By: Erin Dyer Rudyard’s will host a donation-based benefit on Friday, August 24, for Tom Carter– guitarist of Charalambides, long-time running Houston avant-garde band. While the Brooklyn based musician was on a European tour with Charalambides earlier this summer, Carter was hospitalized in Berlin following an intense case of pneumonia. With many complications and uncertainty from doctors concerning his survival, Carter was placed in a medically induced coma that lasted for weeks. He finally came out of the coma on June 18 and was transferred to a medical rehabilitation facility in Germany, near the Baltic Sea, on July 10. He ... Read More »

$22 bucks is the kind of ticket price that makes me think twice but Daniel Johnton’s show in Houston on Saturday night was one where I couldn’t imagine anyone left the place thinking they didn’t get their $22 worth and then some. The hook that got me over that $22 was the ensemble that had been cast for this show. My understanding (please, correct me if I am wrong here) is that Joe Mathlete was assigned the task of playing Nick Fury and “assemble Earth’s mightiest superheroes” or in this case some of Houston’s mightiest musicians. In addition to himself, ... Read More »

Saturday night had some pretty decent options.  Bummerfest looked like a hoot but I ended up deciding to go to Fitz for the Mathletes album release just because, as it should be apparent from my two-part interview last week with Joe Mathlete, I’m pretty enamoured by the new album, Excalibur.  I got there pretty early just after the doors opened and found these two guys in the back… I was sitting back, talking with a few people about stuff like how B L A C K I EE’s amp caught fire at Friday night’s show and these two dudes just sat there with ... Read More »

Yesterday, Joe Mathlete took us through Side 1 of the new Mathletes album Excalibur (Link to Part 1). Today we conclude as he takes us through side 2. FPH –OK, so I’m Your Shoe.  This, Elephants, and Culture, are my three favorite songs on the record.  I love Mlee’s guitar tone too. Joe – That’s me. FPH – Wow, you stole the Hearts of Animals guitar tone? Joe – (shrugs and smiles) Yeah. No amp; just a guitar into a fuzz pedal then straight into the input. Mlee and Chris [Cascio] used to live above me; we and a few ... Read More »

Good morning folks, I’ve gotta get packing for just got into Austin but I figured I’d let y’all know how the Deer Tick show went last night over at Rudyard’s. Yes, I know I missed Jana Hunter and Beach House over at The Orange show but hey, I’ll be seeing Jana with Tara Jane O’Neil at Domy Books on Friday so we’ll catch up on our beloved miss Hunter then. Anyhow, let me jump to the penultimate band of the evening – Oklahoma City’s Stardeath And White Dwarfs. I want you to take a good look at these photographs… …and ... Read More »

It wasn’t until I got to Walter’s on Saturday that I realized I’d forgotten to charge my camera’s batteries and to bring my handy dandy notebook so this will be a somewhat brief review and without the usual number of snapshots. Still, it was a nice night of music. Opening was Hearts of Animals who I haven’t seen perform live since the release of her new Cave Lights CD so it was wonderful to hear new songs like the heart melting Sister Stories performed alongside the older songs. Sleeping in The Aviary’s set was driving and solid with singer Elliott ... Read More »

You know I’ve been anticipating this when my reaction to seeing this in my hands is to literally jump in the air and say “WOW!” then proceed to drop it in my I-tunes and put it on an infinite loop. On the quick here, there are lots of great instrumentals like the spacey where’s-my-bong of The Next Day, the lovely sax harmonies of the unlisted final song, or the cheeky retro 80′s dance floor of Pillow Fight but, for my money, it’s the songs that are like manna from heaven. Suprean’s gift for melody, phrasing, and lyrics are all here. ... Read More »

Well a few things to report this weekend. First off, it was announced today the classic post-punk band The Mydolls will be playing Noise and Smoke II on November 15th. Awesomeness! In other news Born Liars have a fan in Little Steven who has played the band quite a bit on his Underground Garage radio show. Bill Fool’s a bit matter of fact about it all saying ” We have been played a bunch on the Underground Garage station and last week Little Steven’s assistant e-mailed me saying Little Steven loves us and wants everything we have to play it ... Read More »

Well here it is, Monday, and not only did I survive the Hootenanny (link) but I also survived the Houston Press Music Awards. Having these two things back to back, admittedly, is pretty rough. So Sunday, being a bit worse for wear, I stayed away from the free booze and stuck to the vitamin water. One thing I have to say about the HPMAs this year is that the venues seemed farther apart than in previous years. Whereas last year you could step out of the Rice Hotel and immediately walk across to see say Insect Warfare, this year you ... Read More »

Well, that’s quite the news to get in the afternoon. Hands Up Houston announced that Frightened Rabbit had canceled their performance due to their van breaking down. That was a shame as I really love this Scottish band’s droll and energetic Sing The Grays album and it sounded like they might translate pretty well live and possibly give the Dimes a run for their money. The upside though was that the always solid Hearts of Animals was called-in to pinch-hit at the last minute – you couldn’t have ask for a better resolution. Now, I don’t know about you but ... Read More »