Fifty Great Albums Released in 2010 (Part Four)

OFF! - First Four EPs


Best Tracks: "Poison City," "Now I'm Pissed," "Rat Trap"

Punk is dead, except for those few people that choose to keep it alive. OFF! is a supergroup of a bunch of old school punk guys that just want to make the music they love and they do it with complete style. This could have come out in 1980, but it came out in 2010 instead. Total retro album and for fans of this sort of thing, a true delight. (Original Grade: B)

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Sepulcros de Miel


Best Tracks: "Part II," "Part III," "Part IV," "Part VIII"

Essentially a thirty minute jam, Sepulcros de Miel covers a range of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's usual styles. It's an effective encompassing of what he does and it's a hell of a listen. On this one, Omar is accompanied by his brother, drummer Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez, bassist Juan Alderete, and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist and frequent collaborator John Frusciante. A group of supremely talented musicians, it's amazing that they can simply jam for that long and still keep you entertained without any consistent musical themes throughout except for the synth loop that begins and ends the album. (Original Grade: B)

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Cizaña de los Amores


Best Tracks: "No Hay Más Respuestas," "Victimas del Cielo," "Infiel Hasta la Muerte"

Like its spiritual predecessors, Xenophanes and Solar Gambling, Cizaña de los Amores focuses on concise, pop-structured songwriting less than jamming like Omar's usual fare. It's the kind of album that his fans had often wanted him to make and it turns out almost as well as the first two of its type. It lacks in the bombast of Xenophanes and the songs just aren't quite as good as Solar Gambling, but it's another fantastic release of this style. (Original Grade: B+)

The Saddest Landscape - You Will Not Survive


Best Tracks: "Eternity is Lost on the Dying," "Imperfect But Ours," "So Lightly Thrown"

The Saddest Landscape made their return after five years of hiatus this year and came back roaring with their first new material in that time, You Will Not Survive. Despite being a short album, it packs a massive punch to the gut, with seven explosive tracks. The Saddest Landscape is just getting started on their comeback with this album. (Original Grade: not reviewed)

Sed Non Satiata - Sed Non Satiata


Best Tracks: "Les colonnes de soie," "Calle Jaen 23... ou l'antre de la bête"

The French screamo band's new self-titled release is a force to be reckoned with. While some songs run on a little bit long, they're all primo tracks. "Calle Jaen 23... ou l'antre de la bête" in particular is an instrumental with wailing, tortured guitars that reminds one of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour at times. (Original Grade: not reviewed)

Screaming Females - Castle Talk


Best Tracks: "A New Kid," "Fall Asleep," "Ghost Solo"

Screaming Females frontwoman Marissa Paternoster proves once again that she's the queen of the epic riff on Castle Talk, their latest album. The more upbeat songs are fun punk rock to get down to while the slower songs remind one of Sleater-Kinney's indie riot grrrl days. (Original Grade: not reviewed)

Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here


Best Tracks: "Your Soul and Mine," "I'll Take Care of You," "Where Did the Night Go," "Running"

Gil Scott-Heron's battles with drug addiction and illness come through his gravelly voice on I'm New Here, a dark blues album that casts the civil rights activist in a new light. It's a deeply personal album, but it shows no bitterness. I'm New Here makes it clear that Scott-Heron isn't going down without a fight. (Original Grade: A)

She & Him - Volume Two


Best Tracks: "Ridin' in My Car," "Gonna Get Along Without You Now," "I'm Gonna Make It Better," "Over It Over Again," "Brand New Shoes"

Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward's project together returns with a new album of old school style folk and country songs. It's a classicist approach to those genres and it seems like they would have been a good fit to play on The Porter Wagoner Show back in the day. In 2010, it's a nice listen for relaxation. (Original Grade: B)

sIngs - Hells


Best Tracks: "Panic Pig," "House," "You're"

sIngs makes heavily distorted, shoegaze sort of music that might remind one of My Bloody Valentine. They don't have very much upbeat material though, focusing mainly on depressing and pensive music, especially on songs like "House" which is mostly an acoustic song. This is their debut EP and it promises amazing things to come. They're already my favorite band in Houston. (Original Grade: A)

Snowing - I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted


Best Tracks: "So I Shotgunned a Beer and Went Back to Bed," "Could Be Better Forever"

Snowing uses the classic 90's template of emo and runs with it. They're a truly classic leaning band, uninterested in following trends of today. That makes them somewhat unique in the current landscape and extremely enjoyable. (Original Grade: not reviewed)

REPRINT SERIES: sIngs, Somosuno and more (3/12/10)

[Ed. Note: Presented, as always, without edits in the original form I wrote it. Better, worse? You decide.]

On one of the odder days of my life, I somehow ended up at a place colloquially known as "The Ponderosa" seeing some local bands on Friday night. It's a long story of getting lost in Houston that led to me ending up there, I had actually been intending to go to the Fat Tony show at the Tipping Point that night, but I'll spare the details and get on with the bands.

First up to bat was the psychotically punk Somosuno. It was frontman Fernando Alejandro's 21st birthday and he was typically on fire, dancing through the crowd in the tiny, cramped room, crowd surfing, jumping off anything in sight, and shouting/rapping Spanish lyrics at a ridiculous pace that pretty much blew my mind. The rest of the band dutifully backed him up, holding down the rhythm with post-Fugazi riffage and a horn player for texture. Having only seen their name on bills of shows I didn't attend, it was a welcome surprise to find out how good they were.

When I asked when they were going to play, sIngs told me they preferred to go on second, and true to their word they were the middle band of the night. I have actually seen sIngs before, opening for Cursive at Walter's on Washington last year, but they started playing before Walter's would let anybody in the building so I only got to see about half of their set. What I heard then was a tremendous slice of shoegazing noisey post-rock soaked in enough distortion and feedback to destroy your eardrums even with earplugs in. Suffice it to say, I loved it.

They were just as good on Friday night too, covering mostly the same territory as the last time I saw them. I never got to see them when it was just singer/guitarist/drummer/band mastermind Brett Taylor playing on his own, so I can't compare it to that, though I've heard that was amazing as well. With the full band though, Taylor, accompanied by Buxton alumni Jason Willis on guitar and Justin Terrell on drums, as well as David Ibarra on bass, is able to do so much more, including making a lot more noise. There's an odd beauty in the cacophony, which can probably be attributed to the melodic songwriting piercing through the dissonance. I'm anxiously awaiting the release of their album, which they're having a release party for at Mango's on April 17th. Try to make that show if you can, it should be awesome.

Caddywhompus played last. I've had their demos since last summer, which probably marks the longest time for me between hearing a local band's music and seeing them perform. The band is only made up of the duo of scene vet Chris Rehm on guitar/vocals and Sean Hart, yet they're loud enough for a ten-piece band. Like sIngs, they make a great deal of noise, but it's pure lo-fi punk in the vein of bands like No Age. In the live setting their songs lost some of their clarity, as well as the synthesizer parts on the album, but it was just as much of a fun, raucous show as I expected. They're going to have a split 7" release with sIngs coming out soon so be on the lookout for that.

Despite the bizarre way my night started, which included accidentally wandering into DiverseWorks Fotofest 2010 among other things, it was fortunate that I ended up at "The Ponderosa" as it was probably the most fun local show I've been to in a while. All three bands performed like their lives depended on making this show rock and rock they did. I left with my ears ringing and I couldn't have been happier about it.