Month: May 2014

The Ex-Optimists (College Station, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/theexoptimists

“I’m honestly kicking myself now for not listening to this sooner. College Station band The Ex-Optimists have been on repeat in my headphones for a while now, drowning me in a turbulent squall of Sonic Youth guitars, driving ’90s indie-drone-rock melodies, and hazy, softspoken vocals, and I’m enjoying the hell out of it.

On “Nitemare City,” the guitars are watery and sharp-edged in equal measure, drifting around you like psychically-controlled knives that periodically dart in to gouge out a chunk of your flesh. In the meantime, frontman Kelly Minnis serenely murmurs and croons like he’s already lost in the swirling murk; that is, until the whole damn thing explodes in a ball of fury partway through before coalescing back into its more stable previous state. The closest thing I can come up with is Houston’s own Muhammad Ali, except that this quartet sounds like they’re fueled less by beer and more by green, leafy substances.

Then there’s B-side “February,” which dives sideways into nearly Dinosaur Jr., quick-stepping along through an insanely-catchy melody while the overfuzzed guitars set fire to the scenery. Occasionally feels like I’m listening to a rougher-edged Silversun Pickups — there’s definitely a hazy, shoegaze quality to it, beneath the out-and-out noise. “- Space City Rock

Wonderbitch (Austin, TX)
https://wonderbitch.com/

From a weighty foundation of Pink Floyd, Genesis and Muse, Wonderbitch wraps up cool Steely Dan musicality with the danciness of Franz Ferdinand and the nostalgic sheen of smooth mid 80s pop.

Playing for No One (Houston, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/playingfornoone

Christopher James: vocals, guitar
John Doe: drums
Arizona Williams: bass

The Wiggins (Houston, TX)
https://thewiggins.bandcamp.com/

Jon Read called himself the Wiggins before you graduated beauty school.

He only showboats onstage; he never rings his own bell. He stays ahead of the game for one simple reason, he works harder than everyone else.

This record took a long time coming. Each song here is a model of deformed rock and roll. Fucked-up white noise surf-rock and rusty nail salt-in-the-wound folk ballads. All delivered with the pill-drunk unsteadiness of Gene Vincent after the crash. Imagine the Monks gone electro, or a Jesus and Mary Chain rap album recorded on a fisher-price boombox.- TEX KERSCHEN, Indian Jewelry

Young Dumb Sluts (Houston, TX)
https://www.reverbnation.com/youngdumbsluts

Young Dumb Sluts, band members include: Albert Sosa the little hispanic boy that loved the drums and played the guitar.

Trans Am (Bethesda, Maryland)
https://www.transband.com

Trans Am is a Heavy American Electro Rock band originally from Bethesda, Maryland. Formed out of the implosion of legendary DC-area funk-punk collective FaceDown, Trans Am has followed its path for the past 15+ years.

It has recorded over 10 albums for Chicago-based independent record label Thrill Jockey and toured the world continuously but is perhaps best known for its trailblazing studio wizardry and Sound Session Solutions management techniques. Dubbed “Obscene Strategies,” the program consists of both a multi-operational decision nexus as well as a robust music advancement and delivery system that users engage through an 83-step hardback book or 30-slide PowerPoint presentation. Examples include, but are not limited to:

#4 At a moment of creative impasse, pick a fight.

#9 Check your email.

#11 Take a nap.

#20 Check your email again.

#23 Leave the studio unlocked and all the doors open for a few days – see what happens.

#48 It’s good enough – or if not, you’ll get used to it.

#64 Better play it safe.

Vacation Eyes (Houston, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/VacationEyes?fref=ts

the brand-new band formed by Wild Moccasins/Teenage Kicks drummer John Baldwin and Erase Errata’s Jenny Hoyston; Baldwin describes the sound as “at times very psychedelic and post-punk.” – Houston Press

Wicked Poseur (Houston, TX)

https://myspace.com/wickedposeur

Sinister brainchild of The Energy’s Arthur Bates. Darkly clever lyrics, stiff mechanical synth beats and dueling electric guitars. Currently a duo featuring Bates and Cley Miller of Young Mammals. – 29-95

Fiddle Witch and the Demons of Doom (Houston, TX)
https://soundcloud.com/jo-bird-fiddle-witch
“My personal dream project. Metal trio: Electric Viola, Insane Drums (Spike the Percussionist) and Bass. This project is currently in progress!”

