RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

I got Stuff To Do, all right, and it doesn't involve sitting around here 
typing up stuff for y'all to do, so this only takes you through Sunday 
night, which is far enough:


Friday, May 6
Blue-Green Gods, Fashion Design [http://fashiondesignband.com/], Fake 
Swedish [http://fakeswedish.4t.com/index.html], Kung Flude 
[http://www.kungflude.com/], Leadfoot [http://www.leadfoot.net/]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

This is the Local 506 Anniversary Party, which means it's free, and all 
the entertainment is provided by bands featuring Local 506 employees. 
Here's the quick thumbnail rundown:

Blue-Green Gods are, at this point, longtime Local 506 soundman Todd 
Goss and whomever he respects enough to invite onstage with him. He 
wouldn't divulge who that'll be this time around, other than that 
they're fellow Local 506 employees. That's still true of about half the 
musicians in Chapel Hill.

Fashion Design are young & way too hardworking to be from Chapel Hill; 
maybe they're secretly from Durham. They make swirly echoey 
80s-UK-invasion-influenced pop.

Fake Swedish make 60s-style psychedelia of the intelligent British 
variety; frontman Joe Romeo is fond of elaborate lyrical 
dream-narratives and self-deprecation. Their arrangements are all about 
leaving holes in all the right places, an all-too-rare thing for a young 
rockband.

If Kung Flude invite you up onstage to break a ceiling tile 
chopsocky-style, be aware that they're going to snatch it away & then 
break it over your head. One hint: laughing along with them as they mock 
you doesn't make you seem any cooler. I'd like to suggest, instead, that 
you just kick 'em hard in the nuts as soon as you get close enough.

Leadfoot are a Rock Band, the kind who deserve to be immortalized 
forever in a puffy typeface on a glittery metallic sticker of some kind. 
You know, on the bumper of a custom van. With a, um, waterbed in back.



Saturday, May 7
Neil Diamond All-Stars, Mary Prankster [http://www.maryprankster.com/]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

Just because "Neil Diamond All-Stars Parking Lot" is an obvious idea 
doesn't mean you shouldn't go ahead & do it anyway.



Saturday, May 7
Torch Marauder, Destroyed By Kittens 
[http://www.littlemissmessy.net/dbk/], Veronique Diabolique 
[http://www.veroniquediabolique.com/]
Ooh La Latte, Durham

Here's your Durham Music Scene in a nutshell: an all-woman band with 
"kittens" in their name, a French-speaking goth band, and a blue guy in 
a big cape singing duets with his TV. It may be time to switch back, 
from the overly-wimpy "Durham Love Yourself" tees, to something closer 
to the classic "It's a Durham Thang, You Wouldn't Understand."



Saturday, May 7
The Nein [http://www.thenein.com/], Audubon Park 
[http://audubonpark.blogspot.com], Proof [http://www.prooftheband.org]
Kings, Raleigh

The Nein are about to release their first full-length album after a 
string of EPs, each one more interesting than the last. Even if you're 
intimately familiar with the EPs, though, you're not gonna be prepared 
for just how excellent the album is. Since recording the EPs they've 
added Dale Flattum (ex-SteelPoleBathTub/Milk Cult, also the man behind 
"Tooth" and just about any/all fucked-up brilliant black-and-white 
paper-cutout art you've seen around town over the past 8-10 years) on 
noise, loops, samples, and more noise. Dale does a brilliant job of 
adding flesh+texture to the sturdy-but-sparse structure provided by 
Finn, Casey & Robert, and his vocal samples (many of them seemingly 
swiped from Indian music) provide a fascinating counterpoint to Finn's 
often traumatized-sounding yelp.

Also on the bill, Audubon Park, who're also celebrating a new release, 
their third EP, "The Bunny is Not as Popular as Julius," which is 
perhaps their best-ever. Audubon Park are, generally speaking, 
everything I love about indie-rock rolled into one loose unravelling ball.

Also also on the bill, Proof, who are from Raleigh, and who had the 
fucking balls to cover Fugazi at the Kings Cover-Up last year. I missed 
it, but I can say that if someone had asked me to name a band from the 
Triangle who might be capable of pulling it off, Proof would've been 
that band.



Saturday, May 7
Gerty [http://www.gerty.org], Cities [http://www.citiesmusic.com], 
Pleasant [http://www.pleasantmusic.com]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

I got ultra-agitated hate-mail from Gerty last week after I somewhat 
mockingly suggested that they were huge Timbuk-3 fans. They're clearly a 
little sensitive about it, but I can't imagine why--what does a 
husband-wife duo who perform new-wave songs accompanied by a 
pre-recorded rhythm track have in common with Timbuk-3?

I should clarify that the comparison *is* wholly unfair, insofar as 
Shirlé has a much richer singing voice--it's downright gorgeous, all 
right?--than either MacDonald. Still, there's one simple way to put this 
whole thing to rest once & for all: Get a drummer.

Cities are Tender Sweet Young Things from Chapel Hill who get Interpol 
comparisons, which I find amusing primarily because I haven't even 
gotten around to listening to Interpol yet.

Pleasant are finally emerging from a hibernation that was brought on, 
hopefully, by large amounts of work on their upcoming 2nd album. They're 
one of my favorite local bands; they make spazzy yelpy "postpunk" pop 
that puts me in mind of most-favorite bands like the Feelies and, yes, 
the Pixies. And Erectus Monotone.

p.s. this is a free show.



Sunday, May 8
Velvet [http://www.velvetpop.com], The Pink Slips, The Young Idea 
[http://www.theyoungidea.com], Schooner [http://www.schoonermusic.com], 
Fashion Design [http://fashiondesignband.com/]
Bickett Gallery, Raleigh

This is an all-day benefit for the ASPCA, and it starts at noon. 
Bickett's one of my favorite gallery/bar/music venues in the Triangle 
(OK, it's more or less the *only* one, particularly since it's a gallery 
first & foremost) & you could do a lot worse on a nice Sunday afternoon 
than spending a few hours looking at art, listening to music, and yes, 
drinking. Lineup as posted on their website:

Fashion Design
Schooner
The Pink Slips
Velvet
The Young Idea
Skybolt Six
Lustre
The Hurt
Mogote



Sunday, May 8
Facedowninshit [http://www.buyolympia.com/crimethinc/plastic.html], 
Tiger Bear Wolf, Boner Machine
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

facedowninshit = massive loud-as-fuck NC stoner sludge-rock. Boner 
Machine = Nightlight house-band, half-joke-turned-serious. TigerBearWolf 
= Greensboro rockband with ex-Strunken White guitarist Noah Howard; 
sound, in their finest recorded moments at least, kinda like Lemmy 
sitting in with a really good emo band.



Sunday, May 8
Polynya [http://home.mindspring.com/~polynya/index.html], Glissade 
[http://www.myspace.com/glissade]
The Cave, Chapel Hill



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