GET YOUR PLUSH ON
To start, a big shout-out to Gene Armstrong for stepping in at the
last minute to fill in for me here last week. And now, on to
business.
There may not be any big marquee names coming to town this
week—no Journey, no Wilco, no Snoop Dogg—but there are many
smaller shows worth a look-see. Let’s explore some of our options.
SHAKE THAT BARE SHACK
Th’ Legendary Shack*Shakers haven’t released an album in two
years, but that shouldn’t have any bearing on their live performance
this week. Fronted by J.D. Wilkes, whom Jello Biafra once called “the
last great rock ‘n’ roll frontman,” the band brews up a heady stew of
rockabilly, swamp rock, blues, hillbilly twang and, in recent years,
even polka and klezmer—and plays the blazes out of it in a live
setting.
Bobby Bare Jr., alt-country-rock troubadour and son of the
guy who shares his name (sans the “Jr.”) has released a trio of fine
albums for Bloodshot Records, full of ballads and hard-driving tunes
with lyrical twists and turns. None of this prepared us for his latest
release, his first in three years: The American Bread EP (Junket
Boy) is a collaboration with David Vandervelde (though it’s credited
only to Bare) that gives us a little insight into Bare’s roots. It’s a
collection of covers of soft-rock classics by Bread and
America—three from each band, though “Sister Golden Hair”
warrants two versions. Other than the source material, it’s a lot less
surprising than one might think; it sounds like, well, Bobby Bare Jr.
covering Bread and America. Hardly necessary, but a fun little
trifle.
On the same day the American Bread EP is released,
Tuesday, Aug. 11, Th’ Legendary Shack*Shakers and Bobby Bare Jr.
will perform at Plush, 340 E. Sixth St. The El Camino
Royales open at 9 p.m. $10 gets you into the back room. Call
798-1298 for more information.
A DIFFERENT BRAND OF HIP HOP
One of the lesser-known acts on the fantastic ANTI-
label—whose roster also includes Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Neko
Case—Orlando, Fla.’s Solillaquists of Sound just released
their second full-length, No More Heroes, which is said to be
the second in a trilogy of conceptually linked albums. Like ANTI-‘s
other hip-hop signings, which include Michael Franti and Spearhead, and
Busdriver, Solillaquists of Sound trade in a brand of hip hop you’ll
rarely find on the radio. On Heroes, the group combines
synth-heavy production with elements of rap, rock, soul, folk, Afrobeat
and film scores; it’s enough to keep the listener guessing exactly
what’s coming next, in the best way. Add to that a producer whose live
performance style is compared to that of Animal from the Muppets, and
you should have the makings of a pretty darn engaging live show.
Solillaquists of Sound perform at Plush, 340 E. Sixth St., on
Monday, Aug. 10. Locals Vine St. open at 9:45 p.m. Cover
is only $6. Call 798-1298 for further details.
SYSTEM CHECK!
Brothers Jared and Michael Bell, originally from Tempe and now based
in Brooklyn and Austin, constitute the instrumental duo Lymbyc
System. The group weaves together electronic and organic elements
to create songs that develop from gorgeously minimal soundscapes into
full-blown, soaring, mega-textured epics, as evidenced by their tracks
on Field Studies (Magic Bullet), a recent split EP with This
Will Destroy You. The pair also re-released their 2005 debut EP,
Carved by Glaciers (Magic Bullet), earlier this year.
Lymbyc System peforms at Plush, 340 E. Sixth St., on
Friday, Aug. 7. … music video? and Matt McCoy open the show at 9:30 p.m. Admission is a fiver. Call 798-1298 for additional info.
WRAP YOUR TENTACLES AROUND THIS
Another Austin-based instrumental group, frequent Tucson visitor
the Octopus Project, also makes its way to Plush this week.
Unlike Lymbyc System, the quartet trades in an upbeat brand of
groove-based beats that you’ll have a hard time not dancing to. In an
article in these pages last year, the aforementioned Mr. Armstrong
wrote of the Octopus Project: “Layering sound on sound with analog and
digital synthesizers, glockenspiels, strings and horns, marimbas,
guitars, drums, theremin and samplers, the band amasses a mesmerizing
sea of sound into which listeners are almost compelled to immerse
themselves. One critic accurately described the Octopus Project as
knowing the difference between ‘dance music’ and music that makes you
want to dance.”
Get your shimmy on next Thursday, Aug. 13, at Plush,
340 E. Sixth St., when the Octopus Project takes the stage along with
openers Stareater and Some of Them Are Old, who kick
things off at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $10. That number again is
798-1298.
SHORT TAKES
Local quartet the 4th Street String Band celebrates the
release of a new CD from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Plush lounge, 340 E.
Sixth St., on Friday, Aug. 7. The group performs slightly poppy
folk tunes on bluegrass instruments (guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin,
stand-up bass) in a delightfully rough-hewn way. Free.
798-1298.
On Wednesday, Aug. 12, Solar Culture Gallery (which
has made significant improvements to its building lately to get itself
removed from the “dangerous buildings” list), 31 E. Toole Ave., hosts
Amsterdam-based seven-piece Caspian Hat Dance, who describe what
they play as “original and traditional gypsy music, klezmer music,
misbehaved drunken village wedding music, southern Italian pizzica, and
pretty songs sung in Romani on Bolivian mountaintops.” To these ears,
they sound a bit like a collaboration between DeVotchKa and Molehill
Orkestrah. The all-ages show starts at 9 p.m. Admission is $10. Call
884-0874 for more info.
Any band that plays math rock better damn well be precise, and
Seattle’s X-Ray Press has no problems in that department. Its
jittery, mostly guitar-and-bass-and-drums-driven songs change
time-signatures and shapes several times within the course of a single
song. The vocals, when present at all, often come in the form of spoken
word, chants or screams, though there are melodic exceptions. Somehow,
the whole is not quite as challenging listening as those singular
elements would have you believe. Catch X-Ray Press, along with
Ultramaroon and Awestritch, at an all-ages show at The
Living Room, 413 E. Fifth St., around 7 p.m., Monday, Aug.
10. For more info, head to thelivingroomtucson.com.
Oliver Jane, a young, Mission Viejo, Calif.-based combo,
trade in a mostly acoustic, slightly melancholy vein, though there’s a
certain cute-but-not-cloying element in there, too, perhaps somewhat
due to the lovely male-female vocal interplay. A recently posted track
on their MySpace page, “Spaceheater Song,” is perhaps the best song
they’ve got—a good sign of things to come. They’ll be at The
HangArt, 512 N. Echols Ave., tonight, Thursday, Aug. 6.
Opening the all-ages show at 8 p.m. are Timothy Craven and
Airborne Age. Admission is $10. For further details, head to
reverbnation.com/venue/thehangart.
ON THE BANDWAGON
Evil Fudd‘s final show at The Living Room on
Wednesday, Aug. 12; the Beach Boys at Desert Diamond
Casino on Wednesday, Aug. 12; comedian Sinbad at the
Rialto Theatre on Saturday, Aug. 8; Backbeat and
Grams and Krieger at Z Mansion on Friday, Aug. 7;
the Conquer and Curse Tour featuring Abigail Williams and
others at The Rock on Tuesday, Aug. 11; Last Call
Brawlers and the Fisters at Vaudeville on
Saturday, Aug. 8; the Holy Rolling Empire, the
Provocative Whites, Prieta and I Am the Lion at
Club Congress on Friday, Aug. 7; Jerry Garcia
Memorial with Extra Ticket and Top Dead Center at
The Hut on Friday, Aug. 7.
This article appears in Aug 6-12, 2009.