Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk are a Lawrence, Kansas, band that
make noisy, spacey rock ‘n’ roll that rides a fine line between
shoegaze ambience and all-out chaos. For every one of their bleak,
cave-echo noise sessions, they’ve got a sludgy, druggy pop number
reminiscent of a less-goth Chameleons UK. Acoustic guitars are
countered by thick and nasty electrics, horrific sounds clatter about
the music’s fringes, but the band always manage to mine beauty out of
the messiness. The quartet’s range is their finest asset and should
make for an unpredictable show this Friday, May 22, at Healthy Times
Fun Club.
Openers Herr Jazz, a local trio of young, restless kids, have
lately been instigating some wild crowd participation at live shows
with their loose, fuzzed-out basement punk. Setting aside the fact that
these dudes are all still in high school, it’s been inspiring to watch
the band grow into a punk-rock force to be reckoned with in just the
short span of time they’ve been playing together.
Also playing will be Olympia’s Desolation Wilderness. I
haven’t heard too much about their live shows, but if last year’s
White Light Strobing and their forthcoming New Universe (both out on K Records) are any indicators, then these guys are going
to blow some minds with their foggy brand of dream pop. Reverb-washed
surf guitars, slow trotting rhythms, and the hazy, dazed voice of
singer Nicolaas Zwart make for somber songs that sound like a damp
morning walk on the Oregon Coast. Between these three bands, expect a
show that goes from gentle to abrasive and back enough that your
earplugs may need to make several trips in and out of your ear
canals. 
Fri May 22: Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk, Herr Jazz,
Desolation Wilderness at Healthy Times Fun Club, 8 pm,
donations.
Sat–Mon May 23–25: Sasquatch! Music
Festival.
Sat May 23: Yukai No Uta Trio at Full Tilt Ice
Cream, 8 pm, free.
Mon May 25: Big Business, Tweak Bird, Pontiak at
Neumos, 8 pm, $13.
Tues May 26: This Runs on Blood, Contagium, Filth
Mattress at Squid & Ink, 8 pm $5.