NOISE: Local Music Beat

Weekend Riff: Jazz at Espresso Royale, New Music Mondays, Misery Index

-Monday: Monday doesn't qualify as the weekend, but we're breaking the rules and kicking off this week's Weekend Riff with Monday, because this week marks the return of New Music Mondays. Lansing-based musician and booker Todd Karinen used to hold the original live music evening at Rendezvous on the Grand, and when that venue closed, New Music Mondays ended, as well. Until now. The night is now at Gus's Bar on West Michigan Avenue. The debut line-up includes experimental rock band Drinking Mercury (Lansing, pictured), noise-jazz band Puberty (Ypsi) and punk-experimental band Ouch Me Arse (Lansing).

"We're very excited about bringing back New Music Mondays," Karinen said. "We're just trying to keep [founder] Ken Knott's philosophy going, which is just to do shows someplace and give the people some good shows." Sahweet!!

-Friday: Metal mayhem at Mac's Bar with Baltimore, Md., metal band Misery Index (Relapse Records), as well as a local line-up that includes Dagon (Lansing "Ocean Metal") and Satyrasis (Lansing thrash). Also: Espresso Royale has opened in the old Cappuccino Cafe location, and the coffee shop hosts a jazz show on Friday.

-Saturday: Lansing based singer-songwriter Jeremy Quentin releases his debut album, Our Dusking Sound, with his solo project Small Houses at Scene Metrospace. Read an interview with Quentin here.

Ear Candy: Wilco in East Lansing

Wilco's sold-out show at the Wharton Center on Sunday was everything you would expect from a band that's in its element live: candid, skillful, improvisational, heart-felt. A high-chugging rock show. 

Over its 15 years as a band, the Chicago rock group has seamlessly melded a variety of genres: pop, folk, alternative rock and experimental. Wilco's latest album, 2009's Wilco (The Album), has a guitar rock edge, and that driving aesthetic was the centerpiece of Sunday's show.

Wilco played new and old favorites like “Wilco (The Song)," "Hate It Here," "Hummingbird" and "Heavy Metal Drummer." Vocalist Jeff Tweedy bantered with the audience, teased a bit, and then burst into engaging tracks "A Shot in the Arm," "Deeper Down" and the George Harrison tribute "You Never Know." Lead guitarist Nels Cline - a prolific rock and avant jazz performer - showed off amazing guitar chops with solos that got the crowd hooting and applauding.

The band played nearly two and a half hours. And that seemed just fine with the crowd, who enthusiastically sang along and cheered for mo
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Weekend Riff: Go Go Yugo, The Beggars, Wilco, Cavo

-Saturday: Timmy Marzorati, known for playing bass in late-'90s alt-rock outfit 19 Wheels, fronts Lansing indie rock band Go Go Yugo. The band's debut EP, GGY, and is a big shift from 19 Wheels. Gone are poppy, slick party-rock tracks; instead, GGY brings a stripped down, lo-fi flavor that recalls Queens of the Stone Age, Iggy Pop and the White Stripes. Catch the group at Mac's Bar in Lansing on Saturday (late show), along with Detroit rock band the Beggars, Lansing power-pop group Jet Set Drag and Big Rapids indie rocker Poor Boys Relief.

 
-Sunday: Wilco! The pioneering alternative country band plays the Wharton Center Great Cobb Hall in East Lansing on Sunday. The show is sold out. Also Sunday, the MSU University Chorale is at St. Mary Cathedral in Lansing to sing the complete Pope Marcellus and Gregorian Chant Propers for Lent. The show starts at 7 p.m. And a special, all vinyl hip-hop show happens at Stober's Bar in Lansing at 7 p.m.

-Monday: Norwegian Grammy Award-winner Sondre Lerche performs a solo show at Mac's Bar on Monday.

-Road trip: St. Louis-based hard rock band Cavo plays the Machine Shop in Flint on Thursday, Feb. 18 (see pix below). Read an interview with the band's lead singer here.

In a Pickle: Nickelback, 'Twilight'

The pickles are taking over.

You've probably already seen (or maybe joined) the Facebook page Can This Pickle Get More Fans Than Nickelback, and now there's also Can This Pickle Get More Fans Than Twilight? New stunt fan pages pop up daily, and my news feed is clogged with status reports showing friends joining.

