THE LASHES, THE CHARMING SNAKES, JERK WITH A BOMB
(Graceland) Rife with off-putting in-jokes (the duo refer to themselves exclusively as "One Easy Skag" and "The Silo" in liner notes, boast record titles like Death to False Metal, and first and foremost, there's the issue of the band name itself) and twanged tongue, Jerk with a Bomb mark another tally in an alarmingly sweeping trend from up north--the terrifying lockjaw vocal epidemic amongst Vancouver's rock scene. From Hot Hot Heat to Frog Eyes to the Red Light Sting--I just can't discern syllables anymore. I mean, can a few hundred miles really cause that much of a language barrier? At least in the case of JWAB, it's added for effect: a dark, dirgy, and soulful caterwaul that seems to owe more to immediate dirty-fingernailed contemporaries like the Black Heart Procession than any more profound lineage. ZAC PENNINGTON
AVEO, HYPATIA LAKE, THE TERROR SHEETS, MINES
(Chop Suey) In an event planned to raise money for what appears to be a rather nonspecific lefty political-action committee (dubbed, in stars and stripes, "Music for America"), Aveo aggravates us yet again with a glimpse at its "new" (please note snide quotation marks) material, the contents of the band's long-in-the-can and as-yet-unreleased sophomore record. I've sneakily acquired an earful of the Phil Ek-produced album, tentatively titled Battery, and I must say, I'm impressed. To indulge a likely parallel, what I've heard of the new material is to their stunning debut what Meat Is Murder was to The Smiths--divergent, comparably bright, and more sonically concise. Now if only someone just had the good sense to put it out. ZAC PENNINGTON
DELERIUM, CONJURE ONE, SIDESTEPPER
(Showbox) This is Delerium's first tour, but don't expect Sarah McLachlan to step out on stage with Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber, the techno project's creative core. The diva behind Delerium's most recog-nizable dance single, "Silence" (from their 1997 gold album Karma), will most likely appear only as a disembodied voice on DAT, but who cares? Kristy Thirsk of the Rose Chronicles will be on hand to sing "Returning" from the group's new album Chimera. Leeb and Fulber (formerly of Front Line Assembly, the Vancouver, BC, industrial outfit) started excavating the pretty ethnobeat artifacts left over by Enigma during the early '90s, and they've done so quite successfully with the benefit of accomplished singers like Thirsk, Julee Cruise, and the Medi*val B*bes. Fulber even created his own femvox-techno side project, Conjure One, which opens this show. Sidestepper's Latin-infused DJ sets serve as interludes. DAVID SLATTON
FRIDAY 9/5
CARRIE AKRE, GREG MARKEL, ACTIONSLACKS
(Crocodile) Actionslacks singer/guitarist Tim Scanlin first showcased his literary gifts in SnackCake!, a Berkeley-based zine reviewing not only mass-produced supermarket pastries, but music as well. He formed Actionslacks around the same time, and the band's 1996 debut, Too Bright, Just Right, Good Night, was a supercharged blast of reference-laden indie rock. By 2002 the band had called it quits, but ended on a high note by releasing The Scene's Out of Sight and career catch-all Never Never Shake, Baby, an EP featuring live material from earlier albums as well as a killer cover of "She Talks in Stereo." KATHLEEN WILSON
DEAD MOON, THE NIGHTMARES, STEVE TURNER
(Tractor) Formed in 1987, Dead Moon is an inspiration to anyone who worries that age may render the joy of playing rock 'n' roll in small clubs ridiculous. Grandparents for years now, husband-and-wife garage punks Fred and Toody began as the Rats outside of Portland in Clackamas, Oregon, then added drummer Andrew Loomis, and the legend that is Dead Moon was born. Whether you're still young or getting on in years, this band will make you feel great about the future. KATHLEEN WILSON
CARLA BOZULICH, JOLIE HOLLAND, A. J. ROACH
(Sunset, late) As singer for the Geraldine Fibbers, Carla Bozulich proved herself to be a woman blessed with a storyteller's voice possessing the ability to make punkish alt-country songs come alive as vividly as books made into movies. Vocalist and fiddle player Jolie Holland has collaborated with the Be Good Tanyas and lent her accordion skills to David Dondero's Shooting at the Sun with a Water Gun. KATHLEEN WILSON
SATURDAY 9/6
PHASER, MELLOWDRONE, VOYAGER ONE, DJ MISS CARA
(Graceland, late) See preview, page 37.
