WOLF EYES, CHROMATICS, CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS, VERMILION
(Crocodile) See preview, page 39.
SUPERGRASS
(Sonic Boom Records, Capitol Hill) See preview, page 37.
SUPERGRASS, THE CORAL
(Showbox) See preview, page 37.
SCENE CREAMERS
(The Brotherhood, Olympia) Tonight we pay homage to the world's greatest living rock star--and by that I mean Mick Jagger. Or is it James Brown? Wait--I guess he's not really a rock star, per se... anyway, back to Ian Svenonius. As the Spiv of the Ulyssean Jihad, Svenonius spent the late '80s and early '90s fronting what was perhaps the most conceptually flawless band of all time, the incomparable Nation of Ulysses; later, he took the revolution to the pulpit with the religious fervor of the sadly defunct Make-Up. And what thanks does he get? He sits idly by the wayside while a bunch of fucking Swedes cop his style, his sound, his very soul... and reap fame and fortune in the process. Let's pray that with Scene Creamers--his new outfit with former Make-Up mate Michelle Mae--the Spiv finally gets the respect he so desperately deserves. Taking the Gospel Yeh-Yeh theology of the Make-Up and injecting it with a bit of that MC5 blues howl (and a few less babys), I Suck on That Emotion (the Creamers' Drag City debut) might be a little less inspired than Svenonius' previous frothy output, but it's still better than everything else you listen to. Come on, you owe him something. ZAC PENNINGTON
ROBIN HOLCOMB, WAYNE HORVITZ, ZONY MASH
(Tractor) Wayne Horvitz is involved in so much that it's hard to know exactly where he's at. Last week he played keyboards with a quartet called Ponga, whose new CD, Psychological, contains few disappointments and a robber's load of hot items. (One song has Skerik of Critters Buggin' playing what I suspect is a melodica--the most beautiful instrument in Western civilization.) This week Horvitz plays with the Robin Holcomb Band, whose lead singer, Robin Holcomb, has just released a new CD called The Big Time--which, regrettably, I have not heard yet. Horvitz opens the show with Zony Mash. CHARLES MUDEDE
FRIDAY 3/21
IRON AND WINE, THE VELLS, THE DECEMBERISTS
(Crocodile) Iron and Wine is the working name of singer/songwriter Sam Beam, a sweetie from the South who sings quieter than almost anyone, including his friends in Carissa's Wierd. His last performance at the Crocodile was an intimate gathering, despite the fact that the room was packed nearly to capacity. The Vells play sunny, sugar-spun pop that nicely fills the void left by the Maroons (now that John Moen is a full-time member of the Jicks). If you're a fan of one, then you'll like the other, guaranteed--you'll just have to search a little harder to find the Maroons' latest disc, You're Gonna Ruin Everything. KATHLEEN WILSON
STARS, BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
(Graceland) Take a couple of members from Canada's indie/avant music scene (Stars, Do Make Say Think, Treble Charger, A Silver Mt. Zion, and Mascott), focus them on the combined strategy of creating pop songs, and you have the gossamer lining of You Forgot It in People, Broken Social Scene's ambient symphony of spacious pop soundtracks. The BSS collective's swelling lineup lists 10 members on the disc, and an additional five people accenting songs with flutes, violins, and saxophones; together they float their featherweight songs on a wind of gentle experimentation, leaving the vocals at almost a whisper so as not to disturb the delicate orchestrations. JENNIFER MAERZ
TRUST COMPANY, 30 SECONDS TO MARS, PACIFIER, FINGERTIGHT
(Showbox) FYI: 30 Seconds to Mars is Jared Leto's band, not to be confused with My So-Called Life's Jordan Catalano's band, the Frozen Embryos, or "Red," the song Jordan sang solo (which Angela Chase tragically guessed was about her, when it was really about his stupid car). Just in case you missed out on those sphincter-wrinkling moments, here are the lyrics so that you may experience the agony yourself: "I'm going nowhere/Going nowhere fast/Drowning in my memory/Living in the past/Everything looked black till I found her/She's all I need and that's what I say I call her Red/She's my shelter from the storm/She's the place to rest my head/Late at night she keeps me warm/I call her Red." KATHLEEN WILSON
XIU XIU, THE DEAD SCIENCE, DISPLAY
