RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

Oh for Pete's sake, what an uwieldy list, and this isn't even all the 
shows in town this week.  I think there's an episode of the off-kilter 
noise monthly Recess at Nightlight tonight (website=bzzzzrroken, at 
least for June, so I dunno), and Blackstrap are apparently playing at 
something called Mr. Shoe in Durham on Saturday (speaking of which: what 
is up with the ooh-la-latte schedule? you'd think there weren't 
umpty-dozen great bands in Durham, all dying for someplace to play).

But here's what you'll get from me:


Thursday, June 24
Grand Champeen [http://mpcrow.home.texas.net/], Transportation, Chrome
Plated Apostles [http://www.demonbeach.com]
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro

Chrome Plated Apostles feature current and/or former members of the
Bad Checks, Jett Rink and Pipe; they're like the yin to The Ghost of
Rock's yang. Or something like that. Transportation live in some
alternate universe in which Badfinger & Queen were Southern Rock
bands.



Thursday, June 24
The Greatest Hits, Quatre Tete [http://www.quatretete.com/], Oliver
Future [http://www.oliverfuture.com/]
Kings, Raleigh



Friday, June 25
Dead Cat Bounce [http://www.mattsteckler.com/dcbindex.html]
De La Luz, Carrboro

What's that, two semi-avant jazz shows in one town in one evening?
Yeah, well, apparently so. Here's Walt's solution to the dilemma (and
some description):

"Well, the V5/Atomic thing is scheduled to start at 9:30.  So we've
trimmed our lineup back to one long set from Dead Cat Bounce which
will start 8ish and we promise will wrap up in time for you to head
over to Go! (though you will be so swept up in musical joy that you
won't want them to stop).

[ . . . ]

Suffice to say with 4 saxes (and bass and drums), these mostly young
punks from the New England Conservatory, headed up by saxist/composer
Matt Steckler and
featuring Boston vet Charlie Kohlhase (one of the most under-rated
musicians in jazz), can really blow the roof off the joint.  They've
been named best jazz band in Boston in 2001 and 2002 and it seems
already 2004.  If you're wondering what happened to 2003, well that
year Charlie Kohlhase's trio won it."



Friday, June 25
The 45s, The Greenhornes, The Loners
[http://www.demonbeachrecords.com/loners.html]
Fowler's Gourmet, Durham

Messy sweaty garage-rock outside on a real-live loading dock--the
bands set up on the dock behind Morgan Imports, and the whole parking
lot between Morgan & Fowler's becomes the dancefloor. 45s &
Greenhornes are both Sleazefest vets from outta town; The Loners are a
two-piece R&B/Garage rock combo from Raleigh, and they utterly rule.
Oh yeah: first band at 8:00, and it's the Loners, so step lively.



Friday, June 25
Vandermark 5 [http://www.southern.com/southern/band/VANDE/], Atomic
[http://www.jazzlandrec.com/atomic_bio.html]
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro

As I rely upon Walt Davis for all my jazz-describing needs, here's
what you get from him for this:

"V5 y'all surely know by now.  Atomic are from Norway and Sweden and
are what I like to call a damn fine jazz band.  A quintet (piano,
trumpet, sax, bass, drums) with the power rhythm duo of Ingebrigt
Haken-Flaten (he is really something!) and Paal Nilssen-Love, they
play lovely Ornette-ish tunes with an awareness of the last 20 years.
They're the sort of band the "regular" jazz world should be going
ga-ga over.  To make things even wackier, there's going to be one V5
set, one Atomic set, then a joint set."



Friday, June 25
Erie Choir, Schooner, Summer Set
Bickett Gallery, Raleigh

If my inability to get it out of my head is any indication, the new Erie 
Choir EP, "Bad Tsars is a Drag," is the best thing I've heard all year. 
Erie Choir itself is Eric Roehrig plus however many of his friends 
happen to be available on the night of the show. There is very little 
singing-in-unison; there are sad quiet at-times-bitter (and always a 
little rueful) songs that will lodge in yr head or elsewhere. Bring the 
$3 it'll take to buy the EP; you'll be needing it.

