1.) Head to the Stockyards tonight (Friday) and pull up a seat at Filthy McNasty’s for a night of folk and country courtesy of pickin’ prodigy Luke McGlathery and his band and Armadillo Creek, a newly formed “trashgrass” act that injects a healthy cocktail of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll into traditional American roots music. If NPR’s Acoustic Café added bands like this to its playlist, that show would be a whole lot more exciting to listen to.
2.) You’ve probably seen Big Mike’s Box of Rock play note-for-note renditions of most of KZPS’ daily playlists, and given that last year featured two massively attended cover festivals at Lola’s Saloon, you probably enjoyed hearing your favorite alt- and classic-rock hits played live. You probably dig covers, in other words, which is why you need to be at Lola’s tonight for Stoogeaphilia, with high-octane rock and prog-punk from openers The Dangits and One-Fingered Fist, plus redneck poetry from William Bryan Massey III. While “the little Stooge band”’s setlist is full of proto-punk and heavy garage rock, the band also destroys tracks from other ’70s-era underground punks like Television and the Dead Boys. I love hearing people take on Fleetwood Mac harmony parts as much as the next person, but hearing Stoogeaphilia frontman Ray Liberio belt out stuff like “Now I Wanna Be Your Dog” (and possibly roll around in peanut butter) is a visceral, high-volume experience.
3.) Multi-instrumentalist Robert Ellis’ brand of country-rock could be unfairly lumped in with the rest of the fresh-faced, pearlsnap-clad Texas Country acts that clog so many regional stages, because it’s folky and rootsy and he’s a handsome guy with a nice voice. But outside of that reduction, his songs are personal and soulful, much deeper than the “I learned three chords and write songs about drinking beer on the river” bullshit that’s crowded the country scene for so long. He’s playing at Shipping & Receiving tonight, and since the weather will likely force the show indoors, expect a memorable, intimate performance. Given S&R’s urban loft vibe, it’ll feel like you’re watching him play in your friend’s pad.
4.) Remember how the Fort Worth edition of last year’s Untapped Festival franchise went on despite the finger-numbing chill from wind and drizzle? If you know a member of the Quaker City Nighthawks, be sure to ask him about it — they rocked hard, frozen fingers and all. And like last year, this year’s edition of the indie rock/craft beer event will go on whether the weather is nice or not. All signs point to heavy precipitation on Saturday, so cover your body accordingly. With headliners De La Soul, Ariel Pink, and The Sword, you probably want to brave getting rained on. Local acts Telegraph Canyon and Doug Burr will also perform, and there will be more than 250 craft beers available from eighty-freakin’-four different breweries, making Panther Island Pavilion the place to hang in the rain this weekend. And since Fort Worth music fans love them some cover songs, here’s The Sword doing “Cheap Sunglasses.”
5.) When a band takes a really good name, they’re kind of under pressure to live up to it, so it follows that if you name your band Conan, you’d better be heavy as fuck. Luckily, this Liverpool, England, band understands this, delivering sludgy destruction that hits like a battle axe to the chest. Currently in the middle of a U.S. tour with the German black metal duo Mantar, Conan conquers Lola’s on Sunday, along with Richmond, Va., doom trio Sinister Haze. Crom may laugh at the four winds, but he gives Conan his blessing.
