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ch-scene - Stuff to Do, Week of February 17, 2005

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Subject: RTP-area local music and culture

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  • From: grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Stuff to Do, Week of February 17, 2005
  • Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 18:15:35 -0500


Thursday, February 17
Dynamite Club [http://www.dynamiteclub.com/], Guva [http://homepage3.nifty.com/fact/], Piccarensu
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Dynamite Club are from NYC but either one of them is Japanese or they've otherwise landed on the mysterious asia-touring-circuit; their website is filled with references to headlining huge festivals in Taiwan, plus of course here they are arriving at Nightlight with two Japanese bands in tow.

Details are sketchy about Guva and Piccarensu, other than their basic Japaneseness. What we know about Dynamite Club is based primarily upon the photos on their website, which involve seemingly frantic gyrations & playing guitar in one's tighty-whiteys. Also: kung-fu and/or wrestling. The songs are evil, but in a good way.



Thursday, February 17
Eugene Chadbourne [http://www.eugenechadbourne.com/], Han Bennink [http://www.epitonic.com/artists/hanbennink.html], Kolyma [http://www.myspace.com/kolyma], Sunshine Radio [http://www.thenein.com]
Martin Street Music Hall, Raleigh

Dr. Eugene Chadbourne (he's a doctor of ethnoweirdmusicology) has devoted most of the past 30 years to destroying the boundaries between the indigenous musics of the United States: blues, jazz, country, bluegrass. I dunno if he's taken on hip-hop yet, but I suppose it's only a matter of time, provided he can figure out how to play it on a banjo or his electric rake.

Han Bennink is an avant-garde drummer from the Netherlands. How badass is he? He played on Eric Dolphy's "Last Date" album in 1964, for chrissake.

Kolyma is an unholy collaboration between longtime Raleigh artschool-punker Russ DeSena & free-noiser Crowmeat Bob; Sunshine Radio is a noisy/droney Nein side-project featuring that band's guitarist Finn Cohen & its resident noise/loopmaker Dale Flattum.



Thursday, February 17
The Spinns [http://www.thespinns.freeservers.com/], The Rachel Nevadas [http://www.therachelnevadas.com/]
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Thursday, February 17
Randy Whitt and the Grits [http://www.randywhitt.com/]
Fuse, Chapel Hill



Friday, February 18
The Sadies [http://www.thesadies.net/], Neko Case [http://www.nekocase.com/], Visqueen [http://www.visqueenonline.com/]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

Neko Case is probably famous enough already; she's from Canada, she belts out the country music in a voice powerful enough to rival that of the First Lady of Country Music, Loretta Lynn, and she's prone to absentmindedly touch herself onstage while singing. At least she used to be. She's released a string of much-admired solo albums, and anytime her sometime-collaborators the New Pornographers come to town, the only thing anybody ever wants to know is "Is Neko Case with them?"

Visqueen are from Seattle and until late last year were known chiefly as the more-or-less unknown young turks who'd mysteriously talked longtime (as in: 20+ years) Fastbacks bassist Kim Warnick into playing with them. Then she quit.



Friday, February 18
Pulsar Triyo [http://www.duke.edu/~pl15/thepulsartriyo], Pulsoptional [http://www.duke.edu/~jaf16/pulsoptional.html], UNC Gamelan Ensemble [http://www.ibiblio.org/gamelan/], Gerty [http://www.gerty.org], Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan [http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com]
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham

This is a Tsunami relief benefit, with quite the dizzying array of acts, from the synth-fueled 80s-influenced dance-pop of Gerty to the 21st-century-classical avant-compositions of the Pulsoptional collective; the guitar-jazz (with Radiohead cover) of Duke's Pulsar Triyo; the avant-spazz of Cantwell, Gomez & Jordan; and the UNC gamelan, which they procured from central Java back in 2000. Just so you understand the complexity of what we're talking about, a quote from their website:

"A Central Javanese gamelan consists primarily of bronze instruments - horizontal and vertical gongs ranging from 6 inches to 4 feet in diameter and metallophones with from five to fourteen keys - but also includes several stringed instruments, flutes, drums, and male and female voices in performance."



Friday, February 18
Jett Rink [http://www.jett-rink.com/], Asobi Seksu [http://www.asobiseksu.com/], Fashion Design [http://fashiondesignband.com/]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Oh lord, Jett Rink. Sometimes I forget how good they can be, and then I'll hear one of their frantic numbers -- "Born Hungry," off the Bandwidth comp, say, or "I'll Take Everything" from their WXDU performance last year -- and I fall in love all over again. What a bunch of fucking spazzes, in the best possible sense of the word.

Fashion Design bring the rumbly fuzzy MyBloodyValentiney chorus and the crazy reverb and the 80sUKinfluence & the 4AD sensibility and the nutty hyperactive drummer named Kuki Kooks, like for real.



