THE HOUSTON MUSIC SCENE: POLITICAL SUBVERSION

Taking up the challenge implied by this Real Art post from a week ago, Mike over at This is not a compliment makes a first attempt at defining the largely unknown Houston music scene, and manages to turn me into a believer. Go check it out. I'm particularly fond of the Linus Pauling Quartet, but Charlie Naked, Freedom Sold and ASHS are pretty great, too.

The really solid quality of the work going on in the Bayou City leads me to an inescapable conclusion: good music doesn't necessarily translate into good reputation. What is it about H-Town that makes it seem to be such a cultural backwater? My speculation is that there is very little community and institutional support for grassroots arts in Houston, but I really have no idea what the deal is.

At any rate, Mike's attempt to illustrate that there is, indeed, something going on worth listening to in the Space City might ultimately lead to an overall codification of Houston's music scene, which in turn, might make it more easily understandable as a concept. That is, trying to pin down what Houston music is all about could change the city's reputation as being simply a haven for strip malls, freeways, and corporate radio.

You know, given that Houston is so totally Bush country, so totally anti-cultural and Republican, indeed, the conservative vision of what a city should be, pushing the local music scene becomes pretty subversive on a political level, and, ultimately, that's what real art is all about.

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