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.

OMG! WE TOTALLY READ JANA’S DIARY!

By now, you have no doubt read somewhere that much of Jana Hunter and tour-mate Ray Raposa (Castanets) gear was stolen while in part of the hella suspect non-Texas part of the country. Sucks. Sad story condensed for those not in the know: The pair were in Tuscon, van door got damaged and couldn’t be locked, Ray slept in van, triflin’ bitches quietly open van door and jack gear with Ray inside. Check out the story on Pitchfork for all the details. If you are of good heart, consider donating some scratch to help get some replacement gear in time for the next leg of her tour – paypal it to mutualincarnation@gmail.com.

Sadly, that wasn’t the only mellow-harsher on the tour, as Jana originally set out with Ray and friend/photographer/driver of van Yoni, who got sick and had to fly back to Portland before the tour was even over. Damn.

And what a mellow it was, for it seems like, up till then, the tour was going pretty well. HOW DO WE KNOW, you may ask? WELL – like you know we would, we’ve gotten a sneak peak at Jana’s tour diary, one that she was keeping for the good folks at Plan B Magazine. HIGHLIGHT REEL:

Playing with Dan Deacon:

we played on oakland with dan deacon, video hippos, scary mansion and michael leviton. i've seen dan and the hippos several times before, but never played with either, and found it kind of intimidating. these are acts that compel dancing, among other things, directly and indirectly. people sometimes say that our performances are compelling, but it's hard to know what exactly, if anything, we compel people to do. regardless, our show was good, maybe the best of this tour to date. one label boss said, just as he did last time, that it wasn't even all that bad. video hippos and dan deacon were fucking great, and i danced, against my will. i got to see dan's extensive stretching routine, some awesome kids lit off fireworks, some friends had a refreshingly casual, intimate and disturbing conversation that involved, among other things, bestiality and "spotting," and the folks at 21 Grand were, as they'd been on a previous trip, truly wonderful.

Vegas and a show with Deer Tick:

i drove us to vegas. we're still mostly rocking yoni's double ipods full of heavy jams and ray's booted copy of the most recent lil wayne mixtape. we got to vegas very early. i'd never been. it's been 13 hours now, and i still think of it as i first saw it, as a series of strip malls, everything stinking of the past decade or two at most. i had a conversation with a deer tick member at the show about how it's difficult in vegas to associate it with any of the references pop culture has made of it most of our lives. we played an in-store; folks were nice. yoni and i fought-danced while ray played and got a disapproving-dad look that turned out to be a jealous-of-your-fun look. we played with deer tick and jacob smigel at night in the live room of a magic studio, and didn't learn any tricks. there was a hidden doorway, behind a secret bookcase! castanets threw in a set, during which i made a booze run for castanets. i shot-gunned a beer for, somewhat incredibly, the fist time right before out set. i liked our set very much, but it was most certainly not played to our crowd; it was loud and cryptic, quite indulgent.

deer tick as a full band is a full-blown emotional experience for me. i wouldn't necessarily expect this effect on anyone else, but i cried. fantastic.

Gotta love Deer Tick. Not only has he recorded a duets album with Jana, but, as we previously reported, his is to be the first release by the local Feow! label (War Elephant, currently slated for a September 2 release). Yuss. We’ve bumped into Jana a few times since she’s been back, and gotta say her sprits are high all considering. Ever the prankster, she has already been to the gun range, and texted people standing right next to her about her show tonight. And speaking of tearjerking, we are bummed as a hobo to be missing tonight’s happening at The Orange show (we will be DJing at the GRAB) which has a totally wicked aces lineup, including Jana, The Castanets, Pink Nasty and Macon Terry. Its an early one – 7pm, so get there and take pictures for us. No, really, take pictures.

WEEKEND WRAP-UP: FALLING ON OUR ASS EDITION

You may have heard, but we were a little busy this weekend. So much so that we let a number of things not get done. The fruit-fly population in our office kitchen is beyond epic, to say the least. But, back from a trip to Austin and with the planning and preping and decorating and stage managing and pure rockuledge of some festival or another behind us, we are stoked to be back on the job. Here's the dirt on this past weekend.

