DIPLO OF HOLLERTRONIX, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN LIVE PA, MR. PICCOLO
(Chop Suey) See Data Breaker, page 61.
SUBTLE, FROG EYES, THE SATURDAY KNIGHTS
(Neumo's) See Data Breaker, page 61.
SOCIAL DISTORTION, TIGER ARMY, THE EXPLOSION
(Premier) Social Distortion is a rare example of a band that has managed to continually write good (arguably great) records after making the jump from an indie to a major label. And while some might allege that the band has put out the same record many times over since their self-titled Epic debut, all I can say is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." MEGAN SELING
DRUNK HORSE, ALTA MAY, TREPAN, BLACK HORSE
(Graceland) Although they're still at the beginning of their lifespan, Black Horse have already immensely altered their sound. The two-guitar/male-female act pared down to a duo, replacing their drummer with a drum machine and aiming for less of the bar-rock thing and more Royal Trux/Pussy Galore/Cramps-style material. The difference between their two demos is between day and after-the-after parties night, with languid lyrics about stripping and hunting for a last call of your own, poured thickly out of singers April and AP's voices. Drunk Horse, on the other hand, is the Bay Area's answer to stony ZZ Top jams. JENNIFER MAERZ
MORIS TEPPER, TRUMANS WATER, CORT ARMSTONG & SEAN DIVINE
(Sunset) The title of Trumans Water's 1993 album Spasm Smash succinctly summarizes the San Diego group's sound. TW's trebly, spazzy attack triggered plenty of comparisons to Pavement, Polvo, and Captain Beefheart in the unhalcyonic early '90s. As far as rambunctiously angular noise rock with funny song titles went, Trumans delivered primo goods. Today's incarnation of the band seems trapped in a time warp, but instead of sounding exhausted, they still radiate a vein-bulging vitality on their 12th and most recent album, You Are in the Line of Fire and They Are Shooting at You (Homesleep). Which means diehard fans will wanna catch this rare Seattle appearance. Former Beefheart guitarist Tepper has played with P.J. Harvey and Frank Black; he will surely complement TW's tightly sprawling aggro rock. DAVE SEGAL
FRIDAY 11/12
KLUTE, COMMERCIAL SUICIDES, ILL CAESERELLI, SYZE, GUESTS
(Catwalk) See Data Breaker, page 61.
MAGNETIC FIELDS
(The Moore) See preview, page 41 and Stranger Suggests, page 25.
SOCIAL DISTORTION, TIGER ARMY, THE EXPLOSION
(Premier) See Thursday's preview.
BLONDE REDHEAD, THE HELIO SEQUENCE, IQU
(Showbox) Think back to when, as a child, you went to summer camp, and that one fateful summer you met a "cool" older kid. Once back home your friends barely recognized you and your new interests in the Ramones and the Clash. New York's Blonde Redhead is like that in inverse, having traded dissonant, affected post-punk for delicate, brooding, polished pop over six detuned and retuned releases. Portland's Helio Sequence launches a series of dense and bombastic loping loops informed and anchored by the mellifluous sprawl of glitchy Brit-pop and shoegaze squall. And Seattle's own IQU have figuratively been at camp, releasing the group's first album in more than three years, but the duo's campy, puckish breakbeats, wozzy guitar, wobbly bass and melodic synth burbles still deliver more bounce to the ounce. TONY WARE See also Stranger Suggests, page 25.
'GETTING NOWHERE FASTER' VIDEO PREMIER WITH VISQUEEN, MOST, ANNA OXYGEN
(Vera Project) See Stranger Suggests, page 25.
SATURDAY 11/13
JOULES, A KISS FAREWELL, BIRD SHAPED HOLES IN THE SKY, TINY VIPERSSS, HORNETZ!, CATAPULTS
(Ground Zero) See All Ages Action, page 41.
THE KINSEY SICKS
(Triple Door) See Stranger Suggests, page 25.
DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS, GUESTS
(Neumo's) See Stranger Suggests, page 25.
