IDA'S HEAVY TRUCKSTOP CD RELEASE, NINE VOLT MILE, JOE PYEWEED
(Fez) Once they become a little more gimmicky, I'm sure you'll hear Ida's on every alternative station around. Right now they lack the exact vocal/ musical synchronization that mainstream alternative demands, and their dramatic one-word yodels are not yet dramatic enough. So basically, they still have a tiny glop of originality that they might want to stomp out in order to make millions off their first single, called "Shit My Pants Again." It's just a thought. Oh yeah, and if they could write some songs about little black backpacks, sleeping with one's clothes on, or how they do it for the nookie they'd have the superstardom thing in the bag. As they are now, they're a bit wacky and untrained; they experiment with their guitars, bang on the drums and let their vocalist do a lot of work. I'm not quite sure if they're committed to their particular style or if they haven't figured out the formula yet. Go and posit for yourself. KATIE SHIMER
MURDER CITY DEVILS, AT THE DRIVE-IN, EASTERN YOUTH
(Pine Street Theater) The name "At the Drive-In" (whose hairdos are at least as prominent as their brash EMO crash-boom antics) has lately been on the lips of every hipster all over the world (which is about to end now that they're debuting on MTV this week). Weird thing is, only about three people have ever heard their music. If you haven't heard of The Murder City Devils, you've probably been imprisoned in a gulag for the past three years. They, too, had their days of being underground, but at this point, the Stooges-esque toughs might as well be starring on Entertainment Tonight. Eastern Youth are from Japan. JULIANNE SHEPHERD
THE DELGADOS, 31 KNOTS
(WOW Hall, Eugene) There is much to admire about Glasgow's the Delgados. Don't know how, but the gently passionate Scots quartet have just discovered harmonies as lush and seductive as even Belle & Sebastian, and matched them to a ra-ra-skirt pop sensibility and even (gasp) a fully fledged children's choir. Maybe this is the Flaming Lips influence everyone is talking about. I'm a sucker for a children's choir, me. There's nothing poignant that can't be made 100 times more so by adding a gaggle of plaintive, straining voices into the background. Look, I saw the Smiths at their sixth-ever show (third on the bill to Sisters of Mercy at London ULU) and they were okay. I liked the way young Mozzer tossed the audience the gladiolas from his bum pocket--it showed an admirable grasp of occasion. It wasn't anything too special, don't worry. You didn't miss much. You miss the Delgados, though, and friends will be rubbing your faces in it for years to come. Music this passionate is always unusual. EVERETT TRUE
MADE FOR TV MOVIE, THE OPERACYCLE, MACHINE THAT FLASHES
(Meow Meow) In 1995, I saw Machine that Flashes play in a shitty cowboy bar in The Middle of Nowhere, Wyoming. Then a Michigan band (they relocated to Portland earlier this year), their crushing, linear guitars and absolutely-on drummer were more hardcore than anything that town had seen (at least until the Scissor Girls riot of 1996--whoo-ee!). They're still combating The Man with their lyrics, and after five years, their level din is as riotous as ever. (reminder: bring earplugs) Cut that out and paste it on your fridge. The Operacycle have a fascinatingly brilliant drummer who will, with a little time, make that old snoozebag John McEntire look like a rhythmless, armless toddler. Meaning: that boy can keep a smooth, complicated beat. Complementing him are very focused guitars that good-posturedly ease and flow, like a Faulkner book. I love them. The first song on Made for TV Movie's new album has this fucking great, powerful riff that goes, "DUH-DUH (dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-UDH)." Oh--you don't understand what I'm talking about? Hmm... That's unfortunate. I suppose you will just have to attend this show to find out. See Music pg 17 JS
THE STANDARD, BERING SEA, STRATEGY, ACACIA
(Medicine Hat) Have you seen the Bering Sea? Their guitar-drum dynamics crash and swell like crests, or sometimes even Slowdive, although they're a duo and without vocals. Their music fills the air like water. I'm so, so sorry for all the stupid ocean imagery, but they have the most appropriate band name... dark and milky black like ink--you expect a magical, gentle reptile to lurk underneath. Strategy is just this one guy doing extremely danceable, surprisingly cohesive ambient electronica, which is rare--I mean, you get a lot of dudes fiddling around with their racks and sequencers, but they hardly ever sound this full. The Standard, well... I know a lot of people who have big boners for this band, and they're tight, but I have to say... the more I hear them, the more I dislike their music. To me, it sounds like a bunch of guys who don't remember the seventies playing music that was popular, yet guttingly mediocre, back then. Hell, not that I remember the seventies, but I'm not getting all nostalgic for them (or what they could have been). By the way, I think Almost Famous is the single most boringly sentimental, retarded glorification of rock stardom ever created. And rock stardom has VERY LITTLE to do with music. JS
