Haunted Garage at Safari Sam’s
Despite their name, Haunted Garage are not some tinny, lo-fi garage-rock combo. Instead, they’re a powerful and heavy shock-rock metal band with a penchant for gory theatrics. Lead singer Michael Sonye, a.k.a Dukey Flyswatter, has appeared in a slew of campy horror flicks including Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers and the immortal Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, and he brings a grimly fiendish madman persona to such songs as “Brain in a Jar” and “976-KILL,” where he sounds like an unholy cross between Frank N. Furter and T.S.O.L.’s Jack Grisham. “You’re all so normal, perfect for slaying,” he crows. Before things get too kitschy, kabuki warrior-princess Gaby Godhead carves everything up with non-ironically dazzling metallic lead-guitar virtuosity. These longtime Hollywood denizens haven’t played in 15 years, and Flyswatter and Godhead are the only members of the original lineup appearing at this reunion tonight, but they’ll be backed by Godhead’s current group, the appropriately blasphemous hell-raisers Virginia City Revival and such ghastly and ghostly guest stars as the Duchess DeSade and 45 Grave’s Dinah Cancer. (Falling James)
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A. Cotterill
The Fratellis: Here we sit.
Matador
Times New Viking: They're font-astic.
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Also playing Friday:
Matador
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Times New Viking: They're font-astic.
Pamela Littky
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Rilo Kiley wait for the Greek Theatre's parking lot to clear.
Autumn De Wilde
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Nature girl: Jesse Sykes
SMOKEY ROBINSON at the Greek Theatre; PHRANC at California Plaza; THE SWEET at the Canyon; AFRIKA BAMBAATAA at Crash Mansion; BOBB BRUNO at Echo Curio; JAIL WEDDINGS at the Redwood Bar & Grill; BLACK WIDOWS, SWORDS OF FATIMA at Taix; CONJUNTO JARDIN, QUETZAL at Temple Bar; OLLIN at the Barn Burner.
SATURDAY, JUNE 14
GZA, LIVING LEGENDS, RJD2 at the Orpheum Theatre; CROSBY, STILLS & NASH at the Greek Theatre; THE GEARS at Alex’s Bar; JOHN C. REILLY, RUSSELL BRAND at Largo; BOX ELDERS, ALIENS, WOUNDED LION at Mr. T’s Bowl; SLACKTONE, THE THINGZ at Safari Sam’s, noon; DIRTY SWEET, THE BINGES at Spaceland; BLACK WATCH, FURIOUS SEASONS at Taix.
SUNDAY, JUNE 15
The Fratellis at the Key Club
“Look out, Sunshine, here’s the punch line/No one gets you anymore,” Jon Fratelli announces on the new Fratellis album, Here We Stand (Interscope). Perhaps he’s commenting on the changes surrounding his Scottish band’s sudden rise to fame in the wake of 2006’s insanely catchy and witty debut full-length, Costello Music: “They only play for money . it’s the sell-out show that no one wants to go to . And what do you mean you were born to love this scene/And they would string you up gladly/If they knew just how lazy you’d been.” For all of the Fratellis’ pseudo-fraternal, shambling slacker goofiness, the trio are a disciplined, tight band with a talent for catchy pop-punk hooks. The new CD veers a little more toward the power-pop side of the equation on exuberant tunes like “Mistress Mabel,” “Milk and Money” and the rootsy Hoodoo Gurus jangle of “Stragglers Moon.” Here We Stand may not be quite as punky and lyrically silly as Costello Music, but both albums are well-crafted, impressively rocking affairs. (Falling James)
Also playing Sunday:
TIMES NEW VIKING, PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT, FABULOUS DIAMONDS at the Echo; VAUD & THE VILLAINS at Fais Do-Do; TED NUGENT at House of Blues; THE MIGHTY DIAMONDS at Malibu Inn; RUSSELL BRAND at the Roxy; MIKE STINSON, LESLIE & THE BADGERS at Safari Sam’s, noon; DOSH, KÁRIN TATOYAN at Spaceland; THE SIXTH CHAMBER at Viper Room.
MONDAY, JUNE 16
Times New Viking, Psychedelic Horseshit, Fabulous Diamonds at the Smell
Putting the voltage into “power” trio, Times New Viking tear out the insulation and transmit short, bristling spurts of distorted jangle and fuzz-melted harmonies. Their Matador debut, Rip It Off, comes slathered in sheets of no-fi hiss, its teenage kicks slicing through a sulfuric mist. Like the label’s past 4-track fantasias Alien Lanes and Slanted & Enchanted, the album’s snares crack like punched cardboard as guitars teeter out of tune in a drench of pawnshop pedals. Spunkier and less complicated than either Guided by Voices or Pavement, though, Times New Viking reel off miniature anthems in bass-free gushes. Psychedelic Horseshit and Fabulous Diamonds not only hail from Siltbreeze Records, Times New Viking’s previous label, they also pursue a similar caustic minimalism. Psychedelic Horseshit's barbed-wire splotch-pop has a slightly off-putting smirk. Fabulous Diamonds, on the other hand, powwow with shimmering Farfisas and swirling drums. Also at the Echo, Sun. (Bernardo Rondeau)
Xu Xu Fang at the Viper Room
With slow waves of hushed sounds and swirling psychedelia, Xu Xu Fang’s new CD, The Mourning Son, rolls in like a fog and wraps your head in clouds. “Things are just okay,” a disembodied, world-weary voice intones amid the squalling guitars, spectral synths and formally decisive piano chords of “These Days.” It’s grand and dreamy stuff, followed by the similarly otherworldly title track, which chimes with a Velvety gloom. Band leader and producer Bobby Tamkin used to drum in the Warlocks, but Xu Xu Fang is a much more intriguing project. Unlike the Bore-locks, Xu Xu Fang are able to transform their funereal tempos into something truly mysterious and uniquely memorable. The pace picks up just a little on “Good Times,” whose shadowy groove and breathy singing belie its sunny title. It’s been a while since the local group have put out anything new, and tonight they celebrate — if that’s the appropriate word for something so downbeat — the release of the new CD. (Falling James)
