RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

Friday, January 20
Fin Fang Foom [http://www.lovitt.com/artists/finfangfoom.html], The
Nein [http://www.thenein.com/], Bringerer
Wetlands, Chapel Hill

This is bassist Casey Burns's last show with The Nein; I'm told he's
moving to Portland. Portland in the news lately: the NY Times says
that it's chock full of brewpubs (check), and the Supreme Court says
yes, it's OK to kill yourself there (checkmate). For more on Portland,
see the early issues of Al Burian's excellent zine
[http://nomediakings.org/ThrBurn.htm] Burn Collector.

Fin Fang Foom make rumbling postpunk/postmath/posteverything squall.
Bringerer are yet another local indie-rock supergroup, this one
including Ron Liberti (Pipe, Ghost of Rock) & Shawn Albert (Zen
Frisbee).



Friday, January 20
Joe Lally [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Lally], Don Zientara
[http://www.innerearstudio.com/]
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham

Lally, as in Fugazi; Zientara, as in long-time proprietor of DC's
Inner Ear Studio. Solo sets. No idea what that means.



Friday, January 20
The Annuals, David Karsten Daniels
[http://www.davidkarstendaniels.com/], The Physics of Meaning
[http://www.thephysicsofmeaning.com/]
Bickett Gallery, Raleigh

Physics of Meaning and David Karsten Daniels are both members of the
Bu Hanan collective, which arrived in Chapel Hill along with the
now-defunct band Go Machine, from Austin, a few years ago. They write
songs with wordy titles & record on each others' albums; they're a bit
like an introspective diaristic overly self-conscious Elephant 6,
perhaps.

David played on the radio last fall & I've lately been listening back
to his set from that show; there are a couple of songs that knock me
back in my chair when I hear them. Pity I've never gotten around to
putting them up on the web.



Friday, January 20
Tiger Bear Wolf, Birds of Avalon
[http://www.myspace.com/birdsofavalon], Thunderlip
[http://www.thunderlip.com/], Brightleaf
Greene Street, Greensboro

A friend who attended last night's Durham leg of this tour told me
that it was the loudest thing she'd ever heard, and reported that none
of the amps were actually mic'd through the PA, even. (I had a similar
experience at a Buick MacKane show at the Local 506 a few years ago,
but that's another story entirely.)



Saturday, January 21
Ben Davis + The Jetts [http://www.lovitt.com/artists/bendavis.html],
Vibrant Green [http://vibrantgreen.iuma.com], Cities
[http://www.citiesmusic.com]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

Vibrant Green have been on long-term hiatus (they can't break up, see,
because they're all brothers, kinda like Hanson, only with a melodic
sense that was totally screwed up by moving to Chapel Hill at an
impressionable age) but now they've returned just in time to release
an album.

Ben Davis is playing two shows tonight: this one at the Cradle, and
then one a little later at Local 506. I don't have a good joke about
that.

Cities are wrapping up their debut album for Yep Roc, and I still
haven't seen them. I must've spent the past 3 hours traveling at
speeds approaching that of light. 3 hours my time, I mean.



Saturday, January 21
Deer Tick [http://www.myspace.com/deertick], Sam Rosen
[http://www.myspace.com/samrosen], Nat Baldwin
[http://www.myspace.com/natbaldwin]
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham



Saturday, January 21
Ben Davis + The Jetts [http://www.lovitt.com/artists/bendavis.html],
Honored Guests [http://www.thehonoredguests.com/], The Whigs
[http://www.thewhigs.com]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

This is Ben Davis's second show of the evening. I wrote a nice little
blurb about his solo albums, but then the Milemarker website chewed up
100% of my processor & I had to kill Firefox without having saved it
(I was trying to confirm my recollection that Ben had rejoined them
during the recording of their most recent album). So you're just going
to have to pretend I'm saying really nice & astute things about Ben's
great solo work.



Saturday, January 21
Tres Chicas, The Old Ceremony [http://www.theoldceremony.com/],
Destroyed By Kittens [http://www.littlemissmessy.net/dbk/]
Wetlands, Chapel Hill



Sunday, January 22
Glissade [http://www.myspace.com/glissade], A Rooster for the Masses
[http://www.myspace.com/aroosterforthemasses], Dr. Powerful, Jai-Alai
Savant [http://savant.paintthesky.org/tmusic.html]
Wetlands, Chapel Hill

A Rooster for the Masses are from Raleigh; I've known some of those
guys (well, Alex Cox at least) since The Old Days in Raleigh, back
when the Fallout Shelter wasn't a gay bar called Flex. I haven't seen
this current band, but I really dig the one song I downloaded; it's
this odd dubby pop with a nice rubberband feel & good falsetto
"ahhhhh" vocals, plus silly keyboards.

