qanda
floe
Self-released

On his first outing as qanda, musician Jordi Baizan expands on some of the songs he played with Houston band The Tiles. The five songs that make up his debut solo effort mostly follow the same, well-worn radio-friendly path as John Mayer, but thankfully Baizan doesn’t rely on the same level of hokey sappiness. While love and loss are the major themes of floe, qanda (pronounced “cue and a”) keeps it upbeat and heartfelt without being overwrought. Although Baizan tends to wear his heart on his sleeve (examples: “Your heart has given me more than I could ever give you,” “This girl is the perfume interfering with my concentration / This girl is the drug that won’t let me go”), his sincerity and reserve make for a palatable mix.

The EP encompasses barroom rock (“This Girl”), radio pop balladry (“Give You,” “Phoebe’s Song”), and 60′s-influenced pop (the overdose-themed “Here For You”), and Baizan’s soulful vocals coupled with solid backing musicians keep the songs light and lively. It’s obvious that qanda is aiming for the mainstream but his mostly low-key method keeps it honest.

Visit qanda on MySpace.

AdRad was one of my favorite picks at this year’s SXSW. You can buy I Heart California from iTunes for $7.99 right now.

Here are some videos from SXSW on All Songs Considered.

Check out the band’s music at www.admiralradley.com.

Cover is a mere $5 at the door. This is an all ages show.

You can read my recent review of Wild Moccasins’ Skin Collision Past here. Buy it here.

Wild Moccasins
Skin Collision Past
Team Science Records

Anyone who listens to modern music knows that the 80s contains a goldmine of influences, especially for the “indie” realm. But where many bands are content to rehash the sounds of their influences, Houston’s Wild Moccasins instead draws upon the era to create songs that are more inventive. On its latest, the band–vocalist/guitarist Cody Swann, vocalist/keyboardist Zahira Gutierrez, bassist Nicholas Cody, guitarist Andrew Lee, and drummer John Baldwin–could have easily relied on heavy synths and overly jangly guitars, but Skin Collision Past mixes indie-pop with post-rock overtones that makes for an infectious collection of songs.

The band functions cohesively, and this solid interaction between bassist, drummer, and guitarists makes the songs much more memorable. That isn’t to say the vocals don’t deserve attention. One of Wild Moccasins’ signatures is the vocal inter-play between Swann and Gutierrez. While Swann sounds like any number of New Wave-era male vocalists (in a good way), Gutierrez’s voice is lodged somewhere between The B-52′s’ Kate Pierson and Bjork, and she reins it in on Skin Collision Past, choosing to complement rather than overshadow the vocal arrangements.

Lyrically, the songs range from ruminations on relationships (the captivating “Chapter Four”) and psychotherapy (“Psychic China”) to teenage diary entries (“Born Blonde”), and thankfully Wild Moccasins are secure enough to throw in some subtle humor (sample lyric: “I am what I eat, so I’ll try to make a man out of me”). Skin Collision Past‘s finest moments come on “Chapter Four,” the opening title track–which showcases the duo’s wordplay in a surprisingly catchy way–and “Its Health & My Own,” a catchy Britpop-inspired gem.

No other band in the Houston area sounds like Wild Moccasins, and the band’s danceable and poppy songs have captured some well-deserved local and national attention. Skin Collision Past will undoubtedly increase this visibility.

Skin Collision Past is available locally at most area independent record stores, including Cactus Music–where the band performs today (Saturday, 6.12.10) at 3pm–and online at Amazon.com and iTunes.

The Jonx
Vocabularian Herds
Mustache Records

On its last album, 2006′s No Jonx Turn Red, The Jonx built upon the punk-meets-math rock foundation it started on its early EPs. Never a band to bow to trends, its latest release further expands the group’s sound, making for more accessible songs that don’t compromise its stripped-down indie aesthetic. Album opener “The Past Is All You Get” hints at the smarter SST-based punk of the mid- to late 80s, with a heavy basslines and choppy vocals. Bassist/vocalist Trey Lavigne does his best Jim Ward impression on the Sparta-esque “I’m Getting Really Good At Tetris”–which includes a hilarious take on the USMC’s Rifleman’s Creed–and Stu Smith’s guitar work is energetic and engaging. It’s some of the band’s best work to date, and the song also helps to showcase Daniel Mee’s frenetic drumming that is so prevalent in the band’s live sets.

“Hyphen Machine” is Herds‘ most straight-ahead punk tune, but it’s the 10-plus minute instrumental “Highway At Night” that best shows the band’s range and musicianship. It builds slowly, into a solid melodic jam–very similar to some of the better post-rock bands–and hits its peak at a drawn-out wall of thrash. It’s one of those songs that listeners will immediately want to hear again.

Long-time fans will notice a slight shift in the songs on Vocabularian Herds–while overall not as raw as earlier albums, the songs still never feel reined in. Instead, they show a band that pushes its boundaries to produce more mature songs on its own terms.

Visit The Jonx online at www.thejonx.org.

You can read a review of the album by Adam P. Newton over at Dryvetyme Online.