IQU, THE LIGHTS, ANNA OXYGEN
(Paradox) See Stranger Suggests, page 25.
MINNIE DRIVER, MICHAEL MILLER
(Crocodile) On a curve of, say, Gina Gershon being the worst and Juliette Lewis being more than passable (actresses who attempt a music career), Minnie Driver rates pretty high. She actually wrote all the songs on her debut, Everything I've Got in My Pocket, a twangy, understated Lilith Fair offering showing that not only can the woman date Matt Damon onceuponatime, act in Good Will Hunting, and star on episodes of Will & Grace, she also possesses a voice with impressive range and can pen some spacious adult-alternative tracks, as well. Her tourmate Michael Miller--a man who owes a great debt to Thom Yorke in his vocals--also spins an eclectic batch of melancholy pop on his disc, When We Come To. JENNIFER MAERZ
GATSBY'S AMERICAN DREAM, THIS PROVIDENCE, DAPHNE LOVES DERBY
(Graceland) Tonight local band This Providence celebrates the release of their debut record, Our Worlds Divorce. Their bright vision of sensitive indie pop shows a mastery of the formula in front of them. Ultimately, though, Divorce doesn't take any chances beyond what's already been conquered many times over in that genre. But This Providence could still find a comfortable home alongside acts like Acceptance and Gatsby's American Dream. And seeing as how both Gatsby's and Acceptance are having so much success (both release new records next year--Acceptance on Columbia, and Gatsby's on Fearless), This Providence might be prepped for just as much triumph. Which confuses the hell out of me. MEGAN SELING
TOBY KEITH
(Tacoma Dome) Cornier than Celine Dion, Michael Bolton, and Liza Minnelli put together, American patriot Toby Keith loves his country, as well as the American military and its international boot kickin'. Wrapping himself in the flag while kissing George Dubya's behind, this Taliban-hating redneck has written a heartfelt tribute to those in harm's way, called "American Soldier," which is so over the top and weepy that it sounds like a parody of patriotism. In sports bars in Dallas, Texas, military towns in Iowa, and red states everywhere, a phenomenon like Toby Keith might make sense somehow, but to the rest of the world, this sort of Christian, right-wing flag humping personifies everything that's fucked up about America, its fat ego, its bullshit righteousness, and its stomping of the less fortunate around the globe. ADAM BREGMAN
SUNDAY 11/14
SON, AMBULANCE, VICTORY AT SEA, VERONA, THE MYRIAD
(Graceland) Tortured is a word that fits much of the Saddle Creek catalog--from Bright Eyes' affected mew to Cursive's distraught yelp, someone needs to offer the kids on that roster a bag of uppers. Son, Ambulance is no less dour in its moody electro pop, as creaky-voiced dear-diary confessionals get drowned out in a maelstrom of strings and synths. Weepy is too uplifting a word for this band, but indie-rock misery always loves company. JENNIFER MAERZ
KORN, CHEVELLE, BREAKING BENJAMIN, SKINDRED
(Tacoma Dome) Forget, for a moment, that Korn's bassist released a spectacularly stupid album under the name Fieldy's Dream. Also, erase from your memory the fact that the group's guitarists answer to the names Munky and Head. Absolve the band from its unseemly connection to the atrocious Limp Bizkit, and mentally quarantine singer Jon Davis' bagpipe bleats. Those distractions aside, Korn ranks among hard rock's most innovative acts, with its abstract guitar squiggles, lead-plated basslines and death-disco drumbeats. Davis dances with his demons in tracks that read like diary entries of the damned, and his sputtering scat segments play like rage-induced seizures. Live, the group's robust rhythms and staggered melodies become even more compelling, and Davis seems fragile yet dangerous, as ominously inviting as an exotic flower with poison-laced petals. ANDREW MILLER
MONDAY 11/15
WOLF EYES, COMETS ON FIRE, RUBBER O CEMENT, SMEGMA
(Chop Suey) See preview, page 37, and Stranger Suggests, page 25
DE LA SOUL, BLUE SCHOLARS
(Showbox) See preview, page 44, and Stranger Suggests, page 25
TUESDAY 11/16
THE FUTUREHEADS, HIGH SPEED SCENE
(Crocodile) See preview, page 43.
