A recliner will be exceedingly comfortable, allow you to stay in it for extended periods of time and may be difficult to get out of. A desk chair will position you at the proper height and with appropriate posture to operate a computer keyboard and and complete other tasks while not swallowing you and tempting you to slumber. A rocking chair will do just that, and provide relaxing utility be your task calming a baby or enjoying a lemonade.

And this is what Marketing seeks to achieve; to repeat a form endlessly, in whatever context or channel the message can be transmitted, until the consumer instantly recognizes the Brand and the corporate-intended characteristics of it. We see the dynamic ribbon and know this is a Coke product, and that it will be refreshing and delicious, regardless of whatever this new Zero variant of it may be. It’s a methodical, slow and eternal process, like the geology that creates diamonds from grains of sand. It never ends as long as the product exists and there is someone or something to sell it to. Ad campaigns may come and go, but Marketing has no beginning, no end and no middle, only the endless repetition of the form. There’s something about this eternal Mobius Strip that appeals to us, personally, and we believe it is part of the composition of our character that has led us to enjoy this sort of repetition in other parts of life. This split from Indian Jewelry and Future Blondes is a good example.

More so than on previous outing we can recall, Indian Jewelry’s “Zing Zang” is based on repetition. Though there is some build and dynamics as windy guitars  blow through the ten minutes of funk bass and distorted spoken word, the overall effect is post-minimalist in style, with little approaching a recognizable intro, outro or climax. Though Free Gold especially positioned the band as songsmiths of dystopian urban tribalism, this would be their first composition that could be described as a rain dance for additional psychedelics. And yet while it works well as the counter-point on this split, and certainly would not have been out of place as an interlude on Free Gold, something about the looseness of this track, and how it wanders makes us suspect that this will be a fairly unique composition in Indian Jewelry’s catalog, and not necessarily the sign of what is to come.

Future Blondes has always been based on repetition with teasing variations to provide the narrative movement, and “Heartless” is no different. The is probably the most refined track among the impressive mountain of output they’ve assembled in the past year (we’re two EPs and a split full-length behind, to say nothing of the tracks being offered up for free online). The thumping gristle of bass does most of the heavy lifting with drums that are more rhythmic and less punishing that we’ve come to expect. We won’t go so far as to say that this is dance-y rather than drone-y, but if someone were to throw the right sine line on top of it, it the resulting mashup would be a dead ringer for first-wave Chicago acid house.

Like good marketing, this split derives its ultimate utility from repetition. It’s not something we would throw on for five minutes of fun on the drive to the video store. It’s good headphone music for reading, or writing or even just enjoying. Endlessly. On repeat. Stopping every ten minutes or so to flip the wax. Recommended.

The Indian Jewelry/Future Blondes split 12″ is availble at fine record stores around town, including Sound Exchange, and online from the Dull Knife website.

Runin Down – Fired For Walking
Fired For Walking (Self Released)
You know the whispers in the back of the room when people talk about this track are usually about Pearl Jam so screw that we’re just going to come on out and do it. Remember back before Eddie Vedder cut his locks and suddenly became a prime target for defrizzing hair product and he was all “THOUGHTS ARRIVE LIKE BUTTERFLIES?!” Yeah well at some point he became all save the surfers or something, and look at me I’m playing drums in Hovercraft how edgy an ooh laa laa, and we’ve got all these acoustic guitars and we clearly, from the photos in the center spread, hunkered down in some sort of log cabin to record this next one, so it has a lot of introspection, like we invented Bon Iver before he even existed. Yeah forget about that crap. We’re talking about Ten here. It’s not that “Runin Down” is some sort of grandma’s preserves copy of the songs on that record (though there certainly are welcome parallels in the guitar approach), it’s more the spirit, the fire, the attitude. Like we totally expect when they’re playing this that Joel is going to take this opportunity to swing like a crazy person from the rafters during the guitar solo instead of swinging some douchebag political banner off a bridge because someone indigenous canoe race is threatening the majestic wonders of Puget Sound. Ripping!

Saved by the Bell Was a Super Good Show – O Pioneers!!!
Neon Creeps (Asian Man Records)
Congratulations on winning best song title of the year. Praise the Skreech this track is good, because otherwise we would have had to figure out some way to get it in the countdown somehow and it would have just ended up making us look like a bunch of jerks who judge merit by Weird Al-dian criteria alone (but real talk: Weird Al has been killing it lately). With trademark jangly guitar and bro,-consider-taking-the-night-off vocals Bell (and the rest of the album) contradicts our previous claims that a bass would just get in the way in this band. Somehow, O Pioneers!!! have cubed the rubix of making something catchy and hard while still authentic and damaged; tough and yet sensitive. The AC Slater of songs.

