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The
Slits
SMOG
at Bard College, Thursday
The Slits could have been one of the great shitty bands of
the punk era, if they’d just been punk. Early on, they channeled
feminine rage and attitude through three-chord guitar riffs,
and added a dose of humor that their riot-grrrl successors
could never quite get a handle on, all with “little—if any—musical
ability.” (That’s their publicist talking.) But the group
had embraced dub-reggae sounds by the time they recorded their
debut album, Cut, in 1979, which made them all-but-impossible
to pin down, and they split up two years later, leaving little
more than a mudprint in the book of punk history. Founding
vocalist Ari Up reconstituted the band this year, along with
might-as-well-have-been-original bassist Tessa Pollitt and
a few new Slits, for a full tour and a new EP called Revenge
of the Killer Slits. They’ll play Bard College tonight,
along with the Apes, Telepathe, and Shellshag. (Oct. 26,
7 PM, free, Annandale-On-Hudson, 386-890-9421)
Matt
Haimovitz
Caffe
Lena, Friday
What Matt Haimovitz has done for the cello over the last few
years is akin to what the Kronos Quartet did for the string
quartet when they burst on the scene a few decades ago: He’s
busted the cello out of the classical-music circuit and taken
it into new territory, both figuratively and literally. He’ll
play Hendrix in a concert hall, and then turn around and play
Bach in a bar. (This also explains, kids, why he’s on this
page with all the pop/rock acts.) On his latest disc, Goulash!,
Haimovitz sets Béla Bartók’s folk-inspired music next to works
by contemporary composers Adrian Pop and DJ Olive, and then,
for good measure, throws in a fiendishly compelling arrangement
of Led Zep’s “Kashmir” for four cellos. So, given the level
of acclaim and popularity he’s achieved, it’s not unreasonable
to expect that tomorrow night’s show at Caffe Lena will be
packed. (Oct. 27, 8 PM, $25, 47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs,
583-0022)
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| Complicated
Shirt |
Complicated
Shirt CD release
Valentine’s,
Saturday
Drew
Benton is pissed off—not necessarily as a rule, per se, but
any time he straps on his guitar and dons the Complicated
Shirt moniker, it’s a done deal that he’s going to have a
lot to bitch about. The Shirt—Benton, along with bassist
Jason Jette and drummer Jonathan Pellerin—are about to release
their third album, Compromising Compositions, and on
first listen, it’s even more of an aural affront than their
last, the lower-than-lo-fi Strigine. That’s a compliment,
by the way: Benton’s thesaural, acerbic lyrics just wouldn’t
pack the same punch without the aural equivalent of a nuclear
meltdown behind them. The record doesn’t officially drop until
January, so check out Saturday night’s show if you want to
get the goods early. Zahnartz and Gun Christmas open. (Oct.
28, 9 PM, $5, 17 New Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)
Alice
in Chains
Washington
Avenue Armory, saturday
For the past 15 years there has been no escape from Alice
in Chains. They’ve dominated the radio airwaves, influenced
every nü-grunge, nü-metal, and back-to-nü-nü-grunge band out
there. Articles have been written, box sets have been released,
and side projects have been started. It has been impossible
to escape them, except on one front, and that is live performance.
It’s actually been nearly impossible to see AIC live for the
past 10 years, thanks to the drug problems of lead singer
Layne Staley. When Staley passed away in 2002 of a drug overdose,
people finally wrote off AIC as broken up. But our lesson’s
learned: You should never count a good grunge band out. So
on Saturday, you might want to cruise by the Armory, check
out AIC (with their new lead singer, William DuVall) and witness
firsthand a show from one of the architects of modern rock.
(Oct. 29, 8 PM, $35, 195 Washington Ave., Albany, 694-7160)
The
Brightwings
Jillian’s,
Saturday
This Boston-based group—com-posed of three singer-songwriters
and a drummer—will appear at Jillian’s in downtown Albany
this week to promote their album Stay. The Brightwings
took their name from an episode of The Wonder Years,
and their music reflects the time period that the show represented.
Their songs are inflected with classic-rock influences like
the Eagles, CSNY, Tom Petty and Lynyrd Skynyrd. With three-part
harmonies over acoustic guitars, frank lyrics and catchy melodies,
they have been capturing sympathetic fans and garnering notices
like this one from the Conway Daily Sun: “With an acoustic
folk-pop-rock vibe that’s upbeat and moving, the Brightwings
are poised to take flight from their Boston home.” (Oct.
28, 10 PM, free, Jillian’s, 59 N. Pearl St., Albany, 432-1997)
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