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.

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

THE SKYLINE 50: PART THREE

Part Three of our all-week series sharing our 50 favorite tracks to come out of the city this year.

Hearts Break – Hearts of Animals
Lemming Baby
We’re not entirely convinced that Mlee Marie didn’t just get dropped off by some well meaning spirit in the sky, complete with a back-story, back-catalog and pointy auburn guitar. A year ago, we didn’t know her from Eve, today, we can’t turn around without stumbling upon some new project she’s involved with. But this was the song that got it started for us – simple, sweet, coy; freight trains and hearts you really believe are broken. Yes, it's true, we made a Doctor and the Medics reference.


Hello Boss!!! – Fatal Flying Guilloteens
Quantum ****ing
Remember when you were a kid and there were still tapes and it always seemed like the first thing you did when you tore one out of its shrink-plastic was fast-forward it to the first song on the second side – like it was the FCC mandated position for the most bangin’ radio single of all times of that week. OH SNAP! MOTOWN PHILLY BACK AGAIN! Now somewhat older, possessed of more wisdom perhaps but less likely to act on it, we tend to listen to our records straight through. That’s why we love a break you off somethin’ lead off like this one. (Excluding the intro, of course. By the way, what ever happened to that original French Kiss name-checking intro that had the back bacon references?) A total next-level departure from previous Guilloteen full lengths is stuffed in the ballot box from the get go, and isn’t it great to hear McManus in action one last time?


Honesty – Papermoons
Papermoons 7”
Sitting on a grassy little embankement watching a girl you’ll never get teach the neighborhood kids how to play kickball is not how one should spend their Sunday afternoons. You should be at home with your mates planning a tour where you take a day off to catch the Superdrag reunion show and coaxing worthwhile sounds out of an accordion you bought for a dollar off the wall of a bootmaker’s shed at a flea market. Pinhole cameras, pinwheels on beachbikes and songs like this are antidote to the too much of anything we are all sometimes seduced into feeling. Grab your kite.


I Drempt of a Terrible Adieu – Listen Listen
Listen Listen
The Listen Listen ep is made of wood. The packaging anyways. Sometimes we wonder if perhaps this is because, once the recording was complete, they chopped their instruments up with axes so as to exile the demons that had no doubt taken residence inside during the creation of such a melancholy opus. Prolly the saddest song on our countdown (oh and bonus – suicide lyrical content), only a master along the lines of Kacey Kasem could ever segue between this banjo plucking dirge and, say, an Arthur Yoria song that happened to have the same instrument in the background.


I Told You Not To Write Again – Arthur Yoria
Handshake Smiles
Here’s a tip on how to get into this countdown every year. Be Arthur Yoria. Write a song about some impossibly common aspect of the human condition that had somehow not occurred to anyone was an impossibly common aspect of the human condition. Add some egg shakers. Play a banjo in the background. Arthur: please record another record soon, we need more insight into our own lives. kthanx


In Piles/Files – Bring Back the Guns
Dry Futures
ATTN T-PAIN: We got your next remix ring-tone right here. Piles/Files is a rock club shredertainer that is to the 2007 live show what apple is to strudel and unfortunate berry combinations is to Kosher wine. If this jam was cattle, it would be an entire cow made of whips pre-seasoned center-cut fillet (is that even possible?) served on a solid 28” platinum plate to Kanye West in his V inspired mothership hovering above the Source Awards. PARTY CALL ME.


James Ralph Brown Part II – Riff Tiffs
Afflictinnitus
Judging by the reaction of their fans to our review of their full length, there is an entire legion of the Riff Tiff Army that does not think it is a compliment to have your music designated as the eternal soundtrack to Puff Daddy’s voyages through the ocean depths should he ever be transformed into a Dolphin. Whatever. Those people have no idea what they’re even talking about. If they can think of a better song to glide along to should you ever awaken to discover you’ve been metamophesized into a marine mammal named Franz, we’re all flippers to hear what it is.


Legion of Serpents – Fatal Flying Guilloteens
Quantum ****ing
We heard this uncharacteristically long and tempoed song was the first ever Roy Mata Guilloteens composition. This is no doubt why we are so GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT. (rewind) GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT GET INTO IT (rewind). (Realize we have drive all the way to Juarez with this song on repeat when our intent was only to goto La Tapatia.)