• The Feel Good Hits of the Summer Fest was a great time. A big thanks to all the bands, especially Paris Falls, who was kind enough to bring their lighting rig when some problems popped up with The Proletariat's array. The Western Civilization and The Watermarks both moved their cribbage piece up a notch in the category of ACES Local Indie Pop Band You Have Never See Live Which have a Definitive Article in Their Name (we should stop and point out here that Coach Springer, owner of more enviable records and listening taste than we will ever have and consulting muse to the Skyline Network seemed pretty stoked on The Watermarks' set). We could go on and on about all the performances - like whats up Kimonos, way to shred the heck out of a Zeppelin tune?! - but how about that decorating?!
  

• A big thanks again to all the bands, the Proletariat, Gilbert, Dunnock, the hard working folks behind the bar, and the door and in the sound-booth and all the people that showed up. With as much of a success as it was, very unlikely that this will be a one-off. Also, while we didn't see too many flash-bulbs throughout the evening, we did see a few - if you took some pictures, post links in the comments section.

• Speaking of Paris Falls, their first CD, the succinctly titled Volume One, was finally available at the show on Saturday. We picked up a copy and are looking forward to bringing our review of it to you soon.

• Speaking of the Kimonos, their next release is in the mastering stage and we are hopeful to have a sneak peak for you soon.
  

• Speaking of record reviews we are looking forward to bringing you soon, we've been blaring Wicked Poseur's 7" ep around the office for the last week, though sadly we were unable to come up with the words to describe it in time to share with you before his show with Dan Deacon at the Mink last night. We also were so flubterghasted from Saturday that not one of our correspondents actually made it to the show. Had we wrote about it in advance, we would have told you that, Mr Deacon, in an inspired moment, was the source behind the name for Jana Hunter's dance troupe, Bony Poner.
  

• Speaking of Jana Hunter, she left Sunday morning for the next stretch of her tour. Pitchfork has the dates as well as the deets on some other stuff she has going on. For this stretch of the tour she is joined by Ray of the Castanets as well as a photographer whose name we are completely drawing a blank on and cannot locate the napkin we used for notes.
  

• Speaking of people who practice in Jana's living room, we learned that Bring Back the Guns have been notified that they are up for a Houston Press Music Award; ditto for the Fatal Flying Guilloteens (we had previously reported that Something Fierce is also on the ballot).

• Speaking of things we are unable to connect to other things, we ran into Bianca of Heist at Hand over the weekend. She's moved back into town after a series of escapades we'd eventually like to get a summary of, and HAH is gearing up for some shows once again. Welcome back kid.

JANA HUNTER KICKS OFF TOUR

Hot on the heels of her ACES new LP, Jana Hunter has the van all packed up for a spring in the states and across the ocean, starting tomorrow in the city that made The Wire famous, Baltimore MD. Joining her for the first, passport-free leg of her travels is none other than fellow Hunter John, who we are told has already been involved in significant shenanigans, including both ripped pants and backwards underwear. into it. John is quoted as saying simply that Baltimore is "crazy" and Jana has written to assure us that should any press reports emerge claiming she has placed Raisinettes into someones bed that this is absolutely false.

She also tells us that she talked with Girl Talk after a show of his the other night about a bit of the message board drama that ensued after his last appearance here and has concluded that minors are "sleazy creatures." Indeed.

