DJS ON STRIKE!
"Antarctica"'s heppest musical collective, DJs on Strike!, trek to the Northern Hemisphere to rekindle your romance with grunge and shoot spit wads at other sonic memories of your treasured youth. These South Pole jesters and scourges of brand-name disc jockeys like Paul Oakenfold and John Digweed are gearing up for a spring tour to support their forthcoming "pirate grunge" EP, I'm So Happy! (Imputor?); Oh, Nevermind, the hotly anticipated follow-up to the group's UK sensation Too Hot for Solid Steel, drops in July. My problem with I'm So Happy! is that DOS! don't go far enough with their Nirvana vandalism. Sacrilege--or even irreverence--means more than adding fat dance beats, cowbells, and stuttering effects to Kurt's vocals. Come on, dudes, let's see some killer instinct. I don't think even Courtney would quibble with your versions. With Pretty Girls Make Graves, Grayskul, Year Future, Wordsayer. Neumo's, 925 E Pike St, 7-11 pm, all ages, bar with ID, $10 adv.
TUESDAY MARCH 2
CRYSTAL METHOD, DJ HYPER
Crystal Method (Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland) ascended from rave-circuit fixtures to ubiquitous mainstream-music presences during the media's brief flirtation with electronica in 1997. Their populist way with a funky breakbeat and catchy samples catapulted them to scores of film and video-game soundtracks, TV commercials, and arena tours around the time of their 1997 debut album, Vegas. Pundits dubbed them the American Chemical Brothers, but Crystal Method lack the range and emotional heft of their UK counterparts. This is apparent with Crystal Method's third and weakest album, Legion of Boom, which they're promoting on this tour. Most of the CD recalls the anonymous epic trance/funky breaks heard in 83 percent of Hollywood's action-thrillers. On a few songs, Crystal Method seek to catalyze their tired-ass rhythms with banal hard-rock guitar riffs, with predictably whack results. Boom's sound is big budget, but its producers are creatively bankrupt. Showbox, 1426 First Ave, 628-3151, 8 pm-2 am, 21+, $17.50 adv/$20 DOS.
