THE GOURDS
(Tractor) See Border Radio, page 29.
LA BOUM!, DJS LES SAUCETTES
(CHAC LOWER LEVEL) Let's face it, it's time to take a vacation. And if you can't afford globetrotting to Paris--where overcast skies are simply new words for romance--you can at least make the trip to this night of French pop. La Boum! attempts to escort revelers back to the '60s, when musique Française was as stylish as the clothing and lewd crooner Serge Gainsbourg fittingly hit number 69 on the charts. JENNIFER MAERZ
FFEJ, STEVEN FANDRICH, JESSIKA KENNEY, BIRDS MAY BITE
(Rendezvous) Tonight Ffej celebrates the release of his first solo "experimental" CD, Patterns in the Storm Vol. I. The disc is awash with oscillating analog synths; these sounds are possibly the greatest ever conceived to trip your nads off to. Patterns in the Storm made me flash back to the vividly visceral palpitations of Conrad Schnitzler's trailblazing electronic works of the '70s and Gil Melle's harrowingly microbial soundtrack to The Andromeda Strain. And that is always welcome. DAVE SEGAL
FRIDAY 1/7
KANE HODDER, BLUE SKY MILE, THE COPS, PATROL
(The Paradox) See All Ages Action, page 35.
COME ON, BEAUTIFUL: THE SONGS OF AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB
(Sunset) Now that Mark Eitzel's undercelebrated '90s down-a-saurus rock band is back together and making strong new music, what better time to organize a tribute to American Music Club, and one that benefits the American Civil Liberties Union, to boot? Tonight's lineup includes, but is not limited to: Graig Markel, Downpilot, Ian Moore, Sanford Arms, Jake London, Mala Vista, Somerset, Robert Roth, the Transmissionary Six, Andrea Maxand, Saeta, Tracker, Transpacific, Jon Hyde, Euclid, and An American Starlet. No flies on that. SEAN NELSON
SATURDAY 1/8
HOLY GHOST REVIVAL, XXX AUDIO, TWO GALLANTS
(Vera Project) See preview, page 24.
BOLLYWOOD BENEFIT: DJS ANSHUL, ADVENT, DAREK MAZZONE
(Mirabeau Room) Not even the big, passionate music of Bollywood can capture the terrifying scope of the recent global disaster that has killed so many people, so suddenly. It will be years before Bollywood or any other art can adequately express the profound sorrow of our moment. All we can do now is offer the little help we can to those who lost everything to the third largest sea on earth. CHARLES MUDEDE
SUPER DELUXE, DOLOUR, MECHANICAL DOLLS
(Crocodile) Remember when the Donnas weren't glossy like Seventeen covergirls? The Mechanical Dolls are a lot like early Donnas. Not just because they play stripped down, punked-up classic rock, but because they have that same "fuck it, we're doin' this" attitude that the Donnas used to have before they started starring in teen movies. Listening to songs from their new record Hit and Run, it's obvious that the Mechanical Dolls aren't that great… yet… but that's not their point. The point is that they're a young, all-girl band playing an untrendy genre of music, and well, that's sort of ballsy and exciting. MEGAN SELING
DOOMSDAY: 1999, JONNY X AND THE GROADIES, THE CHEESE, MIKAELA'S FIEND, RED TAPE APOCALYPSE
(S.S. Marie Antoinette) The Cheese are from Barcelona, Red Tape Apocalypse from Oberlin, Ohio, Mikaela's Fiend are locals, and Doomsday and Jonny X? They're from planets yet unmanned. In Doomsday: 1999's case, the Seattle trio retires to a far-off galaxy populated by fanatical insects flying at grindcore speed and getting splattered into metal windshields with spine-chilling screams. Jonny X and the Groadies' art-damaged metal explorations are there to sweep up the carnage and fling it back in your face, hardcore style. JENNIFER MAERZ
SUNDAY 1/9
Elvis has left the building.
MONDAY 1/10
MICHAEL WOLFF
(Triple Door) Yeah, Wolff served as Arsenio Hall's music director. But if you can forget about those cheesy trappings and focus on Wolff's myriad stints with some of jazz's upper echelon (Cal Tjader, Airto Moreira, Sonny Rollins, Tony Williams), you gain a greater insight into his mercurial skills. His new album with his band Impure Thoughts, Dangerous Vision (Artemis), is a classy, reverent extrapolation of post-bop improv. Bolstered by tabla master Badal Roy, percussionist Airto (both of Miles Davis' awesome early-'70s ensembles), and drummer Mike Clark (of funk titans the Headhunters), Wolff tackles Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," Rollins' "St. Thomas," Nat Adderley's "Work Song," and Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pazo's "Soul Sauce" with aplomb. His own compositions trace similar ground with understated melodic grace and lithe rhythms. DAVE SEGAL
TUESDAY 1/11
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, A THORN FOR EVERY HEART, NO WARNING, THE BREAK
(Studio 7) A Thorn for Every Heart are handsome young lads, and they take the whole Taking Back Sunday/Used direction well (since obviously, they didn't come up with this whole screamo/messy-haired bullshit themselves). So I suspect we'll soon see them on the cover of Alternative Press with a glowing story about how they fought all odds by breaking out of their suburban hometown to become rock and roll superstars after surviving a mediocre adolescence full of failing ska and pop-punk bands. MEGAN SELING
WEDNESDAY 1/12
CARRIE AKRE, KIM VIRANT, XXX AUDIO, LAURA VEIRS, MECHANICAL DOLLS, TART, FREE VERSE, ROTTEN APPLES, BETTY X, DJ SUPERJEW
(Neumo's) This event is a birthday party for local feminist indie music mag Rockrgrl, which has been boosting female musicians on a national level for a decade now. Tonight's showcase, hosted by KEXP's Amanda Wilde, displays a cross-section of Seattle's female musician population, from the punk and indie-rock leanings of XXX Audio, Mechanical Dolls, and the Rotten Apples to the hardcore-metal mélange of Free Verse and Laura Veirs' narrative alt country. JENNIFER MAERZ