Shake It – The Caprolites
Grey Ghost #55 (Grey Ghost)
There are pretty much four stages we went through with this song. Stage One: Ugh. Is that it? Just the same thing over and over? Stage Two: Heh, ok we’re being a grouch this is kind of fun. Stage Thee: (Hums riff quietly to self during long morning meeting). Stage Four: Song is officially added to most extreme party call me get pumped up for Saturday night pre-party playlist. It’s true, this hand clappin’ party pogo of a song is kind of irresistible, (if a little longer than most party anthems). Scrawnly like a baby bird, it’s kind of easy to picture the entire band as hatchlings rocking it out in a little nest in the forest. That is a seriously random metaphor.

She Said She’s Sorry (Touch Me) – Powerhouse
Yeah! (Self Released)
You know how in the bizzaro world things aren’t really the opposite, just kind of a weird version of ourselves. Like maybe pizza is made with cornmeal crusts and has the cheese under the sauce or Detroit made cars that people wanted to buy, but instead of being located in Michigan, motor city was built on a magical floating barge that cruises from pier to pier on Lake Huron. Or perhaps all cab rides included free milk and haircombs. Sometimes when we listen to this song and contemplate that it’s not a super megahit and available as a bonus level on guitar hero and there are no Powerhouse action figures we start to seriously asses whether we are, in fact, actually living in the bizzaro dimension on accident.

Shelter – Paris Falls
Volume II (Paper Weapons Records)
You know, probably our favorite thing to do is go to Big Star Bar, find a smoldering ember of a log left over from the night before, and then use it to build a fire from scratch. No matches. No lighter fluid. Just leaves, kindling and the concerted application of our own windbaggery towards the materials. When you have the right collection of leaves on the source heat, there is a moment where it just combusts into flame. Not a slow burn or a little itty bitty flicker, just BANG FIRE. Like fuel source and ambient temperature were like “oh say man lets do this thing” and then they just click. That’s kind of how we imagine this song came together, like the elements for it were there in Paris Falls’ repertoire and someone sat at the Rhodes and hit a few keys and then BANG SHELTER the whole band was playing it.

Soup John Dot Com – Jenny Westbury
Jenny French and the Pelican Wrench (All Star Power Up Records)
One thing that much of Pelican Wrench doesn’t do very well is convey how light hearted time spent with Jenny Westbury is. Especially when she’s on the stage, she’s got a knack for making things fun even when there’s a thin slice of gloom on top of her goofy meatball sandwich. What this track does is remind us of that, it even puts the album as a whole into a more proper context of “oh yeah, just because this is someone playing an acoustic guitar alone doesn’t mean that every moment is all serious serious and the serious seriousnesses.” Besides, its a song about making soup, and who doesn’t like to make soup. CROCK POT CITY! PS: Jenny come home for the holidays KTHNX.

Spanish In Jazz – Wild Moccasins
Diamonds for Constellations (Grey Ghost)
We remember the first time we heard about Wild Moccasins it was because Elaine Greer’s drummer was all “nuh i gotta go play in this other band” and then we heard Nick Cody did the same thing and we were all WHO ARE THESE ASSHOLES AND WHY ARE THEY LEAVING THE ELAINE GREER BAND BECAUSE ITS LIKE THE BEST THING GOING RIGHT NOW ALL CAPS SHOUT OUT OUT LOUD! So, to say that we didn’t like this band before we ever heard them is kinda putting it mildly. But you know what, we gotta say, even before they completely sold us on their live performances, we were taken aback by this song and that’s saying alot.

Swans – Indian Jewelry
Free Gold! (We Are Free Records)
See below.

Too Much Honkey Tonking – Indian Jewelry
Free Gold! (We Are Free Records)
We have this fantasy where the Mucky Duck books Indian Jewelry sound unheard just cause their name sounds like they would be a country band and they are mid set and absolutely sandblasting the place to the point where a rip develops in spacetime and out steps 1987 Bono midway through his Rattle and Hum Sunday, Bloody Sunday rant right when he shouts “FUCK THE REVOLUTION” and the whole place goes hog wild and all the tables and chairs are destroyed and carried out to the street for a massive bonfire and then Bono buys everyone there an Audi from the dealership across the street and a massive Ronin-esque car chase ensues and everyone ends up at Blanco’s when the sun starts to rise and are feeling the weight of the evening on them as they eat breakfast tacos and a sassy barmaid kind of stands there in disbelief and utters “Geez. Now that’s what I call too much honkeytonkin.”