Schooner keep me guessing, that's for sure. There's a weird unnerving
quality to Reid Johnson's singing that reminds me of the
weirdly-processed artpop crooners of the 80s, like Ben Orr of the
Cars. But then he turns around & busts out a squeaky-bangy poprock
anthem like "My Friend's Band" and I can't even begin to explain what
*that's* all about.



Friday, June 25
Hasil Adkins [http://members.tripod.com/~Hasil_Adkins/], The Tremors
[http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/tremors], Corndawg
[http://www.thecorndawg.com/]
Project Space 211, Winston-Salem



Friday, June 25
Cinemechanica [http://www.cinemechanica.com/], Reading, Proof
Kings, Raleigh

My pal Brian Bedsworth, ex- of Disband, sent along this encouragement
for you to see Cinemechanica:

"Cinemechanica make incomprehensibly technical, mathletic,
raise-your-fist- to-the-air- with-one-hand- and-hoist-your-calculator-
with-the-other rock songs. They are something to see, if for no other
reason than to hear yourself saying "You can't do that?! I don't
believe!!" The four of them live in a studio (where we recorded In
Small Rooms) in the country outside of Athens, and they practice
literally for hours every day. Their science is tight, and lots of
people in Athens know it."



Friday, June 25
Regina Hexaphone [http://www.reginahexaphone.com], Michael Holland
[http://www.bigjohnsrecords.com], Cub Country
[http://www.jadetree.com/bandpages/bio_cubcountry.html]
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Saturday, June 26
Chris Stamey [http://www.chrisstamey.com/], Hotel Lights, Matt
McMichaels
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

Chris Stamey just released his first solo album in a decade or so, and
it's somewhere in the middle of the triangle you'd get by drawing
lines between the dBs, Joe Henry, and that last Swimming Pool Qs
album. Or something.

Matt McMichaels used to front the much-beloved local fuzz-pop combo
Mayflies USA. Hotel Lights is one of various bands featuring former
Ben Folds Five members; I think it's Darren Jessee in this one.



Saturday, June 26
The Cartridge Family [http://www.cartridge-family.com/]
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Saturday, June 26
Devendra Banhart
[http://www.younggodrecords.com/Artists/DevendraBanhart/], Joanna
Newsom [http://www.walnutwhales.com/], Vetiver
[http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/june_2004/vetiver.html]
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro

Devendra Banhart is a young singer/songwriter whose weird high voice &
rudimentary home-recording techniques knocked all the indie-rockers on
their asses a couple years back. Closer to Will Oldham than Mtn.
Goats, if you're keeping score at home. He's on the road with harpist
(!) Joanna Newsom; they're both also more-or-less members of the San
Francisco combo Vetiver, which was started a few years ago by
ex-Raymond Brakester Andy Cabic, who moved to SF after finishing his
sentence as a Greensboroian.



Saturday, June 26
Anderson Airplane, The Tremors [http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/tremors],
Hasil Adkins [http://members.tripod.com/~Hasil_Adkins/]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

I was listening to the Cramps last night & their cover of Hasil
Adkins's "She Said" came on, and for about the 100th time I was struck
by just how utterly fucked-up it is. More remarkable, especially when
talking about early Cramps, is that the original is even *more*
fucked-up, and it was recorded in 1964. Hasil's demented-madman
persona may or may not be an intentional construct, but at a certain
point I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter: he's been constructing on it
for the better part of a half-century.

Raleigh's Anderson Airplane has a long way to go to catch up to Hasil,
but he's started in the right place: he's a one-man (gtr-drums) band
with a demented lyrical bent and a penchant for howling.



