By Don Allred
Monolithic Cloud Parade
Somehow, wolf-headed children escape from a carnival, and flee into the forest, “Full of spirits we cannot contain.” So begins Children with Wolf Heads, Columbus exhalation Monolithic Cloud Parade’s debut offering of strangely inviting campfire songs. Their sparkle and drone fit these misfits, hopeful even after death, or uneasily digesting religiously (and blissfully) consumed, beloved grown-ups. Live, MCP’s versatile alt-rock ensemble continues bonding with leader Corey Fry’s initially self-generated, cosmically fried studio specials.
12/01 @ Skully’s, 1151 High St.
8 p.m.
Eric Nassau and Friends
Columbus-based, freewheeling folksinger Eric Nassau has a keen and eternally orbiting ear for songs and friends. His friends include singer-songwriter-fiddler Megan Palmer, mandolinist Keenan Wade, bassist Joshua Huber, plus percussionist Joe Nibistitsky. Tonight, they offer a tribute to Ohio indie rock pioneers Guided By Voices. If Mr. Nassau modestly declines to designate his own “Whole World In His Beard” as autobiography, then, as Elvis Presley requests, “Reconsider, baby.”
12/04 @ The Treehouse, 887 Chambers Rd.
10 p.m.
Smooth Jazz Christmas 2009
For this year’s Smooth Jazz Christmas tour, evergreen saxophonist Dave Koz, trumpeter Rick Braun, pianist David Benoit and guitarist Peter White welcome back chanteuse Brenda Russell. She’s written her soulful hits, like “So Good, So Right” and “Piano In The Dark.” Other credits include Luther Vandross’s “If Only For One Night”, Donna Summer’s “Dinner With Gershwin”, and Oleta Adams’s “Get Here.” Russell and friends perform their originals and holiday fare—so get there.
12/06 @ The Palace Theatre, 34 W. Broad St.
7 p.m.
WPA
WPA is a country-rocking “expandable band,” anchored by singer-guitarists Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek), Glen Philips (of Toad The Wet Sprocket), and Lyle Lovett’s fiddler, Luka Bulla. Other WPA members, who may appear at any show, include Nickel Creek’s singing fiddler, Sara Watkins; keyboadist Benmont Tench, of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz, backer of K.D Lang and Bill Frisell; plus drummer Pete Thomas and bassist Davey Faragher, both of Elvis Costello’s Attractions.
12/07 @ The Basement, 391 Neil Ave.
7 p.m.
Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin
As you might suspect, given their terminally cute name, SSLYBY are an indie pop combo. Their low-budget sound unabashedly recalls the mid-60s Beatles and mid-00s Shins, in terms of folk-influenced harmonies and tunes: unmistakably bright, increasingly tight, yet disarmingly conversational. SSLYBY’s balance of lightness and intensity currently receives studio insight from a stylistically appropriate producer, Death Cab For Cutie’s Chris Walla. Meanwhile, their shows keep old and new songs pretty fresh.
12/08 @ The Summit. 2210 Summit St.
9 p.m.
Brainbow
Columbus rock instrumental specialists Brainbow’s Web-archived shows include a sweepingly harmonic harvest of original works, delivered to Comfest 2008; ceremonial selections from The Lord of The Rings soundtrack; improvised chimes of freedom, heralding rapper Blueprint’s “Liberation,” and a swaying, slamming cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” with singer Lara Yazvac. Their music’s metallic elements might well multiply tonight, as Brainbow meet Pelican and Black Cobra.
12/10 @ Ravari Room, 2661 N. High St.
9 p.m.
The Loyal Divide
Chicago residents The Loyal Divide return to their Columbus birthplace, sporting sounds defined more by what they do than where they come from. On LTD’s 2007 self-titled debut and 2008’s Labrador, metamorphic details ride zigzagging cycles of mischievous grooves, rocking all the way. The singer also appears in various moods and guises, leading listeners through somewhat spooky corridors, to a secret party everybody can attend, for a while.
12/11 @ Skully’s, 1151 N. High St.
9 p.m.
Blues For A Cure
With the Nighthawks for fourteen years, and now the Drivers, Jimmy Thackery’s boldly precise blues-rock guitar spins through jazz, country, and surf music. Jimmy Thackery & the Drivers highlight Columbus’s third annual Blues For A Cure concert series, principally supporting cancer treatment and research. This year’s performers also feature irrepressible singer Candye Kane, Johnnie Bassett & the Blues Insurgents, Henry Gray, Trampled Under Foot, and the Sean Carney Band, led by BFAC’s founder.
12/11 & 12/12 @ Whiskey Dick’s, 2690 E. Dublin Granville Rd.
7 p.m. & 1:30 p.m
Whiskey Daredevils
Cleveland’s metal punkabilly Whiskey Daredevils still have enough (pre-WD) scorched-country Cowslingers left in them to mournfully deplore, “No one believes in Zeus much anymore.” But they’ve got their own meltdown mythology; also, like any band worth its eyeballs and audience, they’re connoisseurs of delusion. You can be beyond positive or negative, and get immortalized in a WD song. Just don’t arrive in an “Ironic Trucker Hat,” ‘cause they know what’s under that.
12/18 @ Café Bourbon Street, 2216 Summit St.
8 p.m.
John Hammond
Blues singer John Hammond’s worked with Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, members of the Band, Duane Allman, Los Lobos’s David Hidalgo, and many others. Hammond has a tireless, very stylized voice; Wicked Grin, his collaboration with the similarly inclined Tom Waits, is a creative peak. Much of Hammond’s solo show’s star power comes from his acoustic guitar’s metal resonator cones, reflecting spotlights as sunbursts, while vibrating like well-tuned barbed wire.
12/19 @ The Lincoln Theatre, 769 E. Long St.
8 p.m.
Bobaflex
As rap-metal fizzled out, with all genres’ major label sales soon following, West Virgina’s Bobaflex mutated into indie metal, armed with elbows and brains. They loomed large at Bellefontaine’s Woodshock Festival for three consecutive years. Bobaflex also practice studio immersion, then rise again, through the leather heavens of Primitive Epic, for instance. They’re about to launch themselves from the laboratory long enough to enter the New Year, and they will rock your cradle. Which you may not have known you still have.
12/31 @ Alrosa Villa, 5055 Sinclair Rd.
8 p.m.
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