hearing aid

YES, PLEASE
03.25 SGT DUNBAR AND THE HOBO
BANNED @ THE CAVE
Guitar, trombone, typewriter and singing saws align
to create the high energy, driving sound of Sgt Dunbar
and the Hobo Banned. Composed of multi-instrumentalists, the ramshackle loping of the nine-piece solidifies into a pounding assault of chaos like a runaway
horse carriage. While light and uplifting at times, the
sound tends to offer an eerie darkness. The group
is part of the Elephant 6-inspired, B3nson Recording
Collective, based out of Albany, N.Y. Chapel Hill locals
Robobilly! open with a world of robots and zombies.
Using banjo and trumpet as glue, the band fuses a
wickedly demented sense of humor with a garage
punk aesthetic, singing, “I’m gonna love you ’til I’m
shot in the head,” on “Zombie Love.” The small stage
at The Cave will overflow with big sounds and personalities. 10 p.m. —Andrew Ritchey
03.26 MEDICATIONS, EDIE SEDGWICK,
PROOF @ BERKELEY CAFE
The
modulated
angularity of
Medications
betrays its
D.C.-punk
roots, but the
corners are
sanded to fit
within the
trio’s richer
melodic constructs. The band is led by frontman Devin
Ocampo and bassist Chad Molter, who build on the
approach of their old Dischord band, Faraquet. Windy,
yet graceful, they ebb and flow to an interior logic that
ignores traditional verse-chorus-verse. They haven’t
released an album in almost four years. Edie Sedgwick
is the drag alter-ego of Justin Moyer (El Guapo/
Supersystem), who pens funky oddball dance-punk
paeans to pop culture icons ranging from “Haley Joel
Osment” and “Lucy Liu” to “O.D.B.” —Chris Parker
03.26 PINK FLAG, WHATEVER
BRAINS @ TIR NA NOG
What comes off as a bit too precious on record
reveals itself as a perfect balance of mirth, melody
and misanthropy for Pink Flag on stage. The three-
These Are Powers
femme band
03.28 ’70s SOUL JAM
is one of the
@ Durham performing
Bull City’s best
Arts Center
new acts, juxtaposing
In
the soul music world, there are subchiming guitars with
genres based on hybrid sounds (countrynoisy shocks, taut rhythms
soul), geography (Southern soul), label
with playful hooks and
th e
guid
(Motown) and even, well, depth (deep soul).
scene politics with personal
e
th e
As for the four ’70s-survivor groups gathermotivation. What comes off as
w e e kt o
c
o
ing at this jam—The Stylistics, Delfonics,
ncer ’s
gnarled and aggressive on record
ts
Manhattans and The Main Ingredient—it’s
for Whatever Brains reveals itself, well,
mostly a matter of feel (although those first
as just that on stage: Whether covering
two can definitely be filed under Philly soul),
Bowie or The Urinals or popping off one of
so we’ll call them smooth soul. Hard to put into
its own anthemic digressions on irritation and
words, but you’ll know it when you hear it, on
forever-badass defiance, Whatever Brains howls
such transistor-radio faves as “You Make Me Feel
its harmonies and turns its rhythms into picture
Brand New,” “La-La (Means I Love You),” “Kiss and
wounds. It’s a great preamble to your weekend. Free/
Say Goodbye” and “Everybody Plays the Fool.” $3510 p.m. —Grayson Currin
$49.50/ 8 p.m. —Rick Cornell
03.27 ROBERT MILLIS @ NIGHTLIGHT
03.28 MIKE ROY & ROB WATSON
As one half of the duo Climax Golden Twins, Millis
@ THE POUR HOUSE
explored rarely heard sounds from often remote
hearing
aid
cultures. He compiled Victrola Favorites: Artifacts from
Bygone Days, a collection of rare international records.
Millis’ work lends itself to the visual: The colorful
images portrayed in the music of, say, masked ceremonies or classical Turkish songs, plead for more illumination. Here, alongside a solo musical set, he screens
My Friend Rain, a film collage from Thailand, Burma,
Indonesia and Laos, recorded with Alan Bishop of the
Sun City Girls. The line between caretaker and purveyor of exotica is fuzzy, but Millis does raise things to
light not found on most “world music” compilations
out there. $5/ 10 p.m.—Chris Toenes
As co-leaders of The Whistlestop, a rootsy gospel
outfit whose music praises everybody from Roger
Miller to Levon Helm, Mike Roy and Rob Watson share
their spiritual sides without a flinch. On a new record
aptly titled Lullabies & Family Songs—credited to the
duo and not the Whistlestop and whose release is
celebrated at this show—Watson and Roy open up
even more and invite you right into their homes. It’s a
testament to the pair’s warm delivery and anythingwith-strings skills that you’ll feel right comfortable. The
Kennebec Duo and Kenny Roby & The Mercy Filter
open. $6-$8/ 8 p.m. —Rick Cornell
03.28 TALIBAM, JERKAGRAM
@ NIGHTLIGHT
03.29 AMANDA PALMER
@ THE ARTSCENTER
With a trip down the East Coast, a wave of Brooklyn
bands pushes against the tide of touring acts returning
to the borough from South by Southwest: Two-piece
Jerkagram cascades drums through unlikely patterns—
a cymbal roll where it doesn’t belong, a big rock fill
where you’d expect nothing—beneath one guitar that
favors long tones alternately reflecting Comets on Fire’s
acid-drenched maximalism and Glenn Branca’s stately
minimalism. Like free jazz kids rollicking through a field
of poppies, Talibam works as if on a killswitch, flipping
from blistering skronk to playful theatrics at moment’s
notice. Watch for drummer Kevin Shea, as he’s a joy to
witness. American Tourist and Cool Ethan open. $5/ 10
p.m. —Grayson Currin
vs.
