Show Review: The Jesus and Mary Chain at House of Blues

Ever since Monday I’ve been holding my breath after finding out that the Scottish noise gods cancelled their date at Denton 35. I was having unpleasant flashbacks of post-punk disappointment last summer when Killing Joke killed their plans for a US tour which included a spot at Summer Fest’s Budweiser stage.

The show started a little late because the band was having power issues with their UK based gear. One of the staff told me that they ran to Rockin Robin’s to get some help. Doors opened a little late but no matter, I was first in line. The opener was a band from LA that I didn’t enjoy all that much. The vocalist had a very nasally voice and the music was a cloying power-pop but the front man was so chipper and friendly that it was hard not to root for him.

Jim Reid was far less hairy but no of less bad ass. The between song banter was friendly but the man kept a stiff upper lip during the whole performance, never looking he needed to be there. Will Reid definitely had a few extra pounds and some wrinkles but his guitar didn’t seem to notice this. His setup allowed him to faithfully produce the jagged, brittle, clangs of his past work.

The highlight of the show for me was a dark snarling rendition of Reverence. William was allowed to fully break out here, filling the room with warbling feedback and white noise. Here is an incomplete set list, in no particular order:

-Sidewalking
-Head On
-April Skies
-Happy when it rains
-Cracking Up
-Just like Honey
-Some Candy talking
-Reverence
-Teenage Lust
-Never Understand

Fun. - Some Nights

I bet some people my age (22) remember a little band called The Format. In the 2000s, The Format played standard, radio-friendly, emo fare, not sentimental enough to be as embarrassing as most commercially successful emo acts but not that much better. Either way, not my cup of tea. Fun. (which I will for the rest of this review refer to without the period) takes the naive emo charm of Nate Ruess' vocals and strips them away from the crapola soft-rock accompaniment of The Format. In its place, the new band provides intricate baroque-pop melodies, lush synths and strings.

It's still not "cool", don't get me wrong, but the album is enough to qualify for a guilty little pleasure. Ruess has dropped some of his unfortunate emo tropes (he has become a little less nasally) and reinvented himself in role that resists type-casting. It even sounds kind of grown-up at times, like the triumphant "One Foot" which for some reason reminds of Paul Simon's Graceland era (there's a comment section below if you want to tell me I'm nuts, I won't cry, I promise). Other songs to look out for are "We are Young" and the surprisingly beautiful, six-minute, "Stars".

Ruess will probably always sound pretty effeminate when he sings, which will always hold him back in my book, but I have to hand it to him for producing something I don't completely hate. I wasn't expecting that. I hope that sounds more like a compliment than I think it probably will. Really, I'm serious.

They'll be at Warehouse Live on the 20th. If I do go I'll be wearing a paper bag over my head but most likely I'll just continue to enjoy them with my headphones ON in the privacy of my apartment.

Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror

I saw this coming. Maybe I'm just a killjoy but I always thought, even back when no one could shut the fuck up about it, that "Infinity Guitar" and the rest of "Treats" were self-limiting endeavors. The choppy, crackling, lo-fi (maybe faux-fi) guitar hooks paired with the saccharine-sweet yelps of Alexis Krauss can only take listeners so far. The not-so-subtle back and forth between sexy vocals and distorted guitars with no mid ground got grating on "Treats".

The opening track boasts an obnoxiously indulgent Brian May-esque riff with live applause. I don't know if it's supposed to be an ironic nod to 80s metal, just like the testosterone-filled track names seem to be, but sometimes it comes off as profoundly dorky. The best moments of the album are not the contrived flights of cock-rock the duo indulge in so often but the slower, more emotional ones. "D.O.A." despite what the track title might conjure, is a beautiful atmospheric ballad that would sound at home on a Blonde Redhead or School of Seven Bells record. Tracks like "End of the Line" and "Never say Die" also fall into this slightly milder but more tempered category.

My assessment is that the duo is still a little confused about their direction, which is something I don't want to fault them for. However, I will say that tracks like "Born to Lose" and "Crush" are stinky turds whose nasty smell effects the overall quality of "Reign of Terror". Worth a quick listen but not a home run by any means.

