hearing aid

YES, PLEASE
02.02 OMAR
@ LINCOLN THEATRE
On British-soul artist
Omar’s 2006 album Sing
(If You Want It), the nusoul mainman injects his
R&B textured songs with
whip-crack snares, exuberant horns and brassy
beats. He’s certainly lent
an ear to mainstream
hip hop, borrowing its
bounce and bump with
élan, but the English
soul god’s songs mainly
showcase sublimely
smooth rhythms that
give testament to the rich
history of R&B. His honeyed vibe cuts close to classic Stevie
Wonder (a fan and a guest on Omar’s latest), and his silky
smooth vocals give a warm energy and crackle to each cut.
With Fertile Ground and YahZarah & Mixed Water. $25$29/ 9 p.m. —Kathy Justice
LAST WEEK’S PARTY
01.26 KING BRITT SYLK130
COLLECTIVE PRESENTS “PHILLY
SOUL TRIBUTE” @ DUKE
Damn, has there ever been this much of a party in the
usually staid confines of Reynolds Auditorium? King
Britt, a mover in the neo-soul scene, was hosting a tribute
with singers and his live band. What we got was pure,
rippling, ecstatic soul music, mostly led by the voices of
Jaguar Wright and Lady Alma Horton. The group opened
02.03 DEL MCCOURY BAND
MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL
@
Del McCoury’s voice—a heart-piercing instrument that’s somehow both mournful and joyful—is
such that it gives credence to cliché: Plenty of folks
would pay good money to hear the legend sing the
Nashville phonebook. And his star- and son-stocked foursome are with him step for masterful step. $24-$34/ 8 p.m.
—Rick Cornell
02.06 BANG CAMARO
THEATRE
@ LINCOLN
After The Darkness, Bang Camaro was inevitable. The
vehicular signifier of high school in the name captures the
band’s juvenile sensibilities, as the Boston quintet resurrects
the
g u i de
the cock-rock ghosts of glam with a strong dose of Poison (smell
the
to
the Aqua Net!), a dash of arena-sized riffage (feel that noize!!),
w
c on cee k ’ s
and lyrics that’d embarrass the average fifth grader (“Hell bent
erts
for liquor/ I chop my breakfast on a mirror/ Swallow the razor.”
02.02 BLUE HIGHWAY @ BERKELEY CAFe
Rebellion!!!). With so little to say (most songs barely register more
than a chorus), there’s time for plenty of mindless soloing, which
Defined by their near-ferocious picking and majestically hi-tempo licks,
might be betTennessee’s Blue Highway bristles with winsome energy while echoing the
ter if the licks
loneliness of bluegrass past. What’s more, their commanding lyrics swell and
sounded
less like
swivel above the roots-twang stomp. $20/ 2 p.m. —Kathy Justice
cheesy castoffs
02.03 KAPOW! MUSIC & MORE @ NIGHTLIGHT
from Dokken or
Great White. If you
Two Indiana acts join with two Chapel Hill standbys: Grampall Jookabox is a
generally find fart
bit bewildering, singing disco hooks and songbird airs over zig-zag loops and
jokes subtle, maybe
sometimes letting loose with a backwoods stomper. The band’s on tour with
you’ve got yourself a
Doog. With co-ed vocals and a rubber-band rhythm section, The Nothing Noise
new band. $8-$10/ 8
makes nervy acoustic-jangle pop with a twittering heart, while Bu Hanan’s
p.m. —Chris Parker
Kapow! Music sings sweetly over playful beats and keys. —Grayson Currin
Introducing...
with a Philly classic, Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade,” and
the crowd’s energy built. Wright belted out a touching
02.05 STELLA BY
song of her own about her family, “Remember,” rousSTARLIGHT @ LOCAL 506
ing spirits further. By the time Horton had kicked
The Duke trio of seniors Stella by Starlight got an
off her boots to enter the aisles, pushing folks to
unexpected big break in November, when they
dance during the disco-transition of “Last Night a
were selected as “The Best Music on Campus”
DJ Saved My Life,” not many were left sitting in
from a pool of 1,700 bands by MTVu, MTV’s collethe house. The blue-backlit stage had a disco
giate network available only on campuses across the
ball spraying stars on its canvas, and—for a
country. If you’re unfamiliar with the award winners,
few hours—the room was something else
that’s understandable: Stella by Starlight—guitarist
entirely. —Chris Toenes
HIGH ON FIRE
SONG OF
THE WEEK
hearing
aid
EH, WHATEVER
FROM: Oakland, Calif.
SINCE: 1999
CLAIM TO FAME: Various associations with
the first word of its name
vs.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 6
From 2003’s Let It
Metal bands trailing the smoke that hovers in the path
Rest, SORRY ABOUT
blazed by High on Fire founder and former Sleep axeman Matt Pike
DRESDEN’s “Sick and Sore” is a
are legion. Luckily, the ’heads bowing before Pike’s riffs haven’t engendered complacency in
lament with a magnetic surface,
the man himself, as High on Fire’s fourth LP, last year’s relentless Death Is This Communion,
the perfect melody the latchkey
is its tightest and, for that reason, one of Pike’s finest moments as a bandleader. His preinto the loneliness at the song’s
dictable riffs were a consistent gripe in Sleep, but he’s challenged himself with a beastly,
center. See the band at WKNC’s
battering rhythm section and shorter solos that count for more. And that voice? If his
Double Barrel Benefit (02.02, THE
monstrous howl hadn’t yet summoned a small army (it has, as the show’s openers
POUR HOUSE). Download the song
Saviours and Car Bomb will prove), we’d have cause for worry. Luckily, this threeand read an interview with the band at
piece herd—the clear winner—is too loud for griping. They silence almost all chalwww.indyweek.com.
lengers. With a Life Once Lost at CAT’S CRADLE for $12-$15 at 8 p.m.
and vocalist Sonny Byrd, drummer Greg Laird, keyboardist and programmer Nathan Fowler—formed just a year
ago. In that time, though, they’ve managed to cultivate a
surprisingly dynamic approach to college pop, vacillating
between the disco-lit romps of VHS or Beta and gauzy ballads that warp The Bends. Six-track debut EP The Electric
Sugar never stays anywhere too long, meeting the ends of
those extremes with consistently strong keyboard flourishes and well-made hooks. Decide if these guys are your
college rock: They play a $6 show with Gray Young and
Sleepsound at 9:30 p.m. —Grayson Currin
AGENT ORANGE
FROM: Placentia, Calif.
SINCE: 1979
CLAIM TO FAME: 1980’s “Bloodstains” and (for another generation) a namedrop in a Bowling for Soup song
Skate-punk icons Agent Orange have been mixing surf and punk two
decades longer than High on Fire has been a band (though Asbestos
Death/Sleep were cranking amps at the start of the ’90s), so it’s little
surprise they’ve got one less original member than Pike’s power unit (that would
be one) and followers that have once called Top 40 home (Bowling for Soup, Lit).
At this point, though, innovation and progression for the band aren’t much of a
talking point, and their persistent touring schedule seems like an endless victory
lap for founder Mike Palm with a disposable crew that can be updated whenever
someone gets tired of playing the same songs to the same crowds. They’ve got
their place, sure, but it’s safely in the second tier tonight. With Nightmare Sonata
and No Revolution at VOLUME 11 TAVERN at 8 p.m. —Grayson Currin