Cactus Releasing Buxton's Strange Five Days Early At Tonight's In-Store

​Houston's own Buxton gets their moment in the sun in the next few weeks as their debut album for New West Records, Nothing Here Seems Strange, gets wide release. But the band's home store, Cactus Music, will be releasing it tonight five days early during the band's in-store, set for 7 p.m.

In addition to the in-store and the special release date, Cactus will also be giving away 75 tickets to the band's proper record release gig, set for next Saturday at Fitzgerald's with Marmalakes and Featherface, and also a very expensive turntable, the Denon DP-300F, to presumably christen with your new copy of Strange.

The album and the band have already been getting more than a few glowing notices around the country after dates on the East and West coasts back in late 2011, and Strange was made available for streaming on influential indie site Paste just this week, getting heavy social media love. Esquire's Andy Langer recently named Buxton an "Artist to Watch" alongside other soon-to-be darlings Howler and ZZ Ward.

​The surge of hype surrounding Strange is putting the rest of the country on notice that Houston has a lot more to offer than humidity, hip-hop and fine dining. Along with locals like Mike Stinson, the globetrotting Robert Ellis, The Ton Tons, who knows what can happen in 2012? You know, besides that whole end of the world deal.

Buxton's set at the recent Chris Gray Day fundraiser at the Continental Club ended with the band's take on Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" from 1989's Full Moon Fever, a fitting tribute to a man who survived a heart attack, and who is also a massive Petty fanatic.

I got my vinyl copy of Strange a few days ago, and it's a hefty sucker, 180-gram and all. The artist behind the cover, photographer Josh Alan, will be in the Record Ranch exhibiting his pictures and describing the process that went into making the Strange cover.

Tonight's party at Cactus will begin 7 p.m., with the band playing a set of the new stuff off Strange at 8 p.m., and then until 10 p.m. the album will be playing throughout the store. As with all Cactus events, admission is free, but capacity may be met. Get there early.

Yes, there will be beer.