By Don Allred
Black Lips
@ the Basement
A garage band tagged "flower
punk," re Frank Zappa's putdown of Southwestern punks like the Seeds
and Standells, trying to catch up with the expanding universe of the
60s. The Black Lips were all born in the 80s but they relate to the flower punk dilemma: "Space
salvation, navigation, feels the sun's radiation…Neptune's calling—but
you never get off the block, you never get off the rock." They're
clear-eyed about that, taking their place in the Earth Parade of fools
and rules, walking tall on bowling balls, 'til they're careening down
mean streets, at ease/unsafe at any speed (dedicated to outrageous
live shows, as documented on the CD recorded in Tijauna, Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo. Good Bad But Not Evil's the recent studio album: title's good motto/epitaph for TBL too.)
Los Lobos
Fri 21 @Palace Theatre
Los Lobos came from the East L.A. hot rod/low rider
rock tradition (also mellower traditions) and somehow played on the
same bill with Black Flag, X, etc, before having "How Will The Wolf
Survive" turn into an Outlaw Country hit via Waylon Jenning's cover,
then they themselves covered Richie Valens' "La Bamba," before further
complicating their image by doing a set of Hendrixian homages on
Austin City Limits--they can and do play anything, but usually do
better on disc with a concept, like the songcycle The Town And The
City, where the travels and transitions of the overall story fit with
their need to mess with roots, to adapt to and express the crazy
struggles of modern life, without getting too arty or too nostalgic
either. Great live band too
Mary Gauthier
Sat @ Southern Theatre
Singer-songwriter, orig. from the backside of Louisiana, stole her
family's car and took off at 15, rehab at 16, jail in Kansas City by
18--but then, she became a successful chef, had her own cafe/folk club,
sold it and went full-time as a recording artist and tireleessly touring
performer, winning awards etc, though
"l'll never get away from that wild child,"says of her own messed-with
roots, but also she's been sober ten years, still on the road and
plenty of stories, like the Katrina refugee in one song, the psycho
lover in another--she's got a warm tuneful clarity too, like prime
Prine, and his kind of dry wit, minus the sentimentality (also has a
better voice).
Xiu Xiu
Friday 28 @ Skully's Music Diner
Jamie Stewart looks and sounds a bit like David Byrne, if Byrne were truly dedicated to taking a walk on the wild side, and sometimes walking the plank, but for fun, so it's
okay. Xiu Xiu's new album,Women As Lovers , is more varied than their
previous, and occasionally too contrived, but adds to the dynamic,
distinctive variations on the space noir romance of prime time Bowie
and Roxy Music (even reworking Bowie and Queen's collab, "Under
Pressure"), while taking recognizable stylistic elements in directions
at once usually cooler in tone and yet more violent (at least
implication-wise), with vocalist-guitarist-drummer Stewart and
synthist -vocalist Caralee McElroy sometimes conjuring saxes, Asian
percussion, vibraphones, sirens, whatever's appropriate, but never
claustrophobic, as they slide through shining corridors of the
listener's brain, romancing and exploding tiny jewels of sound and
vision.
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