Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Weekly Picks from Music Board, 7/30

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 9:52 AM

From this week’s Music Board:

METAL | Underoath

w/ The Red Chord, The Classic Struggle, Near Fatal Fall, Thurs. July 31, Music Farm, $19 ($16 adv.)

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Floridian sextet Underoath came to wide renown with 2006’s chart-topping Define the Great Line and their adeptness for busy arrangements that toss pop-punk hooks and thrash squalls into the same pit with reckless abandon. The fact that they do it all for Jesus only makes them the kid-tested, mother-approved Kix cereal of metal bands; they keep the aggression and physicality, but swapping nihilism for more hopeful themes. But that’s not to say that Underoath’s world is all sunshine and smiles. “Desperate Times, Desperate Measures,” the first single from the forthcoming Lost in the Sound of Separation, is a volatile affair that makes real its sense of desperation. The song launches out of the gates, hurling itself upwards into a disorienting fury of rhythmic pitches that dive and lunge around each other, until the listener is totally enveloped in the dizzying fray. —Bryan Reed THURSDAY

INDIE-POP | Deerhunter

w/ All the Saints, Thurs. July 31, Village Tavern, $10

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Atlanta’s Deerhunter is a band of startlingly high contrast. The quintet’s website is self-hosted on a free blogspot account, yet their live shows have been hailed as a “religious experience” by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They list influences such as Echo & The Bunnymen and David Bowie, but their newest album, Microcastle, earned them an opening gig for Nine Inch Nails. Deerhunter’s first two albums made them critics’ darlings and hipster favorites. Spend a little time sampling concert footage from their website and it’s not hard to understand why. Beautifully layered songs hypnotize with complex lyrics and relentless rhythms, guitars, and keyboards that evolve into long, drawn-out jams that showcase the band’s mastery. Lucky concertgoers will hopefully be treated to a few tracks from their newest album, particularly “Never Stops” which sounds like it could have been a lost track from Elliot Smith’s earlier days or the wonderfully inventive “Little Kids demo.” —Andrea Warner THURSDAY

AMERICANA/POP | Susan Cowsill

Sat. Aug. 2, Fiery Ron’s Home Team BBQ, $5

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A seasoned veteran who performed as the youngest member of the Partridge Family-esque pop-folk band The Cowsills and happily hobnobbed for years with former members of The dB’s, The Bangles, and Dream Syndicate in a terrific New Orleans alt-country/pop band called The Continental Drifters, Susan Cowsill is officially out on her own. Backed by her new band, she visits Home Team BBQ’s stage this Saturday armed with a melodic new solo album titled Just Believe It — an upbeat set that picks up where the Drifters left off. Cowsill was originally scheduled to perform Led Zeppelin IV for the “Home Team Album Showcase,” but she and the band are up for two sets of their own Louisiana-tinged pop gumbo instead. —T. Ballard Lesemann SATURDAY

REGGAE | Midnite

w/ Reggae Infinity, Tues. Aug. 5, The Pour House, $15 ($13 adv.)

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Midnite gets around. In the last month alone, the band has performed in California, Colorado, Mexico City, Montreal, Slovenia, Amsterdam, and Senegal. Led by singer Benjamin Vaughn, they arrive at the Pour House this week fresh off the plane from France, ready to groove Charleston’s most irie music lovers with their St. Croix, Virgin Islands-bred original reggae. Building off their Caribbean roots and their former home base of Washington, D.C., Midnite has earned a reputation as one of the most genuine, authentic-sounding reggae bands currently performing. Benjamin’s harmonious voice balances perfectly with the live/dub rhythms of the band. Midnite’s reggae is the real deal, and sure to have squinty-eyed dancers skanking like a Marley son. —Stratton Lawrence TUESDAY

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Ralph Nader visits S.C. Friday 7/25

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 12:34 AM

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Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader will make a campaign stop in South Carolina this Friday, July 25. He will hold a news conference at 11:30 a.m. on the first floor lobby of the State House in Columbia (1100 Gervais Street). A fund-raiser luncheon will follow at noon.

In February, Nader, 74, announced his intentions to seek the presidency as an independent candidate on the late Tim Russert’s Meet the Press (watch clip). When Russert asked about his age (he’s two years older than McCain), Nader responded, “The only true aging is the erosion of one’s ideals.”

Nader ran on the Green Party ticket in 2000, receiving 2.7 percent of the nationwide popular vote. He ran again in 2004 as an independent, earning 0.38 percent of the nationwide popular vote.

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While his best-known book was the 1965 breakthrough, Unsafe at Any Speed, a top-selling exposé of the automobile industry, his recent memoir Crashing the Party: Taking on the Corporate Government in an Age of Surrender retells his version of the 200 campaign and took direct aim at the two-party system and its increasingly firm grasp on the rules of presidential debates. Director Kevin O’Donnell’s 2007 documentary An Unreasonable Man traced Nader’s life, career, legacy — including a mix of commentaries on his controversial 2000 campaign.

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On Feb. 28, he announced San Francisco-based public defender Matt Gonzalez as his Vice Presidential running mate.

