FRIDAY 10/1


MOUSE ON MARS, RATATAT, JUNIOR BOYS
(Chop Suey) See preview, page 42 and Data Breaker, page 56.

THE CATHETERS, BIG BUSINESS, OTHER GHOST
(Old Fire House) See All Ages Action, page 37 and Stranger Suggests, page 27.

DUO FEST: C AVERAGE, CROATAN, ME INFECTO, DRY COUNTY
(Funhouse) Who needs a threesome when a duo can do it just fine? That's the theory behind the Northwest Duo Fest, a two-day, two-band-member celebration of various guitar/drum and bass/drum combos. Tonight features metal from Oly's C Average and Me Infecto, among other acts. Tomorrow there's a 2:00 p.m. BBQ with Seattle's Brown Stripes before the night gets fired up with Big Business and Mico de Noche. JENNIFER MAERZ

TRASH CAN SINATRAS, RODDY HART
(Crocodile) This bill combines one of the great unsung legends of Scotland's '80s pop heritage with a young Glaswegian up-and-comer. The Trashcan Sinatras just missed out on the college rock explosion that preceded what we now (grudgingly) call alternative rock. They may have been too smart, too funny, or simply too good. But for now, they are back, and longtime fans can rejoice at seeing them again. Roddy Hart, meanwhile, is an unknown quantity, and seems to be of the Damien Rice/Jonathan Rice (hey!) school of handsome and somber love balladeers from the British Isles. Whatever. If he's with the Sinatras, he must be worth a look. SEAN NELSON

DEICIDE, GOATWHORE, CATTLE DECAPITATION, JUNGLE ROT
(Graceland) To the untrained ear--or the ear damaged by a satanic ritual in which it was severed and indelicately reattached with barbed wire--Deicide, Goatwhore, and Cattle Decapitation might sound strikingly similar. All employ frighteningly feral singers, basslines that burble ominously like leaking gas near a lit match, and double-kick drumbeats that occasionally seem to surpass the speed of sound and disappear altogether. But there are crucial distinguishing characteristics. Deicide singer Glen Benton branded an inverted cross into his forehead, which could be something of a conversational cul-de-sac at a Christian cocktail party. Goatwhore appreciates poetic imagery and mythological allusions; it's like a dark prince with a liberal arts degree. Cattle Decapitation's vocals are evil, high-pitched and fast-paced--imagine the Wicked Witch of the West cast as the auctioneer of death--and its art-thrash is inventive, but their best asset might be the hilariously grotesque cover on their recent release Humanure. ANDREW MILLER

SENSES FAIL, SILVERSTEIN, THE BLED, EMANUEL
(Neumo's) Senses Fail, simply put, is Taking Back Sunday and Saves the Day put together with some Good Charlotte "tough guy" imagery. It's dark and gutless melodramatic pop and I don't really like it. I especially don't like the guy who growls demonically behind the lead singer. What are you doing, demon guy? Clear your throat! But maybe they're doing that to counteract the incredibly whiny lead vocals? The main vocalist does that thing where it sounds like he has a chronic case of hiccups while singing shit like "I think that the truth is I'm scared." You know the kind. They'll have the last laugh, though, 'cause the show will probably sell out. Or at least be pretty packed. That's just... ew. MEGAN SELING

NEIL HAMBURGER, PLEASEEASAUR, BLOWDOG & SNEEZY
(Sunset) In spite of himself, formerly down-on-his-luck Neil Hamburger continues to gain popularity. After all, he's been coughing his way through sets and telling the same tasteless jokes for years now. But thanks to last year's Live at Phoenix Greyhound Park DVD and his audience-confounding performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he's gained plenty of new fans who are eager to hear him tell jokes about dog food coming out of Madonna's breasts--an encouraging sign in these troubled times. WILLIAM YORK

TORRA TORRA TORRENCE, BULLET TRAIN TO VEGAS, NEW MEXCIANS, CURSE OF THE CAROUSEL PONIES
(Vera Project) I'm gonna go ahead and highly recommend this show to anyone who's a fan of artists like the Blood Brothers or Q and Not U. Without sounding like rip-offs, the Long Beach, CA quartet Bullet Train to Vegas take some of the best characteristics of both acts and beat them into a new form, adding their own heavy beats and chaotic elements. Having never seen them I can't vouch for their live show, but if they sound this intense on record, chances are they're gonna blow your mind at Vera. Fans of Fugazi will want to arrive in plenty of time to see the New Mexicans too, local boys who recently put out a record that has been earning them very complimentary comparisons to the East Coast hardcore heroes. MEGAN SELING

SATURDAY 10/2


DJ KRUSH, FCS NORTH, KAMUI, HIDEKI, BUMBLEBEE
(Neumo's) See preview, page 37.

VISQUEEN, THE GIRLS, SMOOSH
(Crocodile, early) See preview, page 37.

VISQUEEN, THE MUFFS, JONNY POLONSKY
(Crocodile, late) Hard to believe it's been eight years since 22-year-old Jonny Polonsky's debut album, Hi My Name Is Jonny, left those of us who devour Raspberries-esque power pop delighted with the introduction. The suburban Chicago native may have lost that first record deal, but apparently not his knack for punching out 180-second sprees of hummable and incisively catchy songs, as his full-length follow-up, The Power of Sound, can attest. On the counsel of our own Pete Droge, Polonsky inked up with Seattle's Loveless Records, and there's an early buzz on the new album's wild-eyed bravado, diverse instrumentation, and songwriting buoyancy. Polonsky, now based in Los Angeles, handles every instrument (save for Josh Freese's drumming on two tracks) and niftily balances a few bawdy rockers with those all-familiar pop riffs that still ring clear from 1996. (Polonsky also tees it up for a Sunday matinee performance at Ballard's Sonic Boom Records at 3:00 p.m.) See also preview, page 37. SCOTT HOLTER

