Houston’s Music Scene Returns with a Post-Harvey Vengeance: The Concerts You Need to See — Fail Proof Weekend Guru Picks

And we back, and we back, and we back, and we back … Weeks after Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston, the city is beginning to look like the city again (honestly, this started with last weekend’s Janet Jackson concert.) Back at it, PaperCity’s Weekend Guru Matthew Ramirez cuts through the clutter to give you the best weekend options in this weekly series.

Mr. Grieves
Seattle’s Grieves has been a fixture on the underground scene since before anyone ever heard of a Macklemore. If you’re unfamiliar, rewind a decade or so and open up a Spin magazine, when dudes like Atmosphere, Brother Ali, and Murs were all threatening to blow (as well as anyone on the Rhymesayers label). His brand of hip-hop is decidedly anti-commercial, but smart and engaging nonetheless. Think of a trippier Aesop Rock and you’re halfway there.

Houston’s Flyger Woods, one of the city’s most exciting up-and-coming rappers whose ratatat flow is currently en vogue as Goldlink peaks in popularity, will open Saturday, September 15 at House of Blues. Doors open at 8 pm; tickets are $15.

Hella Personal
Everyman Chicago rapper Open Mike Eagle is an anomaly — a master storyteller and lyrical genius, but also a gifted humorist, whose sharp take on race and music history has led to a second career as podcast host and comedian. However, he’s no novelty act either. His one-of-a-kind pathos as artist and thinker is what makes him one of the most compelling voices in music and comedy today.

He’s touring behind Friday’s just-released Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, another slice of excellent lyrical hip-hop. He hits The Secret Group Saturday, with doors opening at 8 pm and tickets starting at $12.

Night Swim
Dent May is a fine singer for the NPR crowd, but the main appeal at this show for me is opener Frankie Rose, a workhorse songwriter and performer whose career kicked off a decade ago with indie stars Vivian Girls, before she branched out with a band of her own before finally recording a stellar run of records as a solo artist.

Her release from this year, Cage Tropical, is an excellent rebound from 2014’s Herein Wild, and of a piece with 2012’s retro-leaning, psychedelic Interstellar, one of the great slept-on indie albums of this decade. So show up early for Rose Monday at Walters Downtown; doors open at 8 pm, with tickets just $10.

Saturation
Brockhampton hail from San Marcos but have relocated to Los Angeles with a fully formed West Coast aesthetic, all sunsets and Vans and cargo shorts, as well as an ear for sounds and melodies taken straight from the Odd Future songbook. The self-described “boy band” is a unique mixture of about three things at once: post-Chance the Rapper hip-hop, sunny pop-rock sounds, and a finger on the diverse pulse of what teens in the Soundcloud age listen to.

Don’t believe in the appeal of this deeply odd music? The show is sold out, as the band prepares to release their third album in as many months. But no matter, hit SeatGeek for tickets, or wait until the day of when they’ll undoubtedly release more. Tuesday at Warehouse Live, with doors opening at 8 pm; ticket prices vary.