Friday, February 18
Weird War [http://www.dragcity.com/bands/weirdwar.html], Valient Thorr [http://www.valientthorr.com/], Art Lord and the Self Portraits [http://www.ideasforhousecrafts.com]
Kings, Raleigh

Weird War used to be called the Scene Creamers, and before that, at least half of them were in the Make*Up. They're still all about the crazy psyched-out acid-soul punkrock funk dancemuzik.

Valient Thorr are from Venus, and they make old-fashioned high-concept preach-from-the-stage space-metal, all about rocking, and being stuck on Earth, and rocking some more.

Art Lord & the Self Portraits are from Greenville, which is apparently really close to Venus, and they make minimalist Casio-tronica with weird fey vocalese.



Saturday, February 19
Tift Merritt [http://www.tiftmerritt.com], Hotel Lights
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

It's a good thing Tift didn't beat out Loretta Lynn for best country album at the Grammys earlier this week. Partly because the album in question, "Tambourine," is a lot closer to "Dusty in Memphis" than to country. Mostly, though, because I know it would've broken Tift's heart to beat Loretta; she's just that kind of girl.

Hotel Lights are the newish kinda-mournful [but-still-catchy] pop outfit of former Ben Folds drummer Darren Jessee; their debut album made a lot of locals' ten-best lists last year, and for good reason.



Saturday, February 19
Dom Casual, $2 Pistols
Ooh La Latte, Durham

An all-too-rare live show at Ooh La Latte; it's an excellent space for live music, but for whatever reason the folks at Ooh La would rather be a daytime coffeeshop than an all-around coffee/bar/rockclub, so the live shows are now few & far between.

Dom Casual are a surf/garage/rock outfit from Durham. $2 Pistols y'all know about; they've been reliably turning out the Bakersfield-style hard country for going on 10 years now, and they've never let up.



Saturday, February 19
Brass Castle [http://www.brasscastle.com/], Matt Meacham, Mt. Moriah [http://www.coldheavenrecordings.com/]
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Saturday, February 19
The Moaners, The Pink Slips
The Cave, Chapel Hill

The Moaners are Melissa Swingle (ex-Trailer Bride) and Laura King (ex-Gerty, ex-Grand National); sometimes they're like crazy psyched-out buzzsaw blues (and sometimes they're like Mr. Airplane Man's approximation thereof), and sometimes they remind me a lot of the eccentric guitar/drums backwoods singer/songwriterism of the really early Trailer Bride, back in '94 or so. Either way, Melissa is one of my favorite singers in the Triangle, and Laura is one of the best drummers I've ever seen, anywhere. I'm told Moaners are first, ~10p.m., with the all-woman garage-rock of the Pinkslips to follow.



Saturday, February 19
Erie Choir, Autumn Picture [http://www.autumnpicture.com/], Polynya [http://home.mindspring.com/~polynya/index.html]
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham

Eric Roehrig, who is half the guitarists in Sorry About Dresden and all the songwriters in Erie Choir, sent this email:

"Erie Choir cordially requests your presence this Saturday, February 19th at the Duke Coffeehouse in Durham, NC to witness musical performances by Erie Choir, Autumn Picture and Polynya. Erie Choir will be up to five members for this evening with the triumphant return of Robert P. Biggers. Autumn Picture is a fellow named Hubert from Montreal that the Nein hooked up with during their crusade to spread rock to the Great White North. I have to admit I haven’t seen Polynya before, but since Luke from Fashion Design and Amelia from Ameliorate are seemingly involved, I’ll assume the best.

If you haven’t been to the coffeehouse for awhile, they really seem to have the place rocking again. The Wrens show last Saturday was great and the BYOB policy lets you consume your favorite bevarages without paying a premium for it. May I suggest bringing a small cooler since that fridge in the corner no longer works."

Me again: What I know about Polynya is that some of them were involved in The Caterpillar, which is the Cure cover band that has played a couple of shows with The Shankleys, the Smiths cover band from Durham. I vaguely remember thinking, while watching Polynya, "gee, they like the Cure" but that's all I recall.



Saturday, February 19
The Films, Sullentine, Whale Watchers
Martin Street Music Hall, Raleigh



Saturday, February 19
Strange [http://www.thisisstrange.org], Spader, Filthy Bird
Kings, Raleigh



Saturday, February 19
Amish Jihad, Kudzu Wish [http://www.kudzuwish.com/], Thunderlip [http://www.thunderlip.com/], Can Joann [http://www.canjoann.com/]
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Sunday, February 20
Death Ray Davies [http://www.deathraydavies.com/], The People Under the Bridge [http://www.duckonbike.com/artistinfo.asp?artistid=378], The Quarantines [http://www.thequarantines.com]
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Monday, February 21
Visqueen [http://www.visqueenonline.com/], Mowing Lawns [http://www.dyss.net/mlawns.html], The Young Idea [http://www.theyoungidea.com]
Local 506, Chapel Hill



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