2008 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase

Deep Ella (7 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Alternative Rock
www.myspace.com/deepella

Deep Ella began as Jeff Crowder's solo acoustic project in the early years of this decade, before growing in both personnel and appeal until today the five-piece is one of Houston's top draws. Like Linkin Park and Radiohead — though closer analogues might be fellow Texans Endochine and Blue October — Deep Ella navigates a course between guitars and electronics (and trumpets and violin), turmoil and serenity. DE's second CD, last year's Empty Seas and Memories, both cemented and expanded its fan base; a forthcoming EP should do likewise. — C.G.

Southern Backtones (8 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Songwriter (Hank Schyma)
www.myspace.com/southernbacktones

It's as regular as the mail: Every year come HPMA time, Southern Backtones is nominated for something. This year it's Best Songwriter (for lead singer/guitarist Hank Schyma), but if there were a Classic Rock category and ZZ Top were ineligible, they'd probably own it like the Zydeco Dots own Zydeco. It's still not quite that simple: The Backtones' sound is as evocative of Blondie or BRMC as the Smiths or the Stones, so whatever the category, it's enough that the group is here. A new EP is due in the fall. — C.G.

Indian Jewelry (9 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Local Album (Free Gold), Best Local Song ("Swans"), Best Unclassifiable Band
www.myspace.com/indianjewelry

The first rule of Indian Jewelry seems to be "You do not talk about Indian Jewelry." How do you talk about a band whose name has been known to change daily, whose membership fluctuates almost as much and whose sound is nearly impossible to pin down? Well, if you're Indian Jewelry, you simply ascribe the phrase "certainly comparable" to what you do and forget you were ever asked. Whatever you want to call it, Indian Jewelry creates something that is at times terrifying, beautiful, unbearably caustic, sweetly melodic, and...oh, fuck it. Just come see for yourself. — N.L.H.

The Small Sounds (4 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Unclassifiable Band
www.myspace.com/thesmallsounds

Small Sounds is composed of local vets from innumerable ensembles that made a few scratch marks on the scene here and there. Its first album, The Small Sounds, will finally be released in August and, like the band's live shows, features a deliciously eerie amalgam of pop, alt-country and a lazy psychedelic lope characteristic of bands like Li'l Cap'n Travis and Beachwood Sparks. Locally, it makes for an outfit that can play anywhere from Armadillo Palace to Rudz to the Continental. — W.M.S.

The Literary Greats (5 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best New Act
www.myspace.com/theliterarygreats

Say you're a nameless Americana/indie-rock group with an honest-to-goodness folk-pop sound that crushes the "only Austinites can do that kind of music in Texas" stereotype; maybe you're only three cardigan sweaters and one super-catchy single away from sneaking onto every snarky indie purist's blog. Then, obscurity set to be cast aside, you name yourself the Literary Greats. Congratulations — you've just destined pretty much everything ever written about your band to begin with the same warmed-over Chaucer joke. When these guys make the cover of Rolling Stone with a heading like "The Literary Greats: True to Thine Own Selves," we're totally gonna be laughing at them. — S.S.

Zydeco Dots (6 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Zydeco
www.zydecodots.tripod.com

If anyone else has ever even won the Best Zydeco HPMA, it's been awhile, certainly a long time before I ever got here. Formed in 1987, the Zydeco Dots have dominated this category like Roger Federer (until recently) dominated Wimbledon. I suppose there could be an ­accordion-squeezing, rubboard-scraping Rafael Nadal out there somewhere, but until they turn up, the Dots have to be the overwhelming favorite. The group's latest CD, 2007's Never Walked Away, is its seventh. — C.G.

Espantapajaros (7 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Rock en Español
www.myspace.com/espantapajarosmusic

The name may be a mouthful, but Espantapajaros's music will be instantly familiar to anyone who's ever taken a trip to the Dark Side of the Moon. However, says Buenos Aires native Pablo Espantapajaros, it was the Black Crowes' 1992 LP The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion that "opened the door." Fair enough; hard to imagine the Crowes would disapprove of such incense-clouded songs as "Psicotropico" and "Where Do You Go?" EPs Madera, Siguiendo a la Estrella and Aqui, Ahora, Siempre... are black-light-friendly for sure. — C.G.

Spain Colored Orange (8 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Miscellaneous Instrument (Gilbert Alfaro), Best Indie Rock
www.myspace.com/spaincolouredorange

Two years ago, Spain Colored Orange took home four HPMAs, including Local Album of the Year for Hopelessly Incapable of Standing in the Way, and ever since they have graciously allowed other local indie-rock bands like Young Mammals to have a moment in the sun while preparing follow-up Sneaky Like a Villain. The band promises its imminent release, though, and early leaks like "Music Box" show its songs are still as quirky as they are catchy (and vice versa), so the 2009 HPMAs could have a decidedly Orange hue all over again. — C.G.