THE HOLIDAYS, TRILLIUM, MUD BUGS
(Ethos, 7-10 pm) The Holidays are so great. Their music can be a very subdued, poppy slow jam, and then it gets all far-out in its fuzzy jazz craziness. That combination makes for a very pleasant band that is both extremely radio-friendly (i.e., fun for the whole family) and also appreciable from a musician's standpoint--they're excellent songwriters who make super hooks and their jazz influence is apparent, but they're never stylistically redundant. JS
BASTINADO, THE OWNERS, LAVOODOOKISS
(Medicine Hat) YUM. The Owners' distortion and guitar solos will make you want to bare your teeth and dance around. Thing is, you'll be so enchanted by watching them play, you won't remember to shake it. It's a very rare occurrence; they've got healthy doses of their own energy, you see. JS
CARISSA'S WIERD, THE CITY AND THE STARS, TWO PLAY COLOR
(Meow Meow) See Music pg 19
WRITTEN IN ASHES
(Ash Street Saloon) Okay so I'm checking out the Written In Ashes CD, and it's called Epiphany, and so I roll my eyes, and I'm like, "What-ever! Wannabe deep, cheese rock about lost love and old pictures and crap--just what I need." But then I listened to the CD and it was like whoa, and I totally had this epiphany that bands can just have a bad moment and name their record something crappy and not need to be blamed for it for the rest of their lives. I mean I once titled a college term paper "A Hard Time to Be Gay," and I was sure I'd flunk just because of sheer title retardation, but I didn't. In the same vein I have to say Written in Ashes is pretty goddamn good. They're working the goth sector with the depressed vocals, but the music, while having the dark twangy guitars, is optimistic and almost dance-worthy. It's kind of weird, but really good-weird. KS
THE ORB, JUNO REACTOR, AUDITORY SCULPTURE
(Ohm) These elder statesmen of techno cut their teeth together in London's acid house underground during the early nineties, but their sounds could not be more disparate. While the Orb's Alex Paterson practically invented the chilly vibe of ambient house, Juno Reactor's Ben Watkins rode the wave of hyper-kinetic trance that emerged from the Goa region of India. Watkins certainly didn't invent trance, but he's pushed the formula farther than his peers. Juno Reactor's latest album, Shango, is a multicultural collision of aboriginal rhythms and hypnotic, electronic atmospherics. Paterson himself contributed the mindbending ambient track "Nitrogen Part 1" to his friend's album. But live, these two chums are also opposites. Paterson mesmerizes with his down-tempo tunes and psychedelic light show. Watkins counter-punches with the amazing live drums of South African tribal percussionists, Amampondo, a group whose energetic rhythms complement Juno Reactor's set of hard tranced-out techno. It'll be interesting to see who's left standing at the end of the night. DAVID SLATTON
THE MISFITS, IMPOTENT SEA SNAKES, MURPHY'S LAW, PRIMITIVE REASON
(Pine Street) There was a time when the the Misfits meant something. Forming in New Jersey in '76, they fused New York punk rock with underground pop-culture imagery (and even a bit of Motown songwriting sensibility) to produce some of the catchiest and most aggressive two-minute sing-alongs ever pressed on wax. Even after their demise in '83, their legacy continued to inspire the growing movements of hardcore and speed metal, and they ascended to patron saint status for pissed-off gutterpunks everywhere. The Misfits 2000 are another story, however. With only one original member (bassist Jerry Only) the band has put out a couple albums of moderately catchy, but ultimately pointless pop-punk, and continue touring. "Teenagers from Mars" no more, the dark imagery and snotty attitude that worked for a bunch of punk-ass Jersey kids just out of high school comes across as tired and contrived twenty years later. Hell, a friend told me that, at their last performance here, current singer Michale Graves was so uninspired he appeared in a fucking baseball cap. Die, die, my darling. DAN PAULUS
KIND OF LIKE SPITTING, URBAN LEGENDS, HOLY CHILDHOOD
