YES, PLEASE ...

YES, PLEASE ...
03.18 BLACK LIPS, BOX ELDERS
@ CAT’S CRADLE
This is a nice pairing, but not because, as some have
suggested, Box Elders sound like Black Lips. Both
draw from the garage
black lips
rock trunk, but that makes
them about as similar as
Led Zeppelin and Black
Sabbath. Omaha trio Box
Elders drape their buoyant
’60s pop gang vocals and
surf-inflected guitar crush in a blanket of noisy, meterpegging lo-fi. It’s all delivered with a joyous, off-kilter
energy that sometimes pushes the vocals off-key but
seems so intent on a good time you hardly notice. But
the Lips just go for it: Their rebellious, rowdy garagepunk rages and careens as if their instruments are
on fire, and they just don’t care. The devil-may-care
live aesthetic has given way to a less sloppy, hookier
approach on the last couple albums, but their performances remain sooty sonic bonfires. $10–$12/ 9 p.m.
—Chris Parker
03.18 JAKE WINSTROM, BRETT HARRIS
@ THE PINHOOK
Quite the mixed bag: The City Skyscape is a vehicle
for electro-pop composer Christopher Mongillo,
whose sense of theatricality is underscored by clattering techno and thin synth washes. As it veers from
Owl City sap to Dresden Dolls cabaret and skittering
electroclash, the briefly memorable flashes of his
self-titled debut come short-circuited by inconsistency. Better is ex-Tenderhooks frontman Jake
Winstrom, whose high, keening tenor blows like an
Arctic wind across haunting country-folk with pitchdark subject matter. Talented local Brett Harris gilds
glittering hooks to his punchy power pop, recalling a
soulful Marshall Crenshaw at his most winning and
infectious. $5/ 9 p.m. —Chris Parker
03.18 9th wonder &
Co. @ The Brewery
If you’re not making it to Austin
for SXSW this year, you won’t be
dogged by the impossibilities
of scurrying through an overcrowded town to catch overlapping showcases. Instead, you’ll
be here, where, without hassle, you can catch 9th
Wonder’s It’s a Wonderful World Music Group’s showcase featuring artists from Jamla and The Academy his
SONG
OF THE
WEEK
Nevermind the staggering blues
riff of “Laugh at Sex, Not Her”:
This song—a romantic comedic
tragedy, if such exists, where sex in
the next room serves as a dialectic
for thoughts on love and lust and
everything in between—could be a
miniseries. We talk to THE STRANGE
BOYS (03.21, LOCAL 506) about it at
www.indyweek.com.
labels. The street-tendered Big Remo, the sensational
Tyler Woods, Rapsody, Thee Tom Hardy and young
gunners Actual Proof will mark one of the first phases
of an overt makeover to the local hip-hop and R&B
tableau. For this new movement to materialize into
something sustainable, we have to, for the first time in
a long time, act like real hip-hop fans—by attending
shows by local folks like these. $5/ 8 p.m. —Eric Tullis
03.18 HUMBLE TRIPE, MANDOLIN
ORANGE @ NIGHTLIGHT
It may be the first full-band show of the year for
Durham’s Humble Tripe, but don’t expect the
restrained back-porch arrangements—abetted
by violin, trumpet, harmonica and whatever else
the quintet can lay its hands on—to be much less
delicate than the fragile voice of songwriter Shawn
Luby. As fiddle twirls gracefully among gently
strummed guitar and mandolin chords, Mandolin
Orange charms with simple elegance on rustic tales
of Americana. Andrew Marlin’s plaintive drawl handsomely matches Emily Frantz’s songbird harmonies.
Wielding his banjo as an amped-up, arpeggio-spewing axe of black metal, Colin Booy opens with a rare
appearance of his Clawform solo project, accompanying power chords with programmed beats. 9:30
p.m. —Spencer Griffith
03.19 SOLAS
@ THE ARTSCENTER
If Cherish the Ladies is the reigning Celtic folk
champion, then Solas is the upstart challenger, built
around one of the champ’s former players and a
unique style. Solas formed in 1994 behind Seamus
Egan—who’d won the All-Ireland championship on
four different instruments by the age of 14—and
ex-CTL fiddler and vocalist Winifred Horan. While
still deeply informed by traditional Irish music and
instrumentation, their nine studio albums sample a
wide variety of forms (including baroque pop, jazz,
world beat and rock) and artists (Nick Drake, Rickie
Lee Jones, Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen). It’s
established them as the more eclectic and challenging of the competing exemplars. $22–$24/ 8:30 p.m.
—Chris Parker
03.19 DRUNK TIGERS, NAPS; PROS AND
CONS @ NIGHTLIGHT
Charlottesville, Va.’s Drunk Tigers put curlicue,
thin vocals in front of a four-piece indie rock outfit
with a knack for good hooks and a love of direct,
emphatic rhythms. But these songs offer welcoming,
slightly menacing surprises, like occasional bursts
of distortion and sidemen that shout their halves of
antiphonal choruses like marching orders. Think of
BALLYHOO!
FROM: Aberdeen. Md.
SINCE: 2004
CLAIM TO FAME: Carrying on the legacy
of 311 and Sublime
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, only if they wore brass
knuckles as they went from town to town, starting
fistfights at after-parties. Raleigh’s NAPS gathers a
few well-known locals behind the anxiously intimate songs of Daniel Michael, glowing drones, noisy
scraps and elliptical drums cresting and collapsing
behind them. Pros and Cons, the side project of
Transportation’s Stephen Murtaugh, headlines. 10
p.m. —Grayson Currin
03.20 STEVE FORBERT
@ THE ARTSCENTER
Steve Forbert’s an American Roots Series mainstay
for good reason: His rich, varied output has always
honored the work of pioneers, even as he used that
foundation to create his own unique roots system.
