Stuff to Do, Week of April 7, 2005

grady grady at ibiblio.org
Thu Apr 7 16:26:02 EDT 2005


Thursday, April 7
M. Ward [http://www.futurefarmer.com/mward.html], Norfolk and Western 
[http://www.norfolkandwestern.org/], Devotchka [http://www.devotchka.net/]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro



Thursday, April 7
Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan [http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com], Ho-Ag 
[http://www.ho-ag.com/], Kolyma [http://www.myspace.com/kolyma], David 
Nahm [http://audubonpark.blogspot.com]
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Cantwell, Gomez & Jordan claimed the other day that nobody wants to play 
shows with them anymore, yet here they are, in the middle of a four-band 
bill. Ho-Ag are from Boston & there's lots of data on their website, so 
knock yourself out.

Kolyma are from Raleigh, and they're a meeting of the diseased minds of 
Russ DeSena (Chickens, Halifax) and Crowmeat/Slowfeet Bob 
(Defenestrator, Cold Sides, 1000 mutant improv bands).



Thursday, April 7
TV Knife, Franklin Delano [http://www.franklindelano.org/], Jule Brown 
[http://www.julebrown.org]
Kings, Raleigh

TV Knife are from Raleigh; the only thing I know about them is their 
song "Monster" which could be an outtake from any given Sweet/Slade 
album from the early 70s. Could be a fluke, though.

Jule Brown is/are from Carrboro & they're the solo alter-ego of Mark 
Holland, formerly of Jennyanykind. Psychedelic demented country-space-blues.

Franklin Delano are an avant-folk band from Italy.



Friday, April 8
Three Torches [http://i.am/torches/], The Midnight Gladness Band
Ooh La Latte, Durham



Friday, April 8
Fantomas [http://www.ipecac.com/bio.php?id=3], The Locust 
[http://www.thelocust.com], Trevor Dunn's Trio Convulsant 
[http://trevordunn.n3.net/]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

Fantomas is the current primary outlet of ex-Faith No More/Mr. Bungle 
frontman Mike Patton. It's heavy & weird and Japanoise-influenced, and 
currently consists of Patton, Buzz Osborne on guitar (Melvins), Trevor 
Dunn on bass (Mr. Bungle, Trevor Dunn’s Trio Convulsant) and Dave 
Lombardo on drums (Slayer). Their current release is a 30-song 
calendar/CD designed by fucked-up Japanese artist Yoshimoto Nara, who 
specializes in giant gorgeously-muted paintings of tired/angry-looking 
little girls with cigarettes and knives. The CD is a tribute to April.

The Locust more or less invented that weird offshoot of hardcore that 
involves short, screamy songs with keyboards and high-pitched noises.



Friday, April 8
Fake Swedish [http://fakeswedish.4t.com/index.html], The Ghost of Rock, 
Hope, Star & Browning [http://www.lowcityrecords.com/]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

CD-release party for Fake Swedish, whose new CD "Get Correct" is an 
admirable document of their strange fusion of 60s psych-rock guitarwork 
and Joe Romeo's hyperliterate lyrics and appealingly self-deprecating 
style. They sound more like themselves than most bands their age, which 
is high praise.

The Ghost of Rock also sound very much like themselves, but they're a 
whole shitload older, so that's maybe to be expected. They also sound a 
bit like Pipe, which is also to expected, as half of them were. Pipe, 
that is.



Friday, April 8
Torch Marauder, Tennis and the Mennonites 
[http://www.tennisandthemennonites.com], The People Under the Bridge 
[http://www.duckonbike.com/artistinfo.asp?artistid=378], Topography
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham

What, you didn't know that the Torch Marauder was putting out a DVD? OK, 
neither did I, 'til I read it on the Coffeehouse website (This being the 
DVD-release party, you see). True it is, though, and totally logical 
when you think about it, given the extraordinarily elaborate stage show 
for which the Torch is so well-known.

This one's extra-special because, in addition to [presumably] showcasing 
all the Torch's special video-on-video-on-video performance techniques, 
it also features a lot of footage from last year's CD-release show at 
the Cat's Cradle, which marked the first (and thus far only) time Torch 
consented to share the stage with other musicians. That show was a 
rousing success, and I'm excited at the prospect of seeing it again. 
And, yes, of looking for myself in the crowd shots.

Also on the bill: Topography, People Under the Bridge, and the new 
Chapel Hill band Tennis & the Mennonites, who've just released the first 
great local pop song of the spring, "Magnets," from their brand-new EP. 
Their bassist is Pleasant's Maria Albani, and they've got a little bit 
of that band's Feelies-esque nervous energy.



Friday, April 8
Phon, Baleen [http://www.baleen.net/], The Physics of Meaning 
[http://www.thephysicsofmeaning.com/]
Bickett Gallery, Raleigh



Saturday, April 9
Circulatory System [http://www.elephant6.com/bands/circulatory.html], 
The Strugglers [http://www.thestrugglers.org/]
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham

Circulatory System are an Olivia Tremor Control offshoot. The Strugglers 
are our own fragile-sounding (but not! they are sturdy like a sapling) 
DragCityIsh indie-country-folk thing led by Randy Bickford, whose voice 
crackles and breaks in all the right places.



