THURSDAY 9/6
DAN DEACON, BOBBY CONN, KARL BLAU
(Vera Project) You don’t really go to a Dan Deacon show for the
music. The music is great, even occasionally mind-warping—a mix
of synths, effects, and toys melted by AA battery acid and glow-stick
goo, all presided over by Deacon’s demented chipmunk chatter and
pixilated singsong. At his best, Deacon filters Animal Collective’s
post-psych tribal thump through a summer afternoon of eight-bit
Nintendo and Yo! MTV Raps. But the real draw is the freak show.
Deacon is a neon-splattered mad scientist, or maybe junior-high science
teacher, a game show host, a carnival barker, and an absurdist
motivational speaker. His monologues are easily as much fun as his
retard electro jams. ERIC GRANDY
ELDER MASON, RED SEA SHARKS, 1-2-1-2, CHARLES LEO GEBHARDT
IV
(Comet) It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the Comet if
enough people show up to make for a dirty dance party during 1-2-1-2’s
set. The walls might drip with sweat and there may be some clothing
removal. As 1-2-1-2’s Stranger Band Page attests, they’re a
“hot, sexy, sleazy band that will make you move!!!” Three exclamation
points: They’re not fucking around. Recommended listening is the song
“The Wiz” (go to www.thestranger.com/bands to
hear it). It feels almost like the sadly defunct Black Eyes, if Black
Eyes wanted to play horn-heavy dance anthems inspired by LCD
Soundsystem. MEGAN SELING
FRIDAY 9/7
THROW ME THE STATUE, THE CATCH, WALL PAPER, BLACK BEAR
(Comet) Throw Me the Statue and Black Bear both hail from the hive
of creativity that is Baskerville Hill. The local record
label/house/collective specializes in sweetly lo-fi bedroom pop,
ranging from the Microphones-inspired four-track wanderings of Black
Bear to the perfect, deceptively simple summer cruising rock of Throw
Me the Statue. Black Bear’s The Cinnamon Phase is a serialized
journey around and away from a fantastic Seattle haunted by lost loves
and fond, faded memories. Throw Me the Statue’s Moonbeams is a
diverse yet cohesive collection of unpolished pop gems. If Baskerville
Hill were Seattle’s Elephant Six, and there’s every indication they
could be, then Throw Me the Statue is their Of Montreal. ERIC
GRANDY
JASON LYTLE, HERMAN JOLLY, JOSH & SONNY
(Crocodile) “Of” is the secret word of the day (AAAAH!!) seeing as
how the Croc’s Friday night lineup features sets by a handful of guys
you probably never heard of who are in bands you could very well love.
There’s Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Herman Jolly of Portland’s Sunset Valley, and Josh & Sonny of Seattle’s own
Slender Means. OF! OF! OF! AAAAH!! Jason Lytle headlines the show and
his set is rumored to feature material from the band’s last opus,
Just Like the Fambly Cat, which was released after the band had
already agreed to break up. Chances are you never saw the songs live. I
can see the almost-twee-pop tune “Elevate Myself” sounding okay, even
when played by the one-man orchestra, but I’m curious to find out how
the more elaborate tracks like “Jeez Louise” will sound. MEGAN
SELING
MEGADETH
(Moore) “Some groups bust a move. This group busts your brain.” So
spoke Arsenio Hall in 1990, seconds before Megadeth, clearly inspired
by that clever introduction, tore into “Hangar 18,” a monument to
government-conspiracy paranoia turreted by brilliant solos. Nearly two
decades later, Megadeth still have the White House in their crosshairs,
as evidenced by this year’s incendiary United Abominations.
While consistent in its apocalyptic alarm and righteous anger,
Abominations, like all the group’s releases, fluctuates wildly
in musical quality. During highlights such as “Washington Is Next!,”
Dave Mustaine’s intense, curled-sneer vocals slither through densely
knotted dual guitars. On lesser tracks, his snarls rub against
pedestrian riffs, creating grating friction. Live, though, Megadeth
cherry-picks the most technically astonishing thrash tracks from each
album, producing unrelentingly savage sets that fulfill Hall’s
blown-minds prophecy. ANDREW MILLER
CLIPSE, THA GRA’AIN (FEATURING TILSEN OF SATURDAY KNIGHTS),
AVATAR
(Neumo’s) Seven months is a long time in the quick-turning dog years
of hiphop. In seven months, Clipse could’ve drowned in an avalanche of
white powder and plastic dime bags, but instead they spent that time
touring hard and working on a new mixtape, We Got it 4 Cheap Vol.
3. It was back in March that their show at Chop Suey proved that
the Virginia Beach rap duo more than lives up to their humungous hype.