Apr 10 Lemon Hill - Baltimore, MD
Apr 11 Luna Lounge* - Brooklyn, NY
Apr 12 Davis Ballroom* at Smith College - Northhampton, MA
Apr 13 TBA* - Portland, MN
Apr 14 Aboveground Records - Edgartown (Martha's Vineyard), MA
Apr 16 AS220 w/Deer Tick - Providence, PA
Apr 17 First Unitarian Church Chapel - Philadelphia, PA
Apr 18 Mohawk Place - Buffalo, NY
Apr 19 Beachland Tavern - Cleveland, OH
Apr 20 Pilot Light w/King Kong - Knoxville, TN
Apr 21 The Firehouse w/Oakley Hall - North Manchester, IN
Apr 22 Empty Bottle w/Peter & the Wolf - Chicago, IL
Apr 23 Hall Mall - Iowa City, IA
Apr 24 Record Bar - Kansas City, MO
Apr 25 Conservatory - Oklahoma City, OK
May 8 LZ é Dos - Boisisboa, Portugal*
May 9 Savoy - Gijon, Spain
May 10 Cafe La Palma - Madrid, Spain*
May 11 Casa de Cultura - Castellon, Spain*
May 12 Sala BeCoo - Barcelona, Spain*
May 13 Groove Bar - Tarragona, Spain*
May 15 Violon Dingue - Nantes, France*
May 16 L'Escapade - Clermont Ferrant, France*
May 17 SONIC (Péniche Mascaret)* - Lyon, France
May 18 Instants Chavirés w/Charalambides* - Paris, France
May 19 La Chapelle de Boondael - Brussels, Belgium*
May 20 Leopoldskazerne - Gent, Belgium*

*with Tara Jane O'Neil

Never one to gather too much moss, Jana will be hitting up the west coast in the month of June, and will add Ray Raposa (Castanets) and Yoni Kifle to her ensemble. Not enough? Well, September will have her and John McCauley tearing a terrible trail of terror through the UK, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland.

DUNNOCK REMIXES JANA HUNTER

OH SNAP! OH CRACKLE! OH POP! The official release date of There's No Home is still five days away, but already it's getting the remix treatment. None other than local hero Dunnock (Reprogram Radio, Frank From Accounting) puts the chop, the glitch and the hip-hop drums to Jana's jam Regardless. Coming soon to a G.R.A.B. DJ party near you? Check it!

MP3: Jana Hunter - Regardless (Dunnock remix)

PHOTOS: JANA HUNTER CD RELEASE PARTY

YUSS! We love a good party, especially when it is for the release of one of our favorite new CDs (do you have a copy yet? Well, its available already on iTunes if that’s yr style)(P.S. That’s our style – We like when the Panda Bear says “coolness is having courage / courage to do what’s right”.)(P.P.S. No more asides in this paragraph, we promise). Though we couldn’t be there due to our mad SoCal assignment, Skyline Contributor and TOP ACES photog Elissa “Settle Down” Brown was there to capture all the action. The complete set should be up on her Flickr soon, but here are some highlights in the meantime:


Arthur Bates (Wicked Poseur) serves as the evening’s MC


Tyler from Balaclavas brings the pain!


YO! It’s the Jana Hunter Folk Explosion


Who is that masked man?! It must be JRACULA


MORE MASKED TRICKERY!


OH SNAP! Bates halts Jracula mid-set to conduct a chugging contest….


…and is rewarded with a wedgie from John Hunter (Inoculist, Dethro Skull).

Like we said, this is just a taste, be sure to check out the entire set to reveal such secrets as which member of Bright Men of Learning was recruited mid-set to play some guitar (Hint – the same one that Jana brought in for the set-closing Isley Brothers cover at Noise and Smoke). Thanks again Elissa!

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

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.

HEAR FOR YOURSELF: JANA HUNTER: "DUETS ARE CORNY"

You know that annoying way we sometimes talk about tracks or whatever that we have heard but you haven't and so you instead are forced to read our middle-school poetry metaphors about it (annoying, isn't it)? Well, we are as pleased as punch to be able to transport you through time and space back to the fabled Faegan House living room/recording studio and relive the funny haha of John McCauley/Deer Tick and Jana Hunter talking about recording some duets. Let thy ears do the writing:

MP3: John McCauley and Jana Hunter - Duets are Corny

Jana, as we have reported in one million other posts will be playing Noise and Smoke at Notsuoh Friday night and has at least one appearance at SXSW later in the month.

IN PROGRESS: JANA HUNTER/DEER TICK DUETS

What highlight to pick from an evening with Jana Hunter and Deer Tick sharing a few tracks from their in-progress duets album: Was it instances of affected Texas accents? Was it the Black Velvets, a mix of champagne and Guinness that Mr. Tick (whose driver’s license gives him the nickname “John McCauley”) introduced us to as the favored drink of Roaring ‘20s NYC Mayor Jimmy Walker? Was it an open-doored pickup truck piloted by Will Adams roaring down the street with John Hunter on the roof of the cab? Was it the pizza? Or was it the on-tape dialogue between Jana and Deer that contains the retort “Duet albums are Corny”

We’ll save the context on that last one for another day (i.e. MP3 coming soon).