Two Ways – The Gold Sounds
The Gold Sounds (Self Released)
No song has ever, ever made us look East. Actually, we can’t think of a song that anyone has ever BSed their way through a description of where their heart or mind turns East (except maybe to be destroyed by the sunrise rather than run from it). It should say something about the power the concepts of Manifest Destiny and Go West Young Man still have in the collective uncousness of us as Americans. There’s no one even alive anymore that knew anyone that rode in a wagon or gave a mountain its European name or etched out a quiet and satisfying living on a piece of land they owned only because no one else did. And yet, the west, as both a physical space and even more abstractly as just a direction, still connotates optimism, opportunity and a chance to start. Sometimes, everybody needs a little bit of a rebirth. When we do, we put this song on and watch the sun set, in the west and hold tight to its perfection. Of all the things we might change about ourselves, its comforting to contemplate them to the sound of something we wouldn’t change one bit.

THUNDERBOLT! HOW ARE YOU? WE MISS YOU! Yes, we’re three days into a ten day jaunt to Las Vegas to attempt to re-create the time Shawn Adolph got kicked out of the House of Blues during an impassioned Rock Star Karaoke performance of Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up.” So far, the safe money has been with the house. BUT OH LUCKY YOU! Whether you are headed to Fun Fun Fun Fest, are sticking around to create a version of your own, or just doing whatever three-piece suits your fancy, know that you have a mighty satisfying time in store. Bust it.

FRIDAY
Parts and Labor, UME, Black Congress @ Walter’s on Washington
There is so much to love about this show, and not just because more than three inside jokes are sure to arise because of it. If we weren’t wasting our savings away a nickel at a time in front of a SPACE COWS FROM PLANET MOO-LAH slot machine, we would be here.

Los Llamarada, Balaclavas and Future Blondes @ PJ’s Sports Bar
Brent of Dull Knife Records but this show together, so it’s a fairly safe bet that Los Llamarada (who hail from Mexico) are sort of the opposite of eating a Dreamsicle while falling in love to the sounds of a Juliana Hatfield record. It is alleged that a special pre-release version of the forthcoming Indian Jewelry/Future Blondes split will be available in limited qualities at this show. PJ’s is that dirty looking bar next to Cecil’s for the google-maps disinclined.

Vinyl Ranch @ Leon’s Lounge
This month’s outing is called Dollywood, and will be top-heavy on her Backwoods Barbie’s Majesty’s, both in song and in screen. And though it’s (always) free, there will be a shave-off for the Houston Chapter of Mustaches for Kids, an organization that grows mustaches to raise money for children’s charities. Seriously. Get’s started at 9pm. Remember fellahs, Vinyl Ranch was recently awarded Best Place to Meet Single Women by the Houston Press, and we’ve never seen the horror of an applebum in a set of Rocky Mountains once while in attendance. Don’t blow it.

Sensory Overload @ The Drake
Still want to live that giving spirit but with a bit more glam and a bit less Charlie Pride? Then perhaps Sensory Overload is more your thing. We gave this benefit for Make a Wish a nod in a post last week.

ALSO:

• Cynics, Ugly Beats, Guitars @ Rudyards
• Pepi Ginsberg, Airon Paul Dugas @ The Mink
• Groupo Fantasma @ The Continental Club

SATURDAY
Saturday Secret Show One Year Anniversary @ The Shady Tavern
Hard to believe it was only a year ago that this idea got kicked off, and that there has been a show pretty much every week since. This week, things get started a little earlier than usual (1pm) and will run a little later (7pm), but as always the beer will be cold, the setups will be cheap and the admission will be free. There’s even been a partial lineup hint: The McKenzies, Judas Bear, Darwins Finches, Awake, Welfare Mothers, Nosaprise, and others. Party.

ALSO:

• Minus The Bear, Annuals and 27 @ House of Blues
• Patt Todd & the Rank Outsiders, Hickoids, Born Liars @ Rudyard’s
• Jad Fair @ The Mink

SUNDAY
Agent Orange @ The Meridian
REAL TALK: It’s Up to You and Me from the When You Least Expect It EP is possibly our favorite pop-punk jam of all time. Total coup that they’re playing this horrifically under-the-radar show Sunday night – you’d think they’d be part of the Fun Fun Fun BACK IN THE DAY STAGE lineup instead.