Onwards to the Wall - A Place to Bury Strangers

By Jack Daniel Betz

I've been waiting a good, long, time to hear more from APTBS, ever since I caught them opening for The Big Pink two years ago. But sadly, half of this EP is more catalog filler than anything else.

The fluttering bass line of "I lost you" gets lost in the noise because there's no dynamic contrast. The title track is equally aimless at times but does at least include some sexy female vocals.

"Nothing Will Surprise Me" is catchy enough at first boasting its chugga chugg choo choo snare backbeat but the fuzzy songwriting makes the product so oblique in the end that it's forgotten.

"So far Away" works. It's got a decent core.

The closer, "Drill it Up", fills me with some hope too. A buzzing, highly distinguishable bass riff cuts through the din and isn't crowded out by too much unnecessary clutter. Vocals are easy to hear.

Let's hope these are on the EP because they're not quite up to snuff for the LP rather than the intended highlights.

Le voyage dans la lune - Air

I've been listening to the promo copy of this album at work for the past two weeks and before even listening through it once I'd already made up my mind about it. Le voyage is a brilliant concept album that explores different sonic depictions of space rock ranging from Holst to Manfred Mann.

The first track sets a grave Kubrickian tone with booming timpanis and warbling, gregorian dirge. But then it evolves. Songs like "Sonic Armada" take listeners back to the glorious days (way before I was born, in fact) when the Earth Band shredded Moogs like rice paper. "Parade" lends some very modern, punchy, Coldplay like guitar lines, which, as much as I hate to admit, is space rock. It closes out with "Lava", which is clearly a tribute to the most iconic space-rockers of all: Pink Floyd.

I wish all rock music was still this album oriented.

Rhianna has left the building

Tonight I plan to schlep over to Stereo Live to watch Clavin Harris tonight knowing full well the crop of amazing fuckheads that I'll run into. The drinks will be expensive: there will be no lone star to speak of (unless that's changed). There will be throngs of jail bait most likely lured there in hopes of finding Rhianna since that's the only exposure they have this young Scottish artist.

He provided a cheesy, bare bones, organ riff for that Rhianna song which has a name that escapes me. Some nonsense about yellow diamonds. But at least he didn't fully throw down for the song. It would have almost been more disappointing to know that he broke a sweat offering something really good that would guild such a low-quality, top 40 turd. I'm imagining Harris plunking down the simple two chord riff on his laptop, emailing it to the producer, and getting a check for thousands of dollars. It's one of the few times that mediocrity equals awesome.

I plan to jump up on stage before he goes, grab the mic, and bellow that Rhianna has left the building to see how many morons I can get to leave. Besides that though, the show should be pretty sweet. A lot of his music has been panned by critics most likely because the name of his first LP was "I created disco" which is kind of presumptuous. But as far as fun, electronic music goes, it's way better than David Guetta or any of that dubstep bullshit.

The Shows of early 2012

I'm back. No, for real. I'm back and I plan to keep this blog updated like I used to. I used to update like a champ and then I let it all go to shit. No more. This blog was my baby and so shall it be once again. Anyway. . .

It's shaping up to be a pretty decent new year with a decent crop of interesting shows on the Houston horizon. Here are my top picks for February.

2/14 The Polyphonic Spree: say what you want about them; they're too happy, they're too weird, their garb reminds you of Raelians meet Harikrishna. But fuck, they're Trent Reznor's favorite live band! Someone told me this today and from YouTube videos I've seen, I can sort of believe this.

2/16 Los Campesinos!: peppy British indie-rock with a very big sound. They have a lot of albums out for a band of their age. One of the more memorable twee type acts these days.

2/18 This Will Destroy You: super-minimalist post-rock that makes you feel high without a speck of THC. It's drony, alienating, swirling post-rock from San Marcos Texas.

2/23 Reptar: I've already gushed over how much I liked these guys at ACL so I'll hold back a bit. This will be the band's second time at Fitz but their first time as a headlining act.

2/28 The Legendary Shack Shakers: a second wave psychobilly act who have toured with the likes of Rev Horton Heat.