THURSDAY 8/2
Today is Kevin Smith’s birthday; he was born in
1970. Today is also the day William S. Burroughs died; he died in 1997.
FRIDAY 8/3
JENNIFER GENTLE, BLITZEN TRAPPER, HYPATIA LAKE
(Crocodile) See Album Reviews, page 41.
FERAL CHILDREN, POLICE TEETH, LAKE OF FALCONS
(Jules Maes Saloon) Bad news: You’re gonna have to wait until November
before you can get your hands on Police Teeth’s debut full-length. Good
news: The Bellingham band offer plenty of opportunities in the near
future for you to witness their radness in person, most notably this
show at Jules Maes. If there was ever a reason for you to cart your ass
to Georgetown, this show is it. Members of USS Horsewhip and Racetrack
have joined forces to start a band that Al Burien might be proud of:
Police Teeth are trashy and turbulent, loud and laced with attitude.
And Feral Children—well, Eric Grandy once claimed they could be
the next Modest Mouse. With Lake of Falcons stuck there in the middle,
this night is a pretty killer punk-rock sandwich of Seattle’s “next big
things.” MEGAN SELING
DALE WATSON & HIS LONE STARS
(Tractor) You never forget your first Dale Watson show. The man ambles
onto the stage, sure of his place in the world, and proceeds to deliver
a set of some of the strongest classic country you’ll hear anywhere. He
touches on all the traditional themes—hard luck, lost love, good
music, longing for home, the open road—and you get the feeling he
really means it. In between songs, he regales the audience with satiric
tirades about the sorry state of contemporary country music. His newest
album, From the Cradle to the Grave, is full of three-minute
masterpieces of honest country goodness. And, oh yeah, he recorded the
whole thing at Johnny Cash’s old cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains. If
you care about country music, go see this show. CHRIS McCANN
TINY VIPERS, CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS, 2 PERCENT
MAJESTY
(Triple Door) Tiny Vipers’ minimalist drones and geologically slow
antifolk need space to really take shape, and in the antique acoustic
chamber of the Triple Door, they’ll no doubt assume some impressive,
spectral forms. But beyond the obvious draw of Sub Pop’s current local
darling is the deeper, weirder appeal of seeing her share a bill with
Seattle’s venerable audio oddities Climax Golden Twins. Where Jesy
Fortino’s acoustic compositions are spare to the point of austerity,
the Climax Golden Twins’ chaos of live instrumentation, field
recordings, and noise can encompass entire worlds of sound or meditate
on a single sample. The high contrast should keep the show interesting,
and the setting should complement both Tiny Vipers’ deep-space tripping
and the Twins’ globe-spanning experimentalism. ERIC GRANDY
SATURDAY 8/4
THE RENTALS, COPELAND, GOLDENBOY
(Neumo’s) See preview, page 39.
THE LONELY FOREST (CD RELEASE), THE ROBOT ATE ME, FOR YEARS
BLUE
(Vera Project) See Album Reviews, page 41.
SAVIOURS, BLACK COBRA, AKIMBO, THE ABODOX
(El Corazón) Saviours’ full-length Crucifire was one of
the best metal albums to come out last year. Their music shares a lot
of the same sensibilities with Akimbo’s, which might explain why the
two play together all the time. Both bands make riff-heavy,
classic-rock-inspired face crushers, and both are making some of the
best heavy music around. They’re joined by another of Seattle’s great
heavy bands, the Abodox, whose galloping metal gets better each time
they play live. The Abodox are one of those groups where you know
they’re playing only because they really love metal, and what you see
is what you get. No frills, no theatrics, just tough shit. Their
website headline says it all: “These Arms Are Arms.” JEFF KIRBY
SUNDAY 8/5
STREET DOGS, THE TOSSERS, KRUM BUMS, THE HOLLOWPOINTS
(El Corazón) Like hardcore rap, street-punk values “keeping it
real,” and Street Dogs’ singer Mike McColgan ranks as the genre’s most
compelling truth teller. The army veteran’s stints in Iraq inform the
band’s latest album Fading American Dream, including riveting
accounts of battlefield soul-searching. Tracks such as “Final
Transmission” (“can you hear the sound of youth negated?”) carry more
emotional weight than antiwar diatribes from civilian lyricists who
view Warped as a tour of duty. Even the Boston-based group’s pub-style
drinking songs, which recall McColgan’s roots as the Dropkick Murphys’
original frontman, communicate hard-learned lessons: “Tobe’s Got a
Drinking Problem” takes a darkly humorous look at the guitarist’s
alcoholism. The Dogs tackle these heavy topics without compromising
catchiness, and McColgan’s clarion delivery provides respite from
punk’s snotty vocalists. ANDREW MILLER
EARLY SHOW: CHRIST ON PARADE, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, NOTHING
LEFT, LESBIAN
(The Funhouse) All good things come from the East Bay, and nearly 20
years after breaking up—and 21 years after playing the first ever