ALSO:

• A Tribute to Johnny Romano, featuring Sugar Shack, Teisco Del Rey, The Neptones, Luxurious Panthers, Uncle Charlie, surf/skate art auction, & more @ The Continental Club/Sig’s Lagoon
• Iron Bridge as The Smiths and Mechanical Boy as Tears for Fears @ The Mink

FRIDAY
HEALTH, BLACKIE, The McKenzies, The Wiggins, Female Demand, Rusted Shut, the Krinkies @ Notsuoh
The original Health show, from Wednesday, was cancelled due to the rain. But Health stuck around and is now headlining a lumber length bill combining that show with the Rusted Shut event that Notsuoh already had going on. The event kicks off at 8pm and we are assured by the promoter (Mr. Free Press Hisself) that HEALTH will go on before 11:20. So. There you go.

Pierced Arrows, Rustler, Motion Turns it On @ Rudyards
Pierced Arrows hail FROM THE GREAT NORTHWEST and carry for the sound and some of the members of underground favs Dead Moon (so says their MySpace, anyways). Strong as they may be as an incentive to go, lookie right below – RUSTLER is back after an extended break, warming things up with their SCIENCE of instrumental. MTIO!

Mechanical Boy (CD release), Thee Armada, The Last Place You Look, Velora, The Tastydactyls @ Fitzgerald’s
You know, we were all stoked to post the video for Thee Armada’s “Rock Shock and Load”, but it’s been removed from YouTube due to a Copyright Violation?! which just totally makes our morning a whirl of suck because there’s something about that thing that just makes us really happy.

ALSO:
Ben Folds @ Warehouse Live

SATURDAY
Cold War Kids @ Warehouse Live
Everytime we hear this band name we think of Red Dawn and WOLVERINES and then get lost in our thoughts trying to figure out what the name of that mini-series was where some part of the country was part of the Soviet Union but we were so young when we saw it we don’t even know if it might actually just be something we made up or it could have even been a book and this entire last sentence is IMPOSSIBLE to Google. Oh yeah, this band is great too.

Underworld’s Halloween Bash, featuring Asmodeus X, Phase Theory, Negative Impact (CD release), & The Dead Bang @ Numbers
Oh man, everyone should do one Goth-related thing a year, even if it’s as pedestrian as sitting around for an entire evening blaring the crap out of your Bauhaus records or breaking out that terrible Cleopatra Records boxed set you bought for that girl sophomore year of college but never got the nerve to give her because, let’s face it, she was so Goth and you were so square but in retrospect she really wasn’t, it was just that she had a crush on one of the guys in Stabbing Westward. Going to a Goth Halloween party at Numbers (where one of the bands has a record release, no less) is kind of like crushing all those things together and mainlining them with a Steampunk syringe.

ALSO
Herman’s Hermits and The Triumphs @ Stafford Centre
Ladyheat, Electric Attitude, Elaine Greer @ Notsuoh
Spain Colored Orange, Program, Paris Falls @ Rudyard’s
The Horrorpops, Beat Union, 7 Shot Screamers @ The Meridian
Locksley, Hymns @ The Jet Lounge

SUNDAY
Workshop Houston Benefit, featuring Japanther, Killer Dreamer, The American Sharks, The Mathletes, Grrrl Parts, & Fat Tony @ Caroline Collective
We can’t say enough about this bill, or this cause. These are the folks that do Third Ward Bikes, and as if a great touring outfit, a rawkus house party band, and the act with the best entry in the Scene Wikki wasn’t enough, remember that Fat Tony won best underground rapper and the Houston Press Music Awards this year. There’s also a craft fair. Gets started at 4pm. All the details are on the Caroline Collective website.

Rabid Rabbit, A Thousand Cranes @ Walter’s
Rabit Rabbit is described as “ex Electric Set” which is like saying “fellow travelers of Indian Jewelry” which is like saying “this could totally rule.” A Thousand Cranes will drone your mind.

ALSO
Polysics, Jaguar Love and Black Gold @ The Meridian
Crime in Stereo, Polar Bear Club, Broadway Calls, The Swellers @ The Mink
The Offsping @ Verizon Wireless
Rick Springfield @ House of Blues