Music

Up & Coming

HEALER, SLUDGEPLOW, STRANGE PARADE, MODERN
(Graceland) What you need to know about this show: It's a concert for hemp. Some of the stoniest bands in Seattle (or at least the ones that smoke the most pot) will be performing. I would not recommend getting high before the show, as it is going to be a very long one. You'll find yourself getting very sleepy, and losing your ability to concentrate on enjoying the music. Smoke after your favorite band, but not before. Start your evening off with a beer or two instead. If you go, you'll be supporting the legalization or decriminalization or public distribution of hemp or pot or whatever. JUAN-CARLOS RODRIGUEZ

ROBBEN FORD
(Jazz Alley) Though he's often thought of as a jazz guitarist--he toured with Miles Davis and was a founding member of the Yellowjackets--Robben Ford started out with the blues, and it was when he returned to the blues in the early '90s that he produced some of the best work of his career. The albums Mystic Mile and Handful of Blues, two personal favorites, both date from this later period. So it's a good thing that he's keeping busy, and the jazz inflection that still permeates his music just gives it that extra distinctive touch. GENEVIEVE WILLIAMS

GARTH REEVES
(Gordon Biersch) You might know him best as the former guitarist in Goodness, but tonight Garth Reeves has three full sets to help ease you into the realization that he's actually a force to be reckoned with in his own right. Reeves has been treating local crowds to his own take on vintage AM-radio-influenced fare with Blue Spark; tonight anything goes as he entertains upscale mallrats and devoted fans at Gordon Biersch. Do we even need to mention that it's FREE? BARBARA MITCHELL

78 RPM, PIG IRON
(Tractor Tavern) In the old frontier days, a lot of the work in the United States for people living in the sticks or around the poverty line was doing hard manual labor from sunup to sundown. People unwound in ways not too different from today. They'd come back to their shack or house or whatever and shower, eat, and crack a beer or two. Then the musicians who lived nearby would pick up their fiddles, guitars, accordions, washtubs, spoons, and homemade basses and play. We call this old-timey music "bluegrass," and it's pretty damn American, boys and girls. American music today would be nowhere without it and "the blues." If you're interested in this music or if you already love it, come to this show to unwind and check out these lively bands. I reckon it'll be a good time. JUAN-CARLOS RODRIGUEZ

VOYAGER ONE, MARIGOLD, THE AUTUMNS
(Crocodile) See Stranger Suggests.

LOU REED, VICTORIA WILLIAMS
(Benaroya Hall) I haven't felt the same about Lou Reed since I saw him several years ago at a record-release show in New York wearing the single worst '80s multicolor big-weave jacket I've seen post-'87. Then again, you can't really argue with a man who helped shape the face of modern "alternative" music with the Velvet Underground. And that's not even getting into his seminal solo albums like Berlin and New York. Oh, heck. Let's face it--the man's a legend. And Victoria Williams is also awe-inspiring. Maybe packaging isn't everything after all. BARBARA MITCHELL

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, FIVE GEARS IN REVERSE, CAMDEN
(Showbox) I could say some facile things here about Death Cab for Cutie, such as "what rock have you been living under if you haven't heard them?" Stuff like that. Consider it said, so we can get to the meat of the matter, which is this: There's a fine line that Death Cab treads, the one between utter originality and accessible appeal. If you're too original, no one gets it. If you're too accessible, no one wants it. But if you strike the right balance between the two? Ahhh! Pure chewing satisfaction. GENEVIEVE WILLIAMS

STEELY DAN
(The Gorge) According to an esteemed rock critic friend of mine, if it weren't for Steely Dan, we wouldn't have Pavement. In all seriousness, Steely Dan probably did lay the groundwork for today's (or I guess I should say "yesterday's," since the golden age of irony seemed to peak in the mid-'90s) more intelligent and ironically inclined artists. The ultimate punch line is that they've reunited in the completely un-ironic '00s, to what appears to be their most rabid showing of support ever. BARBARA MITCHELL

