RTP-area local music and culture

[grady AT ibiblio.org]

Sorry! this is late! And only one day! But what a busy day . . .


Saturday, May 22
Anderson Airplane, Heads on Sticks, Russ Never Sleeps
Basement Studios, Raleigh

This is an early-ish (8:30, maybe) show. Basement Studios is off of a
gravel driveway/parking area behind a "normal" gallery or store or
something-or-other on Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh, a block or so north
of the Rockford, on the same side of the street. I can't remember any
more exact directions than that, sorry. Just poke around till you find
it.

All three of these are one-man bands. Anderson Airplane makes
rudimentary backyard-howling blues-rock that'll make you mindful of
Doo Rag. Russ Never Sleeps is longtime Raleigh rocker Russ deSena,
providing highlights from his storied career [The Chickens, Halifax,
about 35 other short-lived Kings-centric bands]. Heads on Sticks is
the even-yet-weirder solo project of lead Strange weirdo Dave
Mueller.



Saturday, May 22
Dig Shovel Dig [http://www.digshoveldig.com/], Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan
[http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com], Manamid
[http://www.manamid.com], Fashion Brigade
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Goddamn Cantwell Gomez & Jordan were on fire the other night. I've
rarely seen a "rockband" play such obtuse music to such random
mixtures of people & consistently come away with such universal
set-ending whoops & applause as I've seen watching CGJ over the past
2-3 years. They meld mostly-unbobbable time-signatures, weird noisy
interludes, and a willful refusal to "groove" in any traditional sense
of the word, and yet their obvious skill & talent still leaves people
flat-upon-asses.

Dig Shovel Dig are from Asheville, which probably means they've got
incestuous relationships with half the other bands up there, but I
dunno which half. Manamid are from Greensboro & they've all got
smartmouthed kids under the age of 8 who like to rock out down
front-and-center. Fashion Brigade are from Wilmington. It ain't
exactly Murphy-to-Manteo, but it's about as close as you're ever gonna
get, state-spanning-bill-wise.



Saturday, May 22
The Sames [http://www.thesames.com], Schooner, Erie Choir
Local 506, Chapel Hill

The Local 506 has been under new ownership for just a few weeks now,
but already things feel different--and I'm not just talking about
proud new parent Glenn Boothe's omnipresence in the back half of the
room, greeting new friends and old regulars, soliciting advice and
talking up the upcoming shows.

Rather, the "new" Local 506 is an object lesson in just how much a
bar's atmosphere is dependent upon the crowd it attracts, much moreso
than the other way 'round. Pack the stage with talented local
indie-rock bands, as Boothe has done lately, and suddenly the room
fills with a curious mix of college-radio stalwarts,
Internationalistas, Weaver-Streeters, and over-30 types like myself
who remember the *last* great indie-rock renaissance, there at the
tail-end of the 20th--too many of whom haven't been regular clubgoers
since then--all chatting and ranting & head-bobbing like it's 199_.

Or at least that was the scene last night at the Quarantines /
Rosebuds / Bellafea show. Tonight's lineup of Durham
indie-shoe-rock-gazers The Sames, Raleigh pop cr[sw]ooners Schooner,
and Chapel Hill's sad, soft Erie Choir should have much the same
effect--that is, assuming any of us can compel our thirtysomething
bones back up off the couch & out the door for a 2nd night in a row.

Here's hoping we do; The Sames have steadfastly spent most of the past
3 years tweaking the arrangement & execution of their always-brilliant
songs so that their live shows lately equal or surpass the quality of
their painfully minuscule recorded output.

Schooner have just released a debut CD which lobs sad-boy mope-pop
straight back 20 years into the poster-lined bedrooms of
headphone-clad 80s teens with heavy Ben Orr & Alan Parsons obsessions
(yeah, I know, like you ever knew anybody like that).

And Erie Choir have just released their 2nd EP, which takes a
half-step sideways away from the hooky choruses of their first, and
towards a quiet intellectual brilliance, a la Elliott Smith or, I
dunno, George Harrison. Which is to say that while the songs may not
stick so readily in your head, they won't have to, because you're not
going to take the CD out of the player anyway.



Saturday, May 22
Mondo Topless [http://www.mondotopless.com/], Jimmy & The Teasers
[http://www.geocities.com/booze1031/teasers.html]
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Saturday, May 22
The Weather [http://www.theweatherrocks.com], The Rosebuds
[http://www.therosebuds.com/], The Dynamite Brothers
[http://www.dynamitebrothers.com/]
Kings, Raleigh

Mmm-boy the Rosebuds were in classic form last night, which means
equal parts rocking-out and standing around dicking with the settings
on the [new] keyboard, just like the first five times I saw them. The
difference? The rocking-out is a hell of a lot tighter, the songs are
newer (some of 'em, at least), and the keyboard no longer makes the
DC-offset click every time a key is pressed. Even the old ladies were
dancing.

The Weather make classic [Raleigh-style] 70s-influenced cockrock with
comparatively more brains than the norm, which translates into a
willingness to cop from Thin Lizzy, the Who, and Television, along
with the Stones & AC/DC.

Dynamite Brothers make hi-spazzmosity electric backwoods blues-boogie
that swirls and stomps and compels people--whether themselves or the
audience, no difference--to shout and stammer.



--------> http://www.trianglerock.com <--------