MACHA
(Vera Project) Macha's self-titled 1998 debut album hit the taste buds like a startlingly exotic cocktail compared to that era's watered-down indie-rock beer. Here was a Georgia rock band who'd gone to Indonesia and absorbed the wonders of gamelan (orchestras consisting of gongs, chimes, metallophones, drums, and flutes), flourishing there and incorporating those alien sonorities into fluid, memorable songs. Over three subsequent releases, Macha have become blander and lost some of that early East/West hybrid magic, but even on their patchy new Forget Tomorrow album, flickerings of the old otherworldly brilliance appear. DAVE SEGAL

MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE, THE YOUNGS, SPECS ONE
(Rainbow) Master Musicians of Bukkake are a sextet with a huge supporting cast, including a who's who of Seattle's weird-beard avant-garde. Warping and psychedelicizing the unearthly trance music of Morocco's Master Musicians of Jajouka, MMOB make you feel as if someone laced your hash brownies with potent opium. Tonight the ensemble celebrates the release of The Visible Sign of the Invisible Order (on Sun City Girl Alan Bishop's Abduction Records label). The disc's a brilliant ethnic forgery, an absurd aural ritual that'll scare you straight. DAVE SEGAL See also Stranger Suggests, page 27.

SUNDAY 10/3


DANGER: RADIO, MATT SHAW, UP FALLS DOWN, THE ORPHAN PROJECT
(Graceland) See All Ages Action, page 37.

FLY PAN AM, MONO, ARGO
(Sunset) Japanese quartet Mono play instrumental rock with furrowed brows, shooting skyward grandiose arcs of fuzzed-out and crystalline guitar riffage while solemnly keeping heads down in stern concentration. Their three albums--including the new Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined (editor!)--work with the same lull-and-explode schematics as bands like Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor do. But I wish Mono gave us more powerful explosions and fewer melodramatic lulls. DAVE SEGAL See Stranger Suggests, page 27.

OBELUS, ELECTROSECT, DJ VEINS
(CHAC Lower Level) Every Sunday in the cozy basement of CHAC, Obelus hold court with the unassuming demeanor of people who get the job done sans bullshit. Adam Pessl plays drums and triggers samples, Jason Goessl strokes a MIDI guitar and triggers samples. From this humble setup stream fluid, fascinating, and unclichéd electronic and organic sounds, making humans dance, scratch their chins, and think about things they've never thought of before. DAVE SEGAL

MONDAY 10/4


THE MOONEY SUZUKI, THE RUBY DOE
(Crocodile) So this is kinda what it'd be like if Evan Dando fronted a neo-garage rock band. Now wait, though, before you shudder to think, it's more the tone of Mooney Suzuki's frontman Sammy James Jr. than any pretty-pop-boy-slumming-it type thing. Although there is plenty of pop in the Mooney "ready for the next television commercial whenever you are" Suzuki, a band who sounds as slick as they come. Alive & Amplified throws around more rock clichés than guitarists launch loose picks ("rock 'n' roll get your fluid flowing... do you wanna get loose and juicy"), but there's something endearingly silly about their bombastic antics. And unlike a band like the Scene Creamers, who portend to take the piss out of rock megalomania only to create their own, Mooney Suzuki are good clean fun--make that squeaky, thanks to production work from the Avril knob-twiddlers the Matrix. And then, in the case of promises of "sticky hickies," they also offer good dirty fun, of the R&B, boogie, and gospel-rock flavor. Hallelujah! JENNIFER MAERZ

TUESDAY 10/5


JEDI MIND TRICKS, 7L & ESOTERIC, OUTERSPACE
(Chop Suey) Tighten up them JanSport straps, kids, it's about to go down--in the form of Vinnie Paz and Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind, collectively known as Jedi Mind Tricks. Philly's JMT have been bringing their apocalyptic, aggro-rap vision to headphones worldwide since the mid- to late-'90s indie vinyl boom. Along with Boston's 7L & Esoteric, this show's bound to be packed to the gills; go see it, or you're not as hiphop as I am. LARRY MIZELL JR.

THE ARROGANT SONS OF BITCHES, RIVER CITY REBELS, MIND CANDY, AGENT APATHY, STRIKE ONE
(Studio Seven) If you thought D-Generation was an affront to '77 punk, you're not gonna be sold on the River City Rebels. The Vermont Rebels may lay claim to having recorded with the New York Dolls' Sylvain Sylvain (on the Lower East Side of course, using vintage gear) and may have guest appearances from Sylvain and D-Generation's Jesse Malin, but RCR's latest disc, Hate to Be Loved, is everything that not only the Dead Boys, D-Gen, and the Dolls did before them, but the Toilet Boys, the Black Halos, and countless others have also done since. That said, if you don't mind derivative, RBC--who've been around since '97--aren't without solid hooks and horn sections, and their smeary mascara, desperate-living/hard-loving stance isn't without its charm. JENNIFER MAERZ

WEDNESDAY 10/6


EARLIMART, TENNIS PRO, SOME BY SEA
(Crocodile) See preview, page 40 and Stranger Suggests, page 27.

N. LANNON, THEE MORE SHALLOWS, HYPATIA LAKE
(Chop Suey) Film School's N. Lannon (Nyles Lannon) is skilled in sleepy folktronica, the kind of music that would perfectly soundtrack foggy fall mornings in his hometown of San Francisco. Lannon's biggest asset is his voice, which whispers traces of Nick Drake and Simon & Garfunkel over bedroom beats and a mix of acoustic and electronic instrumentation. Notwist fans take note. JENNIFER MAERZ