From the Jun 17 – Jun 23, 2004 issue

Music

Up & Coming

THURSDAY 6/17
SECRET MACHINES, HINT HINT, CRYSTAL SKULLS
(Chop Suey) See preview, page 37.

NEED NEW BODY, HELLA, COBRA HIGH, BLACKBELT
(Neumo's) See preview, page 45.

TINKLEPOTTY, RUBENSTEIN M.D.
(2nd Avenue Pizza) Despite the name, Tinklepotty isn't a charming pop band comprising bespectacled indie rock boys. No, they're a Hawaiian duo that doesn't so much play one genre of music as create tremendous noise. That maelstrom involves screams, cellos, and facemasks that make you question what's happening while you're watching them, but you're also kind of okay with the fact that it doesn't make sense because not everything has to make sense. And Tinklepotty totally doesn't. Amen for that. MEGAN SELING

DMBQ, TRACTOR SEX FATALITY, THE DT'S
(Hideaway) Japan's DMBQ merge elements of psychedelic and garage rock into a heavy fireball of noise. They've said in interviews that American PA systems just don't make their music loud enough. (This from a bunch of longhairs who appreciate that Tokyo sound systems sometimes make the volume so massive they "feel nauseated.") We'll see if the Hideaway's got the juice tonight as the band blows through town with Tractor Sex Fatality and the DT's in tow. JENNIFER MAERZ

FRIDAY 6/18
FOURTHCITY LAPTOP BATTLE
(Chop Suey) See Data Breaker, page 56.

CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE, HYPATIA LAKE, TALKDEMONIC, POMERANIAN, JOY WANTS ETERNITY, DJ MATT NICHOLS
(Capitol Hill Arts Center) See Stranger Suggests, page 27.

THE MEXICAN BLACKBIRDS, BEAT SENSELESS, BLACKBELT, THE HOLLOWPOINTS, DJ TACO SUPREME
(Sunset) See Stranger Suggests, page 27.

BLACK CASTLE, ME INFECTO, SWARMING HORDES, THE ABODOX
(2nd Avenue Pizza) Swarming Hordes have left a hefty legend in their wake. With gnarly, gymnastic double-guitar riffage and drumming that shakes the earth, they are enigmatic metallists, wizards practicing the alchemy of battered and torn-through technical proficiency. They rip through solos and changes, with physical endurance seen in only the most high-caliber musical athletes, from Slayer to Hella. As you can imagine, there is a lot of sweat involved. JULIANNE SHEPHERD

ROCKY VOTOLATO, ROY, EYES OF AUTUMN
(Vera Project) Okay, You want that mathematical (as in tightly composed mazes of sound) brand of indie rock? Check. Eyes of Autumn will certainly give you that. Looking for a singer/songwriter with a powerful voice who sings heart-stoppingly honest lyrics like "So show me everything/I'm always aching to see/It's not pretty I know/But still this is who I'll always be"? Say hello to Rocky Votolato. And need some country-ish indie charm (by way of hardcore kids who found there are other genres out there than the ones where you scream, "Arrrg!")? Well there's the best the Northwest has to offer in Roy! Go to this cover-a-couple-bases-at-once show and you should leave liking at least one of three performers tonight (but chances are you'll enjoy all of 'em). Lucky you. MEGAN SELING

SATURDAY 6/19
THE KILLERS, ALIEN CRIME SYNDICATE, COBRA HIGH
(Neumo's) See preview, page 37.

THE DEAD VAMPIRES, ANNA OXYGEN, GOLD RUSH
(Patti Summers) See Live Wire, page 51.