Lonely Goodbye – Paris Falls
Lonely Goodbye (single)
It says something when a local band goes to the trouble of self-releasing a two-song single when they’ve just dropped one pretty aces full length and have a second all wrapped up and in shop-around mode. It’s a special song to them, to be sure - one they had to get out there in the intra-release interim for whatever reason (if we were a thoughtful site, it might have occurred to us to ask them before this moment what that reason might be). It’s a tender and warm lullaby; a blanket of leaves in a rural yard beyond the times. It’s why more musicians should get married and till death do they record.


Lucky – Paris Falls
Vol. I
Paris Falls has their own lighting rig, complete with the ability to trigger it for choreography with what they’re playing at the moment. If you have such a setup, you’ve got to bring the minerals to the water, or else you’re just going to be that group of wankers who thought they were too good for the illumination options the rest of the bands were ok with. But here’s the key – PF aren’t just great musicians and songwriters, they’re great showmen too. Not in the spandex pants kick and splits jump vein, mind you, but in the fact that they see a gig as more than just a thing – as something more akin to the original meaning of the word ‘show’. The whole thing tells the tale of a quartet who take things a bit further than just showing up. The same care went into their Vol I, and this song especially.

THE SKYLINE 50: OUR FAVORITE SONGS OF THE YEAR, PART ONE

OH SNAP! This has been such a whips year for local releases. The beautiful people that we all rub elbows with on a daily basis have put out a slew of aces recordings, both those barely registering on the local radar and ones getting good reviews in publications across our mighty and rarely making erroneous foreign-policy decisionsish nation. Therefore, in the week leading up to the announcement of our first ever SAMMIES AWARDS (you’ve voted, right?), we are pleased to unleash upon you our fifty favorite tracks 0f 2007. To qualify, the songs need only have been released on some media or another (LP, CD, CDR, tape – whatever) and be really really party call me.

So, without further ado, we present the 2007 Houston 50, in totally non-biast alphabetical order:

Alien Abduction – Linus Pauling Quartet
All Things are Light
What better way to start our countdown than with a nearly nine minute album-opening opus by one of the 713’s has-been-around-but-definitely-not-has-been stardog champions. Combining the big fuzz that got you listening to Soundgarden in the first place with enough of a groove to tempt Herbie Hancock, Abduction rides out her parts to the last exit for Roswell and then loops back around to enjoy the drive a little longer.


Ankstiyeti – Cop Warmth
Centaur Cop Top
We remember in High School there was this total dish of a photographer who wrote angry editorials in the school paper and once took this picture of a rack of girl’s clothes, all identical and neatly placed next to each other, under a sign that said “Be an Individual.” We freely admit that we were not yet sophisticated enough to immediately understand a pictorial representation of the irony of wanting to be different just like everyone else. In a sense, Anksiyeti is similarly satiric of that part of life, with its demand that no on/every stop looking. It baffles us to no end how a song so chaotic can be so catchy at the same time.


Art of Malnutrition – Bring Back the Guns
Dry Futures
A friend of The Skyline (and BBTG) asked the question, can a song that’s been played live for so long really be considered one of 2007’s best? Yes. Absolutely. Even if it had taken another five years for this record to finally come out, this song would have been one of 2012’s best. A band notorious for not riding out any of the gunch-busting riffs that pack their songs like a wet burrito, Malnutrition is one of those rare exceptions where an almost, dare we say it, conventional approach to rocking out pays off like Casa Ole green dip. Pass the salt.


Ashes – Balaclavas
Inferno
When we first heard this ep, we immediately got in touch with Chris Ryan over at Dead City Sound to ask how he recorded the bass on it. While we won’t reveal his secret, we will say that in terms of the tone it’s a complete departure and total breakthrough for the band. It slinks around heavily and without hard edges, like a gigantic scorpion’s tail stabbing about with unknown intentions in the dark. On Inferno especially, it adds a new form of pleasurable disquiet to what was already one of the most unique sounding acts in town. It gives us the creeps and we love it.


At a Second Glance – Balaclavas
Balaclavas
Sometimes, you’re supposed to avert your eyes and not look directly at something, even when it might be polite to look just as though there were nothing shameful, awful or disturbing about what you’re seeing -because you know that, if you look away, every muscle in your neck and ocular sockets will try instinctively to go back for that second, perversely satisfying glance. For us, this song isn’t about that second look – it’s the struggle not to, and the bit of self loathing when you do.