Austin Collins & The Rainbirds
Wrong Control
Eight Dollar Music

It was inevitable with the progression of his albums that Texas musician Austin Collins would eventually make a record as accessible as Wrong Control. The musician’s latest release finds Collins and The Rainbirds–guitarist Dylan McDougall and drummer Craig Bagby–relying less on the twangy riffs and Americana of Whiskeytown and more on straight-ahead rock influences like The Replacements. “Conventional Lust” is a poppy, hands-down hit (and is replete with subtle hand claps). Its subject matter may be a bit heavy for a song this catchy (“You’ve bought into the trappings of conventional lust / You drink too much for the both of us…”), but it showcases Collins’ ability to pen a mainstream-friendly song.

Thankfully, the band doesn’t ignore its roots. Instead–as on its last effort, Roses Are Black–it expands upon them, and Wrong Control wouldn’t be an Austin Collins album without some good old-fashioned heartbreak. The break-up anthem “Frailer Ground” finds an angry Collins still pining away: “When you walked away, I smashed all the bottles of your favorite wine / Please say you’re pretending when all we’ve got to prove are these promises…” Similarly, on “Just The Same” Collins sings, “A rose by any other name is just a flower in the rain / She was made to hold your dreams up by a string.”

Collins and The Rainbirds, along with Centro-matic’s Will Johnson on production duties, have created another alt-country gem. With the quality of modern country music such that it is, Wrong Control proves that the line between country and rock can be straddled and still be done well.

More information on Austin Collins & The Rainbirds may be found at www.austincollins.net.

It’s going to be tough to beat that (although Unwed Sailor came very close).

Check out the band online at www.admiralradley.com.

The Bible Spelled Backwards Does Not Change the Fact that You Cannot Kill David Arquette and Other Things I Learned in the Black Math Experiment
Jef With One F
Self-published

The Black Math Experiment is a quirky Houston rock band that is most famous for getting actress Courteney Cox’s husband to get them to organize a gig at former indie rock club The Proletariat and winning a “Best Unclassifiable Band” award from the Houston Press. In his book, BME frontman Jef “Jef With One F” Rouner gives readers insight into his life before, during, and after the rise and fall of the band. At times, his stories are funny, other times very sad, but the book is entertaining throughout, and takes you through Rouner’s heartache and love, and through the disappointment and accomplishment of being a struggling musician, and through growing up and getting older.

But it’s a bigger story than B-movie actor David Arquette, and there’s even more to that story than most casual BME fans will know. At its core, The Bible Spelled Backwards Does Not Change the Fact that You Cannot Kill David Arquette and Other Things I Learned in the Black Math Experiment is the story of a musician and artist trying to find his place in the world. It’s the work of one of the city’s most unique and ballsy musicians, and a group of (mostly) like-minded individuals who decided to give it a go and see what happened.

The result is an easy read, one that once you start you likely won’t be able to put down (I couldn’t). Rouner, who according to the book, is a “former hypnotist, transvestite, and luchador turned rock star,” does an excellent job of catering to the ADD-addled brains of today’s music fan and keeps his chapters–most of which tell a single anecdote–short.

Rouner’s mind may be unconventional–he admits phobias about everyday tasks yet would likely strip down and run around naked without the slightest hesitation–but he relates his thoughts and feelings in a likable, readable way. For example, where else but in The Bible Spelled Backwards Does Not Change the Fact That You Cannot Kill David Arquette… will you find not only the best brand of toilet paper to use in a paper cannon, but also how to build said cannon, where to find the least expensive materials, and how many toilet paper rolls you can expect to fire in a minute? Similarly, those who always wondered what goes on behind the scenes of The Rocky Horror Picture Show or how Hitler could come to power will find their questions answered, or their assumptions confirmed.

The book touches on the author’s childhood and outcast teenage years, and Rouner lets the reader conclude on his or her own how tough it probably was without delving too deeply into the drama. He discusses family, death, politics, and religion, the outlook on the latter being pretty much what one would expect. He abhors organized religion (who doesn’t?)–Christianity in particular–and while he thankfully never gets preachy, there’s more underneath the surface. Obviously, his wife’s unfortunate upbringing (read the book) plays a huge part in his disdain, but wearing it as a badge of honor seems hardly better than those he rallies against, and these passages tend to drag the book down. Maybe it’s because those who claim not to care about religion seem to talk a lot about it.

Regardless, The Bible Spelled Backwards… is an interesting glimpse into an artist’s mind. BME fans will appreciate the behind-the-scenes information while aspiring musicians will hopefully learn not to give up on their dreams when faced with apathetic crowds and shady club owners. Those who have never heard the band, or don’t even like the band’s music, will find the book engaging. And, while Rouner comes off as having a devil-may-care attitude, even championing his blase outlook with a bit about his finest moment being when he overheard a woman tell a friend, “That guy just doesn’t care,” one thing the book does very effectively is to show that he truly does care.

The Bible Spelled Backwards Does Not Change the Fact that You Cannot Kill David Arquette and Other Things I Learned in the Black Math Experiment is available on Amazon.com for $11.99. Buy a copy. More information on The Black Math Experiment may be found at www.myspace.com/theblackmathexperiment.

Here is a video of Jef With One F reading the first chapter of his book:

Here’s a video of the band rehearsing:

You can buy your copy of the album on CD and vinyl from G&P Records or download at Amazon.com.

In Local H news, the band will play Scout Bar in Clear Lake on Sunday, April 18th.