My last night of live music in Austin was spent at the Pretty Activity/Flameshovel showcase: two labels who have released a fair amount of fine music in the last few years. I arrived there during Ume’s set — Ume being the one group playing that I hadn’t been all that familiar with prior to the show — and liked what I heard: raging, distortion-filled rock that roared and swirled through the crowd.

Ume were followed by The Subjects and The End of the World. Each band takes a fairly traditional rock configuration and tweaks it somehow. In the case of The Subjects, some of that comes from the group’s distinctive vocals, which fit in with the compressed yet aggro feeling of the songs being played. The End of the World’s songs strike me as — this may make little to no sense, I’m willing to admit — pulsing more than jangling or coming from a blues- or folk-influenced structure. It’s a subtle distinction, but it makes for a constant sense of momentum, and that combined with Stefan Marolachakis’s voice is a fine combination.

Mannequin Men? Oh yes. When they played Flameshovel’s CMJ showcase, I alluded to…

…stripped down, noisy rock music played with abundant energy. Throw in dueling stage banter — the drummer graciously thanking the crowd, the singer shouting him down for a more confrontational approach…and you’ve got something amazing.

All that was present, plus a point when about twenty people got on stage. Madness, and infectious.

I’ve never seen a bad Bound Stems show. Their set Saturday night did nothing to change that fact, but even moreso than that, left me eagerly awaiting their upcoming The Family Afloat. As much as I’m fond of Appreciation Night, the newer songs ran through an at times grueling emotional range, veering into the beautifully cathartic. If the recorded versions are half as good, this band will have made an album to sit beside Seam’s Are You Driving Me Crazy? and The Wrens’ The Meadowlands.

Last up? Make Believe. Surrealistic rock that shouldn’t work on paper but does; certain bits of “Political Mysticism” remain lodged in my head a day later. And Flameshovel’s Jesse Woghin lent guest vocals to the set.

Tomorrow: some closing thoughts, odds & ends, etc. For now: this photo, taken on my way to lunch a few hours before heading back east.