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Casket
Architects CD-Release
Valentine’s,
Thursday
Oh it’s on, bitches: “So-called under ground bands prance
around the mainstream media, more into sporting their pierced,
tattooed, and fashionably coiffed aesthetic than showcasing
their sound.” That’s a sample of what we’ll call the Casket
Architects’ “statement of principles,” available for your
perusal on their Web site. And the Casket Architects, who
will celebrate the release of their new CD, Skull Persuasion,
at Valentine’s tonight (Thursday), seem to promise they’ll
pummel you honestly and sincerely with their “sci-fi deth
rock.” They also describe themselves as playing with “spastic
frenzy,” their music an “eclectic sonic death ray.” This Altercation
label-sponsored show also features Plastic Jesus, the Purrs
and Danger to the System. (Sept. 14, 8 PM, call for prices,
17 New Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)
Gary
Higgins and Red Hash
WAMC
Performing Arts Studio, Friday
Listen to Gary Higgins’ recent Drag City release Red Hash
and find yourself transported back to a long-forgotten time
when a guy could write some tunes, invite his hippie friends
and their flutes and mandolins into his wood-paneled living
room, and make a dark, entrancing, and splendidly weird album.
The quietly relaxed vocals and quasi-psychedelic folk
songs suggest a post- Woodstock burnout that sounds like 1973
all over again—which makes sense, since Red Hash was
recorded in that very year. The album didn’t make much of
an impact on the collective psyche in its time, but thanks
to some major praise from a new psych-folk breed—Devendra
Banhart, Joanna Newsom, et al.—Higgins and his masterpiece
have been resurrected (figuratively, of course), and the man
himself will bring the songs to life tomorrow (Friday) night
at the Linda. (Sept. 15, 8 PM, $15, 339 Central Ave., Albany,
465-5233)
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Our
Lady of Bells
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Our
Lady of Bells
Valentine’s,
Saturday
Northampton, Mass.-based Our Lady of Bells credit their western-Massachusetts
surroundings with being an inspiration for their sound. On
their Web site, they describe Northampton as “a strange place”
where “rednecks sip their coffee with Unitarians” and “queer
anarchists share their popcorn with the chief of police.”
The band released their debut album, Forgetting the Way
Home—a mix of chamber pop, country rock and folk—this
past April. In a Gigtimes review, Michael Walker writes
of the new recording that “all the right cymbal crashes, piano
key pleading, and singing strings evoke heartaches, heartstrings,
and other typical heart-related imagery, but the songs rise
above clichés and put the folk-pop quintet on a promising
path behind Kings of Convenience, Belle and Sebastian, and
Okkervil River.” Our Lady have been touring with fellow New
Englanders Brown Bird, who will open the show at Valentine’s
along with local rockers Charmboy. (Sept. 16, 8 PM, call
for prices, 17 New Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)
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Peter
Tork, James Lee Stanley
Caffe
Lena, Sunday
It’s been 37 years since Peter Tork departed from the Monkees,
but his career did not end with the ’60s pop band. A songwriter
and entertainer, Tork is a veteran of guitar, banjo and keyboard.
Since leaving the Monkees, he’s been involved with many obscure
musical collaborations. He also left his music career for
a bit to teach grade school. But recently, he’s released a
live CD and has been touring with his current group Shoe
Suede Blues to support it. After finishing that tour,
he is now on another with close friend James Lee Stanley,
in support of their new CD, Two Man Band, with Peter Tork.
Stanley himself has collaborated and produced 20 albums, two
of which received Grammy nominations. He performs 300 dates
a year and has opened for a wide range of entertainers, including
Bonnie Raitt, Bill Cosby and Robin Williams. It’s been said
that when these two artists come together on stage, an audience
can expect a night of laughs, stories and harmonies. (Sept.17,
7 PM, $20, Caffe Lena, 47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs, 583-0022)
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Electric
Six
Pearl
Street, Sunday
“Girl!
I wanna take you to a gay bar/I wanna take you to a gay bar/I
wanna take you to a gay bar, gay bar, gay bar/Let’s start
a war/Start a nuclear war/At the gay bar, gay bar, gay bar/Wow!
At the gay bar/Now tell me do ya/Do ya have any money? I wanna
spend all your money/At the gay bar, gay bar, gay bar/I’ve
got something to put in you/I need to buckle down/Yeah! I’ve
got something to put in you/I’ve got something to put in you/At
the gay bar, gay bar, gay bar/Wow! You’re a superstar, at
the gay bar/You’re a superstar, at the gay bar/Yeah! You’re
a superstar, at the gay bar/You’re a superstar, at the gay
bar.” Electric Six will play Pearl Street this Sunday, along
with Aberdeen City and the Blue Van. (Sept. 17, 8:30 PM,
$17, 10 Pearl St., Northampton, Mass., 413-584-7771)
Nick
Lachey
Palace
Theatre, Wednesday
Preteen girls and sexually con-fused boys: Rejoice! Pop sensation
Nick Lachey, single both personally and professionally (famously,
from fellow singer Jessica Simpson, less-so from his band
98 Degrees, who enjoyed a brief frenzy of popularity and MTV
coverage in the late ’90s) will perform his emotionally charged
ballads here in Albany on Wednesday. Lachey, whose mug has
been plastered on the pages of virtually every celebrity tabloid
(as well as a couple more reputable publications) over the
past few months, has recently reemerged on the music scene
as a solo artist, proving himself a force to be reckoned with
among other boy-banders who have (far less-successfully) severed
ties with their bandmates and forged on alone (think J.C.
Chasez and Nick Carter). Though critics maintain that Lachey
may be more famous for his high-profile romances then for
his music, anyone who has heard one of his new singles (and,
frankly, who hasn’t at this point?) has to concede that the
man can at least hold a note. Armed with an arsenal of catchy
ballads fresh off his 2006 sophomore album, What’s Left
of Me, Lachey will kick off his 26-date tour in Albany
this week at the Palace. (Sept. 20, 7:30 PM, $29.50-$39.50,
Palace Theatre, 19 Clinton Ave., Albany, 465-3334)
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Noted |
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Mates
of State
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There’s
something going on every night this week. Here’s
proof: Tonight (Thursday), catch indie-pop stars
Mates of State and Starlight Mints at Pearl Street
in Northampton; both acts are plugging new releases
(8:30 PM, $14, 413-584-7771). . . . Groove Collective
and the Sam Kiniger Band will play a free, outdoor
(weather permitting) show on the South Green at
Skidmore College tomorrow (Friday, 9 PM, free, 580-5710).
. . . As Sublime cover bands go, they don’t
get much more, um, sublime than Badfish; they’ll
headline a Saturday-night show at Northern Lights
that also features Paranoid Social Club and local
cats Teknique (7:30 PM, $15, 371-0012). . . . On
Sunday, head out to Club Helsinki in Great Barrington,
Mass., for the alt-country stylings of Chip Taylor
and special guest Kendel Carson (8 PM, $15, 413-528-3394)
. . . . OK, we lied: The previously scheduled Black
Swans show at Valentine’s on Monday has been
canceled. . . . Kettle Joe’s Psychedelic Swamp
Revue will play Revolution Hall on Tuesday (8 PM,
$16, 274-0553). . . . Fat Possum recording artists
Blackfire Revelation play an early show on the downstairs
stage at Valentine’s this Wednesday (7 PM,
$7, 432-6572).
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Classifieds
