Moses Guest

Most of the band doesn't live here anymore, but Best Laid Plans, the latest CD from Moses Guest (Continental Club, July 4-5) was recorded at Montrose Studios, so that makes them local, right? Of course it does. Or as local as they can be considering practically the entire disc is about the pleasure and pain of the road. Musically, it jams (duh), but it's closer to the Southern boogie — albeit laid-back boogie — of the Allman Brothers or Widespread Panic than the Grateful Dead's dark-star trips. The song lengths will still outlast all but the stoutest joints, though. Not so for the bands congregating at an Independence Day Houston/Austin punk-rock summit (and rumored 6 p.m. barbecue) on Washington. This Moment in Black History, Black Congress, Thieves Like Us, Camp X-Ray and Monocles (Walter's, July 4) do it quick, raw and dirty, just like 500 Megatons of Boogie and the Jonx (Rudz, July 5) — the new Jonx CD is already making waves; let's just hope it's out soon. Beguiling indie torch singer Sabra Laval (Notsuoh, July 6) may be about to replace Opie Hendrix as the most recent Houstonian to pull up stakes for greener pastures — her current MySpace headline is "Moving back to Denton friends" — but she'll be back July 28, so the separation anxiety won't be too great. But isn't that what they always say?