But yes, its true, like Nat & Natalie, Sinatra & Bono and Huey & Gweneth before them, Jana Hunter and Deer Tick are in the middle of recording not just one, but an entire album’s worth of duets. The track list includes ‘Stranded in Your Love’, ‘Islands in the Stream’ plus a healthy assortment of country and soul miscellania that shall remain cloaked in mystery for the moment.

Wherever did from such mischief spring? Sayeth Jana: “One impetus was definitely john's wicked crooner style. And I was [messed] up on a tour that was way monotonous, oppressively so. The idea could have easily been something more ridiculous and even worse than a duets record.” Well, it may be ridiculous, but it sure sounded aces.

Even the unfinished, unmixed arrangements that we got a taste of showed that Deer Tick is, in fact, a wicked crooner, and that the fever between her cat and his scratch will be worth the wait. And wait you shall, as Hunter doesn’t expect the album to be out until late this year at the earliest as she and recent local beard-club president Will Adams work on the arrangements (John has returned to his native Providence – come back soon).

Fear not, Jana’s second full length, There’s No Home, comes out on Gnomonsong April 2nd. And you don’t even have to wait that long – the album’s release party is hosted by Wicked Poseur’s Arthur Bates at the Proletariat March 31st . That evening, Jracula, Jana’s band with Aaron Bartz, Jay Crossley (woozyhelmet) and Toto Miranda (woozyhelmet/The Octopus Project) will ascend from their coffin crypt to suck out our blood alongside stage-sharers Balaclavas. Corny.

Oh yeah, SXSW INFO HERE.

Stream: Jana Hunter - various
Stream: Deer Tick - various

REAL TALK: THE NEW PUBLIC NEWS

As of this week, the long-gone Public News is back in the racks. We won't ponder on the folly of launching a newspaper into the current publishing environment (though if we did, it would be pretty much Mike McGruff's insights read verbatim), and will consider that separate and unrelated to our inquest of her editorial.

We are of the commonly held view that Houston, as perfect as she is, contains among her few flaws a lack of indigenous publishing, comment, promotion and critique (this has been on a lot of lips lately, in private conversation, a recent Lomax Houston Press column and even Houstonist's post on the PN's return).

In his inaugural column, publisher Ken Petty states with no uncertainty his thoughts on the state of music coverage in this town:

It’s always fun to see what these guys think is important to cover. The one thing that I recall is the continual glaring and almost intentional omissions of notice that there is even a music scene in Houston. One writer, who will remain nameless, but we shall call him ‘One Lova Nomax’, continues to cover things that no one really gives a rat’s asterisk about.

Great local bands are being birthed and are dying out with out much more than a mere mention of their existence in the newsweekly paper’s entertainment section. One of them, since 2004, decided that Harris County was not for them and they won’t distribute their product here anymore.

So, as it is with us and others, local music is more than a little important to the Public News' publisher. So is it with sharp vision that they tackle their first local artist feature, an interview with members of Savage Evolution?

Absolutely not.

Though the piece is unattributed, its hard not to suspect that it was penned by the author of the accompanying sidebar, Connie Parker, the Promotions Director for the Houston Band Coalition. The ham-handed incorporation of the Coalition into both pieces is beyond snikerable; whether they are local or not, having a PR person write about the bands they rep is not the hallmark of serious editorialship. A band listing a Clear Lake club as their “favorite Houston venue” and holding down a monthly gig at Rocbar is anything but underground rock and roll, and it begs the question does the PN know that the meaning of the word ‘Alternative’ has shifted radically since they last published?

Locals like Jana Hunter, Spain Colored Orange, Indian Jewelry and the Fatal Flying Guilloteens are slowly gaining national attention but are still virtual unknowns where they live; did none of these blindly innovative acts merit more exposure than a band opening up for Winger next month?

