WEDNESDAY, DEC. 19
Andy the Doorbum People have been known to refer to ‘ol Andy as a Daniel Johnston-type – not that that’s a bad thing, ‘less you mean mental-health wise – mostly because he writes horribly (yet gloriously) lo-fi songs about subjects like anesthesia-inventing dentists with chloroform habits. There’s also cheap Casio-bleep, shards of guitar and spare (spare molding putty bucket) percussion, too. Plus, dude’s known as the Doorbum, and has a big ‘ol bee’s nest beard, and, like a G.B.V., gets the idea down, gets a good take or two, and moves on. Call him Bob Collard. With The Independents and Number Next. The Milestone (Timothy C. Davis)
THURSDAY, DEC. 20
Stay Fucked Featuring more high-speed stop/starts than a novice behind the wheel of a manual-drive, this N.Y.C. trio comes across like a puree of the Minutemen, the Jesus Lizard and Rush – shards of staccato riffs and turbo-charged percussion propelling songs forward with seeming abandon. But band members blanche at the “noise” label because there’s a plan here – a loud, tightly structured and, at times, incandescent one. Touring behind their new one, Windpipe. With Calabi Yau and the St. Peter Pocket Veto. Yauhaus (John Schacht)
FRIDAY, DEC. 21
Kelly & the Cowboys Mt. Airy country quartet, fronted by the “can’t possibly sound anymore country” crooner Kelly Breiding, play that old-time American music – the Patsy Cline, Hank Sr. kind – at honky-tonks and break-up parties. Their originals are intermingled with obscure and classic country covers, gathering western swing, blues and rockabilly along the way, and making even the tin rafters of honky-tonks sing-a-long. Puckett’s Farm Equipment (Samir Shukla)
High Ho, Six Shooter! No, it’s not an obscure John Wayne flick. They’re a hard folk and indie pop band from Virginia. The music? Buried vocals poking out of leisurely built Americana and acoustic rock adorned with just the right amount of cello and trumpet that pushes the music into moody reflection. The quintet recently released another fine effort called Empire. Also on the bill are Transmission Fields and Ben Henry. Milestone (Shukla)
Benard Atlanta-based Benard arose from the ashes of two Marietta, Georgia-area bands: metallalugusts Stranger By Day and the indie-fried Left To Rust. As such, there’s a little of both here, all tied together with a jazzbo(w) – think someone like a Don Caballero, but with words and a five-can-a-day Red Bull habit. Even their song titles are Don Cabbish: see tracks like “Actually, My Dad Was a Motorcross Champion” and “Some Call It Magic, I Call It Sean Connery.” Not everyone’s cup of tea to be sure, but if you want safe, listen to milk. With Sorry No Ferrari, The Lights Fluorescent. Lunchbox Records (Davis)
Laura Blackley CD Release Asheville-based Blackley has been haunting the hills for several years with her knitted songcraft of folk, blues and country. She has a keen eye on relational matters and writes taut tales of love and death. Blackley is a Southern storyteller, pitched in a native drawl, whose guitar picking and rootsy voice only add to the authenticity. She’s releasing her new disc, Love and Monsters, this evening. With Gigi Dover. Evening Muse (Shukla)
Buschovski The predictable thing about Todd Busch’s songs is their unpredictably; they turn left where pop songs typically go right, changing time sigs, tempos, keys and styles with a built-in logic of their own. That versatility makes the music impossible to pigeonhole – is it rock? Folk? World? Pop? Cabaret? – and gives the whole enterprise a timeless, era-free quality. Assisted by a top-shelf band of locals and string trio, Busch and company are recording an eagerly anticipated debut at Sioux Sioux Studios. With Nicolette Emanuelle. Snug Harbor (Schacht)
Trans-Siberian Orchestra ‘Tis that season, so it’s no surprise to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra on the road again. They’ve got more than 130 shows planned, and you can bet there’ll be lots of lights and lasers in their visual onslaught. It’s symphonic rock in a classical-meets-rock fusion under a holiday umbrella that a lot of people seem to like – they’ve sold more than 5 million albums. Plus, $1 from every ticket sold goes to charity. Cricket Arena (Jeff Hahne)
SATURDAY, DEC. 22
Jennifer Daniels The Georgia singer/songwriter is touring in support of her recent holiday-themed EP, A Thrill of Hope. The album has four standards and two originals. Her smoky, smooth vocals offer an angelic calm – with the right “oomph” when needed – over simple acoustic guitar. And she can hit those high notes – higher than you might guess – when she needs to. If she can bring new life to classic songs, it makes you wonder what the rest of her repertoire sounds like. Evening Muse (Hahne)
This article appears in Dec 19-25, 2007.