Sunday, June 27
Devendra Banhart
[http://www.younggodrecords.com/Artists/DevendraBanhart/], Vetiver
[http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/june_2004/vetiver.html], Joanna
Newsom [http://www.walnutwhales.com/]
Project Space 211, Winston-Salem

[See listing from yesterday's show at Go]



Sunday, June 27
The Icarus Line [http://www.theicarusline.com/], 400 Blows
[http://www.400blows.net/], Dead Meadow [http://www.deadmeadow.com]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro



Sunday, June 27
The Vue [http://www.thevue.com/], The Evening, Black Cat Music
[http://www.lookoutrecords.com/bands/band.php3?bnd_id=290], The Pink
Slips
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Monday, June 28
The Paper Chase [http://www.thepaperchaseband.com/], We Ragazzi
[http://www.selfstarterfoundation.com/weragazzi.html], Cheers To No
Tomorrow
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro



Tuesday, June 29
A/V Geeks [http://www.avgeeks.com], Thrones
[http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0011/music-driver.shtml],
Sedan
Kings, Raleigh

OK, this is how it breaks down: first, Skip does his monthly A/V Geeks
thing (theme: "Angry Night" - Films that teach us about anger and how
much fun it can be! Films include:
I'm Mad At Me, Getting Angry and more!). That happens at 9:00 or so.
Then Joe Preston (Melvins) does his solo wall-of-sound thing as
Thrones, along with who/whatever Sedan is.



Tuesday, June 29
The Ghost of Rock, Evil Wiener
[http://members.aol.com/Ludkmr/ew.html]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Ahh, the Ghost of Rock. You might think to yourself "but if it really
is beery old-guy punk stripped down to its essence, just Clif's
guitar, Rock's drums, and Ron's sneering & snarling, then why do they
need a bass player?" and the answer is that somebody has to be there
to cover for the old farts when they get tired & need to take a
breather. Not that it happens much: TGOR can rip through a 12-song set
in 20 minutes, and half the time the only guy taking a tuning break is
the aforementioned bass player.

Evil Wiener want to be your boyfriend. Actually, they don't
necessarily want to be your boyfriend, but they want to *pretend* like
they want to be your boyfriend long enough to make you have 2nd
thoughts about your current boyfriend, and then they want to suffer a
sneezing fit & call it all off, leaving you wondering what could've
happened if only you'd had access to a good antihistamine.



Wednesday, June 30
Cold Sides, Shark Quest
[http://www.mrg2000.com/merge/bio.html?id=sharkquest]
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro

This is part rockshow, and part gallery-opening type thing for a show
of Sam Bennett's rockfotos at Go. You may not know Sam, but you've
likely seen him; he's the tall, handsome bespectacled guy with the big
digital SLR and the monopod, getting his left ear blown out by the PA
as he stands at the lip of the stage, taking photos. More info on the
photos & the show [http://www.swiftbennett.com/] here.

Cold Sides, of course, are that famous electro-krautrock-dub-metal
outfit who traded their live drummer for a handful of guitar pedals
and a cranky sax player named Crowmeat Bob. Actually, Bob's a helluva
nice guy, not cranky at all. Those pedals, on the other hand, are real
motherfuckers.

Shark Quest make the kind of obsessive intricate stringed-instrumental
music that always sounded like it'd go perfectly with the addled &
obsessive claymation of a reclusive Seattle crackpot animation genius
and/or nutjob, and the fact that fate in the form of a couple of local
documentary filmmakers interceded and actually made that happen is one
of the stranger chapters in local-music history.



Thursday, July 1
Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan [http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com],
des_ark [http://www.des-ark.org], The Lido Venice
[http://honeypump.net/thelidovenice/]
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro

James Hep!-ler told me this show was to be some sort of political
consciousness-raiser on behalf of anybody-but-Bush, which is A-OK by
me, as I'm the kind of grumpy old curmudgeon who believes that *every*
rockshow should be a political consciousness-raiser. Bring it the fuck
on, already.

des_ark make gutpunchingly-powerful gtr-drums rock with hugemongous
drums and blues-rooted guitar that wanders so far afield that you
wouldn't know how to react were it not for Aimee's impassioned vocals
preventing you from doing anything other than standing there
transfixed anyway.

Cantwell, Gomez & Jordan are just ill, that's all there is to it. And!
They have a long-running tradition of performing tributes to
recently-dead musical celebrities, so start getting psyched now for
the Robert Quine/Steve Lacy/Ray Charles three-way.



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