by Don Allred
Bitch and the Exciting Conclusion
11/03 @ East Village
Bitch is a singer, songwriter, and versatile player, who studied violin with Andrew Bird, got a degree in acting, made several albums, appeared in indie films, toured with Ani DiFranco, and produced Boulder for cosmic Canadian folkie Ferron. It all leads to the Exciting Conclusion, in which Bitch’s electric strings and vocals meet Gabriel K’s bass and Lee French’s drums, riding the world of good, bad. and beautiful vibrations, like a mother.
Castanets
11/06 @ Summit
On “The Twilight Zone,” a guy might find himself walking through empty streets, or the desert, to who knows where or when. Ray Raposa is that guy, and Castanets was once his murky shadow, then the Grand Canyon of bands, and now, as he creeps, rides and runs, to and through City Of Refuge (even meeting or seeing a woman), it’s a Southwestern-to-Appalachian, radioactive river of sound. When Castanets discovers Columbus, where will we be?
Martin Sexton
11/08 @ Newport
Martin Sexton is the kind of guitarist who really knows how to sing for his supper. He started as a Boston sidewalk/subway performer, and now he keeps joints like the L.A. House of Blues awake. His latest set includes originals, covered rarities, Ray Charles’s “Hard Times,” “Purple Rain,” and “A Little Help From My Friends,” even though the album is titled Solo, drawing from his dynamic one-man shows (okay, there are a couple of band tracks too).
The Websters
11/08 @ Frog Bear & Wild Bore
Have you met the Websters? They moved in next door, and turned the house into a record store, full of beloved alt-rock hits, without soundproofing, but they’ve got other equipment! Including a professional-since-1992 sense of comic timing. They’re like a beach band without a beach, except when they play one, so of course they’re “Insane In The Membrane,” which is “Just Like Heaven,” especially on “The Discovery Channel.” Don’t you think?
Metallica
11/11@ Schottenstein
Metallica earned their name by playing third rail Euro metal throughout the Dark Ages of Hollywood hair metal, only to lose Cliff Burton to highway death and Dave Mustaine to getting fired. Later albums achieved a more popular approach, yet became increasingly labored. But Death Magnetic wants to play, in a big foot, spill-the-molten-jams way. James Hetfield even gnarls truth through humor now: “Venom of a life insane, bites into your fragile vein,” and how!
Backyard Tire Fire
11/13 @ Newport
On Backyard Tire Fire’s site, you might want to start with the earlier, no-budget acoustic tracks, where rueful, restless humor proves they are not poor of spirit. They also strut barefoot, fearlessly enough, considering what’s in their backyard besides tires. Live tracks electrify tales of teenage criminals’ getaway car panic, and other neighborhood indiscretions. BTF’s latest album, Places We’ve Lived, sometimes rides a flying saucer all the way to the carwash.
Brother Ali
11/14 @ Skully’s
Brother Ali raps about his political frustrations with no exceptional insight, but he bracingly booms his sermons, referencing 70s roots-rap’s sound systems, in South Bronx lots and in front of Kingston, JA record stores. Sometimes (hopefully more frequently), Ali moves through the reggae side of his sound, into a chillier vibe, slipping by where noise can’t go. Makes you at least wonder about what he said, and also: “Who was that masked man?”
Automatic Loveletter
11/15 @ Newport
Automatic Loveletter’s music has been tagged space rock and shoegazing, in terms of luminescent shredding, but singer-songwriter-guitarist-keyboadist-arranger Juliet Simms makes sure there’s a sense of purpose surging through self-imposed isolation. She’s a hopeful romantic, but each object of her obsessive affections has to be tracked, travelling through space-rock/space-pop gold, or a crystal ball. So far, judging by AL’s Recover EP (first released in 2007; ‘08 reissue has two bonus tracks), the creative tension of personal and group development, of worlds meeting worlds, seems to be working.
Nine Inch Nails
11/17 @ Schottenstein
In the 90s, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor was the (or a) king of industrial music, in which machines go goth and processes get stress-dressed. The Downward Spiral sold nine jillion copies, but then Reznor’s drive got stuck in traffic. Rehabbed and rebooted, he returned this year, inspired to offer hours of disarmingly fluid studio work-outs, for free, on his download site. However, YouTube indicates that his concerts have not turned into campfire sing-alongs or footbaths.
Dean & Britta
11/20 @ Wexner
Dean Wareham’s Galaxie 500 sought to emulate the Velvet Underground’s atmospherics, later lit up by his and Britta Phillips’ (equally VU-fueled) band, Luna. Now D&B contribute soundtracks to 13 Most Beautiful…Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests, selections from VU mentor Warhol’s silent, slow-motion, mid-60s film portraits, including Nico, Lou Reed and Dennis Hopper. Dean & Britta currently perform in the travelling multi-media presentation of 13…., sure to be some kind of trip.
AC/DC
11/21 @ Schottenstein
In the past eight years since Stiff Upper Lip, perhaps AC/DC have actually gone out into the sun of their Australia, because they’re limber enough to stomp and scar and slide across the sweating surface of their October offering, Black Ice, without falling down. They spy some “Skies On Fire,” but that’s cool, ditto the “War Machine” they’ve recycled. There’s some middle-aged spread, but beefed-up voices still sing about “rocking” a lot, and you know what that means.
Marnie Stern
11/22 @ The Lodge/Space 101
11/23 @ The Summit
As you can see from these listings, guitarist-vocalist Marnie Stern gets around. She speeds jazz though metal and punk, sweet through harsh and funny. She’s touring with US Maple guitarist Mark Shippy and ex-Parts and Labor drummer Jim Sykes. Her new album is This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That.
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