2009 Concert Rewind: The 2009 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase and Ceremony

Chris Gray December 25, 2009 4:00PM

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Showcase Sunday, Part 1

Dominique: "We guess critics would call her style 'neo-soul,' but it didn't seem very 'neo' to me, more like 'jazzy soul.' She fronted a piano-led trio with two backing vocalists and from the first sultry Fender Rhodes groove to the final explosive climax, she added some spice to HOB's catfish and shrimp." Greg Ellis

Mitch Jacobs Band: "Mitch Jacobs and band are tonkin' and twangin' hard. Jacobs goes into his Johnny Cash voice and does a restrained opening to Tom Petty's 'I Won't Back Down' before unleashing his band. The crowd is suddenly his." William Michael Smith

Runaway Sun: "Doesn't take long for blues-rock foursome Runaway Sun to go into full-on rock-star mode. The place is packed right now, and guitarist Daniel de Luna is absolutely killing it. People are literally hooting and hollering." Shea Serrano

Sideshow Tramps: "Every showcase, it seems we pick up a new favorite band, and this year's honors go to Sideshow Tramps. After launching into a rollicking acoustic rendition of 'When The Saints Go Marching In' that led the band through the audience and out the door, Geoffrey Muller remounted the stage and announced "We're the Sideshow Tramps, and if you couldn't tell, we don't give a fuck.'" Nicholas L. Hall

Showcase Sunday, Part 2

B L A C K I E: "His show at Dean's Credit Clothing found him climbing his amps and jumping onto the venue's bar as if it were an inviting skyscraper ledge. With each show we see, the man seems to get more frantic and feral." Craig Hlavaty

Glenna Bell: "The folksters hummed and swayed with straight teeth and inside voices, making way for a songstress that lights campfires. Glenna, we raise our griddle-cakes to you." Brandon K. Hernsberger

MELOVINE: "The band's energy was high as they tore into their set of alterna-metal, falling somewhere between Tool and He Is Legend... pretty radio-friendly, if radio still played metal. (No, screamo doesn't count. Stop it.)" John Seaborn Gray

Benjamin Wesley: "It's a little clearer that Wesley's songs - the electro/hip-hop skiffle of "Have You Ever Died?," for example - belong in the same class as Spoon's Britt Daniel or My Morning Jacket's Jim James, referencing the entire spectrum of pop music while maintaining a singular individuality." Chris Gray

Dixie Trahan: "While Trahan and her writing partner/husband have a few original songs in the set, it didn't take Aftermath long to realize we were essentially listening to a cover band. A good cover band, but a cover band nonetheless. And the vibe was 'let's line dance.'" William Michael Smith