The Public News is back, but not yet back on its feet. We’re not looking to push them down. We hope that they turn it around, ditch the spokesmenship and take a harder look at what’s really going on here. You can diss on local coverage all you want Public News, but show you’re not part of the problem first.

PS - What the hell is with the cover?

Last Week in Other News

Repost of our "other news" links from the past week, archived for your eternal pleasure.

• 14K to Perform at Rockbox on Thursday
• Something Fierce Demo Tracks now Available for Download
• Houstonian Robyn Troup Helps Push the Grammys Even Further from Relevancy
• Stereogum's Live Blog of the Grammies
• Jana Hunter Signs with Gnomonsong Records
• Pitchfork Disses on Paul Wall
• Mutant Hardcore setlist- 2/8
• Olivia Flores Alvarez Dumbs it Up at a DJ Sun Gig
• Monocles/Sporatics/Cop Warmth Feb 21st @ The Mink
• Anna Nicole Smith Dies!
• R. Kelly has emergency appendectomy!
• MV & EE, Jana Hunter, Graustark @ Rudz this Saturday
• SXSW Band List FINALLY Up
• The Juan Mclean DJ set at next MFAH Mixed Media Event
• Austin's Sound Team Playing the Proletariat Saturday
• Chron.com Hometown Showdown Announced
• Flowers to Hide Post New Recordings
• SXSW Confirmed List Swells to Over 500

REVEALED: 713 @ SXSW

Having put the poo poo on day party schedulers and festival attendees for long enough, the mighty and predicatble SXSW official band list has finally been revealed. Though not un-deserving, the list of Houston rock kids getting wrist bands of their own is to be expected (with a few notables snubbed again). Take solace in the fact that you are already digging on the best in the city, and that there isn't some whip-ass scene in Jersey Village that you have been missing out on. Possible exception is Pekaboo Theory, whose electro-chill-whatchamacallits might be an new unknown up your alley. THE LIST:

Ceeplus and the House of Bad Knives, Fatal Flying Guilloteens, Jana Hunter, Jandek, Indian Jewelry, The Jonbenet and Rusted Shut.


ALSO, while we here at The Skyline Network don't know thing one about the rap game in our city, far more of them will be at SouthBy than their guitar toting area-code sharers. Let the assasinations begin:

Billy Cook, Chingo Bling, Devin the Dude, DJ Chill, Young Samm, Short Texas, Kenika, Lil Boom, 2 Deep, DJ Domo, 14K, Rob G, Magno, Big Tike, Lester Roy, Lil Mario, Big Pic, Lower Life Form, Southern Intellect and the Studemont Project.

Everyone you Know to play Noise and Smoke Fest

The weekend before you and your mates will be trying to figure out how to foist one another over the wall at Stubbs, Emos and other SXSW venues for which you will not have the proper credentials, the two day Noise and Smoke festival will be underway here in Houston. For an insultingly low $8/day, you’ll spend Friday (at Notsuoh) and Saturday (at Walter’s The Axiom) seeing just about every act in Houston not signed to French Kiss records. From the cryptically entertaining Cop Warmth to the Pitchfork Mix-tape appearing Indian Jewelry to an apparently drummer-only incarnation of God’s Temple of Family Deliverance, the weekend promises to be an all out race to the finish for livers and eardrums alike. Lineup time:

Friday, March 9th – Notsuoh
Ume, The Ka-Nives, Satin Hooks, Bring Back the Guns, Finally Punk, Jana Hunter, Eat Grapes and Cop Warmth

Saturday, March 10th – Walter’s on Washington The Axiom
Indian Jewelry, Something Fierce, Skullening, God’s Temple of Family Deliverance, The Wiggins, Blades and The Dimes The Sporatics.

Update: word now coming from festival co-organizer and recent brain-drain encourager Joey Promahoney that Noise and Smoke will not only be an annual event, larger in size and scope, but that they anticipate it will include other, smaller, events during the year as well.

CTRL+C; CTRL+V: "Future festivals will more likely not be in a bar setting. ex. Outdoors, a larger hall, or possibly in the middle of nowhere. In addition to the festival, Noise and Smoke will be hosting smaller events, for example, we will be announcing a show seperate from the festival very soon"


More Info: Noise and Smoke Festival