Asobi Seksu
The driving force
behind gothic piano
duo The Dresden
Dolls, Palmer
released her solo
debut, Who Killed
Amanda Palmer,
in September. Ben
Folds produced and
played one song on
it, with additional
help from East Bay
Ray and St. Vincent’s
Annie Clark, among
others. While the arrangements are grander than
her usual fare, the songs are cut from the same cloth.
Indeed, the dozen tracks comprising the album were
originally songs that didn’t make the cut with the
Dolls and result in an uneven effort. However, Palmer
remains a wonderfully animated live performer,
unsurprising given her background in theater. $18$20/ 8 p.m. —Chris Parker
04.01 secondhand freespace
@ local 506
Even when the old system works (find a label, tour
incessantly, hopefully get famous, which is mostly
what happened to Concord, N.C.’s The Avett Brothers),
bands, labels and trends now depend on the Internet
to market themselves and be heard. No news here, but
tonight, several media-meets-music experts gather on
the Local 506 stage to discuss a world of pitchforks,
tweets and torrents: Lindsey Kronmiller of Merge,
Mike Robinson of Annuals, Jed Carlson of Reverb
Nation and David Rose of musician resource knowthemusicbiz.com share tonight’s panel, moderated by
Heather McDonald of about.com. Don’t be an April fool
by pretending your band doesn’t need the ’net. The
free panel starts at 7:30 p.m. —Grayson Currin
eh, whatever
03.30 VAL EMMICH
@ THE POUR HOUSE
It’s a thin line
between love and
hate, but it’s even
thinner between
pop perfection
and dreck in Adult
Contemporary.
Emmich has been
circling that border like a plane in
a holding pattern
for years, flashing occasional pop smarts amid overly
sentimental and polished poesy. A dim shadow of
Jason Mraz, Emmich enjoyed a major label cup of tea
before returning to the indies where he released his
latest, Little Daggers. Frothy enough to hide its lack of
substance, it’s perhaps not surprising Emmich has parlayed his clean-cut good looks into several TV roles,
including turns this year on Ugly Betty and 30 Rock.
With Sons of Williams. $8-$10/ 8 p.m. —Chris Parker
re-Introducing...
From:
From: New York
Thursday, March 26
03.28 CORROSION OF
Brooklyn,
Since: 2001
CONFORMITY-BLIND @ VOLUME 11
N.Y.
Claim to fame: Japanese singer Yuki
“When it rains, it pours,” says former Corrosion
Since: 2006
Chikudate’s girlish ethereality against
of
Conformity frontman Karl Agell. Returning from
Claim to Fame:
big-canvas soundscapes
extended musical hiatus, Agell and founding CoC
Noisy no-wave
drummer Reed Mullin have fired up all the engines.
The remodeled Asobi Seksu
reminiscent of exMullin has united with former CoC bassist Mike Dean
unveiled a new approach on last
Liars bassist Pat
and guitarist Jason Browning, of H.R.’s solo group, for
month’s release, Hush, mothballing
Noecker’s old band
the new band Righteous Fool. Meanwhile, Agell has got Leadfoot off the blocks with a
the guitar-heavy shoegazer roar
This art-punk trio produces a prickly, undulating racket
couple of old mates returning to rejoin him and guitarist Scott Little in the Southern-fried
for something more genteel and
whose lack of all but the barest melody is compensated for
metal outfit.
elegant. Swaddled in icy synths
by electro-addled rhythms that burble and throb, threatenBut the most exciting news is Mullin, Little, Browning and Agell are resurrecting CoC’s
(though guitar makes apperances)
ing destruction like magma beneath the crust of Mount
seminal 1991 album, Blind. Agell’s only album with the band offers a signature blend of porand grand, billowing arrangeVesuvius. It might be possible to dance to this, but you’d
tentous Sabbath-y throb, grimy Southern boogie and scabrous guitar thrash that buries CoC’s
ments, Yuki Chikudate’s vocals
have to be a little spastic to match Powers’ occasional monupunk origins in a metal sarcophagus, offering a template for ’90s alt-metal. When singer/ guitarist
soar, affecting a cloudlike airiness that’s part Liz Fraser (Cocteau
ments to sonic bombast. While the band samples chalkPepper Keenan (currently touring in Down) booted Agell, Blind tracks “were basically excluded
Twins) and part Emma Anderson (Lush). It’s a dramatic move for an
board-scraping rumble, it’s mostly content to trundle along,
from the regular CoC set,” says Mullin. “And a lot of people still want to hear them.”
act that’s committed eight years and two albums to a distorted MBVcarting jibber-jabbering clatter at a steady, vaguely haunting
While Mullin and Agell harbor no illusions, they are hopeful their Blind-era CoC (sprinkled
like shimmering swoon. Not unlike its original British counterparts
pace. Frontwoman Anna Barie is the focal point live, shriekwith a few well-chosen covers) takes off. “If it evolves into something bigger, we’re happy to do
who also moved on to dreamy pop, Asobi Seksu pulls it off while
ing, moaning and writhing on the floor to convey an eerie
it,” Agell says. “But we’re going to bite off one piece at a time.” With H.O.W., Broadslab, The Ghost
slaying all comers, thanks mostly to Chikudate’s gorgeous vocals.
malevolence. At NIGHTLIGHT with USA Baby. $5/ 10 p.m.
of Saturday Night. $12-$15/ 8 p.m. —Chris Parker
At LOCAL 506 with Tyvek. $8-$10/ 9:30 p.m. —Chris Parker