Saturday, April 9
Valient Thorr [http://www.valientthorr.com/], Kudzu Wish 
[http://www.kudzuwish.com/]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Valient Thorr are from Venus, by way of Greenville & more recently 
Chapel Hill. They make hyper-amped space-party-rock with an 
ultra-charismatic frontman & a backstory that just won't quit. Kudzu 
Wish are from Greensboro, and this is a CD-release party for their 2nd 
CD. I hope they'll forgive me for saying that their first CD reminds me 
of At the Drive-In. Except I really like Kudzu Wish.



Saturday, April 9
Kenny Roby's Mercy Filter [http://www.kennyroby.com], The Vibe Killers
Martin Street Music Hall, Raleigh

Kenny Roby (former Six String Drag frontman, back in the 90s) has a new 
album on the way & a new band to go with it. Both are named Mercy 
Filter. The Vibe Killers is the more-rock rockband of ex-Backsliders 
frontman Chip Robinson.



Saturday, April 9
Dom Casual, Three Torches [http://i.am/torches/]
Bickett Gallery, Raleigh



Sunday, April 10
Maple Stave [http://www.maplestave.com], The Port Huron Statement 
[http://www.porthuronstatement.com/], Tennis and the Mennonites 
[http://www.tennisandthemennonites.com], Red Skeleton, Cities 
[http://www.citiesmusic.com]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

This is the Sunday Showcase, which means it begins at 6:00 p.m. and the 
bands start on-the-hourly:

6pm Maple Stave
7pm The Port Huron Statement
8pm Ryan Dunlap
9pm Tennis And The Mennonites
10pm Red Skeleton
11pm Cities

Proceeds go to support the Carnivore Preservation Trust, which protects 
& rehabilitates large cats (tigers, jaguars) just outside of Pittsboro.

Maple Stave are from Durham and they make angular mathy power-trio rock 
with intermittent yelpy vocals. Port Huron Statement have been on 
adulthood-related hiatus, but they've returned with a Real Band (no more 
drum machines) to back up their Bowiesque pop-rock.

Tennis and the Mennonites are my fave new local band of Spring 2005, 
though I've never seen them. Their name got them halfway there and their 
4-song demo sealed the deal.

Red Skeleton sprang from the ashes of longtime local sludge-rockers 
Scuppernong; they're maybe a little poppier, but that just means they 
sound less like the Melvins and more like Dinosaur.

Cities are a new young indie-rock band from Chapel Hill. Whenever they 
pop up on the MP3 rotation, I think "hmm, somebody likes the Cure."



Sunday, April 10
Finks [http://www.psychicrevolution.com/finkssongs.html], Auto-Passion, 
Golden Dawn
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Winston-Salem invasion! Finks are a scrobbly post-new-wave 
boygirlboygirl outfit who used to show more of a Pixies influence, but 
whose 2nd album is heavily laced with accordion and weirdly evil 
carnival-music themes. They've got 2 singers, male & female, and on the 
new record they sing *every single line* of every song in unison.

I know far less -- OK, nothing -- about the other two bands on the bill, 
beyond the fact that they're also from Winston-Salem, a town far enough 
away from the Triangle to have developed an entirely separate music 
scene, but close enough that we get to see bits of it on a regular basis.



Monday, April 11
Dom Casual, The Young Idea [http://www.theyoungidea.com]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Rickenbackers everywhere! I think it's safe to say that The Jam feature 
prominently in both these bands' personal pantheons. Dom Casual are 
garage-rock big-tenters who believe in the power of the Vibrolux to make 
just about anything All Right. The Young Idea are the young turks, with 
more passion than sense & more ambition than dexterity; they dress up 
real nice, too.



Tuesday, April 12
Don Dixon [http://www.harrysimmons.com/dixon.html], Everybodyfields 
[http://www.theeverybodyfields.com/]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro



Tuesday, April 12
Choose Your Own Adventure, Brown Frown [http://www.brownfuckingfrown.com/]
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Choose Your Own Adventure may or may not be just Russell at this point; 
he emailed & said that he was playing the show as CYOA but that may have 
just been a mild flashback-induced grammatical aberration. Either way, 
it'll be heavy (and heavily-spacey) long-form airborne guitar freakouts.



Tuesday, April 12
Pegasus, Strange [http://www.thisisstrange.org]
The Library, Chapel Hill

The Library is on East Franklin, and I'm told the stage is one of those 
ass-to-the-front-window setups. Strange have about 400 people & a whole 
ton of machinery; should be fascinating, if you can squeeze into the 
room to see them.



Thursday, April 14
Bartender Olympics [http://www.local506.com]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Local 506 says:

Battle of the Bands featuring your favorite bartenders w/ JOHN HOWIE & 
CREW (The Cave - features members of Two Dollar Pistols and Sharkquest) 
vs BONER MACHINE (The Nightlight) vs RUSCHA (Reservoir) vs NEW GRANADA 
(Local 506 - features members of Fake Swedish, Leadfoot and Fashion 
Design) vs "Special Guests" (The Fuse)



Thursday, April 14
The Know [http://www.theknowrocks.com], Boxing Day 
[http://www.boxingdaymusic.com], Almighty Flying Machine 
[http://www.almightyflyingmachine.com]
Kings, Raleigh



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