HINT HINT, INFOMATIK, TOURIST, TRIUMPH OF LETHARGY SKINNED ALIVE TO DEATH
(Aftermath Gallery) After their great rendition of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" at a recent tribute night, I was excited to see Infomatik's first public performance as a band when they played a couple Fridays ago at Kim's (located behind the Oh Boy! Oberto Factory Outlet on Rainier Ave). I wasn't disappointed--their modern take on the darkness of the Joy Division sound is entirely fresh. And I'll say it again, their drummer Colin is an ace. Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death is, in the words of singer Spencer Moody, "shitty samples and a cheap guitar." KATHLEEN WILSON
SUNDAY 9/7
D·LEK, BOBBY KARATE, NORMAN
(Graceland) See preview, page 39.
ZEKE, EASY ACTION, 25 SUAVES
(Studio Seven) What takes most bands four to five members to accomplish, 25 Suaves rock as a duo. The Michigan act, headed by Bulb Records kingpin Mr. Velocity Hopkins (AKA Pete Larson), is loud, sweaty, smash-the-beer-can-against-your-skull rock, performed by a husband-and-wife duo who freak out like AC/DC as interpreted by Karp. Their electrified brain bomb is an experiment in repetitive, insistent math rock divided by the lowest common denominator of getting your ass in motion--an equation compounded by Hopkins' penchant for charging into the audience to further relay the intensity. If you can stand still through a 25 Suaves set, it's really time to kick the meds and just say no to emotional equilibrium. They rule. JENNIFER MAERZ
FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE
(EMP) You know that feeling of recognition and discomfort--the relief that someone completely understands you, coupled with absolute embarrassment that they do? If you grew up in the 'burbs, Fountains of Wayne are likely to score a bull's-eye on that front. With the release of Welcome Interstate Managers, New Jersey's finest pop band has once again turned timeless topics like high-school crushes, crappy home electronics, dead-end futures, and bad waitresses into instantly classic, sing-along, Bic-flicking anthems. Sort of like an updated soundtrack to That '70s Show, come to think of it. Ever had a crush on someone's parent, cursed your answering machine because there's not a message from you-know-who, gotten stoned and contemplated the meaning of life and/or suffered through shitty jobs with stupid bosses, and wished you had the right soundtrack for your so-called life? See you at FOW--and don't forget your lighter. BARBARA MITCHELL
THE GLORYHOLES, HEAD, THE DISKORDS, THEE FLYING DUTCHMEN
(Sunset, early) The Diskords are so wise beyond their years they're sick; at an age when most kids are fumbling through Lord of the Flies, these guys had already finished the real story of survival-of-the-fittest (or really, the luckiest), Please Kill Me, and had thrown aside their Ramones/Johnny Thunders cover band to do their own punk-as-fuck thing. The fact that they're in their early teens isn't the only reason to see them--it just means that when they mature to an age when they can actually drive themselves to shows (and have perfected their craft even further), we'll really have to watch out. As it is, they've got a great, snotty Dead Boys/Heartbreakers thing going on, with super catchy songs that incorporate punchy choruses, handclaps, and titles like "You Ain't Gonna Be That Pretty" and--my favorite--"Savage Love." These kids totally own it. JENNIFER MAERZ
Monday 9/8
PLUM ST., SAETA, GUESTS
(Chop Suey) See Stranger Suggests, page 23.
