Space and the City
Posts tagged The Caprolites
ATTN THIS WEEKEND: YOU ARE LIKE A GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS
Jan 30th
STEP RIGHT UP TO THE PLEASUREDOME! Oh man. We love that painting. Oh man. We totally were going to sell one of The Skyline Network’s most extreme party call me executive corporate jets and then buy it, but it turns out that it’s not for sale and that sort of thing is frowned upon. But oh man, the guy who painted it has got to have the most epic name ever: Hieronymus Bosch. We used to know a guy who had a snake named that. Should we ever need an Arabian Steed, we’re totally calling it the same thing. This weekend has lots of everything. Hardcore bands. CD release shows. Old favorites playing their first shows in forever. New bands. Bands with new names. Day Shows. Night Shows. Shows in the cities. Shows in the burbs. Shows at Mexican restaurants. We’re totally overwhelmed. Let’s take a crack at it.
FRIDAY
Wild Moccasins @ Cactus Records
SHITYEAHTURDAY COMES A DAY EARLY! Cactus in-stores means 1) Starts at 5:50: HAPPY HOUR SHOW 2)FREE BEER 3)Record Shopping
Fucked Up, Iron Age, The Jonbenét and Black Congress @ Walter’s on Washington
Canadian darlings of whichever wave of hardcore we are currently in the middle of bring their non-1:30 of hate approach to the 713. Fucked Up is a great band for people that find the energy and grit of 80s hardcore endearing, but enjoy things that are a bit more nuanced, teased out and, well, smarter. Rumors abound that The Jonbenet doesn’t have too many more shows under their belt, so catch em while the catching is good. Black Congress will also, finally, but putting out a recording at this show. It’s on cassette. So begineth the next format revision war. (Also, just to clarify, because he has been making the joke pretty much to anyone that would listen, The Skyline’s ADR is not actually in Black Congress, though he continues to attempt to convince the band that he should be).
T.S.O.L., Black President, Bark Hard, Blackmarket Syndicate @ The Meridian
Looking for some slightly more conventional hardcore? You can’t get much more back-to-the-source than TSOL (True Sounds of Liberty – gawd we love how Hardcore bands sound so much TUFFER when they switch to acronyms), who got together way back in 1978 in Huntington Beach, CA. Though over the years, TSOL slowly evolved into a band with no original members and a noticible slide into metal, this lineup includes all surviving original members hopefully rocking their goth/horror-core referencing flavor of hardcore’s exciting first round in he pit.
Hell City Kings, American Fangs (EP release), Arcane Flowers and The Back Alley Sluts @ Rudyard’s
Hell City Kings (H.C.K.?) and American Fang especially are just straight up hard rocking bands that don’t need any of that hyphenated balloney. Combining elements of punk, glam and whiskey, both are acts that are going to make it especially difficult for you to remain at your table munching on French Fries and sipping on a small batch pint. “Duke,” from the ‘Fangs EP that comes out tonight is already in the running for The 2009 Skyline 50.
Tax the Wolf, Wearehalfnelson, Ellypseas @ Aztekas
Remember when there used to be that Shu Latif DJed dance party at Azteka’s called Cherry Bomb? And when The Gossip played there and The Red and White? It seemed like Westheimer might finally be getting an eatery-based venue to be the next Oven. Well, we’re not really sure what happened, but there hasn’t been much going on there in the years that followed. Tax the Wolf (who used to be called Wolves at the Door) have put a stop to that putting a stop to things. They just put out a live EP (free on their MySpace), and we’re far too tired to take a crack at what their sound is other to say other than the songs have lots of great rushing Brooklyn guitars without being particularly derivative, and totally hit us like a cup of coffee when they occasionally veer crazily into prog rock territory. (Note that the poster for this show originally said Gold Sounds were playing too, which, unfortunately, was a mis-communication. Turns out they are working on a new album and can’t make it. So that’s kinda good news).