(Vera Project) It's pronounced "Shoe shoe." Make sure you remember that--you'll be hearing that name come out of your mouth a lot in the near future. That's because Jamie Stewart--the frontman of Oakland's blood-on-the-dance-floor collective--has finally reconciled the band's coast-stretching lineup (half the members were in California, half in Seattle), moving the whole kit and caboodle to a home base in our fair city. (Can't you just feel the silver lining on the clouds above starting to disappear?) In spite of Xiu Xiu's sonic despondency, Seattle's musical landscape suddenly feels a little less bleak--with the entirety of this bill serving as testament. The Dead Science, formerly called the Sweet Science, breathe in an ethereal mire, a soaring swoon that's merely a pancake-makeup film above the wicked stratum beneath. Rounding out the bill is Display--and if you don't know about them already, you're just not listening. This may be your last shot at them for a while, as they plan a performance fatwa for the coming months. ZAC PENNINGTON
RIGHT ON!, THE DISKORDS, THE FLYING DUTCHMEN
(Zak's) Punk doesn't belong exclusively to the young, but it's pretty damn cool to watch kids years away from being legally able to buy smokes playing shows and getting on a Dirtnap comp. Portland's Diskords write songs about middle school, their mom, and the morgue--simple tracks that don't deviate far from their influences (Thunders, the Ramones, you know the rest) but, like, these guys are excused of their straightforwardness 'cause a decade ago they were just a few years out of their diapers. I won't even tell you the kind of lame shit I was listening to at an age when the Diskords are writing stuff that's already getting them ink in Maximum Rocknroll. The energy in the Diskords is as electric as anything off the Killed by Death collections. JENNIFER MAERZ
SATURDAY 3/22
GOGOL BORDELLO, KULTUR SHOCK, GUARDIAN ALIEN
(Chop Suey) See Stranger Suggests, page 23.
THE D4, ELECTRIC SIX
(Crocodile) See preview, page 41.
AUDIOSLAVE
(Paramount) See preview, page 43.
STEPHEN MALKMUS, SCENE CREAMERS
(Graceland) It might go without saying that the new Stephen Malkmus record is really, really good--but such conjecture never stopped me before. The new Stephen Malkmus record is really, really good. A significant improvement over his solo debut of two years ago, Pig Lib finds Ol' Faithful finally seeming to gain footing in the capable company of his Jicks. The composition is more realized, the structure more compelling, and the lyrics... well, the lyrics are pretty much the same. If you were a little let down with his solo debut (and my hand is tentatively raised from within that camp), don't lose faith entirely. Pig Lib is almost enough to make you forget about his former Pavement grandeur, if only for a moment. Almost. ZAC PENNINGTON
KINSKI, MARS ACCELERATOR, PROJECT W
(Sunset) Whether you're hopped up on drugs or not, Kinski's live show will make you feel like you're high on dope or have been huffing paint. The local band does psychedelic better than just about anyone around here, and are just as experimental as Sonic Youth except you can drink while watching them play. Have you ever enjoyed a full bottle of red wine before watching Sonic Youth play live? I have, a long time ago when the Amps opened, and the projectile vomiting began way before their psychedelic wingouts finished, so I never got to go backstage and meet Kim Gordon, so excuse me if all experimental/psychedelic bands cause me to digress in such a manner as to spend more time talking about Sonic Youth than of Kinski. Kinski's album Airs Above Your Station came out earlier this year on Sub Pop Records, and it's every bit as good, if not better, than the band's wildly popular (if woefully titled) debut, Be Gentle with the Warm Turtle. KATHLEEN WILSON
KILL ME TOMORROW, THE VANISHING, THE STARVATIONS, CHROMATICS
(Vera Project) Along with Three One G, GSL is one of the most interesting labels in California right now. They've released material by the Mars Volta, Le Shok, JR Ewing, and Gogogogo Airheart, among others, and they're one of those indie outfits you pay attention to when they have something new out (they're currently offering a free 19-band CD compilation in Skyscraper Magazine). This GSL showcase features an eclectic lineup from their excellent catalog--including local act Chromatics, who just released a thoroughly compelling CD on GSL that's worth checking out (even though the band is a much different animal member-wise these days) called Chrome Rats vs. Basement Ruts. Chrome Rats is similar in the less-is-more vibe to A-Frames, but takes multiple turns into dancy art punk, with a couple fits of primal screaming flaring up for good measure. San Diego-via-Portland's Kill Me Tomorrow plink and buzz through their coldly creepy no wave anthems, giving electro punk a gothic makeover, and jerking their songs around on tempos that break and restart like a junky vehicle with a haunted gearshift. The Starvations add more melody to their melodrama, garnering comparisons to both the Pogues and the Gun Club due to their stumbling, rootsy sonic exorcisms, and San Francisco's the Vanishing are synth punk with a black-lipsticked, Siouxsie and the Banshees heart. JENNIFER MAERZ
SUNDAY 3/23
And that's when I realized I've been singing the wrong words this whole time.
