to involve artwork or photography involving dead rock stars, and of course fee beer. Though there is nothing about it on the Cactus website/MySpace, we’ve been assured by someone playing that this is, in fact, happening. Party
The Western Civilization, The Pons, Your Kisses Cause Crashes, Guitars @ Rudyard’s
Dear Rachel of the Western Civilization. I know in the past we’ve kind of gone on and on about how you are the most attractive piece of telecaster playing womanhood we’ve ever seen. In retrospect, that seems somewhat sexist, so we would like to let you know that we think you are the most smoking piece of telecaster playing humanity that we have ever seen with the possible exception of young Harrison Ford, though we don’t think we’ve ever seen him with a guitar so it’s chill. We also hear that the Western Civilization is hard at work on a new album, which is rather thrilling to us and we are more than a little annoyed that we will be unable to attend this show due to superstar DJ priorities and therefore may miss the performance of some new materials. This has happened rather frequently as of late, and so we hope you will finish your record soon. <3. The Pons stick around for a second day of Houston shows and are joined by fellow 512ers Your Kisses Cause Crashes. Guitars, featuring members of Monocles, Alarma and Lenny Briscoe opens.
Dirty Honey, featuring Brett Koshkin & DJ High C @ Boondocks
You know how you know when you hate yourself and want to die? Cause you keep missing the most Dasheeki Saddlesoap monthly soul records dance party in the city. Or atleast we think that’s whats wrong with us. Man. Bummber. Free. Starts at 10pm.
Free Press Houston Issue 100 Celebranza, featuring Monotonix, State Radio, The Tontons, American Fangs, Tha Fucking Transmissions, & Rebelution @ Numbers
Congrats on 100 issues, and for continuing to put together lineups that inspire us to check out bands we’ve never heard of before. Doors at 8. All Ages. $12.
Also
Paris Falls, Spain Colored Orange, Al-Shire and the Henchmen, You(genious) @ Walter’s on Washington
Rehab, Erase The Virus, Come See My Dead Person @ The Scout Bar
