JOHN WIESE, GERRITT, NOGGIN
(CoCA) See Live Wire, page 41.
Black Halos, Post Stardom Depression, THE Jet City Fix, ChinaTown
(Crocodile) When Vancouver's Black Halos released The Violent Years on Sub Pop in 2001, the band could do no wrong in my book--that is, until they announced a split not too long after. "Some Things Never Fall" is a near-perfect mesh of torn-fishnet glam, spiked-belt pop, and punk scuzz, and the Stiv Bators/Dead Boys connection was more obvious than frontman Billy Hopeless' lack of sobriety when the band performed live. Whether he was strangling himself with a mic chord mid-performance or talking about how he was destined to die young after the show, Hopeless was--and, I imagine, still is--the consummate drama king in black eyeliner and leopard pants, but he's backed by such great hooks it's forgivable as part of the smeary-eyed us-against-the-world show. After breaking up for what seemed like eternity, the band is back with two new members and a new album planned for early next year. JENNIFER MAERZ
Ian McLagAn and the Bump Band, The Victor Mature
(Sunset) SHIT, this IS the Bump Band, in which happens to be one Mister Ian McLagan... (ahem) the former Hammond player for the Small Faces, the Faces, Rod Stewart, Ron Wood... he even had a stint with the Stones! And as you might figure, with such a pedigree, the Bump Band play "let's get drunk and get silly" bar rock... kinda like the Rolling Stones and, FATHOM, the Faces. But... ah, the extra-cool thing is, this ain't the KIDS playing like their heroes, it's actually one of their heroes who was THERE, playing and WRITING them songs in '71! Opening up for them Bumps is the mighty Victor Mature, who play cool freakbeat and '60s-style art pop (without the auto-destruction). And, thankfully, they play it quite strictly too, mixing SOLID originals and a bunch of ace period covers. MIKE NIPPER
Friday 8/29
Deerhoof, Caustic Resin, Cobra High
(Chop Suey) See Stranger Suggests, page 23.
BUMBERSHOOT
(Various locations) See Bumbershoot guide.
Pure Joy, Zero Down, Bearskin Rugburn
(Sunset, late) Though Pure Joy has spent more time living in the hearts of its fans than on the actual stage, the band has been around since the mid-'80s. After much downtime and a long hiatus, Pure Joy's new album, Gelatin and Bright, is only its fourth full-length to appear in 27 years. Anything singer Rusty Willoughby does is bound to be sparkling with power pop, and the new record is no exception. Out on Book Records, it features new member Kurt Bloch as well as mainstays Lisa King and Jim Hunnicutt. KATHLEEN WILSON
Veronica Lipgloss & The Evil Eyes, Ursula & The Androids, Jackie & The Control Tops, The Intelligence
(Monkey Pub) Theatrical art punks Veronica Lipgloss & the Evil Eyes are said to have a live performance/dance ensemble that's a more potent kick to the libido than a bottle of Viagra and a hotwired connection to a porn channel. At their infamous record-release show this past spring in their hometown of San Francisco, they reportedly unleashed some serious lust, causing the kids to get naked and give each other blowjobs as they thrashed through some synth-wired, disco-trashed rock. A perfect complement, then, for Seattle's queens of trash-wave and dysfunctional longing, Jackie and Ursula, who recently celebrated the release of their debut Dirtnap single. JENNIFER MAERZ
Saturday 8/30
Rockstar Buttrock Karaoke CONTEST featuring members of The Divorce, Minus The Bear, Visqueen, and more
(Chop Suey) See preview, page 37.
THE JET CITY FIX, GO AHEAD, CHINATOWN, THE GEEKS, KILLING CHLOE
(Brick House) See Underage, page 45.
BUMBERSHOOT
(Various locations) See Bumbershoot guide.
Low Flying Owls, Friends For Heroes, The Valley
(Sunset) There's really not much to recommend about California's San Joaquin Valley. In the summer, it's hot enough to fry an egg on your driveway in half an hour (trust me, I've tried it). And in the winter, the tule fog rises dense enough to cause claustrophobia--it's not unheard-of to wake up and not be able to see across the street. But bad circumstances make for good art, which explains Sacramento's Low Flying Owls. Alienation, desperation, and urgency (plus a healthy dose of shadowy psychedelia)--the band's debut album, Elixir Vitae, has it all. If you like the dark, drony swagger of folks like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the Raveonettes, Interpol, et cetera, odds are good that the Low Flying Owls are going to be one of your new favorite bands. BARBARA MITCHELL
Sunno))), Playing Enemy, Floor (ex-Cavity), The Agony Scene
(Hell's Kitchen) Hold on to your bowels, and get ready for some of the heaviest, most hellish noise ever belched forth from the land of Beelzebub. Self-proclaimed "power ambient" duo sunnO))) began several years ago as more or less a tribute to guitar-drone specialists Earth, the most uncommercial (and, perhaps, loathed) band ever to record for Sub Pop. Since then, though, they've developed into a force in their own right, releasing four increasingly diverse yet consistently dense and molasses-slow albums, with cameos from such noteworthy guests as Julian Cope, Japanese noise maven Merzbow, Rex Ritter of space rockers Jessamine, and Thrones bassist Joe Preston (formerly of Earth and the Melvins, and a current sunnO))) touring member). Tonight's show, a rare chance to catch the reclusive band in a live setting, promises to be (among other things) really, really loud, so bring your earplugs. WILLIAM YORK
DJ COLBY B, AVENUE D, DJ BARBEAU, DJ WESLEY HOLMES
(Baltic Room) Avenue D is the salacious booty duo responsible for "Do I Look Like a Slut?", one of the most memorable cuts on last year's Badd Inc. compilation. Other highlights that fly from the moist, glossy lips of Daphne D. and partner Debbie D. include the trash-talking raps "Pump Me Full of Cum" and "Shut Up and Stick It In," raunchy, bass-influenced Miami rump-shakers that make Vanity 6 at their nastiest seem like Sunday-school teachers in comparison. Ditto for their homemade, barely-there stage, um, outfits--it seems wrong to call garments fashioned from rainbow-hued electrical tape and grocery wrappers from the corner bodega "clothes." If Fannypack's inescapable summer hit "Cameltoe" is too tame for your tastes, and you're already worried Peaches' next album will fall short of her jaw-dropping debut, this rare West Coast appearance by the NYC twosome is for you. KURT B. REIGHLEY
SUNDAY 8/31
BUMBERSHOOT
(Various locations) See Bumbershoot guide.
