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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Tonight! Tonight in Music: Justin Bieber, Drag Queen Cher, Shabazz Places and More

Posted by Ethan Jayne on Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 9:00 AM

JUSTIN BIEBER, SEAN KINGSTON, JESSICA JARCELL, IYAZ (Roseland, 8 NW 6th) DAS BIEB—EEEEEEEEEEE!!! Justin Bieber! OMG, you guys. I mean... c'mon! JUSTIN... BIEBER!! EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! It's just... I'm like... wow, hahahahahahaaaa! I DON'T KNOW! It's just... you know... with the hair, and the songs, and... just that THING, you know?? OMG, I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die, gonna die EEEEEEEE!! JUSTIN BIEBER!!! WSH

MISS THING: BJÖRK VS. CHER (Fez Ballroom, 316 SW 11th) MISS THING—Drag shows can often be a little repetitive, but the monthly Miss Thing contest hosted by San Francisco's Trannyshack crew is turning out an interesting challenge for the performers with a Cher vs. BjÖrk theme. Don't know which one you love more? Here's one way to find out. MS

SHABAZZ PLACES, TOPE, GRAINTABLE (Rotture, 315 SE 3rd) Ishmael Butler, the driving artistic force behind Seattle hiphop group Shabazz Palaces, is no stranger to the ups, downs, and all-around capricious nature of the music industry. Back when he was known as Butterfly in the Grammy Award-winning group Digable Planets, Butler experienced firsthand that with success comes expectations, and that those expectations rarely sync up to your own agenda. Due to the crossover appeal of the Planets' first single "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" mainstream critics overplayed their bohemian jazz influence, inextricably linking the group to dorm rooms and open mic coffee shop poetry sessions, a world far removed from the gritty street realities that birthed hiphop in the first place. RF

...Continue reading the rest of Ryan Feigh's article on Shabazz Places here.

Blue Giant, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Lords Of Acid, and Weed Diamond after the jump!

As always, you can find our complete live show listings here.

BLUE GIANT (Jackpot Records, 203 SW 9th) See Yesterday's Blog Listing

QUINTRON AND MISS PUSSYCAT, CYCLOTRON, LITANIC MASK, FRANK FURTER & THE HOTDOGS (East End, 203 SE Grand) Quintron and Miss Pussycat are just your average schizophrenic swamp boogie duo, complete with hand puppets and a customized combo organ that resembles a muscle car with working headlights. Yawn. There are certainly more than a few "What the fuck did I just see?" moments to every show from this now-legendary duo, as they twist the basement punk ethos to include influences as foreign as drum machine beats, dirty Southern blues, and a felt alligator puppet. None of these things even begin to accurately capture what Quintron and Miss Pussycat are doing, but it's a start, and hopefully enough to lure you underground to the East End stage. After that, we'll let the music and puppets take it from there. EAC

LORDS OF ACID, MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT, BLOWNLOAD, DJ DEATHWISH (Dante's, 1 SW 3rd) Even the Lords of Acid's shrunken legion of apologists will find the current group lineup hard to defend. Now headed by a woman best known for pretending to be attracted to Bret Michaels on VH1's Rock of Love, the once-influential merchants of grinding electro-trash classics like "I Sit on Acid" and "Crablouse" have long lost the charms those songs possessed. The brand of sing-song sleaze that the Lords and their billmates My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult push is not necessarily past its expiration date, but no one has been able to duplicate the empty-calorie highs the Lords hit 20 years ago—including themselves. DAVE BOW

AND AND AND, BURNING YELLOWS, DASH JACKET, TAN DOLLAR, WEED DIAMOND (Ella Street Social Club, 714 SW 20th Place) Let's try to do some counting for just a second: For just five bucks, tonight Ella Street will give you five bands, one continuous sound ringing in your two ears, one million guitar pedals, and a chance to get better acquainted with your two shoes. Built by melodic dream-poppers both imported (Denver's Weed Diamond, California's Dash Jacket and Tan Dollar) and local (the reverb- and sun-soaked Burning Yellows), the lush, nostalgic, shoegazey walls of sound on display tonight should perfectly set the tone for a night of hazy summer fun. I'd keep my eyes off the floor during And And And's set, since you're liable to get smacked in the head by a shirtless dude swinging a floor tom around. ETHAN JAYNE

 

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