squidpants

so here's my most recent concert list. some good stuff coming up, especially at the Black Cat.

THURS APR 27, ELF POWER W/ THE INSTRUMENTS W/ IKE 9:00PM $12 Iota. Elf Power are an Elephant 6 band (a group of bands from Athens, GA, who are generally poppy and somewhat psychedlic) who I saw a little while ago at the Warehouse Next Door. they were good. psychedelic, somewhat kooky indie rock

SAT. MAY. 6 PHOENIX $15.00 930 Club
Phoenix is a cool French band, they did some songs on the soundtrack of "Lost in Translation" and such.

FRI MAY 12- PINBACK $15 mainstage 9:30 Black Cat.
Pinback are what is sometimes called laptop indie, which means sort of introspective stuff with some electronic bits, I guess. I think one guy does all the music. It's pretty cool and delicate stuff but a lot of the songs build in intensity. Check out "Fortress" on their myspace page and Lyon from their website.

SUN MAY 14- MICHAEL SHOWALTER, EUGENE MIRMAN, LEO ALLEN $10 Adv/ $12 DOS 8:30 Black Cat. Comedian dudes, Michael Showalter was in the State and Eugene Mirman did the funny video about sex I posted awhile ago

MON MAY 15- PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES, GIANT DRAG $13 mainstage 8:30 Black Cat.
The confident girl supershow. Giant Drag is a cool two-piece, and I have a thing for Annie, the singer and guitarist. They're pretty funny - they have songs like "Kevin is Gay", "My Dick Sux," and "You're Full Of Shit (Check Out My Sweet Riffs)" and on their myspace page, it says "Sounds Like: crap." Plus she starts "Kevin is Gay" by making a sound from Street Fighter 2.

WED MAY 17- MATT COSTA, THE 88 $12 mainstage 8:30 Black Cat.
I don't know much about either of these guys, but I downloaded a Matt Costa song I liked (here's the link), and the 88 are catchy power pop. Check them out on Myspace. They kinda remind me of OK Go.

THU. MAY. 25 - The Walkmen w/ Mazarin & Nethers $15.00 930 Club - Walkmen are a semi-local band, they used to live in DC. They have some great songs, including "We've been had," which was in a car commercial, and "The Rat," which is fantastic.

FRI JUNE 9- ! ! ! , LANSING-DREIDEN $13 mainstage 9:30 Black Cat. This one I'm realy looking forward to. !!! (pronounced Chk Chk Chk) is indie-funk, if that makes any sense. Hipsters playing funk. Lansing-Dreiden is a really interesting art project/band, their CD is basically three parts - 60s garage, 80s post-rock stuff, and electro. I'm surprised they're touring, as they are apparently pretty mysterious and won't appear for interviews and things.

SUN JUNE 11- THE SPINTO BAND, DR DOG, THE LOVELY FEATHERS $10 mainstage 8:30 Black Cat. Spinto Band are catchy, a little bit twee dudes from Nashville, and I saw Dr. Dog awhile ago at DC9, they were good.

Sun June 11, Starlight Mints with Dios Malos and Octopus Project Fletchers (Baltimore) - Starlight Mints are a really catchy band, and Octopus Project are pretty fun too. I love this video by Starlight Mints, hope they play it. Hipster muppets.

Sun June 11, Starlight Mints with Octopus Project North Star (Philly) - ditto. Not sure if I want to go to Philly or Baltimire to see em. Probably Philly.

SUN JULY 23- DIPLO, CSS, BONDE DO ROLE $13 Adv/ $15 DOS mainstage 8:30 Black Cat.
This show is going to be hipster central. Diplo is a DJ/remixer/etc who does the awesome version of Gold Digger, and Bonde Do Role is a Brazilian Baile funk band that's on his record label. Baile funk is a weird Brazilian genre, they take famous songs and mess them up and add Portuguese singing. The first song samples an Alice in Chains song, for example. The hipsters like it but it sort of grates on me.