Glissade, at least on CD, are wall-of-strum shoegazer atmospherics.



Tuesday, January 24
Audubon Park [http://audubonpark.blogspot.com], En Garde
[http://www.myspace.com/engardemusic], Criteria
[http://www.criteriamusic.com/]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

I don't usually like to encourage AP's David Nahm that much, because
he's one of those extroverted types & they need to be quashed, but he
really went on a tear when promoting this one, so I must quote at
length:

"This is an Early 21st C. retro nostalgia show (back when we didn't
know we had eight years of Bush left.  I don't know if we could have
made it if we had known that).  If this were six years ago the bill
would read Sorry About Dresden, the White Octave, Stunken White and V.
Sirin (or a drunk new years jam at Robert, Nate and Rob's
house--though if that is the case, where is John E. Walker playing
blues licks?  I don't know.  Forget this part.) But we all know that
our lives are like the grains of sand through an hour glass because
these are the Days of Our Lives, right?

Criteria is Steve Pedersen of the White Octave fame (and fortune)'s
new NE based band.  You should see their bass players beard-to-hair
ratio.  Outstanding.  En Garde features members of Strunken White,
Sorry About Dresden and The Scaries and then there are still like
twelve other people in the band.  I assume you know what the score is
with AP(because I have your email address):  We've changed our strings
and will be preforming five new, never before heard songs (because we
are recording next weekend and need the practice).

You all know this stuff--I don't need to tell you.  I'm just saying
"We get old.  Time passes.  Everything dies but maybe someday what
dies comes back as a zombie."  Ruminations on mortality on a Tuesday
night.  Maybe I am overselling this show--I don't know."



Tuesday, January 24
Curt Kirkwood [http://www.meatpuppets.com/]
Kings, Raleigh



Wednesday, January 25
Dr. Robert's Health Jazz [http://www.retroactivedynamics.com]
Kings, Raleigh

Dr. Robert meaning Crowmeat Bob, that is; he's been doing weekly
skronk-out gigs with a rotating cast of freaks in Raleigh for a while
now. Last time I saw him was with one of his 100 other bands, Savage
Knights, at Chaz's; they were great in a "what if Morphine had 2 sax
players & extended freakout jams" kind of way.



Wednesday, January 25
Caspian Sea Monsters, The Heavy Pets
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh



Thursday, January 26
The Talk [http://www.the-talk.com], The Capulets
[http://www.thecapulets.net], The Verdict
[http://www.theverdictrock.com/]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

I don't want to harp on his too much, but goddamn that Capulets demo
sounds like the Strokes. I was discussing this issue earlier today
with a friend, and she posited that although the Capulets'
Strokes-ish-ness is indeed disconcerting, it's pretty impressive that
they're able to pull it off so convincingly yet without sounding
overly calculating about it. I have to concur.



Thursday, January 26
Chest Pains, Done Deal
[http://www.emusic.com/artist/11573/11573917.html], Aggro-Vators
Marvell Building, Durham



Thursday, January 26
Table
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh



Friday, January 27
Robert Pollard [http://www.robertpollard.net/]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro



Friday, January 27
Erie Choir, The Sames [http://www.thesames.com], Schooner
[http://www.schoonermusic.com], Summer Set
[http://www.summersetworld.com ]
Wetlands, Chapel Hill

This is a CD-release thing for a CD called "3x4," which features 3
songs each by the 4 songs appearing tonight. I'd hope you'd know them
all by now; three of them are working hard to subtly re-define what
people think of when they think about the Triangle and Pop Music, and
the fourth (Wilmington's Summer Set) is like their separated-at-birth
quadruplet sibling. Erie Choir & Summer Set particularly put out two
of my favorite EPs of the past 2 years; I'm excited to see that
they're remaining true to the "less is more" EP aesthetic, after a
fashion.



Friday, January 27
On Three, Colossus, Black Skies
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Fake Swedish have broken up. Sorry to have to tell you like that, but
quick-is-best when it comes to bad news. Lead guitarist Eric Haugen's
new/old thing is called On Three, and that's all I know about it.

Likewise, all I know about Black Skies is that they're ex-The Man. I
would hope that any band advertising itself as ex-The Man would
include Kevin Clark (well, and full-frontal nudity), but I have no
evidence either way.



Friday, January 27
Mount Moriah, Gutshot & Thirsty
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Friday, January 27
Patty Hurst Shifter [http://www.pattyhurstshifter.com], Goner
[http://www.gonertheband.com/]
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh



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