MusiCal (May 2012)

 By Don Allred

Wussy/Fort Shame

Cincinnati’s Chuck Cleaver made serious comedy with Ass Ponys’ trailer child anthem, “Little Bastard.” Now he boldly rolls with the rocking relationship trips of Wussy, co-led by Cleaver’s alluringly dour paramour, Lisa Walker. “Love is stronger than dirt,” they proclaim, somewhat sarcastically, yet even the unwed can get pulled into their booming, radio-ready washing machine. Indelible as a laundry marker, the tough-minded tunes of Sue Harshe once shaped her pioneering Columbus indie band Scrawl. Harshe and lead guitarist/songwriter Todd May currently light up quartz-sharp quartet Fort Shame's dirge-y urges with enough streetlight electricity for intriguingly elusive, gritty glamour.

05/04 @ Ace of Cups, 2619 N. High St., 10 p.m.

Kyle Sowashes/Cabdrivers/Safeties/Harlem Airshaft

Even as a download, Columbus combo The Kyle Sowashes’ new Somebody sports the expansive drive and warmth often claimed as exclusive properties of vintage vinyl.  Fearless leader K. Sowash comments, ”It represents how we are live.” This compatibly caffeinated  release party includes the rare return of TKS touring bassist Brett Helling’s Cabdrivers, performing vivid favorites “Box of Finger Paintings, “Bleeding Archaic,” “Dirty Blanket,” and “Troubled Teen Mantra.” Plus, TKS’s Lonn Schubert summons the scorched sugar blast of his earlier band Harlem Airshaft, whose Cleveland peers Machine Go Boom’s Mikey Machine unveils his Safeties.

05/05 @ Tree Bar, 887 Chambers Rd., 10 p.m.

Kobo Live Second Anniversary

Kobo’s five-night spree of Central Ohio bands starts with a pinata mix, from Alert New London’s power pop trajectories to The Lost Revival’s acoustic set, which distills theatrics into restless hobo drama. Then we’re offered a more consistently mellow evening, although one including Saintseneca’s guaranteed “laconic sing-alongs, speed-strummed mountain dulcimers, and tambourine-filled trash cans.” The rest is solid rock, including Cadaver Dogs’ rabid dedication, She Bears’ ravenous contemplation, fried ice cream slabs from the George Elliot Underground, Ease The Medic’s careening balladry, and stylishly scruffy Bicentennial Bear. 23 groups in all, at current count.

05/08-12 @ Kobo Live, 2590 N High St., 8 p.m.

St Vincent/Shearwater

“Your skin is so fair, it’s not fair,” the wide-eyed, willowy lady sings, over and over, whole swaying over a little bridge of crystalline keyboard arpeggios. Eventually, with perfect timing, she comes to the line, ”You remind me,” and art-rocker Annie Clark, AKA St. Vincent, once again makes her guitar shake up several dimensions simultaneously. The people in her songs are true romantics, zoning out and zooming in--to “that hole in your tee-shirt,” for instance, so be prepared. With equally stage-wise ambition, Shearwater’s current touring line-up emphasizes the brainy appetite of 2012’s Animal Joy. 

 05/08 @  The Newport, 1722 N High St., 7 p.m.

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey

 Oklahoma’s Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey are sometimes dazzling and always sharp-eyed.  2011’s The Race Riot Suite presents an original 12-part composition based on the 1921 obliteration of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, an unacceptably prosperous community of African-Americans. From the witty ballroom celebration of “Black Wall Street” to ongoing conflicts and resolutions, listeners get an illuminating ride on history’s wheel. In tonight’s performance of The Race Riot Suite, JFJO’s piano, lap steel guitar, upright bass, and drums encounter a horn section, including robustly imaginative tenor saxophonist Mark Southerland and ace OSU musicians.

05/12 @ The Wexner Center, 1871 N. High St., 8 p.m.

Rock On The Range

Armor up, as ROTR 2012 fills the skies with flying squadrons of all kindsa rockers. Columbus pop metal specialists Attack Attack!, sinful Cincy glamsters Foxy Shazam and Woodshock champions Bobaflex will be in a position to figuratively dive-bomb delicious dinosaurs Megadeth, brainiac upstarts Mastodon, and infective insomniac Rob Zombie. Elder statesman-of-the-durty-plates Slash might well point toward navigation through the still-smoking membrane of Cypress Hill, the re-applied mascara of Marilyn Manson, the irrepressible social commentary of Five Finger Death Punch, the siren songs of Lacuna Coil, and the working-girl dominatrix romance of Halestorm.

05/18-20 @  Crew Stadium, One Black & Gold Blvd., Fri., 6 p.m., Sat.-Sun., 11:30 a.m.

AraabMuzik/NastyNasty

“Columbus to ‘natti...If you know like I know/You should lie low, killa/I used to get it in Ohio.” Cam’ron’s “Get It In Ohio” was distinctively produced by AraabMuzik, an equally strong DJ. AM's urban atmospherics swirl through a regenerative core of sampled soul music and the foreboding undertones of anonymous sources, all of which get chopped and channeled via MPC electropercussion, especially live. Why bother with laptop mapping, when you can hit the pads like that? Neo-bass guy NastyNasty also mixes beats and vocal bites on the fly.

05/19 @ Skully’s, 1151 N. High St., 8 p.m.

Primus/Gogol Bordello

How did a San Francisco-based power trio of Rush fans come to cultivate and flaunt their images as high-res, high-IQ, high-tech and just plain high rednecks? What the heck, Primus impresario/pit-crew boss Les Claypool always declares, “I come from a long line of garage mechanics,” and 2011’s Green Naugahyde stays in the spin with notorious off-road classics like “Jerry Was A Racecar Driver.” Meanwhile, the globe-rolling mustache and eloquent rasp of Eugene Hutz keep Gogol Bordello’s Ukrainian/Brooklynian/Brazilian/ gypsy/Jewish/folk/punk roots fragrant, in a gnarly blender of tuneful tumult. 

05/23 @ The LC, 405 Neil Ave., 7 p.m.

Larry Keel & Natural Bridge/Cowboy Hillbilly Hippy Folk

Guitarist Larry Keel’s prize-winning flat-picking cuts across old and new traditions of Americana, while his wfe Jenny plays bass and sings tenor. With Natural Bridge, they keep the barbecue smoking and the barns dancing. Columbus-based Cowboy Hillbilly Hippy Folk's Paul Painter reports, “We are exploring the outer space reaches of what we call Electric Appalachian. We never play things the same way twice, it is all about listening to each other...Good Vibes is where we come from!”

05/31 @ Woodlands Tavern, 1200 W Third Ave., 8 p.m.