CLUB PAR AVION, THE WARM JETS, DJ BELAN' ZEK, DJ SUPER JEW
(Hideaway) It's been a while since the Warm Jets have showed their synth-punk mugs in this town. The local party band faded away not too long after playing a U-District show last year as Osama Van Halen ("the Taliband"). But after months of hibernation, the cyber-sexual act is rearing its shaggy head at the Hideaway for a show that also promises drag queens, French pop, and a kissing booth. JENNIFER MAERZ

BUCKETHEAD'S GIANT ROBOT (FEATURING BUTTHOUSE AND BRAIN), PLEASEEASAUR
(Chop Suey) This Saturday night's the time for people who like to see indie chaps in KFC hats and bright yellow yeti costumes (AKA Buckethead) short-fuse performance funk onto death-metal, hiphop, after-school rock-opera, and the self-conscious-but-kind-of-nice eccentricity of drug-giggling song titles "Conveyor Belt Blues," "You Like Headcheese?" and "John Merrick-Elephant Man Bones Explosion." Sharing this bill is Pleaseeasaur, who can be funny sometimes. GUY FAWKES

PLEASURE CLUB, ROBERT ROTH, GRAIG MARKEL
(Sunset) New Orleans is a place of great beauty--as well as great darkness. One wrong turn off the tourist-friendly route can land you face-to-face with Evil himself. Pleasure Club (or at least half the band) hails from the Big Easy, and it shows. Spirituality and mortality, love and sex, glamour and decadence all collide in a potent brew as powerful and turbulent as the Mississippi River. By turns haunting and seductive, then driving and dangerous, it's a welcome shot of passion and soul. And the live show? I haven't heard the phrase "You MUST see this band" uttered with as much urgency and zeal since You Am I first hit these shores. BARBARA MITCHELL

MARITIME, WASHINGTON SOCIAL CLUB, SNAILHOUSE
(Crocodile) Founded by the former singer/songwriter of the Promise Ring and the former bassist for the Dismemberment Plan, Maritime sounds exquisitely unlike either of those two bands, both of which were a good time and one of which was epic. The new jam is considerably gentler than its forebears, with a pleasingly oceanic pop lull to their strongest songs. Maritime's record, Glass Floor, is really pretty and direct--not so much songs about a breakup as the songs that get you past one--and if I were a betting man, I'd put my money on a high-energy show. SEAN NELSON

SUNDAY 6/20
CURSE OV DIALECT, CIRCUS W/ANDRE AFRAM ASMAR, RADIOINACTIVE, ANTIMC, LISTENER
(Chop Suey) They get bottom billing for this hot indie-hiphop show, but Australia's Curse Ov Dialect is worth leaving work early to hit Chop Suey at the ungodly time of 5 pm. COD disorients your ass with wildly varied instrumental, vocal, and noise samples. The quintet's musical multiculturalism will have you squeaking in tongues and breaking thumbs on linoleum. COD's debut album, Lost in the Real Sky (Mush), features conscious, weirdly flowing rappers spitting over kaleidoscopic backdrops more indebted to ethnomusicologists' libraries than to played-out jazz and funk vinyl. Imagine Public Enemy's Bomb Squad producers remixing Nonesuch's Explorer Series, and you're close to grasping COD's baffling methodology. This hiphop isn't left field; it's completely out of the ballpark. DAVE SEGAL

THE CHARMING SNAKES, MISTER METAPHOR, WAVES, LEVATOR
(Sunset) Levator is a one-woman project founded on the multi-instrumental skills of one Sky Lynn. The recordings are gently lo-fi, with more chops than your average four-tracker even dreams of. Her voice recalls Alison Statton from Young Marble Giants, if a bit more expressive. The songs, meanwhile, take their own marching orders, moving between rock and folk, gentle and strong, with pleasing dexterity. The live Levator is a question mark, but if the assembled band is anything like the recordings, you're in for a treat. SEAN NELSON

MONDAY 6/21
TOMAS JIRKU
(Mirabeau Room) See Data Breaker, page 56.

BROKEN SPINDLES, PASSAGE, RESTFORM BODIES, AQUEDUCT
(Chop Suey) See Data Breaker, page 56.

