Deadbeat Summer

Now that the festival is over--yes, THAT festival--I’m feeling a little empty. Don’t get me wrong, this city always has good music on the docket, especially as of the last few years, but there’s no obvious mindblowers in July. There’s no one scheduled who would cause me to charge the barricades like a screaming, teenage fangirl (pardon the patriarchal music trope).

We have lots of returning Top-40, big-hitters this month, but not much else that would be obvious to the casual observer just keeping his or her ear to the ground. But I have my sources, and I have assembled a handful of shows that are sure to please.

Thursday, July 24th - Natural Child / Pujol / Cool Piss @ Walter’s

Natural Child are an oasis of authenticity in a desert full of roots-rock wannabes. They truly sound like a mix of the Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead, with bawdy, soul-drenched lyrics, and down-home, slide guitar savvy. Yeah, I know that seems like a really hard-to-imagine combo, but if it’s one that sounds appealing to you know, look up “Don’t Pass the Time Quickly” on YouTube or Spotify. They put on a fantastic live show.

Saturday, July 19th - Cop Warmth / RU-486 / Funeral Parlor (and more) @ Mango’s

Cop Warmth always plays a different show each time, and no I don’t mean it in that you-never-step-into-the-same-river-twice bullshit. These local noise-rockers have so much energy to get out, and maybe so much steam blow off, that the entire set sort of blends together seamlessly, like panic attack that inspires you to put your fist through a stained-glass picture window. Well worth revisiting these shows, time after time. Can you precisely duplicate an explosion? I rest my case.

Monday, July 21st - The Antlers @ Fitzgerald’s

There’s music you rock out to and there’s music that you rock into, and The Antlers would be an example of the latter. These guys play a washed-out, sometimes gloomy, navel-rock that does a good job of taking you out of the particular section of space and time you’re inhabiting, at least for the duration of their set. While their latest album, “Familiar”, is a little more cheery than past efforts (such as the morbidly-named “Hospice” from 2009), it still has that kernel of sad psychedelia that makes for waking dreamscapes, painted with dulcimer-like guitars and cavernous reverb.

Sunday, July 6th - American Sharks / We Were Wolves @ Boondocks

Friday, July 11th - Hearts of Animals, Young Mammals, LIMB @ Rudyards (free show)

Saturday, July 12th - Black Joe Lewis @ Saengerfest Park (Galveston)

Thursday, July 17th - Los Lonely Boys @ House of Blues