THE LAST VEGAS, BLACK TOP DEMON
(Catwalk) Fans of bands like the Toilet Boys and Murdock should be tying on the stilettos and perfecting that sneer for a skintight cock-rock set by the Last Vegas. The band's new release, Lick 'Em and Leave 'Em (Get Hip)--further proof that bands like this never tire of a good porn-title-like spoof--is raunchy, rowdy, and ruffed-up glam rock. JENNIFER MAERZ
GREEN DAY, NEW FOUND GLORY, SUGARCULT
In the final days of Kerry's campaign, I deejayed a big Democratic rally. After the all speeches, I dropped the incendiary title tune from Green Day's American Idiot. A minute later, a campaign staffer rushed over and, as they say, "politely but firmly" asked me to play something else. Immediately. Cue "Born in the USA"...again. Sigh. I can only hope that by the next election, the millions of kids who made American Idiot the NUMBER ONE ALBUM IN AMERICA upon its release will have reached voting age, because they obviously know how to pay attention and make informed decisions. Just don't show up to this concert expecting to hear the big hits, because the Bay Area pop-punk trio is playing Idiot in its entirety, rock opera-style. See it now before it gets bowdlerized into a Broadway musical. KURT B. REIGHLEY
DEVENDRA BANHART, SCOUT NIBBLET
Devendra Banhart is currently out on tour for the release of Nino Rojo, his second album of mystic, dark folk pop madness to come out this year. Along with his cohort and occasional muse, Andy Cabic of Vetiver, the two have been responsible for making some of the strongest and most haunting folk-tinged records to come out of the indie rock landscape in ages (both Banhart's releases and Vetiver's debut, to get specific). Their influence has also helped bring obscure-folkies like Linda Perhacs and Vashti Bunyan (the latter just given a nice reissue on Vetiver's DiChristina label) into vogue. Did I mention the songs themselves will get their little fingers in your brain? Well, it's true. JON PRUETT WEDNESDAY 11/17
GUIDED BY VOICES, THE THERMALS
(Neumo's) See preview, page 41, and Stranger Suggests, page 25.
CHARLIE HUNTER, BOBBY PREVITE, DJ OLIVE, CRITTERS BUGGIN, LYRICS BORN, GUESTS
(Showbox) Ropeadope Records aims to make you rethink your prejudices about the lovely word "eclectic." The Brooklyn label's biannual traveling New Music Seminar coaxes many of its diverse artists to play unpredictable, nonstop, four-hour sets by night and give lectures on music in schools by day. Quannum Project rapper Lyrics Born injects soul and intelligence into indie hiphop; Sex Mob apply a cheeky, jovial veneer to spy-flick jazz and porn-film funk; Charlie Hunter, Bobby Previte, and DJ Olive (as Groundtruther) revive experimental jazz for the new millennium; Critters Buggin's world-class cellist Matt Haimovitz plays Bach; Benevento/Russo Duo and DJ Rich Medina round out this entertaining, edifying evening. DAVE SEGAL
VAZ, THE NEW MEXICANS, ME INFECTO, GIRTH
(Graceland) Vaz, the duo of Jeff Mooridian and Apollo Liftoff, have played together since the '90s and moved together across the country from their home base of Minneapolis. Like Load labelmates USAISAMONSTER, the pair seem content as rock nomads, though both groups have set down tentative roots in Brooklyn. Mooridian, AKA Deft Garlands, has a speedy flair with his fills and an impressively counterintuitive drumming style. From early exercises in dark guitar and drums power noise that veered into Wipers territory, the group is getting, dare we say, more upbeat. Their latest is called Dying to Meet You (GSL), and Vaz are way more focused on song structure than their masked spazz-out peers, but we thank them for it. GEORGE CHEN
