The Skyline Network
Space and the City
MERGE MUSIC FESTIVAL ROLLS BACK THE STONE ON YOUR EASTER WEEKEND
Jan 15th
We hadn’t noticed this before now, but it looks like The Free Press, The Houston Press, Freebird Burritos (yuss) are teaming up to sponsor an all day festival April 11th at the Meridian. Kicking off at noon, the event promises 24 bands and 10 DJs (in the VIP room, no less). Here’s what the promoters have to say:
This Festival is inspired by the musicians for the musicians. The economy is shitty but the music is great. Venues are trying to cater to the musicians burning desire to play music. Its what they love to do! So Austin and IndieHouston.org are teaming up together to showcase some of the great and up and coming Indie acts as well as some big ones that paved the way.
True to their claim, the list of bands includes both those of the Keep Austin Weird and Houston: It’s Worth It variety. Lineup at press time: What Made Milwaukee Famous (Weird), The Watermarks (Worth It), Paris Falls (Worth It), The Boxing Lesson (Weird), Bright Light Social Hour (Weird), Your Kisses Cause Crashes (Weird), News On The March (Worth It), The Pons (Weird), The Western Civilization (Worth It), Buxton (Worth It), Oh No, Oh My (Weird), Guitars (Worth It), Spain Colored Orange (Worth It), The Seas (Weird), Half-Heavy (Weird) and Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves (Weird)
Tickets for the event ($17.50) go on sale Wednesday January 21, at http://mergemusicfest.indietickets.com.
LUNCH LISTENING: TONIGHT AT WALTER’S
Jan 15th
Today’s installment of Lunch Listen (a series which we seeming give a new name to nearly every time it appears and which we intend for you to enjoy during the confines of your lunch hour – can’t be all internetting at work and stuff), features not just our usual component of some littler-known visiting acts that get our stamp, along with a the local cool, but also a convenient playing device so that you can just turn it on and rock the headphones without all that clicking hassle. We do really love you. So. Press play and let’s get started.
Nervous Curtains is the songwriting output vehicle for Dallas’ Sean Kirkpatrick of The Paper Chase, and who you might recognize as the guy who used to play keyboards for Spoon. The group just finished tracking their first full length, which, like Sean’s solo track “Falling Out of Sync With Time”, is piano and synth driven. Nay a guitar to be heard. It’s dark and we like it, especially the simplicity of the percussion especially that steady, muddled drum machine kick that lurks around like a shadow on the side of the barn. And though they feature a similarly cold tone on their “Lullaby,” Austin duo Followed by Static, has plenty of big guitar to go around. They, too, hold the beat down with programming (daang – someone give these drum machine dedicates the number to Dull Knife). Local icicles Antarctica Starts Here know a thing or two about ambiance and swirl, and they’ve got the songs with womens names in the titles to prove it (we don’t know what that means either, but it seemed clever enough considering how poorly this write up is going). “Karen” is their longest outing to date, and the first complete track they’ve released since many years ago when the keyboards exited their lineup. Maybe Sean can help.
KAM, WILD MOCCASINS, YOUNG MAMMALS ADDED TO OFFICIAL SXSW SHOWCASE LIST
Jan 14th
SXSW has released an updated list of bands that have been awarded “official” showcase slots at Austin’s annual celebration of bands you can’t see because the lines are too long and stuff you score for free because you know the right parties to goto (or you know Roy Mata). Big congrats to Kam, Young Mammals and the Wild Moccasins, all of which will find themselves staring at a sea of wristbands come March. Also on the list and hailing from H-Town are Roy Head, Magno aka Magnificent and TRE9. Also tapped is up and comer Solange and her band the Hadley Street Dreams, which is kinda cool because we love them Knowles and didn’t know she had a band. We’ll drop updates as often as they are announced, or you can check for yourself on the official SXSW band list.
LUNCH TIME LISTENING: TONIGHT AT THE MINK
Jan 14th
The Pharmacy, in what will be the final pastoral band-photo setting of their career.
So, this past year, for both Halloween and Election night, Seattle’s The Pharmacy took time off from tour and spent the days in New Orleans. And, they enjoyed themselves so much that they decided to move there, which we think is pretty bad ass, cause usually people move from the South to Seattle and not the other way around. We have to say that we spent Halloween and Election Day in Tulsa and Las Vegas respectively, and there is zero danger that we will move to either of those cities. (Full Disclosure: Nawlins is the city in which our dreaded Master Chief Editor In Recession adr was born. He has a tattoo of the star and crescent police logo on his arm that he just loves. Ask him about it.) And, like many smart people that have the Big Easy in their sights, they’re coming to Houston tonight for a big bill show at The Mink.
Adieu, Adieu, the closer from the latest full length Choose Your Own Adventure, runs straight through the playful pop ball room, and would be good for folks that enjoy getting the visceral speed and fury of foot tapping along to something like the Fountains of Wayne mixed in with the pleasurably bombastic orchestration of ELO. Check it out, along with other tracks from this album and others from their catalog on their MySpace.