Come See My Dead Person, Wino Vino @ Last Concert Cafe
A big ass band with violins, mandolin, banjos, guitars and all the fixings, Come See my Dead Person is a solid up and comer for people who enjoy refreshing takes on Americana like those done locally by Sideshow Tramps or Listen Listen or, more famously, by Bruce Springsteen on that one CD that still rules us so hard, but with a good dose of horror-swing murder balladry thrown in there. Horror-swing. That’s our new favorite genre.
Drop Trio @ Avant Garden
Though they used to be a weekly fixture here in the city, as Houston Calling pointed out, they haven’t been around much lately. If you’re into the idea of seeing some live jazz, but haven’t before and don’t really know where to begin, this would definitely be our recommendation as their approach is both accessible and interesting. They are most assuredly not the ‘smooth’ kind of stuff you hear on 95.7 FM (The Wave).
Dremnt The End, The Last Place You Look, Awaken From Falling @ The Scout Bar
We’ve been told that The Last Place You Look completely packed out Warehouse Live last weekend for their CD release show. If you’re down south (or looking to make the drive) and are BIG UPS on screamo, this is the show for you.
SATURDAY
Secret Shows Presents: The Mathletes, Sings, Time Machine Veterans, Guitars, Sew What and Sad Gorila
As previously reported, the weekly Saturday Secret Show at the Shady Tavern is no more, but true to his word organizer Broman has transformed the event into a secret of a different kind, where the bands are known but the location itself cloaked in mystery. That is, unless you email secretsaturdayshows@gmail.com to get the time and place. Pretty good lineup, and though we have to rush through this to go get some donuts before we are due in the office, we can tell you that this is (we thing) the first outing for TIme Machine Veterans, which includes members of By the End of Tonight, Buxton, News on the March, Wild Moccasins, Young Mammals, Giant Princess and the Mathletes. Oh, and a guy named Ike who somehow made it into this blue ribbon indie supergoup based on this own merits, so he must be a pretty kickass dude. This is an early show, and featured BBQ! So email em for the info NOW.
MV & EE, The Linus Pauling Quartet, Wols @ Rudyard’s
MV&EE’s music combines Appalachian folk, Indian ragas, and post-psychedelic experimentalism. It’s a duo at the core that collaborates with an ever-expanding group of musicians to create a sound even their wiki page describes as ‘drugged’. One of those members was J Mascis. Nuff said. Linus Pauling Quartet combines old dudes, heavy psychedelicia, and not playing a very often. Wols hasn’t played a show since their last gig at the Proletariat, due to creative core Ayme being overseas. Last time out she was joined by Mlee Marie (Hearts of Animals) and Will Adams (The Ka-Nives) as her backing band and it was absolutely excellence in freak folk.
Sugar Hill Gang, Whodini, Slick Rick, MC Lyte, & Kurtis Blow @ Arena Theatre
Like we need to tell you why this show is crucial to your being human. If Black Sheep or Big Daddy Kane was on this bill we’d have to tell everyone else playing tonight SBT.
Ume (CD release), Bring Back the Guns, Woozyhelmet @ Walter’s
The reviews that have been trickling in for former 713ers Ume’s newest joint have been practically glowing, and we have little doubt considering how they’ve taken a sound that was already pretty awesome and done SOMETHING to it to make their most recent batch of Houston excursions among the best show’s we can ever remember them putting on. Bring Back the Guns haven’t done a set since the first half of last year, and considering that bassist Shaggy is about to go participate in a NASA bedrest study, don’t look for there to be another chance to catch them for a while. The wooz opens. It says it right up there.
Hank The Destruction Moose, Drawback, The Flood, Rusted Shut, Nancy Silva Project, Focusyn @ Fitzgerald’s
Thurston Moore <3 RUSTED SHUT.
