TGIT: Our Weekend Picks!

 

photo by Marie Kuzniar

Friday, December 4th

Farms in Trouble + Crappy Dracular, Fahri @ the Cactus Club (2496 S. Wentworth), 10 p.m.

Although Farms in Trouble’s catalogue is filled with bunches of sub-two minute songs, they’re by no means a hardcore band. This Milwaukee group writes both wonderfully dissonant and melodic pop in the same realm as early Guided by Voices with it’s lo-fi, big-pictured and creative caterwauling that’s never sloppy despite its compositional sprawl.

 

flier from MySpace

 

Saturday, December 5th

Northless + Gate, the Parrish, Slob Donovan, Coelacanth @ The Borg Ward (823 W. National), 6 p.m.

If you haven’t experienced the crushingly intense doom metal of Milwaukee’s Northless, then words will to fail to make an impression of the definite need for earplugs. Northless may be loud as hell, but they employ a sense of technical skill  that will make audience members want to lose the earplugs during the more drawn out and and picked-apart moments of their songs. Dynamics are definitely key to the fury; like going from Dianogah to Mastodon in mere seconds, Northless demonstrates depth. Featuring members of ex Milwaukee bands such as Asrava, and Mahogany Throttle, and current members of Half Gorilla and This Specific Dream and it’s obvious that the band has the chops to write solid material.

video of Bangkok Taxi Pimps from YouTube

Skip Tracer + Bangkok Taxi Pimps, Fetch the Pliers @ Club Garibaldi’s (2501 S. Superior), 10 p.m.

It’s been a while since Skip Tracer has played their hometown and those who remember them from a bygone Milwaukee punk scene will definitely want to take the chance to catch them. Fan-belt will be there to make up for lost chances. Doh! Also playing are the flippant and energized punk/post-rockers, Bangkok Taxi Pimps. They’re calling this show ‘Reunion Rock’ for good reason — Bangkok Taxi Pimps’ shows are few and far in between these days (last one was in May). Catch ’em while you can.

Heavy metal cello descends on Cactus Club tonight

Alison Chesley, aka experimental/metal cellist Helen Money, is probably the only soundscape-producing, amplified racket-producing classical instrumentalist who can lay claim to working with artists as diverse as Bob Mould, Japenese post-rockers Mono, and Anthrax (yep, Helen Money–one degree of separation from the Married With Children cast and the WCW roster of the 1990s). If that’s not enough reason to check her out tonight at the Cactus Club, let’s sweeten the pot with local “surly high school orchestra” Group of the Altos and our favorite genius percussionist, Jon Mueller. ART! It all goes down tonight at the Cactus Club and starts around regular Cactus Club time (which probably means you’ll be able to catch some of the show after Mondo Lucha, so don’t let your attendance there stop you!).

Team Fan-Belt Recaps The Jesus Lizard, 11.24.09

The Yow in his natural state. Photo by Andy Junk

Words By:

Anthony Schwader (AS)
Abbie Amadio (AA)
Dan Agacki (DA)

(Note: Pretty much everyone from our humble little Fan-Belt crew attended Tuesday night’s ridiculawesome Jesus Lizard/IfIHadAHiFi show at Turner Hall, so it was decided we’d attempt a trainwreck of a combined, oral-history-style review of the show. Let’s see how this works out. –DJ)

AS: Let me start by saying this: The Jesus Lizard are a true testament to real rock and roll. Their music is deceptive, performed with mastery of spacing and tension that’s beyond the skillset of most anyone I’ve seen live. A fucking supersolid high energy burst of explosive control. This is time number four seeing them and each of their previous shows rank in my top ten. They are that good. Period.

DA: There’s no posing on this one. Straight confessional here folks. My teenage Jesus Lizard exposure was brief. Shot had just come out, and I tossed it off because it didn’t sound like Scratch Acid. Absurd, I know. Roughly ten years later I re-immersed my brain and came away with, basically, the opposite results. So, Tuesday’s show was a shot at redemption.

AA (who did her recap, in her words, “Twatter style”): David Yow just dove into the crowd less than a minute after walking on stage.

Mondo Lucha and The Scarring Party: Together At Last This Friday

Words by Erin Wolf

It’s that time again — time for the masked wrestlers of Milwaukee’s Mondo Lucha to fly through the ring on the floor of the Turner Hall Ballroom while musicians, roller derby skaters, burlesque dancers and other hodge podge entertainers from across the country dazzle the crowd even further. This time, Mondo Lucha gets the total holiday treatment with a visit from Santa and festive dance moves from the gingerbread breakdancers who are set to throw down some spins alongside Kid Millions. To further the dizzyingly adrenalized effects, Milwaukee’s very own creeptastic, doom and gloom musical pros, the Scarring Party, will act as the house band of the evening. An authentic cabaret-esque musical performance will truly be the tinsel on this Mondo Lucha be-decked extravaganza. Fan-belt talks to Scarring Party’s tuba player Isa Carini and multi-percussionist Chris Roberts about their one-time, impending performance alongside masked wrestlers this Friday.

The Scarring Party, “Follow It Down”

Electric Six Versus the Jesus Lizard

If Dick Valentine, vocalist of Electric Six, and David Yow of the Jesus Lizard were to be involved in a performance battle, Yow would probably win for voracity and venom, every bit won paid with sweat, while Valentine might suavely eek by with sheer cockiness. Whichever you prefer — insanely spastic rock fronted by an enigmatic rock legend, or a taboo dance party supplied by Detroit’s brashest new wave weirdos, this Tuesday night is the rare weekday evening where you can’t afford to be on the fence about your preferences. Word has it that the Jesus Lizard will be around for a very limited time, only, and with Yow on the recent mend with a show-induced injury, who knows how many wild spectacles he has left in him? Electric Six, although a spectacle of a different kind entirely, will provide a good alternative for those who relate to the phrase “fire in the disco” over “too bad about the fire”. Catch Yow uttering the word ‘disco’? That would definitely be a cold day in hell.

Electric Six plays at Mad Planet (533 E. Center) tonight along with Gay Blades and Millions of Brazilians. 10 p.m. 21+. The Jesus Lizard plays at Turner Hall Ballroom (1032 N. 4th) tonight with ifIHadAHiFi. 8 p.m. All-ages.