Guitars get all dressed up to to celebrate living in a wasteland.
Guitars, an H-Town act on the bill that features members of The Monocles, Lenny Briscoe and Alarma, has got to have the most annoying band name ever. Don’t believe me? First off, you and a friend have a race where one of you tries to locate a webpage of Guitars using Google and the other does the same with Groceries (the band that became Bring Back the Guns, who are back in the studio practicing again, btw, which we are super stoked about). Yeah, add Houston to your search term if you want, it’s a super big help believe us. Winner gets to stop doing frustrating Google searches first. Secondly, the ducking band name is plural, but because it’s a singular noun, you have to constantly dick with your sentence structure to avoid writing dippy things like “Guitars is playing tonight.” But whatever.
The band, which reminds us of a rather nice take on Television-esque post-punk and Velvet Underground-ish pre-punk, unfortunately describes themselves as “the standard bearers for the heart and soul of American music” and then later make a comment about “the barren landscape otherwise known as Houston’s independent music scene” which you may have noticed is something we spend a rather large amount of time apparently wasting our time writing about. Perhaps that is why we are being such dicks. Also, we’re going to go ahead and presume that they don’t include their other bands in this calculation of collective output as crap. Hyperbole set aside (bands: please get someone else to write your bio and especially not someone that will describe you as “the best” or “the most promising”), the music is def worth a listen, and a surprising departure from any of the acts this well of souls draws from. We dug “Waiting for A Good Time” the most, but like all three of the tracks they have on their MySpace, and are looking forward to hearing more polished versions of them.
Three other bands are slated for the stage this evening, Seattletonians The Raggedy Annes, Lake Charles’ Magnolia Sons and Local 2 News You Can Use punk junkers Teenage Kicks. Starts at 8pm and costs $8. The Backroom at the Mink is, unfortunately, 21+.
THIEVES PILLAGE THE SKYLINE NETWORK’S HUMMERZINE; LEAVE NOTHING BEHIND BUT A STACK OF LOCAL CDS
Jan 12th
This space once housed a fold-up 42" LCD TV.
MENACING HEARTLESS MONSTERS! Saturday night, the entire staff of The Skyline Network was enjoying a cocktail or two at our beloved neighborhood Big Star Bar, when we decided that the prudent thing to do was to catch a ride and leave our tasteful Hummerzine parked there overnight so that our chauffeur and co-pilot might partake in the festivities. Following an excellent lunch the next early afternoon, we returned to find our front passenger window destroyed, and many contents of the vehicle missing, including the radio and our irreplaceable 60GB iPod Photo (yes, we were one of the clowns that bought that brick during the six days or so while it was available). Along with that loot, our garage door opener, and lord knows how many half eaten kolaches, the pirates of 19th street made off with a stack of CDs including Luna’s The Days of our Nights, Bewitched, Penthouse and Pup Tent, Austin up-and comers Future Clouds and Radar’s Peoria, Queen’s Classic Queen Volume 1 and most tragically of all, The Best of George Jones: 1955-1967.
CDs deemed not as good as Luna, Queen or George Jones
HOWEVER, oh those needing a CSIsh clue as to who the perpetrators might be, they are decidedly not fans of sustainable living or local music, as they left the following stack of CDs beneath a disheveled pile of of those poly-fiber grocery bags that fill up your back seat instead of a landfill:
- Graustark – Live Demonstration Field Recordings
- Over Sea, Under Stone – Five Songs are Not Enough
- Ghormeh Sabzi – Cockroach Graveyard CDr
- Sprawl – America is Dying of Wetnurse
- Circuit Slomo – Unreleased demos CDr
- Anya Marina – Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II
Now, that last one isn’t local, so we’re guessing it wasn’t their thing, but otherwise, we kid you not: the thieves took Luna, Queen, Future Clouds and Radar and George Jones, and left behind every single local recording. We’re not sure if that’s an indictment of the criminal’s tastes or of the reputation of local music generally, but either way we simply cannot stop laughing our asses off at it. In the meantime, we have self organized a benefit to cover our costs, the lineup and cover for which we will announce as soon as our insurance adjuster calls us back with our deductible amount. Atleast one member of Black Congress can has visually indicated a strong desire to consider playing. Complete information on the benefit found here.
Big thanks to DRG who gave us all a life home that evening, and especially to eternal friend of the Skyline Carrie Murphy who waited with us at the scene of the crime for the nearly three hours it took for the police to arrive. We should also stop here and thank HPD officers Martinez and Floe for not giving us a ticket for our foolishly expired window stickers. In closing, this is not meant as a warning about leaving your car at a bar when you’ve had too much to drink. Many will testify to the fact that the minor cost and inconvenience we are/will experience is nothing compared to a DUI. Be smart and safe out there. We love you.