Beatle Battle – Golden Axe
Kill Them Allah
If Golden Axe had put out a 50 song release, they would be the only band in the top 50 this year. Fortunately for everyone else who poured blood, sweat and tears into their Tele’s f-holes during 2007, Golden Axe did just a Grey Ghost single this, which means that there isn’t an overwhelming amount of material evidence that your band is not as good as Golden Axe and that you really should stop practicing right now and start spending more time planning for what the world will be like when it is ruled by James and Warren’s benevolent co-dictatorship.


Bird – Jana Hunter
There’s No Home
We iTuned this album, as it came out on the net a few weeks before the actual release, and we needed something that reminded us of home to listen to while we walked aimlessly around the akward Stevedore paradise of Long Beach, California. As such, we’ve never (to this day) seen the credits for this song and who all it is that’s singing and strumming along with our city's favorite daughter-in-exile. Even if there isn’t one, this track always sounds like home to us, and every few months we’re both surprised and not to learn of someone else we know who was sitting around the campfire when the gentle romp got put to tape. Come home soon.


Bruise the Paper – The Western Civilization
Letters of Resignation
Aside from platinum selling and prematurely deceasing rappers, Houston is generally know for bands that ride in a very different bumper car from bands like The Western Civilization. Bruise the Paper, in spite of lyrics that might get a troubadour down, is pure pop bliss. But this syrup is anything but factory processed maple that’s never seen the inside of a tree – so far from it. This taste of Karo doesn’t have a lot of local contemporaries, but they’ve sure got the pancakes to put them on.


Cuttin’ a Rug – Arthur Yoria
Handshake Smiles
We’ve heard the studio chatter lead-in to this song, “I do need a click for this one,” so many times this past year that we’re more than a little astonished it hasn’t become a catch-phrase around the newsroom along the lines of the now ubiquitous “oh word?” Frankly, we wonder why Arthur Yoria isn’t more ubiquitous either. It doesn’t speak very highly of the music industry that Cuttin’ a Rug hasn’t cut its way up the charts of some sort. Maybe it’s for the best, as it means we get to keep our local treasure around just a little longer. Party call me.


Drugs and Drawing – Wicked Poseur
Wicked Poseur 7”
Arthur Bates is a weird weird weird dude. We’re not really convinced that this song is about drugs or art. Seems too obvious and, well, not weird enough. That’s pretty subversive, to write a song about the role of chemical substances in artistic expression and spell it out plainly but still have people wondering "yeah, but what is he really talking about here.” Weird.

REVIEW: ARTHUR YORIA - HANDSHAKE SMILES

We used to pal around with this guy who was perhaps the best collector and teller of stories ever to be snuck beers at a bar. Generally, we are of the opinion that once is enough when it comes to re-telling of personal anecdotes, but honestly we had to restrain ourselves in requesting that he tell this tale or that to us yet again. One story in particular stands out as perhaps his greatest hit: the time when Rod Stewart offered him advice on picking up girls in a bar in Italy. Not even really advice, coaching (in his re-telling, he-who-wakes-up-Maggie often had an Australian accent as that was the closest he could affect – the Crocodile Dundeeness of it only added to the fun). This fable of reconstruction was always told over ales and long past when the clock had both arms up, so we cannot and should not relay all the details – but we recall it having a happy ending.

Rod Stewart is not a particularly handsome man. But he has swagger, and he is sexy. He knows it – he wouldn’t ask you if you though he was otherwise. Along with, say, Fonzie, he holds court in a particular branch of the thistle thorn diagram of male sexiness. Oh yes, there are other things besides a leather tie or a leather jacket that makes one sexy, because, as we all know, there are other forms of sexy.

Let’s take a moment to note that R. Kelly trumps all in this sort of a discussion. Moment done. Let’s move on to Handshake Smile, the new LP from 713 crooner Arthur Yoria.

From the outset, Handshake is a dread sexy recording, but definitely not in the Drakkar Noir vein. It’s not the sort of active-sonar sexy that can backfire quickly into the realm of creepy if poorly executed. Nope. It’s more the chill, interesting, good smile, fun vein of sexy; corduroy and suede over silk and chiffon. It’s going to kiss you in the rain, and the entire thing will be filmed by a slowly reverse-tilting boom-mounted camera. Like the person at the bar you have to work your way over towards, it’s engaging before you’ve really figured out how to approach it. Indeed, even if you never get the minerals to go up to it and start a listening conversation, the memory of it sticks with you.