SUPERBOWL SUNDAY
The Caprolites, BLACKIE, sIngs, Trainwreck Albania, Giant Princess, Cop Warmth, The Sporatics @ Omar’s House (5109 Eula Ave., Pasadena)
Pasadena Day Show! DO IT! Starts at 2pm. Special One Time Only Reunion by The Sporatics. BYOB. Nachos provided.
ATTN THIS WEEKEND: GET WORD TO THE DJ, TELL EM OAK FORREST IS IN THE HOUSE; PUT THE RECORD ON REPLAY
Jan 23rd

please enjoy this rant.
HEY we just had a revelation. Seriously. We can remember all the time when we were younger how we would see flyers for an afterparty for nearly every big show that came through town. We’re not just talking about the DJ and dance stuff (especially considering there are many well done after-parties in that scene going on all ready) but in rock and roll in general. Why was that? Or rather, why doesn’t that happen here (you guessed it, it wasn’t in this city). Well, for one, we would bet it’s the whole geographic proximity thing. Although, in a sense, that’s kinda bunk because you can catch a ride from Verizon or House of Blues down to someplace like the Mink or Notsuoh or Art Storm with a minimum of effort. What was the name of that club that got siezed by the Feds because it was a front for an X ring? The one with $1 cape cods on Wednesdays? We feel like we maybe went to some parties there. Maybe it’s the fact that no show here is able to end before 1:30 am, and most people don’t want to go to a warehouse that late (since, you know, bars will be closed). Does anyone know what time shows end at House of Blues? Can someone please put together an afterparty for the Andrew Bird date? KTHNX.
FRIDAY
Wild Moccasins CD Release Show with Buxton, Teenage Kicks, DJs ADR and BDM
You can get our full-sentence show and tell about this event from a post earlier this week, but essentially you’re going to get 1) a copy of the cd with your cover, 2) a Homopolice CDr cover of a Wild Moccasins song if you are one of the first 25 to ask for one, 3) a screened poster for the show if you are one of the first 50 in the door, 4)a hand-screened t-shirt with a design only available at this show, if you bring your own t-shirt, 5)Free pizza, 6)Free cupcakes, 7)three super good bands, 8 ) two NEXT LEVEL djs, who have the ability to decide if they want to play ‘Cool it Now’ as a radio single or an extended mix. Party. All Ages.
Grupo Fantasma, Vallejo, Yoko Mono @ Warehouse Live
Sometimes we feel really bad for Yoko Ono. I mean, one minute you’re just some avant garde artist who meets a guy named John, and the next thing you know a bunch of goofball Canadians are writing a song about you and then the bass player from Chango Jackson has done a little twistaroo with it and is now opening up for someone nominated for a Grammy (Grupo Fantasma) or an alt-rock outfit that ~swooon~ all the AEPhi girls liked in college. I mean, you think Yoko herself is hanging out backstage with any Grammy nominees tonight? We’re gonna go ahead and say the the little word written on the ceiling once you climb the ladder and view through the magnifying glass is ‘no.’
ALSO
The Caprolites, Battle Rifle and 50-50 @ The White Swan
KRS One @ The Meridian
SATURDAY
Leave Your Genre at the Door 2: Grandfather Child, Fat Tony, Satin Hooks, Heptic Skeptic, Nosaprise, Perseph-One and News on the March @ Fitzgeralds
YUS! We always love it when there are shows we like at Fitz. We love that place. Sue us. This second installment of Leave Your Genre at The Door features a hunk a hunk a burning indie rock and rap, including many of our favorites. As a heads up Grandfather Child, a project featuring Lucas G (Satin Hooks) and Ryan Chavez (Panic in Detroit) is playing, not Sad Gorilla (Lucas solo) as has been seen promoted in most places. BONUS: LSPS (the band formerly known as Lone Star Porn Star) is headlining the show upstairs, and that should be fun.
