Insights into Photography
These are bands we especially dig, not full listings. For those, please see Concerts and Clubs. For more top shows featuring local acts, please see Nightgeist.
Wednesday, Oct. 15
PLAN A: The Roots, Gym Class Heroes @ 4th & B. To set the record straight, I am not advocating for the music of Gym Class Heroes, whose biggest hit is based on a Supertramp song (really). However, The Roots are the best band in hip-hop. Such a tangled web they weave. PLAN B: Supersuckers, Glossines, Black Hondo @ The Casbah. The Supersuckers are steeped in balls-out classic rock, so expect the band to ask, “Can we get a ‘Hell yeah’?” and Supersuckers fans to respond, “Hell, yeah you can get a ‘Hell yeah!’” PLAN C: Millions of Dead Comps, Cabron @ Radio Room. Named after a punk band (Millions of Dead Cops), a collection of punk vets (Sonny Kay of VSS, London May of Samhain and others) cover a classic punk compilation (Dischord’s Flex Your Head). Did I mention they’re punk?
Thursday, Oct. 16
PLAN A: PacificUV, Dreamtiger, Evervess @ Beauty Bar. This quote from Evervess’ MySpace profile says it all: “The truth is that like 99% of the bands out there we’re pinching from all the bands we’ve ever listened to.” Turns out, their record collection consists solely of Ride and Stone Roses albums, which is strangely gratifying. PLAN B: Black Kids, The Virgins, Dynamite Walls, DJ Adam Salter @ Belly Up Tavern. Too charmed to listen to Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me in your teenage years? Black Kids have flipped Robert Smith’s frown upside down for hipster enjoyment. See this page for more. BACKUP PLAN: Princeton, Say Hi, Jukebox the Ghost @ The Loft.
Friday, Oct. 17
PLAN A: Imaad Wasif with Two Part Beast, Drew Andrews @ Radio Room. The reclusive Wasif conducts exorcisms of soul-crushing angst that echo Neil Young, Greg Sage and the voice in the back of your head that says everything is crumbling to pieces. PLAN B: Grand Ole Party, Rafter, The Widows @ Ruby Room. Please excuse CityBeat’s smothering coverage of GOP; the former SD Sports Club is throwing its grand opening bash with familiar local faces to make sure the party is epic. PLAN C: Weezer, Angels and Airwaves, Tokyo Police Club @ Cox Arena. Again, I am not advocating for the music of Angels and Airwaves, Tokyo Police Club or even Weezer (post-1996). But how can you resist “Surf Wax America,” “Say It Ain’t So” and “Tired of Sex”?
Saturday, Oct. 18
PLAN A: Kris Kristofferson @ Poway Center for the Performing Arts. Kristofferson starred in Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid alongside Bob Dylan and penned “Me and Bobby McGee.” Oh yeah, he’s also a Rhodes Scholar who attended Oxford and the best-looking 72-year-old man on the planet. I’m jealous. PLAN B: Lords, Blues @ Radio Room. Louisville’s Lords is a sufficiently pissed-off modern update of crossover bands like D.R.I., so be prepared for a bit of the old ultraviolence. PLAN C: The Chinese Stars, Kill Me Tomorrow, Hostile Combover, Sirhan Sirhan @ The Casbah. Ex-Arab on Radar singer Eric Paul hits unprecedented levels of annoyance with his vocals for The Chinese Stars. Which is the entire point, but it would be virtually unforgivable if guitarist Paul Vieira and drummer Craig Kureck weren’t kinda bad-ass.
Sunday, Oct. 19
PLAN A: Laika and the Cosmonauts, The Secret Samurai @ Bar Pink. Laika’s Scandinavian surf music has to be one of the most unlikely and pleasant musical concoctions ever to emanate from Finland, where the frost usually results in black metal and icy dance tracks. PLAN B: Souls of Mischief, Deploi @ ’Canes. When your debut album is a contender for best West Coast hip-hop album ever (Souls’ ’93 Til Infinity), you can get away with headlining ’Canes without releasing an LP for eight years. BACKUP PLAN: Watain, Withered, Dona Eis Requiem, Book of Black Earth, Ruines ov Abaddon @ Jumping Turtle.
Monday, Oct. 20
PLAN A: Brightblack Morning Light, Glasser @ The Casbah. BML’s crawling, psychedelic jams would probably work better in an opium den, but if you have enough drinks, maybe time will slow down so you can become, uh, one with the music, or something. PLAN B: Hillstomp @ Bar Pink. Grimy spit-can blues may seem out of place in San Diego, but no more than it does in Hillstomp’s Portland stomping grounds.
Tuesday, Oct. 21
PLAN A: Valient Thorr, Black Tusk, Tweak Bird @ The Casbah. Combining the propulsive rawk of two-piece Death From Above 1979 with psychedelic garage à la Modey Lemon, L.A.-based brothers Tweak Bird are already pegged to play the next ATP Festival in London. PLAN B: Pinback, Mr. Tube & The Flying Objects @ Belly Up Tavern. You know ’em, you love ’em. Rob and Co. are back from a national tour, and they’re welcoming themselves with a show in beautiful Solana Beach. Life is tough.
