“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, green valley/ Let’s go out, let’s go out, let’s go out, town of cement/ Darkness grows, shadow comes close/ Unconsciously disappearing/ It won’t be good if you alone are fine.”—Deerhoof, “The Tears and Music of Love”Admittedly Deerhoof bassist/vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki’s lyrics can seem indecipherable. Matsuzaki’s propensity for interspersing Japanese and English phrasing makes for even more opacity. But it’s an apt lyrical introduction to this week’s live music news, as it implores denizens of our green valley and town of cement to venture out into the world. As early sunsets overtake fall, it’s better to show up than to disappear alongside the ebbing summer. With that in mind, there are a glut of shows happening this week that are virtually guaranteed to keep you moving through the passing seasons.
Show Up! Friday
YOU
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Friday night is Halloween. In celebration of the shadows and darkness of oncoming winter, Burt’s Tiki Lounge (313 Gold SW) is hosting a party. Costumes are de rigueur, and the music will be unseasonably hot. Expansive psych-rockers YOU, led by mysterious musical magician Eric Lisausky, headlines the show. Haunted local gothabilly foursome Texylvania are also on the bill, adding a kind of cruel danceability to the gig. Be on the lookout for the Santa Fean sci-fi sounds of Storming the Beaches with Logos in Hand. Terrific, appropriately named group Abandoned Mansions opens the night’s trick or treat-themed rave-up. This 21-plus free show starts at 9pm and is slated to rattle its chains well into the witching hour.
Show Up! Friday, Part Ii
il sogno del marinaio
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Way back in 1991, I saw Mike Watt play bass for fIREHOSE at the Fat Chance Bar and Grill. That was the last time I hit the mosh pit, and I nearly dislocated my shoulder in the process. With cred that stretches back to his tenure in iconic punk band Minutemen, a Mike Watt experience is worth much more than my distant memories can possibly convey.Watt’s newest project il sogno del marinaio (the sailor’s dream) plays Low Spirits (2823 Second Street NW) on Friday aka All Hallows’ Eve. A collaboration with Italian players Stefano Pilia and Andrea Belfi, il sogno del marinaio’s music is mellifluous, multifaceted and brutally rhythmic.This mix of continental conceits and West Coast restlessness is all the rage in the rocanrol realm. At $12 a head, this 21-plus concert lets attendees trade plata for an opportunity to interface with one of the punk scene’s more productive progenitors. Doors are at 8pm, and Watt and company take the stage at 9pm.
Show Up! Saturday
GWAR’s new frontwoman, Vulvatron
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On Saturday, Nov. 1, prepare yourself for an encounter with GWAR at Sunshine Theater (120 Central SW). Erupting explosively in Burque as part of the GWAR Eternal tour, this costumed collective of artists, designers and musicians still has their sights set on universal doom/rock domination … despite the untimely passing of founding member Oderus Urungus (Dave Brockie).New vocalist Vulvatron (aka designer Kim Dylla) adds a despairing depth to the slave pit lineup, and this year’s iteration of the hell-spawned sonic ensemble is an inescapable consequence of living the rock and roll lifestyle in Burque. It’s an all-ages concert experience, and tickets to this Virginian version of the apocalypse cost $20. The maw of the abyss yawns wide at 7pm, and destruction begins at 8pm with openers Decapitated and American Sharks.
Show Up! Saturday, Part Ii
Secret Chiefs 3
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If your inclinations veer away from the fantastical and toward expression of the musical avant-garde, check out Secret Chiefs 3 on Saturday, Nov. 1, at Launchpad (618 Central SW). Led by composer Trey Spruance of Mr. Bungle and Faith No More, Secret Chiefs 3 has employed a rotating lineup of rock heavyweights, including members of the aforementioned groups plus Estradasphere, Pearl Jam and Brave Combo. The resulting music is at once mystic, mythic and highly jammable.Encompassing everything from mercurial metal to languorous meditations for quasi-cinematic soundtracks, Spruance’s instrumental prowess has an awesome gravitas that’s best described as “thunderous.” Fellow instrumental insurgent Atomic Ape (fronted by Estradasphere’s Jason Schimmel) opens. The whole 21-plus post-prog program will only run you $12; doors are at 8pm, and the flower petal hits the metal at 9pm.
Show Up! Wednesday
Iceage
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Touring in support of latest release Plowing Into the Field of Love, Danish punk crew Iceage makes an appearance at Sister (407 Central NW) on Wednesday, Nov. 5. An anxious quartet of shape-shifting lads hailing from the icy beauty of Copenhagen’s northern darkness, twentysomething band members Elias Bender Rønnenfelt, Johan Surrballe Wieth, Jakob Tvilling Pless and Dan Kjær Nielsen’s approach to their art is relentless. Iceage has a jangly, tuned-down, droning output, exemplified by tangled-up tunes like “The Lord’s Favorite” and “Burning Hand.” They really do seem “Glassy Eyed, Dormant and Veiled,” as heavily implied on their latest recording. Noisy post-industrial Euro-experimentalist Luke Younger, performing as Helm, begins the evening’s excursion. Helm’s work is influenced by the work of performance artist Joseph Beuys and Yellow Magic Orchestra. The result is something defiantly difficult but abstractly absorbing as evidenced by Helm’s latest Shattered Miniatures. Entrance to this 21-plus concert costs $7, and doors are at 8pm. This supremely loud path to European enlightenment begins at 9pm.
Show Up!
We live in a green valley on the verge of winter, and although the shadows are growing visibly longer approaching year’s end, going out can mean the difference between brooding over the coming darkness or being at peace in the stormy heart of winter. As I’ve mentioned endlessly—here and on other platforms—music can make all the difference. So go on, go out. Whether it’s to witness the combined dream of the native son of San Pedro and his Italian seamates or to indulge in the vanguard of local culture, music always beats the heck out of blinking in and out of visibility until springtime.