According to his current literature, the Nader/Gonzalez campaign supports a single payer, Canadian-style, free-choice health care system; exploring the “use of solar energy over nuclear power;” cutting the military budget and reversing U.S. Middle East policy in Israel/Palestine, Iraq, and Iran; launching an aggressive crackdown on “corporate crime and corporate welfare;” “genuine enforcement” of affirmative action; equal rights for gays and lesbians, including civil unions; a constitutional guarantee of equal rights for women and full abortion rights, and “a living wage for all workers,” among other stances.

On July 14, South Carolina supporters of the Nader/Gonzalez campaign filed nominating petitions with the Secretary of State to place them on South Carolina’s November 2008 election ballot. South Carolina was be the eleventh state to formally submit paperwork for Nader’s candidacy. To qualify to appear on South Carolina’s ballot, state law requires submission of the signatures of 10,000 registered voters. The Nader/Gonzalez campaign submitted over 18,000 signatures — nearly twice the number required. The campaign expects to be on the ballot in 45 states.

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Slick Rick Music Farm gig postponed

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 1:27 PM

Rapper Slick Rick was scheduled to perform at the Music Farm on Thurs. July 24, but word just came into the music room that the show has been postponed and moved to Thurs. August 21.  Tickets purchased will be honored, but can be refunded at place of purchase.

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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

No more booze at Ballard's after 2 a.m.? The vote is tonight.

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 9:19 PM

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Mt. Pleasant's Old Village neighborhood will vote tonight on whether to stop letting Ballard and his bandmates drink beer from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. The ordinance passed a first reading 5-2 in June, so if it passes tonight, late night beer guzzling is done on Atlantic Street.

If it passes, the Piggly Wiggly, who supplied Ballard, say it might force them to close.

(thanks to Stratt's Truffala Seed!)

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Weekly Picks from Music Board, 7/23

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 12:30 PM

From this week’s Music Board:

INDIE-ROCK | The Sleepy Horses

w/ Thrift Store Cowboys, Fri. July 25, The Village Tavern, $5

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Specializing in a dense and textured guitar-driven sound, Athens-based rockers Sleepy Horses are something of a twangy “shoegaze/country” indie-rock trio. Singer/guitarist Nic Goodson, bassist Justin Gregg, and drummer Dave Forker formed in Athens, Ga., in 2005. Goodson, the only original member and the main songwriter, started the whole thing in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas (home of the late, great Buddy Holly … and little else). After playing with a broad range of local musicians — and recording an album titled Somewhere Out West, Lonesome For You — the frontman suffered a near-death experience in 2006, and spent considerable time and effort in recovery, mainly for severe nerve damage in his leg. This year, the trip has tightened their live sound, prepared some fine new material, and honed their Yo La Tengo-meets-Bailter Space style. Lubbock ensemble Thrift Store Cowboys share the bill in support of a new one titled Lay Low While Crawling or Creeping. FRIDAY

GARAGE/BLUES | The Pack A.D.

Tues. July 29, The Recovery Room, Free

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Vancouver garage/blues duo The Pack A.D. — guitarist/singer Becky Black and drummer Maya Miller — visit Charleston twice this week, touring behind a new one called Funeral Mixtape (Mint). Black and Miller keep their riffs and rhythms simple and edgy. Their stripped-down electric blues/rock foundation resembles those of The White Stripes, The Romweber Duo, and the Black Keys, only a bit more sensual and sneery. “They take life on the road, Civil War stories, coffee and cigarettes, stir them into a vicious concoction of garage-rock and Jack Daniels, and then bring it to a fevered boil,” say Mint execs. The Pack A.D. play early on Saturday at the Tavern (before Phantom Rockers, The Keepers, The Defilers, and The Bullets). They perform at 10 p.m. at the newly-opened Recovery Room (685 King Street) on Tuesday, too — no cover, but donations are encouraged. TUESDAY (photo by Mark Maryanovich)

DUB/GROOVE | Quasiphonics

w/ Not Necessarily Demonic, The Butterbeans, Tues. July 29, The Pour House, $5

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Mandolin player Aaron Firetag and guitarist John Durham call their music “dubbish,” even naming their latest three-song EP after the moniker. It’s an accurate description — as a band, they’re able to flow seamlessly from acoustic, bluegrassy folk tunes to beat-dropping Jamaican rhythms, without pigeonholing themselves into one genre. They keep their band fluid as well, recruiting friends (many of whom are products of the CofC jazz program) to lend their hands on bass, drums, and keys. On Tuesday, they’ll start with a set of acoustic/rock songs, then roll into a late-night funk/dub set. If Lee “Scratch” Perry had blazed one with the Flying Burrito Brothers and sat down to jam, it might resemble the sounds of this showcase. Opening the main stage concert is Not Necessarily Demonic, a one-off collaboration between Lindsay Holler, Darby Long, and Kentucky Shoes. The Butterbeans perform on the deck (for free) from 6-9 p.m. and the main show starts at 10 p.m. —Stratton Lawrence TUESDAY (photo by Robert Reid)

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