MIXMASTER MIKE
(Expo Center) Any guy who can do what Mixmaster Mike did to Rush's "Tom Sawyer" at the opening of the Beastie Boys' Hello Nasty tour must be admired. The testosterone-pumped teenage boys in attendance had no idea what it was, but they whooped and pogoed in an appropriate frenzy, and you knew that he had them at hello. Though it's not the kind of thing you can listen to without undivided attention (no multitasking to this one), it feels pretty good to get lost in the frantic wall of schizophrenic sound he creates. If you feel like setting your inner teenage boy free but don't wish to attend the Family Values tour, I recommend this as a hearty substitute. LEAH GREENBLATT

RICHARD BUCKNER & ERIC HAYWOOD, THE STONE THROWERS
(Tractor Tavern) When you hail from somewhere as uninspiring as Fresno, CA, you cling desperately to the things from your hometown that matter. And it doesn't matter that Richard Buckner is a nomad: The man once lived in Fresno and he's a darned sight more talented than Journey's Steve Perry (how's that for backhanded compliments?). In all seriousness, if you possess even half a soul, Buckner crafts the kind of darkly compelling music that will drive you to drink, and I mean that in the best possible way. BARBARA MITCHELL

HARVEY DANGER, PETER PARKER, EARLIMART
(Sit & Spin, early) Alright. This isn't fair. My central California past has returned to haunt me, and this is after I sucked it up and went home for Mother's Day. Three-fourths of Earlimart hail from--where else?--Fresno, CA. And you know what? They're actually really good, even if they are named for some Podunk town in the middle of nowhere. Their debut album, Filthy Doors, makes perfect sense if you grew up thinking beyond the narrow confines of your hopelessly backward hometown. BARBARA MITCHELL

DEAD MOON, THE BELLRAYS
(Sit & Spin, late) Fred Lee once shot a bear that was threatening his family when they lived up in the wild Yukon of Canada. He's from Tacoma and Toody is from Portland. Andrew says his birthplace is "Earth." Dead Moon are one of the truly inspiring things about the music scene here. They just radiate that indefinable Northwest magic that gives you perspective in the rain and a love of being outside in the mud and cold while you drink beer. I mean, Fred and Toody are grandparents, but they still tour and rock and make killer songs. And they've been married for more than 30 years, for God's sake. JUAN-CARLOS RODRIGUEZ

ZONY MASH
(Ok Hotel) Zony Mash's secret blend of 57 musical spices must remain just that, lest the corporate mathematicians boil down the ZM soup into cookie-cutter cutouts to be hung on your kitchen wall. Although slated to appear with horns (featuring Skerik on sax), hopefully they will save one of their sets for themselves so we can watch Tim Young embody the full-fledged rock guitarist he wants to become as Wayne Horvitz drops a lead curtain of noise over the audience, with Keith Lowe and Andy Roth lighting a fire beneath their asses, bringing this funked up gumbo to a raging boil. KREG HASEGAWA

BILL HORIST, UNISPHERE, AMY DENIO
(Rainbow) Bill Horist's last CD, Soylent Radio, if the name wasn't cool enough, paved new directions in the improv landscape. His new CD, Songs from the Nerve Wheel, will create such friction that sparks will fly through the sky like fireflies, blazing a trail yet unheard of. Unisphere, a Reggie Watts and Tucker Martine outfit, will produce an atmosphere conducive to stargazing. And the versatile Amy Denio's Birthing Chair Blues is a compendium of experimental, classical, folk, and jazz. If you miss this show tonight, you better have a good reason. KREG HASEGAWA

USC FOUR-YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY
(Info: 888-221-7491) It will be worth braving sticky warehouse floors, white-glove-wearing tweakers, and the $30 ticket price for a show like this. New York legend Frankie Bones, DJ Icey (cheesy Florida breaks that the kids love), the Jungle Brothers, the supreme Mixmaster Mike, and exceptional U.K. junglists Bad Company are just the headliners. Also included, of course, are the requisite top locals, including Donald Glaude, Wesley, Eva, and members of the 360 bpm crew. The flier promises such disparate amenities as 40,000 square feet of inflatable slides and obstacle courses, piercing, tattooing, and body painting, food and concessions (including an espresso bar), and an Experience Music Project booth with free giveaways. I say get some good drugs and go. LEAH GREENBLATT