Morgue City (Houston, TX)
https://morguecity.net

Morgue City is a band that has gone through many many changes in sound and personnel. Like any successful project in the entertainment world it must be made up of resilient and determined people. This is the case with Morgue City. The band that has a rock attack intensity as well as a more sinister edge as it delves into the darker realms of noiz and it’s concurrent drones. Some of the Morgue City sound is very pop rock oriented but there is always a deviant grind of sound laced in the song work. The band consists of two musicians with a very long history in the music business. Founder, SPIKE the Percussionist, is known from a long list of projects that include Astrogenic Hallucinauting, Childman, Doggebi, Delicate Terror and as the music director for the world renowned flesh suspension group Constructs of Ritual Evolution – CoRE. The lead guitar and vocals are handled by Raul who is a multi instrumentalist and has a long history of studio work and touring. Raul hails from such bands as M-87 and was the former bass player for Bozo Porno Circus. The result is a musical conglomeration both hauntingly familiar and refreshingly new as well as powerful and beautifully dark. Combine the likes of everything from classical to jazz and gloom to power noiz with catchy lyrics, sophisticated beats, and musically diverse melodies and the result is Morgue City.

Brown Whörnet (Austin, TX)
https://www.brownwhornet.com/

“Austin’s Brown Whörnet is a band that prolifically encapsulates all that is good about not spending too much time on a single idea. The seven-man, one-woman collective hopscotches their way across musical boundaries like a barefoot kid on hot pavement. Whether they’re riffing on punk, metal, funk, jazz, film scores, or even klezmer music, Brown Whörnet attacks each passage with a vociferous intensity that seldom fails to keep an audience at attention.” – Austin Chronicle

” In addition to displaying promiscuous technical proficiency and toilet humor, Austin’s Brown Whornet curse the pope, tweak racial humor, and make hamburgers unappealing forever. They claim to have written more than a hundred “songs” over the past couple years, so their set list may not sound exactly like their latest self-released CD (also called Brown Whornet), but mangled free jazz, luv-me-baby R & B, parodically straight hardcore, and something that sounds like Yes on a boom box whose batteries are dying are all in their arsenal” – Chicago Reader

“Noodly new wave instrumentals, crunchy and menacing prog rock-outs, aberrant sound collages, a cappella doo-wop deviations, and demented sideshow accompaniments – Brown Whornet’s got to be the best (worst?) thing for a hangover since pickles and Coke. The Austin, Texas, eight piece has played with the likes of Daniel Johnston, Melt Banana, Mr. Quintron, TFUL282, and Wesley Willis, and if that’s not testimony enough, last time they were local they provided the accompaniment to Chicken John’s puppet-exploding, worm-swallowing, poultry-hypnotizing Cirkus Redickuless…” – SF Weekly

Churchwood (Austin, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/joefishdoerr

Churchwood performs a vital and much-needed musical mission on their self-titled Saustex Records debut album: Saving the blues from the blahs and numerous other crimes and afflictions. Hailing from Austin, Texas, a city rightfully accused of being “The Boring White Blues Capital of the World,” the ingenious quintet kick the lazy butt of blues music into the second decade of the 21st Century and beyond.

And they do so with Bohemian panache, gonzo élan, punky ‘tude, bluesy grit and stunning musical mastery and imagination while keeping a firm rock’n’roll Vulcan death grip on the roots of the blues. The result is a sound that’s rife with the beef and the heart — if you get the drift — plus mind-expanded smarts and relentlessly wild and wooly soul. - Rob Patterson

Dead Mineral (Houston, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/deadmineral

Formed in 2005 under the name Novox, Dead Mineral have been blasting Houston area bars and clubs with mostly instrumental dual guitar driven rock that wraps beauty inside searing noise. Members collectively hail from other Houston bands including Dry Nod, Sprawl, The Drunks, STOMA, The Keenlies, Run Trip and Fall, Rusted Shut, Project Grimm, Texas Guinness Lovers.