MONDAY 3/24
SAHARA HOTNIGHTS, IKARA COLT, THE WASHDOWN
(Graceland) See preview, page 41.
THEORY OF RUIN, PLAYING ENEMY, FORM OF ROCKET, DIESTO
(Zak's) Brit Alex Newport, formerly of Fudge Tunnel and Nailbomb (who also worked on records by At the Drive-In and Icarus Line), teamed up with David Link (Claymore, Give) and Ches Smith (Mr. Bungle) for the San Francisco-based Theory of Ruin. My knowledge of the band is limited to MP3s scoured from the Internet, but what I heard was bass-heavy math-metal goodness. They've been compared to everything from Pitchfork to Big Black, and the stuff I heard definitely piqued my interest in this show--especially when the lineup here includes Playing Enemy, a hardcore/metal tightrope of a band that doesn't play enough in this city. Portland's Diesto is another act I've yet to hear, but reviews of their 2001 release, Outland, include the words "shuddering noise, breakneck-heavy intensity, and screeching vocals," all of which sounds like music to my ears. JENNIFER MAERZ
TUESDAY 3/25
KID KOALA, DJ P-LOVE, DJ JESTER
(Chop Suey) Like Land of the Loops and Dan the Automator, the music of Montreal's Kid Koala (Eric San) is made up of pop junk. Nothing in his mixes sparkles or is brand new; it's all old, used, forgotten, dusty, and busted stuff. Also like Land of the Loops and Dan the Automator, Kid Koala makes art-hiphop and therefore is a direct descendant of the father of art-hiphop, Prince Paul, whose greatest work--3 Feet High and Rising--first introduced the aesthetic of junk, waste, and exhaustion to the end of the formative period of hiphop (1988). Expect to be impressed by the talented Chinese Canadian turntablist who goes by the cool name of Kid Koala. CHARLES MUDEDE Also see Speaker Freak, page 48.
WEDNESDAY 3/26
LADYFEST OPENING NIGHT: VISQUEEN, THE NEW CANDIDATES, MS. LED, THE REPUTATION, OPERATION MAKEOUT, THE GUEST STARS, EXORCISMO
(Crocodile) Elizabeth Elmore, the former singer/guitarist of Sarge, returned last year with a vengeance with the Reputation, her power-pop quartet. Besides the crunchy guitars and sugary hooks, Elmore's girly voice delivers some of the smartest, most biting lyrics out there. It's not just sleeping with the wrong people and lousy romances that have her ire; it's exclusionary scenes that breed thickets of gossip (sound familiar?), the dissolution of fucked-up friendships, and making bad character judgments that cost you your self-respect. In other words, the soundtrack of my summer, the bitter taste nicely coated in melodic, well-crafted songs that temper the bad wisdom. The Reputation is one hell of a band and it's only part of a stellar lineup, so arrive early and stay until the end when Visqueen brings down the house. NATE LIPPENS Also see Stranger Suggests, page 23.