ALVIN YOUNGBLOOD HART
(Tractor Tavern) Like his contemporaries Keb' Mo' and Corey Harris, Hart takes a firm root in the acoustic country blues of Charley Patton and Blind Willie McTell, then twists it in some surprising directions. His 1996 debut, Big Mama's Door, was an answer to revivalists' prayers, but he immediately leapt off in other directions with 1998's Territory and this year's Start with the Soul. Then again, what would one expect from someone equally influenced by Bukka White and the Rolling Stones? Certainly nothing boring, and Hart never is. If you think some guy sitting on his back porch singing about trains is all there is to acoustic blues, allow Hart to educate you. GENEVIEVE WILLIAMS

GROOVE ARMADA, FAZE ACTION
(Showbox) Damn, that Fatboy is gold. When Señor Slim got his 14-karat fingers on "I See You Baby" ("shakin' that ass"--yes, that's the one), Groove Armada must have known that little sonic bullet would shoot straight into the groove-craving butts of America, and it has. Brits Tom Findlay and Andy Cato have also run a rather successful club by the same name, and released a number of charting singles in their native England, packed with their signature funky Sly-style rhythms--but you don't care about that. You want the single, man, that future Nike/Volkswagen/dot-com commercial guaranteed moneymaker, and I'm sure those boys know what you came for, so prepare that big American behind of yours. LEAH GREENBLATT

AXOLOTL, COLIN SKERRITT
(On the Boards) Axolotl will blow you away. Their original compositions will make you rethink and redeposit all that you thought you knew. Bill Horist and Dennis Rea on guitars, Ryan Berg on bass, and Jay Jaskot on drums draw their compositions from the city streets. Call it post-modern classical. Call it punk-jazz. Don't ask your local record store what it's filed under, because they won't have it. The CD hasn't been released yet. This night of modernity is sponsored by Earshot Jazz and if you have the cash, and you're the kind of person open to new and experimental forms of live performance, you can't go wrong here. KREG HASEGAWA

RORY BLOCK
(Jazz Alley) See Stranger Suggests.

SOLEX
(I-Spy) Ah, the ever-important hipster cred. Does Solex have it? Hmmm, let's see: Cool name? Check. Solex is a legendary Dutch motor scooter. Cool label? Check. Nothing less than NYC über-indie Matador. Cool genre? Oh, god yes. Elisabeth Esselink is a girl scratch-master extraordinaire, culling samples from the basement bins of her second-hand-record store in Amsterdam; the result is an acute, scritchy sound pastiche, showcased on the fabulously named Athens, Ohio. All she has to do now is find her own Thurston Moore, and the woman will achieve indie cred sainthood. LEAH GREENBLATT

XLR8R PARTY
(Crocodile) Did you know XLR8R magazine started out here in Seattle, before moving down to beat-central San Francisco? Maybe that's why they're sponsoring a party up here. But who needs a reason? Plastiq Phantom, KO from IQU, and DJ Tamara, all our lovely locals, will be spinning at the DJ-repellent Crocodile--many a dance-music-focused night has tried and failed to gain a toe-hold at the rock mecca. This is a one-off, however, and the solid lineup should attract any fan of inorganic sounds who happens to look beyond the usual venues. Plus, if it's magazine-sponsored, there must be freebies: Show up just for the free issue, mix CD, or nylon logo knapsack you'll never use, and be thrilled. LEAH GREENBLATT

FAT POSSUM MISSISSIPPI JUKE JOINT CARAVAN TOUR FEATURING T-MODEL FORD, PAUL "WINE" JONES, AND ROBERT BELFOUR
(Showbox) Few labels have done as much for the blues of the Mississippi region as Fat Possum. Not only do they get a lot of up-and-coming Delta musicians, but they've done the most to promote a more obscure style of the Mississippi hinterlands, of which the late Junior Kimbrough was the primary exponent. Though the artist most familiar to you is probably R. L. Burnside, Fat Possum's got plenty of others, each equally distinctive, and a plethora of them are on this tour: Paul "Wine" Jones (whose latest album is titled Pucker Up, Buttercup), Robert Belfour (his debut, What's Wrong with You, was released May 23), and T-Model Ford (She Ain't None of Your'n, also May 23). If there's a punk rock of the blues, Fat Possum is its label. GENEVIEVE WILLIAMS

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