LLOYD COLE
(Tractor) Back in the mid-'80s, we used to refer to Lloyd Cole by his full name, specifically Lloyd Cole and the Commotions. In 1984 that band's jangly debut, Rattlesnakes, took many of us by surprise with its pop gems wrapped around Cole's lyrical nuggets reflecting his education in philosophy. After deciding to go at it solo, Cole started working with Matthew Sweet (among others), releasing the lovely and plush Don't Get Weird on Me, Babe in 1991. Spin to recent years and Cole, though still considered a solo artist, has become a balladeer of sorts on 2003's Music in a Foreign Language, which features a cutting version of Nick Cave's "People Ain't No Good." Any of the three aforementioned albums are worth buying, as they represent the best of Cole's 20-year career. KATHLEEN WILSON

TUESDAY 6/22
AGENT ORANGE, DEK, THE LASHES, THE HOLLOWPOINTS, DOLLARSTORE COWBOYS
(Graceland) See Underage, page 59, see Stranger Suggests, page 27.

MIKE DOUGHTY'S BAND, KELLEY STOLTZ
(Crocodile) Holy God, did you ever see Soul Coughing live? They were unstoppably great. A major factor in their greatness, unsurprisingly, was singer/MC Mike Doughty, who assimilated hiphop science with indie rock wit and humor, providing a laser point for the brilliant playing of his bandmates. Soul Coughing broke up and people said Doughty was in trouble, but now he's back, his new recordings aren't in any danger (though they bear little resemblance to SC), and he's got a rock band behind him again. Excellent news for anyone who appreciates a great performer. SEAN NELSON

WASTEOID, BOOK OF BLACK EARTH, DOOMSDAY 1999
(2nd Avenue Pizza) To fans of metal that moves more swiftly than a Parisian pickpocket, hearing the words "total fucking power violence" is as magical as the phrase "new Dashboard Confessional" is for legions of panty-waisted emo types. The Lincoln, Nebraska band Wasteoid (described by TJ from Book of Black Earth as TFPV) pride themselves on playing 20 songs in under 20 minutes, and from the sound of the music provided on their website, they'll blast the fillings out of the molars in your dropped jaws in the process. JENNIFER MAERZ

PHARCYDE, THE X-ECUTIONERS, C-RAYZ WALZ
(Chop Suey) The saddest thing about the X-Ecutioners is that they lost their original moniker, X-Men. It is almost impossible to accept their substitute; it just doesn't have the same effect as the X-Men. But what could they do? Marvel Comics ordered them to return the name. Turntablists of the highest order, the X-Ecutioners, who are now a trio (Mista Sinista left the group two years ago), are much better on the stage than on record. These DJs will certainly make your day. CHARLES MUDEDE

WEDNESDAY 6/23
KING COBRA, SCREAM CLUB, THE DEAD VAMPIRES
(Hideaway) See Stranger Suggests, page 27, and Live Wire, page 51.

JOHNNY CLEGG
(Century Ballroom) In 1979, Johnny Clegg (a white African) and Sipho Mchunu (a black African) formed a group called Juluka. This was during a time in South Africa when it was illegal and even dangerous for blacks and whites to mix. Impressively, Juluka's music (a fusion of American rock and African pop) transcended the seemingly inflexible limitations of apartheid and became hugely popular. Disgusted with success (so the story went), Mchunu left the group in the mid-'80s and became a farmer; Johnny Clegg went on to form Johnny Clegg and Savuka, a band that had global recognition for a moment (1988 to 1992). But here is a theory: Dave Matthews, who is South African and grew up in Johannesburg in the '80s, modeled the Dave Matthews Band on Johnny Clegg and Savuka. This is highly likely because all young white Africans in the '80s were aware of Johnny Clegg, and Savuka's group, like the Dave Matthews Band, was shockingly multiracial. But whatever the case may be, Juluka is responsible for one of the most beautiful African pop songs ever written, "Woza Friday" (it's just a notch below Oliver Mutukudzi's "Seiko" ["I'm just asking why"]). If Clegg comes all the way to Seattle and doesn't perform "Woza Friday," then he has done us a great injustice. CHARLES MUDEDE

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