SUPERJOINT RITUAL, GUESTS
(Graceland) Superjoint Ritual crawl forth from the same infamous bayou-metal breeding ground that formerly spawned the likes of Soilent Green, Eyehategod, and Acid Bath, and they dish out a brand of swampy Southern boogie-metal that fans of those bands will feel at home with. At the same time, their all-star lineup--which includes bassist Hank Williams III and Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo, along with Eyehategod guitarist Jimmy Bower and former Dead Horse drummer Joe Fazzio--means they're also on the radar of plenty of folks who've never even heard of those other bands. Whatever the case, they've shown over the course of their two recent albums, Use Once and Destroy and the unfortunately titled A Lethal Dose of American Hatred (both on Sanctuary), that they're more than a mere side project or a vain ego trip. And they're worth listening to whether you despise Anselmo's other band or you're one of those scary people with a tattoo of him on one of your buttcheeks. WILLIAM YORK
Tuesday 9/9
SOCIAL DISTORTION, THE HANGMEN, DEK
(Showbox) See Underage, page 49.
UGLY DUCKLING, BLUE SCHOLARS, DAMON (aka XNTRIK)
(Chop Suey) These days, very few black rappers are into comedy. They're either dead serious (50 Cent) or childish (Nelly). White rappers, from superstars such as Eminem to rising stars like Princess Superstar, MC Paul Barman, and Ugly Duckling, are now the main producers of comic hiphop. LA's Ugly Duckling learned the art of hiphop comedy from the masters of the form, the Pharcyde, an early-'90s black rap group who in turn learned the art from De La Soul, Beastie Boys, and, I would argue, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. Why are so many black rappers so into themselves that they can no longer laugh at their own folly, weaknesses, and limitations in the manner of the old-school black rappers and current white rappers? What caused the death of comedy in the black community? Where has all the laughter gone? These questions need to be solved sometime soon, but in the meantime, go out and laugh at and with Ugly Duckling. CHARLES MUDEDE Also see The Truth, page 46.
Wednesday 9/10
THE LIFE AND TIMES, WATERY GRAVES, SUFFERING AND THE HIDEOUS THIEVES
(Graceland) See Stranger Suggests, page 23.
REVOLVER: THE GIRLS, COMIC NIGEL FANNYBANGER, ELECTRIC BLANKET, DJ PACO, DJ BRIAN EVERETT
(Chop Suey) The organizers behind Revolver have finally started to expand their monthly events beyond one band and a couple DJs into something a little more interesting (which isn't to say that they haven't chosen great bands--it's just that one band and a DJ isn't enough some nights). Tonight boasts a couple of different local music hotshots, as well as a comedian, a fashion show, and the requisite DJ, rounding out the old lineup with some new flavor. JENNIFER MAERZ
HANSON, GUESTS
(Showbox) At one of the heads of the boy band/teen pop breakthrough, Hanson were just three brothers from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who understood the infectiousness of sunny pop tunes and the importance of a well-recognized producer (the Dust Brothers) when making a record that would send you flying out of the gates. 1997's Middle of Nowhere was that memorable debut, the one that had you cranking the car radio (after quickly rolling up the windows) whenever the ubiquitous single "MMMBop" came on. The boys are almost all grown up now--guitarist Isaac must be of drinking age, singer/keyboardist Taylor should be old enough to buy porn, and drummer Zac might be driving his parents (or the band's tour-bus driver) crazy with that learner's permit of his. Tonight's show is said to be of the acoustic variety, so your guess is good as mine as to what to expect. KATHLEEN WILSON
2Mex + XOLOLANXINXO, Busdriver, Shapeshifters, AWOL ONE
(EMP) A thought-wreck of rap's arrogant mad talk, this could be an event to remember for many future late-night hiphop debates with your best friend's wall. I know! Busdriver's appeal is cultish, both hit-and-miss and a best-kept secret. Like someone who thinks he's onto something good and wants everyone to know it, his voice is low and serious, dipping into a dozen different voices and suddenly launching into speeds only found in David Mamet scripts (if they were read by Dizzee Rascal). Elsewhere, 2Mex offers Mexican spoken-word-ish indie-rock hiphop, while enough people have worked with the Shapeshifters to stop anyone else trying to create a unique niche of massively off-balanced and alien-fixated psychedelic stream-of-consciousness rap that has the chance to break (break it!) the last straw of summer's sanity. GUY FAWKES
