Rock Picks: Amadou & Mariam, Manimal Festival, Marianne Faithfull, Gil Scott-Heron

And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Secret Machines, Future of the Left at Henry Fonda Theater
Veteran Austin rockers And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead released The Century of Self last February to pretty much universal acclaim, and why is that? Well, the band really feels like it’s got a new lease on life after liberating itself from its longstanding contract with Interscope. They’re always a riveting jolt up the arse with their genuinely epic tales of the perils and pleasures of life, and the new Century’s got a rough-hewn and haywired yet somehow more focused attack, where the band’s infamously chaotic near-desperation comes off considerably more desperate, more urgent, more important. Sanding grainier a sound that has sounded maybe too slickly repressed on their recent albums, they’ve unleashed a new fury especially thrilling via great twin-guitar leads and wickedly obsessive vocal flurries. These songs remind you of how it really is possible to achieve true non-corny drama within the context of the hard-rocking, gnarly bar band. Also Secret Machines’ avanty noise & rock, and, straight from the shores of Cardiff, Wales, Future of the Left’s viciously intelligent (they’re funny) and drunkenly rocking anthems to thrash to, as heard on their recent Travels With Myself and Another (4AD). (John Payne)

Youri Lenquette

Amadou & Mariam unroll their magic carpet

Marcus Maeder, in a vortex of lights

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Also playing Thursday:

A HACK & A HACKSAW, DAMON & NAOMI at Spaceland; CAVE IN, COALESCE at the Knitting Factory; FITZ & THE TANTRUMS at the Three Clubs; HAR MAR SUPERSTAR at the Echo; LUCENT DOSSIER EXPERIENCE at El Rey Theatre; STAR WARS IN CONCERT at the Nokia Theatre; ZACH GILL at the Mint; MR. GREEN ALL-STARS, THE SCIENTIST at the Echoplex; SATYRICON, BLEEDING THROUGH, TOXIC HOLOCAUST at the Key Club; THE RESCUES at the Troubadour.