“This four-piece formed in 2005, originally billing themselves as Novox. They released a split seven-inch on Four Letter Music with Fired For Walking this year. The Dead Mineral side features their track “Hyper-Vigilance,” a melodic, shifting instrumental number. Houston’s first and foremost “Ouija Rock” band (note, if anyone wants to hop on that bandwagon, you’re likely to be the second) is definitely worth a listen, especially for those who admire Explosions In The Sky but want something a little surlier.” – Houston Press

Def Perception (Houston, TX)
https://www.reverbnation.com/defperception

This is the Music of a Hip Hip Band.

Raymond Auzenne - MC
David Cook - Producer
Alex Zamora - Bass, Producer
Edmond Prevost Jr. - Keys
Ruben Jimenez - DJ

Tape Mastah Steph (Dallas, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/tapemastahsteph
Tape Mastah Steph grew up in San Jose, California. His professional DJ and Music career began in 1988 pause mixing cassettes to create beats from a combination of equipment such as, Technic 1200’s, Mixers, Cassette players, Records, Drum Machines and Live Instruments.

In 91, Tape met his neighbor Peanut Butter Wolf, founder of the Record Label Stones Throw. Wolf had already been making beats on the (Ensoniq EPS) an 8 track keyboard/Sampler and inspired Steph to get one of his own. In 93, Wolf drove Tape and his hard earned cash to “Starving Musicians”, a used music equipment store to purchase the EPS. Steph began producing beats for San Jose based MC’s such as Dave Dub and other local artists. As the analog years started to fade becoming a lost art, Tape applied himself into the digital world of engineering and recording software while remaining passionate in the realm of producing Beats & Turntablism. He moved to Dallas, Texas in 04 and began working with other Hip-Hop Artists.

Tape’s music production has been featured with various Emcees such as: Dave Dub (Endlessness in Machinery), Jendor, The Bedouin, Matt Gamin, Roughneck Jihad, Myka9, J the Sarge, Nowaah Flood, Molek Ular & Kraftmatik as (Year of The Ox) Megabusive, Intalek, Pacoe the illiterate, Noah Dee Akili, Dave Dub & Persevere as (Subcontents), and many more.

His first 12’ record entitled “in observance of trial and error” was Independently released January, 1st, 2000 through Rebel Knight Music. The Instrumental break beat album penetrated the bay area hip-hop scene during the Golden Era.

Tewz (Chicago, IL)
https://www.tewz1.com/

“Crackling beats and samples, raw drums and thick layers of slow-building, spacey textures … raw bedroom beatcraft with soundscapes that stretch to the cosmos! … heavy drumming underneath dense synth fuzz …” — Dusty Groove

“Tewz leans on the kind of David Axelrod/crate-freak soundtrack jams that DJ Shadow and RJD2 have used to melt headz worldwide” — Chicago Reader

TEWZ is an American visual artist, musician and multi-instrumentalist hailing from Chicago, IL. He studied printmaking & film at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; in addition to making holograms and fm radio transmitters. He is known internationally for his graffiti and street art. His work has been exhibited at 11 Spring St. New York, Praha, São Paulo, Shibuya Tokyo, DEMF Detroit, Lollapalooza, and most recently at the Festival Kosmopolite in Paris. He was a featured artist on Bravo TV’s Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.

TEWZ played clarinet from the ages of 8-14 before quitting in favor of two turntables & a sampler. His current setup includes the addition of circuit bent drum machines, distorted kalimbas, wonky tape reels, toy keyboards, fuzz, & low frequency oscillation. Tewz makes beats for space ships, planets, and intermagnetic loop travelers. You can expect a lot of crackily samples, lo-fi drums, tape hiss, and a cloud of smoke.

Tewz just recently dropped a limited press die-cut picture vinyl album titled — Helix.

Lower Life Form (Houston, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/LowerLifeForm

Tabu The Star Killah with DJ Joey Flaco (Houston, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tabu/158210077676768
https://www.facebook.com/hkjoey.flaco

Tabu ” The Star Killah ” (aka Tabu the rekka)
affiliate of Rebel Crew Sound
One man Army
Origin: kamino. Was sent here to destroy all wack rappers on planet earth. One of the illest Emcees to ever witness!