Saturday is also an evening of many many ‘events’, including Downtown Pavilion for the HYPA Fire + Ice Gala featuring Glasnost, Houston Music Revival, featuring Memphis May Fire, Runner Runner, Before…There Was Rosalyn, Driver F, Scarlett O’Hara, A Kid Named Thompson, Visceral, Otenki, Novista, Skyscrapers Walk Among Us, Love She Wrote, Bonnie Blue and Set It Off @ The Meridian and Houston Press Artopia, featuring Sideshow Tramps, Karina Nistal, Arthur Yoria, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Travesty Dance Group, & more @ Winter Street Studios
Wana keep it on the noise tip? be sure to hit up Future Blondes, Venison Whirled, Concrete Violin, Kairos and Amputee @ Notsuoh
ATTN THIS WEEKEND: SOON THE BELLS WILL START
Dec 19th
HOLLA! Real quick, if it’s before noon today and you haven’t yet voted in the Sammies, you best go do it now! ASAP! With the quickness! Fast like bunny! Arm like hammer! Remember that we’ll have the complete list of winners at the 2008 Sammies Party, Saturday night at Big Star Bar. Oooh we feel the excitement! But never fear, in the meantime, you’ve got some shows to pick from. but DRAMA on that too! Both Friday and Saturday are up to their whiskers in solid choices. Dammit. Where’s that banner we use when something like this happens?

Ahh. Much better.
FRIDAY
Toys For Tots Benefit with pretty much every band that was nominated for a Sammy @ The Mink
So yeah, originally our awards party was going to be Friday night, but we ended up having to change it because an obscene percentage of the good folks up for an award were already slated to play this gig (they thought of the children, we thought of the party – our bad). The show is $10, or you can bring a toy. Don’t be a cheapskate a pick something up at the dollar store. Go get one of those little awesome action figure things at Sig’s Lagoon – kids love that stuff and they you also get to goto Sig’s. If you’re having trouble reading the flyer, the acts playing are The Riff Tiffs, BLACKIE, American Sharks, Elaine Greer, Paleo, Giant Princess, Buxton, Death by Texas, Brett Taylor, News on the March, Wicked Poseur and Wild Moccasins. We’re told this is going to be done upstairs/downstairs style (a la Hootenanny) so there won’t be too many luls in the performance. Doors at 8pm, 21+
Something Fierce CD Release show w/Teenage Kicks @ Walter’s
Both of these bands are up for a Sammy as well (in the Favorite Punks category. Ooooh, Fight! Fight!) We’ve heard a few snippets of SF’s new full length and it goes without saying that it’s going to be a great record. You’ll definitely want to go to this show so you can pick up a vinyl copy of their previously online-only Modern Girl ep. Teenage Kicks never disappoint either.
ALSO:
- Ume, Linus Pauling Quartet and Red Leaves @ Rudyards (free)
- Battle Rifle, Chocolate Crucifix, Assholes and DJ Bill Fool @ Leon’s Lounge (free)
SATURDAY
SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES
ALSO
- Free Press Christmas Party featuring Satin Hooks, The Eastern Sea, Piano Vines, Nick Greer, Ozeal & The Eulypians, Chase Hamblin and Female Demand @ Avant Garden
- Reprogram Multimedia Christmas Party featuring Spain Colored Orange, The Factory Party, BLACKIE, plus DJs Richard Henry, Yppah, Jeffery Mac, Paramour, Damon Allen, J. Calero, Dan Castillo and Ceeplus Bad Knives @ Bootleg Studios (2301 Commerce)
- Come See My Dead Person, Two Star Symphony and Whorehound @ Rudyards
- The Caprolites, The Trian Woodburns, & Novox @ PJs Sports Bar
SUNDAY
Trills the Season Toy Drive ’08, featuring Nosaprise, Lower Life Form, Spain Colored Orange, The Mathletes plus DJs Dayta and License to Trill @ Boondocks
THE 2008 SKYLINE 50 – PART FOUR
Dec 18th
Part four of our series! Don’t forget, voting for the Sammies closes tomorrow at noon!
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.