Starting with folk-rock that was so disarming and
refreshing upon arrival in the late ’70s that he almost
dodged the “new Dylan” tag, Forbert has gone
on to be backed by Spooner Oldham, the late Jim
Dickinson and members of the E Street Band and
Wilco. He’s also released a full-length tribute to fellow Meridian, Miss., native Jimmie Rodgers and written a song about Rick Danko, proving he knows his
Canadian roots, too. $16–$18/ 8:30 p.m.
—Rick Cornell
03.20 ATHENS BOYS CHOIR, PINK
FLAG @ LOCAL 506
This four-band bill is largely of and by the LGBTIQQ
community, sure, but that doesn’t meant it’s exclusively for it: Katz, a Georgia transsexual man who
calls himself the Athens Boys Choir is an always
playful and often commanding emcee, whether
going a cappella on a spoken-word piece or rhyming
over a chintzy party rap beat. Blasting binaries and
excoriating the divides that make us comfortable,
Katz rhymes, “I’m a pansexual/ Got me hands on
the manual/ I’m a smooth Jew/ A Bar Mitzvah party
animal.” Doesn’t sound too exclusionary, does he?
Meanwhile, 8 Inch Betsy, from Chicago and new to
the 307 Knox Roster, is at turns a charging punk trio,
pogoing New Wave popsters and smoldering rock
balladeers. Named for Wire’s calling card, Pink Flag
angles electric guitars around bulbous bass and
powerful drums. Pariah Piranha opens. $7/ 9:30 p.m.
—Grayson Currin
03.21 STONEY LARUE
@ BERKELEY CAFE
A regular on the Texas circuit, Stoney LaRue plays
guitar from the hip and wears his heart on his
sleeve. With tattoos, bandana and electric guitar,
LaRue turns outlaw country into gritty Southern
THURSDAY,
M A R C H 18
Like the oafish buffoon at the party who
somehow believes his crass, off-color remarks are amusing,
someone somewhere encouraged pallid ska-punks Ballyhoo!, and, three albums in, it’s too
late to turn back. Their Brad Nowell-scripted moves are no more derivative than Owl City’s
attempts at The Postal Service, but that sets the bar pretty low. They’ve toured heartily and
sold thousands of copies of their self-released albums, but one imagines their parents
wanted something more for their kids than to be toasted by bros in ball caps singing along
to infantile come-ons like “Let’s Get Horizontal” and “Sweet Cheeks” between keg stands.
With Murphy’s Kids and 5th Generation. At LINCOLN THEATRE. $8–$10/ 9 p.m.
hearing
aid
rock.
the
His
gui
backing
de
to the
band, The
w
ee k
Arsenals, stoke his
concerts
’s
fire with keys and fiddle.
But LaRue is just as likely to
find inspiration in singer-songwriter Jim Croce as Merle Haggard, and
acoustic guitar often grounds lyrics exploring the heart of relationships. In both sound
and lyrics, LaRue approaches it all in big, sweepingly romantic gestures, daring the world in his sincere, soulful baritone, “If I’m going down, I’m going
down in flames.” $10–12/ 7 p.m. —Andrew Ritchey
03.23 THE RUBY SUNS, TORO Y MOI
@ LOCAL 506
With notable exceptions from each, like Toro Y Moi’s
warped drifter “Blessa” and The Ruby Suns’ gently
rhythmic “Two Humans,” both Columbia, S.C.’s Toro
Y Moi and New Zealand’s The Ruby Suns make
dispersive pop music. On the Suns’ third record,
Fight Softly, you’ll need to settle beneath the sonics—sheets of synthesizers, electronic drums, bent
and stacked vocals—to latch onto the melody. As
impressionistic as they’ve always been, but now just
a bit busier, Fight Softly electrifies and emboldens
their island eclecticism. It mostly works. However,
Toro Y Moi’s debut, Causers of This, seems to build
toward the song rather than away from it, emphasizing interesting sound rather than alluring songs a bit
too often. Still, the rubbery beats of Chaz’s Bundick’s
one-man band seem to bubble from between
the ocean’s waves, giving even his most formless
moments a wonderful unpredictability. $8/ 9 p.m.
—Grayson Currin
03.24 AMPLINE
@ RESERVOIR
If you thought Ampline had broken up—assuming
you’d ever heard of the Cincinnati trio in the first
place—you’d be forgiven. Rosary, the instrumental
band’s fifth and most recent album, was released in
2006. And the Web offers no real sign of new activity
either, save for a list of tour dates. But if the band’s
post-rock is as swollen by punk momentum as it was
four years ago, then we can assume this is still the
post-rock band for people who like their loud-quietloud epics condensed to under five minutes and
expanded to high volume. With Blood Red River and
Daikaiju. 10 p.m. —Bryan Reed
DAVID FORD
FROM: Eastbourne, England
SINCE: 1996 with Easyworld; 2005 with himself
CLAIM TO FAME: Brooding and evocative—if
long-winded—balladry reminiscent of Damien
Rice
At his best, Ford’s a UK answer to Conor Oberst, with overwrought songs that bristle with
thwarted emotions like frustration, outrage and misanthropy. Thanks to his manifold gifts,
he’s well-equipped to deliver the drawing room meditations he favors, fashioning alluring
textures from guitar and piano that offer backdrops suggestive of a less baroque Damon
Gough. His tempered croon’s not overpowering but rather crisp and resilient, the perfect
understated platform to showcase his words, which turn and slice quickly with surprising
grace. His latest, Let the Hard Times Roll, is his sharpest and most concise, cutting Ballyhoo!
down to sushi size. With Jeanne Jolly. At BERKELEY CAFE. $10/ 8 p.m. —Chris Parker