It's pickle insanity! Who or what will the pickle take on next?

A Valentine's Day Mix: Love Songs, Breakup Ditties

In celebration of Valentine's Day, here are some songs of love and loathing. If you have a favorite love song or breakup ditty, please post it below!

In Love ♥

• Kings of Leon, "Use Somebody"
• Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z, "Crazy in Love"
• A Perfect Circle, "The Nurse Who Loved Me"
• The Foo Fighters, "Everlong"
  
• Taylor Swift, "Love Story"

Out of Love ♥

• Alanis Morissette, "You Oughta Know"
• The Ramones, "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow"
  
• No Doubt, "Ex-Girlfriend"
• Green Day, "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"
• Kanye West, "Heartless" 

Weekend Riff: Josh David and the Dream Jeans, Cavalcade, Jason Alarm, Gretchen Wilson

• -Saturday: Josh David and the Dream Jeans.
  

While there seem to be fewer and fewer places to catch a live show in Lansing, Mac's Bar is pretty consistent. The venue brings in local and national indie talent nearly every night. Last week, a group of us headed there to catch Lansing punk-rock band Josh David and the Dream Jeans. What we got was a taste of from-the-heart punk guts, fuzzy guitars and scream-y, hardcore vocals. Grrr!

Left to right: Jena, me, Kat
Pic below: Josh David and the Dream Jeans

Josh David and the Dream Jeans plays Saturday, Feb. 13 at Mac's Bar (early show) and at Oade's Hidden Camel (late show).

-Also Saturday: Providence, R.I. punk band imadethismistake at Mac's (early show); Lansing metal group Cavalcade at Oade's Hidden Camel.

-Thursday nights at Mac's: Electro Nightz. Every Thursday is Electro Nightz at Mac's, featuring a group of fresh DJs. It's free for 21+.

-Friday: Lansing post-punk band Jason Alarm plays Mac's along with White Hot Skeleton, Ailat and Dead Scene Radio.

-Road trip: Country girl Gretchen Wilson plays the Ford Theatre in Detroit on Wednesday, Feb. 17.

Music News: Rock on the Range '10

In honor of all this snow and ice, I thought I would post some info on a just-announced spring show. Rock on the Range is an annual, two-day hard rock, alternative and metal fest held in Columbus, Ohio. It's road trip-worthy, if you dig that kind of music.

Weekend Riff: Shows with Shinedown, the Hat Madder, UV Hippo

• Friday at Mac's: If you're a fan of jam bands and progressive tunes, then you might want to check out Ultra Violet Hippopotamus. The Grand Rapids-based funk-jam collective is groove-tastic (yes, I made that word up) and plays Mac's Bar on Friday.

• Saturday at Mac's: Local indie rock fave the Hat Madder plays an online album release show at Mac's Bar on Saturday. Listen to the band's new single here: The Hat Madder, "Let You Down" Purchase the album, "Rogue Notes & Phones," here.

 

Locals Only: 'My Roaring 20's'

It's 1993, and the Lemonheads and Nirvana are cranking out of your cassette player. This was a time when making music was more about attitude than image, and alternative bands were finally making their way into the mainstream.

Lansing's Cheap Girls has a way of taking you back to that time. Cheap Girls is an indie rock band with upbeat riffs, catchy hooks and a knack for playing fun, high-energy shows. The guys, in a way, have put Lansing on the musical map by signing to a national indie label (Paper + Plastick, founded by Vinnie Fiorello of Less Than Jake) and appearing at tons of national music festivals (Warped Tour, Harvest of Hope).

Cheap Girls' sophomore effort, My Roaring 20’s, is available online and in CD and vinyl format. And as of Feb. 5, the band is on a national, five-week tour, playing everywhere from Colorado to Oklahoma.   

~Shows: Cheaps Girls is back in town at Mac's Bar on April 9.

Cheap Girls is Ian Graham (bass/vocals), brother Ben Graham (drums) and Adam Aymor (drums).

Music News: Kings Of Leon, Green Day, Beyonce at 2010 Grammys

The 2010 Grammy Awards, in a nutshell: Beyonce becomes the first female artist to win six Grammys; Taylor Swift takes home four. But Kings of Leon also have reason to smile, with a sleeper win for Record of the Year for their single, "Use Somebody."