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Houston Music

MP3 of the Day: Tontons

One of the best things to happen to Houston so far this summer will take place over at Eleanor Tinsley park: Free Press Summer Fest. To get in the right mood, this week Rocks Off is featuring a different local Summer Fest artist each day. Today, fresh from the whirl of activity surrounding the release of their self-titled debut full-length, it's the Tontons.

Holding your own with a powerful lead singer like the Tontons' Asli Omar is hard for some musicians, but Adam Martinez (guitar), Tom Nguyen (bass) and Justin Martinez (drums) never seem to falter.

"Cocked Eyed Cowboys of Coleco County,"

"Cocked Eyed Cowboys of Coleco County,"

an instrumental that starts out like a soundtrack for an indie-western - we can just picture the gun-slinging, skinny-jean-clad, conquistador - only to turn into a surf-rock boogie at the end meant for a Frankie and Annete beach flick, except slightly more "far out."

Though it's not a likely choice for a single, so much time and talk is devoted to Omar it's about time the other three Tontons got a little spotlight. On this instrumental track, each musician seems to do his own thing until drummer Martinez's breakdown, when they are briefly brought together before scattering once more.

The Tontons play 1:10 p.m. Saturday on the Free Press Houston stage. Get Summer Fest ticket info at www.freepresshouston.com and www.pegstar.net.

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Kim Douglass
Contact: Kim Douglass