(Medicine Hat) It's a good thing Kind of Like Spitting and Urban Legends are A. talented and B. popular, because the music of the Holy Childhood makes me want to hang myself. Their vocalist makes the most amateur karaoke artist sound like an operatic virtuoso. But hey, KoLS and Urban Legends are good. JS
THE SWORDS/PROJECT, NORFOLK & WESTERN
(Dos Mil Gallery) I must reiterate: The Swords/Project are an atmospherically intense rock orchestra complete with Rhodes piano, violins, guitars, and TWO drummers. They always, always put forth an emotionally jarring, beautiful performance. Norfolk & Western are like taking a road trip in rural Massachusetts with someone you've known for a very, very long time, and looking at broken-down houses or stepping through cemeteries and admiring tombstones. Guitars, old-time radios, super drummer Rachel Blumberg--what more does a band need? Incidentally, this is a benefit for the newly opened Seaplane Boutique. JS
PARIS, TEXAS, THE INTIMA
(Meow Meow) The music of Paris, Texas (who are actually from Madison, Wisconsin) is nothing like the movie--they are far from slow and long and introspective. They have bases in emo (read: the new radio rock). Hey, did I mention The Intima is brilliant? I've been trying hard to figure out what they sound like, not that I want to compare them to other bands (or that I could, even), but simply for a reference point. The only thing I can think to say is that the vocals can be mildly similar to Lee Ranaldo's on "Hey Joni." What else can I say? Go see them! See Music pg 19 JS
SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS, DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND
(Roseland) "Ba da da da da da da da da da da da da... Put a lid on it/What's that you say?/Put a lid on it/No man, no way/Put a lid down on it... ba da da da da da da da da da...." Horns blow. It's all real uptown and swanky. You're dumb, pretentious, and you love to shake that dumb fuckin' booty, so do it. YAWN. JEFF DeROCHE
Wake me when it's over, for the love of emo.
WEDNESDAY 11/22
PETER MURPHY
(Roseland) Oh, Peter, so much to answer for. Personally responsible for so many lost, teenage souls wearing bad make-up and ridiculous clothes (we'll blame the ludicrous hair on Robert Smith). As the leader of Bauhaus, you ushered in the new vampirism, and somehow convinced the disenfranchised that they'd feel less like freaks if they looked more like freaks, and that by being the same as their goony friends, they were being individuals. But still, I never blamed Quentin Tarantino for having fans that are loud-mouthed idiots, and I like your tunes, so I'll let it slide. Besides, this is an acoustic tour, and the chance to hear your gorgeous, low-toned voice unencumbered by a giant band is too good to pass up. I want to hear the lovely "Indigo Eyes" and "Wild Birds" stripped bare, and please please please do "Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem." The best proof that you're more than the sum of your goths will be letting the material speak for itself. Instead of a lame-ass opening band, early attendees will be treated to the short film collaboration between Murphy and Joanna Woodward, "The Grid," not seen by sun-deprived eyes since the 'Haus toured in 1980. JAMIE S. RICH
RUSSELL SIMINS
(Crystal Ballroom) Just because he is in Jon Spencer Blues Explosion doesn't mean you should write him off entirely. He's the drummer, and a good one, at that. His solo record, Public Places, plays like he's been hanging out with the Beastie Boys' remix albums. In other words, it's sports drink-powered rock, a little bit funky, a little bit sexual, and so totally dorky in such a honky way, you'll want to pat him on the head and give him a Tootsie Pop. JS
CLUBFOOT SANDWICH CD RELEASE
(Snake and Weasel) Let me first define what uneventful is to me: A tried-and-true concept, like, say, The Simpsons or playing touch football on a Sunday afternoon. Not a bad way to idle away an hour or so, but it won't change your life. Clubfoot Sandwich hosts the release of their first CD--a solid, but uneventful collection of one-two-three drum beats, tinny guitar chords, comfortable imagery and well-practiced vocals. PHIL BUSSE
GOING TO SEATTLE?
THURS 11/16: Marc Olsen (EMP)
FRI 11/17: Groove Collective, Sex Machine 2, DJ Free, DJ K.O. (I-Spy)
SAT 11/18: Yellow Machine Gun, Vulgar Pigeons, Short Fuses, Bloodhag (Breakroom)
SUN 11/19: Lazy Dog (Baltic Room); The Orb, Juno Reactor (DV8)
MON 11/21: Peter Murphy (Showbox); Squirrel Nut Zippers (Crocodile); Taj Mahal (Jazz Alley)
WED 11/22: 360bpm Anniversary w/Metalheadz, Digital, MC Rage, DJ Rinse (Showbox); Living Daylights (Sit & Spin)
For more info, visit www.thestranger.com
