Houston Music Blog

John Wiese & C. Spencer Yeh, "Pink Pyramid"

Noise dudes do love their collabos, huh? Sometimes, I love 'em, too. Often these meetings-of-the-messed-up-minds produce muddled junk. Laptop-power-electronics-psycho Weise and violinist-electronic-twiddler Yeh have crossed circuit boards more than a few times, and Cincinnati (DroneDisco), their latest Marvel Team Up, doesn't disappoint. Electronics, synths, voice and base guitar are the ingredients, but this is the sort of album in which method rules all; which is to say, whatever sounds eked were rudely swept into a digital vortex and cranked hard. "Pink Pyramid" stands out here because it's so darn liquidy, an arresting cross between tongues snapping the insides of cheeks and oodles of saliva bubbles emerging, then popping, one after another. A happy programming accident? A titular giggle at sexual proclivities? Your guess is as good as mine.

Block 7 is a wine bar set to open in the next few weeks near Shepherd and Washington that is looking for a shot of good ol' Houston noise to break it in.

The owners of Block 7 have an ear for local music, and they're seeking Houston bands to be featured a compilation album that they'll play during their grand opening, slated for the end of this month, and distribute to guests. B7 is asking for at least two mp3 files, a brief bio, and any other pertinent details to be sent to events@block7wineco.com. The deadline for consideration is Monday, June 8.

The wine bar is also fully equipped with a sound system and there are also very tentative plans to build an outdoor stage. With that, Houston would have yet another venue where local cats can get their sound out to the masses. B7 is located on an 8,000-square-foot plot, with ample room for bigger shows down the line if an outer stage is constructed. For now, intimate sets will be the norm inside B7.

Brooklyn-based indie rock en-espanol-ers Cordero will be torching Under the Volcano this evening. Owner Pete Mitchell has been working to get Cordero to the club ever since he saw them two years ago at South By Southwest.

Mitchell, who is married to an Argentine and speaks fluent Spanish, says, "I saw a bunch of great bands, but none of them just blew me away like Cordero. They're pretty unique in that they don't really fit the world music niche. They just happen to be a rock band with a nice mix of Spanish influences."

"And this new album of theirs is just so smart. She's a great lyricist and lots of the new songs are so open to interpretation," Mitchell says. "I catch something new every time I listen to it."

Yet another funny bit Rocks Off discovered via the time-wasting miracle that is Twitter, via the Boston Phoenix's blog - our new president impersonating a foul-mouthed old friend in the audiobook version of his autobiography. As far as Rocks Off can tell, it's legit - and freaking hilarious. Feel free to sample/remix to your heart's content. We're here to serve.

Complicated Shit

Ain't My Bitch

Ignorant MFs

Guy Ain't Shit

Metavenge are a gaggle of teenagers in faded Slayer shirts from the Friendswood/Alvin area, but they sound like they opened for Metallica on the Ride The Lightning tour. Ever since we first heard them back in the fall, we have been blasting "Time To Kill" on our iPod as we foolishly attempt to run at the gym.

The dudes are brutal, as any guy worth his leather gauntlets will tell you. The boys recently flew to California to work with producer/guitarist Keri Kelli, who currently plays in Alice Cooper's touring band, during Christmas break. The mastered tracks we have heard are disgustingly awesome, and don't sound like they were made by dudes who were probably conceived to the strains of "Nothing Else Matters."

There is more coming, with a proper EP in the works for the summer. Down and The Sword are cool and all, but we wouldn't have minded seeing Metavenge opening for Metallica back in November at Toyota Center. But they were probably in the crowd headbanging their impressionable young brains out, just like we were.

Yesterday afternoon, Rocks Off bought his first new cassette tape since 1996. The last tape we bought was the Schoolhouse Rocks soundtrack that came out the year before. It was a collection of 90's indie rockers like Pavement and Daniel Johnston doing covers of tunes from the classic Saturday morning children's educational series. It got us into a whole mess of music we didn't know about before and introduced us to the genius that is Lou Barlow, alienating us in junior high completely.

This tape purchase is no different than the last. Except with no alienation. And I'm not a defensive lineman anymore. With an additional run of about 30, the Muhammad Ali/Black Congress split tape won't last long at Sound Exchange, where it hit the shelves Tuesday afternoon. Hell, the store was only given five to sell. When Rocks Off showed up at 4 p.m., there were only two left. Jump on the Hands Up message board to plead for more, I guess. The right people will hear ya.

After all the hype and air-guitar awards-show appearances, Lil Wayne's much-anticipated debut as a full-on rock performer, "Prom Queen," has finally leaked. This will be above-the-fold news on whatever content-aggregator supplies your RSS fix, but only because for the music business right now is about as slow as things get. And really, "Prom Queen" isn't all that different from Weezy's normal milieu - it seems to be mostly about the preferred unmentionables of some corsage-sporting hottie who won't give him any play, and there's loads of Auto-Tune.

Listen for yourself here, and stick around to read a few of the decidedly split comments. Rocks Off gives it about a 6 (maybe), and would just like to add a few words. Vernon Reid. Bad Brains. George Clinton (Funkadelic, not Parliament). Sly Stone. Props to Wayne for bringing gnashy guitars into the hip-hop conversation, but let's not forget who taught him how. 

Beyonce stepped back into her Cadillac Records character Etta James to sing "At Last," and sing the hell out of it, for President and Mrs. Obama's first dance at last night's HD Neighborhood Inaugural Ball in Washington, D.C. It's hard to imagine either a better singer or song for the occasion - sorry, Etta - especially the line "I found a dream that I could speak to/ A dream that I could call my own." Cadillac Records, which by the way is excellent, is due on DVD March 10.

In this week's installment of Noise, Rocks Off's bass-playing friend and neighbor Nick Gaitan talks about how our building inspired his song "I've Found My Weakness in You," and how his boss Billy Joe Shaver liked it so much he decided to record it. Part of our conversation veered into Shaver's experiences in the Bayou City, but first, the song...

Rocks Off: I was wondering how much time he's spent here.

Nick Gaitan (smiles): He's always talking about how rough it is.

RO: What does he say about Houston?

NG: He always talks about it just being rough, like 'Oh, be careful down there,' kind of like you'd hear in a Leadbelly song. Or he introduced me to this lady one time - he said, 'This is Nick, he's from Houston. He's got Houston written all over him.' He has his own version of Houston in his head.

RO: I bet he's got a bunch of ties to this area.

NG: Oh yeah. Billy has his own Houston, because he's been here a lot. 

Something Fierce

There Are No Answers

www.somethingfiercemusic.com

Open letter to the Warped Tour: If you don't include Something Fierce on your 2009 80-something band docket, you deserve to have Andy Macdonald or Kyle Loza do one of their extreme-sports stunts right into your figurative nuts. Or whatever. Not every band in its early (early) twenties can find the Buddy Holly heart inside an MC5/Sex Pistols riff machine like "Modern Girl," after all.