POETS, PUPPETS, & FOLK: LOVEHOLDLETGO
There likely isn't a better way to kick in fall's incoming sunlessness than at Gas Works Park tonight. With the magical ukulele stories of Jordan O'Jordan and Vashon Island–rooted folk band Thorn & Shout's old-timey meditative sounds, spectators will be pleasantly displaced to a more isolated space, mentally and physically. LoveHoldLetGo, a touring queer poetry duo from Halifax, Nova Scotia, will also perform "Silence & the Earth," a "post-apocalyptic love story between the last person and the earth" as told through shadow puppetry, dialogue, and folk music. Gas Works Park, 7 pm.
MUHAMMADALI, LINDSEYS, WASTED USA, BAD FUTURE
Maybe you've been lucky enough to encounter the miraculously disturbing flyer for this show. If not, seek it out, and if your eyes are still intact, treat yourself with an evening of punk horror transcendence. Houston's funcore party outfit Muhammadali melodically bludgeon ears with sludgy, gnarled psych-punk riffs. Their Future Songs cassette continues where their excellent 2012 EP (both via Dirt Cult Records) left off, with a sound that's like "sticking [your] head in the garbage can." In a live setting, Muhammadali harness the hormone-addled fun into an adrenalized limb flurry. Also, with the LP release for Religious Sexts, the latest from local fuzz-punk band Lindseys, tonight has been perfectly designed to flail your any-aged teenager. Black Lodge, 9 pm.
WHY?, LOVERS WITHOUT BORDERS
Oakland-based avant-rap/indie-rock band WHY? have a half-jokey reverse-stalker thing going on. Their Golden Tickets EP—out September 17 on Joyful Noise—spotlights the band's super-fans, who they've also presumably internet stalked. "Murmurer" is an ode to one fan's OkCupid profile ("Dude's a constant worrier/And weren't it for his nervous nature/He'd by now be engaged"). Their staggeringly cheeky songs have the earnest nerve to tap into the uncomfortable, taking themselves seriously without being serious at all. Show up early for Lovers Without Borders, Karl Blau's latest project, which I described a few months back as "wistful avant-folk tunes for brooding." Prepare to get enchanted with effortlessly cast folk incantations. Super sigh! Neumos, 8 pm, $15.