Handshake has ACES pop lyrics, something we don’t generally pay much attention to (words are crap, we contend). It was bedroom produced with a single microphone, which isn’t evident at all from the sound of it, prolly due to the out and out quality of the mixing, the strength of the arrangements, the talent of the players and the, well, sexiness of the songwriting. Catchy can’t begin to describe some of these melodies; showy, corny, flashy or smelling of Cool Water never will. Yoria has put a lot of years into this game, and if the end result of it is going to be records like this, we’re stoked. Rod prolly would be too. No Homo. Recommended.

Catch Arthur Yoria playing around town lots and lots in the upcoming month, but most importantly, at the Feel Good Hits of the Summer Festival Saturday, June 9th at the Proletariat.

George Clinton, Lucinda Williams, Tody Castillo, Arthur Yoria to Sing in Chinese

Well, it’s no Coachella, its no Bonnaroo, ACL, Pitchfork Music Fest, Reading or even Ozzfest, but The Houston International Festival is what we got, so we might as well report on it. The festival, whose nation of note is China, released their live music schedule yesterday, and, as in the past, not too many acts that fall in our scope will find themselves on the stage. But before all that, let us be the first to make the joke that George Clinton and the Parliament/Funkadelic are playing Saturday, because they are hopelessly occupied on Friday, 4/20.

Also of note on the main stage (April 29^th) will be Lucinda Williams, whose country is our kind of country and whose latest album West came out just last week.

Local acts will find themselves playing from the glory of the “Flamingo Gardens Houston Stage,” though you’ve likely only head of a handful of those on the roster (unless you’ve been hiding your southern rock or zydeco blues fetish from the rest of us). Included in that group are hard working pop kids Tody Castillo and Arthur Yoria. Also, REAL TALK: The Southern Backtones are playing – their sound has been going in a very different, non-Southern-roots direction lately and you may be surprised how, well, good some of their new material is. Also, there are always tons of very attractive people at their shows, and is about the best option out there for warming up before the roof gets torn off that suckah later that night. FUNK!

Katrina Relief - Yet More Updates

Some more stuff has been annouced in the way of benefits and ways to get invovled. Plus, the flyer for the Can's For Keg Cups party.

Katrina Benefit September 10th and 11th @ Numbers
2 Days of music with 16 bands, including: Arthur Yoria, Bring Back the Guns, Sharks & Sailors, Spain Colored Orange, Heist at Hand, Inner Lights (Jon Sparrow) + More.

All Ages. Live bands Saturday & all day Sunday.
$8 per event - $12.00 for 2 day pass.

7 pm - 2 am Saturday, September 10
3 pm - 10 pm Sunday, September 11

Donations of clothing, canned goods, and toiletries also welcome.
All donations and bar profits will benefit The McCormick Tribune Foundation Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund and the American Red Cross.

NOAH: Project SHONOF
(repost)A group of Houston musicians led by prominent pianist Paul English, vocalists Gigi Hill and Tianna Hall, Johan Keus and others have formed a group called "NOAH" (New Orleans and Houston) whose mission is to reach out and support the displaced New Orleans musicians by providing them with housing, venues in which to perform, instrument replacement, etc. The project is named: SHONOF (pronounced “sho’nuff”: Safe Harbor for Our New Orleans Friends). Primary goals are:

1. To contact New Orleans musicians, wherever they are, and let them know there is a support group in Houston ready to help them, provide housing, get gigs, etc.

2. To line up apartments, rooms, etc. for these people to live in until they can get on their feet.

3. To organize an instrument clearing house whereby the musicians can get access to needed instruments in order to perform and make a living.

4. To urge local venues--clubs, restaurants, hotels, etc.--to expand their use of live musicians.

5. To organize and hold benefit concerts featuring the New Orleans musicians, supplemented by the best of Houston musicians, to raise money to help the musicians and the project.

6. To share their current gigs with the New Orleans musicians, either by adding a player or two to their performing group or by relinquishing an entire gig.

Contact Info:
Gigi Hill
(713) 503-3518
gigi@noahleans.org
www.noahleans.org