Flexing hard in front of an audience of Seattle hiphop hardcores and
all-over-printed hipsters, brothers Pusha T and Malice rocked tracks
from their 2006 album Hell Hath No Fury at seismically banging
levels. That was seven months ago—they should be even more off
the Richter this time around. JONATHAN ZWICKEL
ARISAWKADORIA, MOIST CUPCAKE
(Triple Door) AriSawkaDoria are an instrumental space-voodoo trio
featuring Kevin Sawka, Joe Doria, and Ari Zucker. Sawka’s live
drum-n-borg playing peels into the Al Capone conduction of Doria’s
Hammond B-3 organ. Zucker’s guitar ties off and washes with tone Miles
Davis’ John McLaughlin could have programmed. Moist Cupcake is Jet City
Improv’s comedic duo of Ethan Newberry and Justin Sund. They are no
holds barred. They sprinkle their icing with offensive language,
jackhammer wit, and gesticulation. They do whatever the audience wants
them to do. Meaning they will do nine espresso shots, put on diapers,
and eat five pounds of beanie weenies. That’s no holds barred, right?
TRENT MOORMAN
SING SING W/JUAN MACLEAN DJ SET, DJ MEL, FOURCOLORZACK,
PRETTY TITTY
(War Room) Poor Juan Maclean. In the long shadow cast by charismatic
DFA honcho James Murphy, the former Six Finger Satellite technician
born John Maclean toils and dubs and discos in relative obscurity. But
if he lacks Murphy’s profile, it’s certainly not for lack of talent.
The Juan Maclean’s productions boast all the bass-and-drums beef
typical of DFA joints, but they also delve deeper into classic Detroit
electro and early acid house. His DJ sets dig deep too, unearthing the
myriad influences so seamlessly synthesized on his slept-on debut
album, Less Than Human. ERIC GRANDY
SATURDAY 9/8
LIFETIME, SHOOK ONES, SINKING SHIPS
(El Corazón) See Underage, page 73.
WOLF PARADE, HOLY FUCK, SIBERIAN
(Neumo’s) It takes a certain amount of hubris to name one’s band
after the way one expects listeners to react. And while this
experimental Toronto octet isn’t quite “Holy fuck!”-worthy on record,
seeing them perform is a different story. Wires reach across tables,
patching pedals into pedals into pieces of abstruse equipment into
laptops into more pedals. Dudes rush back and forth, twirling knobs and
hitting buttons in a frenzy, while bass and drums work a dirty dance
groove of a backbeat. I’ve got no damn clue how that 20 feet of 35mm
film spooled through the wrought metal cagey thing makes the
“wikkey-wikkey” scratching noises but… yeah, what they said. JOHN
VETTESE
SUNDAY 9/9
MUSE
(KeyArena) Before the video for “Knights of Cydonia,” Muse was the
oft-berated redheaded stepchild to Radiohead’s overachieving honors
student. After the video for “Knights of Cydonia” (a post-apocalyptic
Western fantasy spoof, complete with kung-fu, laser guns, mustaches,
and an Amazon riding a unicorn), they’re something else entirely,
taking on a new persona thanks to the old makeover standby: humor. The
long-standing Brit trio is no joke band; their 2006 album Black
Holes and Revelations is more epic and sci-fi fetishist than ever.
But now we know that there’s a wink in their numerological allusions, a
smirk to their arena-sized, rock-opera grandeur. That fact makes all
the schmaltzy bombast that much richer. JONATHAN ZWICKEL
MONDAY 9/10
VHS OR BETA, WALTER MEEGO, THE KING’S ENGLISH
(Neumo’s) VHS or Beta—nothing in that anachronistic contrast
implies a future. Yet Louisville, Kentucky’s VHS OR BETA has managed to
keep moving forward since forming in the late ’90s, releasing three
albums (and assorted singles) culminating in their sophomore
full-length for Astralwerks, Bring on the Comets. The group
began as French-touched filter freqs, presenting immaculately
choreographed arpeggios in homage to disco-house stormers. With 2004’s
Night on Fire, VHS OR BETA made the logical (to some) leap back
to new romantic post-punk. They’ve since parted ways with guitarist
Zeke Buck, which may be why the songs on Bring on the Comets stand more erect and descend less into flanged guitar eddies and
swirling glitter-ball grooves. TONY WARE
TUESDAY 9/11
DINOSAUR JR., BAND OF HORSES
(Neumo’s) See Stranger Suggests, page 27.
WEDNESDAY 9/12
KATHARINE HEPBURN’S VOICE, HUSBANDS LOVE YOUR
WIVES
(Crocodile) Honestly (as if I’d ever lie to you), the only reason I
chose to give any attention at all to this show is because of the band
name Katharine Hepburn’s Voice. “Is that like Natalie Portman’s Shaved
Head?” I wondered, and decided to investigate, preparing myself to
either appreciate or completely ridicule what I found. Insults won’t be
necessary; I like it. The song “Peenu” starts with lovely and lonely
girl vocals reminiscent of the Blow singing about a missed love while
pretty piano flows in the background. Then the song, which is nice but
fairly average at this point, leaves its mark—an imperfect choir
charges in and bittersweetly demands, “You’re looking for some fun in
the big, scary city/don’t get yourself arrested/don’t spend all of my
money/don’t hitchhike all the way to Kalamazoo/’cause the last time was
the last time I’ll ever rescue you.” The song is evidence that
sometimes you just gotta follow your instincts. MEGAN SELING