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The
Perceptionists
Valentine’s,
Thursday
Definitive
Jux recording art- ists the Perceptionists are, in fact, the
shit. Mr. Lif, Akrobatik, and DJ Fakts One have all made their
marks individually over the last half-decade; with Black
Dialogue, their debut album under the Perceptionists banner,
they’ve taken things to a whole new level. For proof that
they’ve officially transcended the “underground hiphop” tag,
check out “The Razor,” which was commissioned by the New England
Patriots for the 2005 NFL Playoffs. There ain’t nothing underground
about pro football. But there’s still work to do, so when
they come to Valentine’s tonight, expect to hear some serious
beats and rhymes. Special guests, courtesy of our area’s own
Pitch Control crew, include Rick Whispers and Awar. (April
14, 8 PM, $12, 17 New Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)
Sunday
Driver
New
Age Cabaret, Thursday
Miami,
Fla.-based Sunday Driver formed in 1995 and garnered attention
through rigorous gigging in the local Miami scene. The band
hate to be pigeonholed (they would like to be known for “crafting
good songs and delivering a strong, live performance each
and every time they play”), but we’re going to go ahead and
call them punk for your sake, dear reader, so you have some
sort of inkling about whether or not you would like to attend
this show. They will most likely perform some songs from A
Letter to Bryson City, their most-recent full-length disc;
the name pays tribute to the barren town in which they holed
themselves up to record the album. Check out their stuff live
when they drop in on the New Age Cabaret. (April 14, 8
PM, $5, 453 N. Pearl St., Albany, 436-3465).
Rory
Breaker, the Glow Double CD-Release Party
Valentine’s,
Friday
Rory
Breaker are set to release The Peep Show, and the Glow
are ready to release The Ghosts Are Out . . . at a
double CD release party at Valentine’s tomorrow night. Local
punk-rock foursome Rory Breaker created their own label, Dino
Rock, in 2001 to release their own music videos and albums,
the first of which was 2003’s Progression Unchecked.
We can’t really figure out what the Glow are all about, since
the two bios on their Web site www.the glow.com are a bunch
of jumbled, dreamlike phrases (“The Glow is not the past.
The Glow is not now. The Glow is ten minutes from now . .
. always.”), so go figure them out for yourselves as they
release their new disc tomorrow night as well. Also on the
bill: Pleasure to Burn and Last Call Brawl. (April 15,
9 PM, $5, 7 New Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)
Strapping
Young Lad
Saratoga
Winners, Saturday
We’ve
got this friend who’s into some seriously weird stuff. He’s
got the full CD catalog by Martian Skullfuck, who are this
(absolutely fake) heavy-metal band composed entirely of midgets.
Unreal. Anyway, this one time, we’re hanging out at his apartment,
and he throws on this cacophonous thrash-metal record. It
sounds like Exodus on a gallon of Red Bull, and is actually
kind of terrible. So we’re nodding our heads, trying to, you
know, grin and bear it, when the song stops cold for no apparent
reason, and the singer (if you could call him that) barks,
“Get down there. And suck. My buddy’s. Cock!” Then the song
picks right up where it left off. That’s all we know about
Strapping Young Lad—well, that, and that they’re playing Northern
Lights on Saturday, along with Misery Signals, the Autumn
Offering, and (mmmm!) Reflux. (April 16, 8 PM, $14, Route
9, Latham, 783-1010)
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bonnie
billy and matt sweeney
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Bonnie
“Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney play Superwolf
Iron
Horse Music Hall, Wednesday
In
writing on Superwolf, the new collaboration between
guitar nerd Matt Sweeney and Bonnie “Prince” Billy (aka Will
Oldham, professional enigma), we’ve come to the realization
that it really doesn’t matter what we say. You’re more than
likely going to check with Pitchforkmedia.com before forming
your own opinion. So we’ve decided to eliminate the middleman
and let you know right off the bat that the indie-music kingmakers
gave Superwolf a generous rating of 8.4 (how the hell
do they work out the decimals, anyway?), calling it “soft
and subtle . . . the kind of record that unwinds slowly, and
is best enjoyed over multiple listens and, unsurprisingly,
many glasses of wine.” You’re in luck: The last we checked,
the Iron Horse serves wine! Catch Oldham and Sweeney and whatever
characters might tag along as they play music from the new
project on Wednesday, with special guest Feathers. (April
20, 8:30 PM, $15, 20 Center St., Northampton, Mass., 413-584-0610)
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Noted |
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rick
springfield
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Improvisational-trombone-and-percussion
fans, take note: Dave Dove and Chris
Cogburn will perform this evening (Thursday)
at the Schenectady Museum and Planetarium (7:30
PM, $5, 382-7890). . . . ’90s hitmakers Collective
Soul return to the area tonight for a show
at Northern Lights; opening are Low Millions,
a new band featuring Adam Cohen, son of Leonard.
Also on the bill: North Allen (7:30 PM,
$20, 371-0012). . . . Tomorrow (Friday) at King’s
Tavern, catch the Kansas City-based emo-lition
crew National Fire Theory with guests Charmboy
(9 PM, $5, 581-7090). . . . Valentine’s will host
the second annual (or kind-of-annual) all-day
Slugfest this Saturday. It’s a bring-your-own-helmet
affair; the hard stuff will be provided by Harley’s
War (featuring Harley Flanagan of the Cro-Mags),
Ringworm, Slapshot, the Promise,
100 Demons, Last Call, 25 Ta
Life, Donnybrook, Colin of Arabia,
Guns Up!, Swear to God, Murderer’s
Row, and the Truth Hurts (1 PM, $16,
432-6572). . . . Rick Springfield
plays the showroom at Turning Stone Casino Resort
this Saturday. We only bring this up because it’s
Rick Freaking Springfield! (8 PM, $35-$50,
877-833-SHOW). . . . Death may have killed the
Grateful Dead, but former Dead noodler Bob
Weir still refuses to give in; he and
his band Ratdog will play Northampton’s
Calvin Theatre on Tuesday (8 PM, $35, 413-584-1444).
. . . Self-described “a capella humor and jazz
quartet” the Bobs perform at Caffe Lena
on Wednesday (7 PM, $22, 583-0022). . . . One-hit
youngsters Lifehouse close out Northern
Lights’ live-music week on Wednesday (7:30 PM,
$17, 371-0012).
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Columns
& Opinions