RADIOHEAD, STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
(White River Amphitheatre) Just last week I was having a lengthy (and geeky) debate with a coworker of mine concerning the triumphs and pitfalls of Radiohead's unbelievably celebrated career. This argument quickly devolved into an elaborate system of representational corn chips spread across a lunch table in a complex schematic charting the band's trajectory. The reasons that this exchange is important are twofold, both illustrative. One: Radiohead is essentially the only band alive today that continues to consistently make records that are both interesting and commercially palatable for the masses to geek out on. And two: Everything with Radiohead is simply splitting hairs anyway, as everyone in the whole goddamn world likes them. Like U2, except, you know, good. ZAC PENNINGTON
MEMBERS OF DE LA SOUL, COMMON, BLACK EYED PEAS
(Baltic Room) Numerous critics have complained that Black Eyed Pea's latest CD, Elephunk, is one big letdown, that they've sold out, that, for them, it's now all about the chedda'. How can you be down with the hiphop underground if you have Justin Timberlake as a guest on one of your tracks? And what is up with their new Lil' Kim-like rapper; is she supposed to give the group more sex appeal? But the fact is this: Elephunk is their most honest effort yet. The CD is bad because they have always been bad; the few times they've been good, like the opening track on Behind the Front, "Fallin' Up" (what awful titles those are), is when they've been dishonest. Black Eyed Peas were never (and will never be) a part of L.A.'s impressive underground; they don't have the skills to compete with the likes of Madlib and Jurassic 5. What they can do is what Nelly can do: fake the funk. CHARLES MUDEDE MONDAY 9/1
BUMBERSHOOT
(Various locations) See Bumbershoot guide.
PORN
(Lobo Inn) You don't take an album title like Experiments in Feedback lightly when it comes from San Francisco's Porn--or, as they were once known, Porn (The Men Of). Ringleader Tim Moss is tight with the Melvins (he came through as the soundman on those feedback fuckers' last tour) and his aesthetic is just as malicious. Starting with a metal skeleton, Moss and crew (which currently includes Dave Crover of the Melvins and Neurosis producer Billy Anderson) stretch their gnarled stoner sounds across the rack until the noise screams, bleeds, and bruises into a damaged fusion of sludge and skree. Powerful stuff if it doesn't scare the shit out of you first. JENNIFER MAERZ
ARMOR FOR SLEEP, THE JEALOUS SOUND, FLASHLIGHT BROWN
(Studio Seven) Months ago, when the Jealous Sound came through town while on tour to support their new record, Kill Them with Kindness, I didn't give 'em a fair chance. What I did give them was a less than favorable write-up. I wasn't mean, I just wasn't... nice. I said the record, as sparkly-sweet and wonderfully indie-poppy as it was, was just a tease--sonically building itself up only to fizzle out before hitting the loud rock 'n' roll turbulence I was expecting. I claimed that they were just prepubescent make-out music that wouldn't last through the end of summer. But, for the first time ever in print, I think, I'll admit to being wrong. Because after that write-up, I listened to the Jealous Sound's record again, and then I saw them live. They were fantastic and charming on stage, and the record has since remained in constant rotation. So, to the Jealous Sound, I'm sorry. You're very good. And to everyone else, go to this show... and don't be afraid to admit you were wrong. MEGAN SELING
TUESDAY 9/2
OSCAR PETERSON
(Jazz Alley) Often compared to the greatest pianist of the 20th century, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson is one of the last living piano masters of jazz's modern age ('40s to '50s). Born and raised in Montreal, Peterson, who is nearing his 80s, was trained by his father as a boy, and by Hungarian pianist Paul de Marky as a teen. Peterson is now Canada's most important contribution to jazz, and his country has recognized his achievements by giving him all sorts of national awards and honors. Peterson is noted, among other things, for his near total mastery of the piano. Under his fingers, the instrument seems to obey his imagination, to be a dedicated slave to its expression. Jazz does not make piano players like Peterson anymore; no one has the time or energy to become so perfect, so accomplished at one's art. CHARLES MUDEDE
WEDNESDAY 9/3
WHY?, DOSH, IGUALES
(Chop Suey) See Data Breaker, page 47.
THE NEW AMSTERDAMS, JESSE MALIN, ROCKY VOTOLATO, DIOS
(Graceland) See Stranger Suggests, page 23, and preview, page 35.