show at 924 Gilman—Christ on Parade have come back. Prank
recently rereleased the East Bay hardcore band’s excellent 1985 LP,
Sounds of Nature (originally on Pushead’s Pusmort label),
along with some bonus tracks, and now the band have regrouped and are
touring the West Coast wreaking havoc with their driving thrashy punk
rock. Christ on Parade’s music is goddamn fast and goddamn heavy for
that time period, with just a hint of that ’80s SoCal sound, especially
in the vocal delivery. I’m envisioning massive circle pits. KIM
HAYDEN
MONDAY 8/6
FEAR BEFORE THE MARCH OF FLAMES, 65 DAYS OF STATIC, THIS
WILL DESTROY YOU
(El Corazón) Until they broke up in early July, Hot Cross was
slated to be a part of this tour, but then they went and ruined the
party by disbanding. Bands do that sometimes. Regardless, they’re no
longer on the bill, even if the flier says they are. With Fear Before
the March of Flames headlining, it’ll still be a worthy show should for
fans of noodling guitars, aggressive vocals, and blistering bass and
drums that can crush your ears with the power of a tsunami. And opening
for FBTMOF is the UK band 65 Days of Static, who are also going to be
touring with the Cure later this fall. They’ve got an experimental,
turbulent indie-strial sound (Get it? Indie and industrial?) that will
either hypnotize the promised gathering of tech-guitar-loving boys or
bore them to tears. MEGAN SELING
THE HELIO SEQUENCE, LIFESAVAS, TRUCKASAURUS, DJ FITS., DJ
COLIN
(Nectar) Nectar is reinventing itself on its third anniversary with a
triple-killer bill. It’s a Monday night, but it’s free—you heard
me: FREE. Syncopated techno two-piece the Helio Sequence wash
bombastic. Brandon Summers on vocals and guitar and Benjamin Weikel (of
Modest Mouse fame) on drums and keys comprise the two-headed Sequence.
Computers are toggled and beats are harmonically brought. Speaking of
beats, Lifesavas have a few. Jumbo the Garbageman, Vursatyl, and Shines
go big and then bigger. Their Gutterfly release put them as
one of Rolling Stone’s top ten to watch in 2007. They tour and tour
again. In October, they get on the road with Galactic. Thirdly, the
Fourth City Truckasaurus will spread their mullet chic and club crunk.
F.I.T.S. and Colin, too! A Monday night party. TRENT MOORMAN See
also Stranger Suggests, page 27.
TUESDAY 8/7
MARCO BENEVENTO
(TRIPLE DOOR) “Hey, Marco Benevento, you just finished a month-long
residency at Tonic in New York City! What are you gonna do now?” “I’m
going to release a live triple album!” The 29-year-old keyboard
animal—one-half of post-jazz indie rockers the Benevento-Russo
Duo—is nothing if not ambitious. And viciously talented. And
fucking nuts. He’s a lot of things, actually. So is Live at
Tonic—more than two hours of music, spanning Benevento’s
tuneful originals, wild improvisations, and intensely emotive covers of
Pink Floyd, Leonard Cohen, and Thelonious Monk. Benevento’s live shows
are just as diverse; he brings a Radio Shack’s worth of vintage
keyboards and electronics. Reed Mathis—Benevento’s bassist on
this tour—is equally exceptional, innovative, and surprising, and
drummer Matt Chamberlain has smashed skins with Pearl Jam and Critters
Buggin. These three play jazz for people who like rock. JONATHAN
ZWICKEL
SUBTLE, THREE MORE, SHALLOWS, FOSCIL
(Chop Suey) Despite suffering multiple tragedies while on the road (a
severe van accident that left member Dax Pierson with long-term
injuries; the theft of thousands of dollars in gear; etc.), singular
sextet Subtle have maintained a remarkably full-bodied tour schedule
since the release of their excellent debut, A New White in
2004. Though last year’s follow-up, For Hero: For Fool, lacked
much of the kinetic/emotional thrill of its predecessor, it also found
the group in admirably new territory, leaving behind their collective
indie hiphop foundation in pursuit of free-range, deconstructionist
songwriting. Live, Subtle combine a thick web of music-making machinery
with a truly ensemble approach to playing that, when in accord, yields
stunning results. SAM MICKENS
WEDNESDAY 8/8
ROBERT EARL KEEN, TODD SNIDER
(Woodland Park Zoo) See Stranger Suggests, page 27.
VOYAGER ONE, GRAND HALLWAY, SLEEPY EYES OF DEATH
(Neumo’s) Grand Hallway’s Tomo Nakayama is an antihero. Unassuming on
the mic, he balances heavy thoughts with his feet firmly on the ground.
You stand, listen, and then leave uplifted by the melody without
thinking too deeply. The next day, though, you find yourself thinking
deeply. You didn’t know the song was going to catch you, but it does.
Nakayama’s writing is autumnal, with lyrics about headlights and
familiar fields. Voyager One are tight as a vice these days. And Sleepy
Eyes of Death are locked in to rise fast: Machine beats, a half-dozen
synths, spotlights facing up at the cymbals, and a smoke machine make
for an urgent, future-driven, and cinematic show. TRENT MOORMAN