saturday–sunday MUSIC Ladysmith Black Mambazo Guantanamo Baywatch, Hurry Up, SUNDAY, MARCH 8 [AFRIcA’S GoLDEn tHRoAtS] the Cumstain, Pookie and Poodlez legendary, Grammy-hoarding South [GARAGE RocK] on its new single African vocal group, now halfway Retox, Whores, ”too Late,” Portland’s Guantanamo through its fifth decade, has tran- Rabbits, Phantom Family Baywatch trades its formerly scended the Western pop notori- [HARDCORE] Fatalist, nihilist, blis- reverb-flooded garage-rock sound ety that followed its contributions tering, brutal—these are just a few for tamer, Motown-influenced bal- to Paul Simon’s Graceland, becom- of the better words to describe ladry. It’s a signal that the upcom- ing a full-fledged ambassador for hardcore crew Retox, a group whose ing Darling…It’s Too Late, dropping the culture of its homeland. But pedigree includes members of sim- in May on Suicide Squeeze, may one doesn’t need familiarity with ilarly thorny outfits such as the fully shift the band away from that its lengthy history to be stirred Locust, Head Wound city and Holy signature Burger Records’ sound, by those golden voices. Aladdin Molar. one adjective that doesn’t which has flooded the market Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., get used very often, though it with pseudo-psychedelic surf-rock 234-9694. 8 pm. $35. 21+. should, is “funny.” It’s understand- groups indistinguishable from one able that this quality wouldn’t trans- another. LUcAS cHEMOTTI. The late through singer Justin Pearson’s Low Cut Connie Know, 2026 NE Alberta St., 473- larynx-ripping screech. But Retox [tHE WHItE KEYS] An invasive 8729. 8 pm. $11. 21+. Brit’s hot licks layered atop bar- is clearly a band that believes in relhouse garage anthems spurred the old Minutemen adage that a forward by the tastemaker’s Billy song title is worth a thousand lyrics. Joel, Low cut connie has dazzled critics and attracted no end of cont. on page 28 friends: Its eagerly awaited third album, Hi Honey, brings along members of Ween, tune-Yards and, um, the Sopranos. But the Philly boys earned their reps through hell- kalberg for-leather live performances that INTRODUCING allow manic maestro Adam Weiner free rein to French-tickle the ivories YLER t amid boozily bravura shout-alongs. BOMBAY BEACH JAY HoRTON. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave., 894-9708. 10 pm. $7. 21+. Who: Ryan Lynch (guitars), Matthew The Twilight Sad, Port St. Willow Zimmerman (vocals), Jeremiah [BLUE-EYED SHoEGAZE] Hayden (drums). Scotland’s twilight Sad presents an interesting study in squan- Sounds like: thurston Moore and Iggy Pop tripping around Joshua dered goodwill and music blog tree, in a sci-fi mockumentary directed by Steve Albini. buzz. When your scrappy, roman- For fans of: Sonic Youth, Big Black, the Stooges, David Lynch, tic update of shoegaze’s caterwaul- ing feedback and bleary melodies Jodorowsky’s Dune. is pinned down as a next big thing by a frothing stateside music press, what else can you do but fuck it A lot of bands make music that sounds like it should be in a up? Last year’s Nobody Wants to Be movie. Rarer are those that actually go ahead and make the movie Here and Nobody Wants to Leave is certainly a sign of the group back- themselves. pedaling into the chiming melodi- Though the Bombay Beach film project—a dystopian Western cism with which it made its mark, but the bone-dry textures and the set near California’s desolate Salton Sea—is still in the conceptual bummer vibes that torpedoed the stage, it is as integral to the band Bombay Beach as the album it synth-heavy No One Can Ever Know just finished recording. One wouldn’t exist without the other, still linger enough to make a former fan wonder if it’s still worth caring really. Each song is linked to a specific scene, with the lyrics or not. nAtHAn cARSon. Doug informing the screenplay, which is currently being written. It’s Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231- 9663. 9 pm. $12 advance, $14 day of a bit high-concept, but the way the band sees it, simply making show. 21+. records and playing shows doesn’t cut it anymore. Single Mothers, “The whole band process, I hate to say, but it’s been done,” says The Dirty Nil, U SCO singer Matthew Zimmerman. “What the movie has done is allow [PoSt-HARDCORE] “All I want us to think in broader terms.” to do is sit here complaining,” Initially, though, Bombay Beach didn’t have aspirations beyond Single Mothers frontman Drew thomson admits just before the the normal band stuff. In fact, it probably had less. In the begin- end of the band’s debut album, ning, it was just guitarist Ryan Lynch and Modern Kin drummer Negative Qualities. It’s a bold con- fession, but one that epitomizes Jeremiah Hayden fleshing out some riffs Lynch had lying around, canadian group’s take on punk even with little conception of what, if anything, it would become. better than its gnarled guitar and head-slamming drums. thomson’s Zimmerman, who played with Lynch in the short-lived Dirt Castle, musings leave everyone open for joined a few months in. Adding his wild-man howl to the preexist- insult—book snobs, drunks, God, ing guitar squall, Bombay Beach solidified its sound, melding Sonic himself—amid the tasteful thrash- ing, with a speak-shout delivery Youth discordance with the feral groove of the Stooges—not exactly similar to that of the Hold Steady’s the kind of music that commonly gets described as “cinematic.” craig Finn, if his angst were more unbridled. His piercing observations But when Zimmerman started putting lyrics to the clamor, he carry a good deal of weight, though, found himself returning to a character named Sonny, the anti- even if they leave you wonder- ing if he ever has anything nice to hero of a post-apocalyptic desert metropolis called Slab City. Each say about, well, anyone. BRAnDon member gradually adopted a different role in that fictional world, WIDDER. Mississippi Studios, 3939 which became a conduit for expressing real angst with the modern N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $12. 21+. world. “It’s like Method acting through your writing process,” Angel Alanis, JAK, Tracy Lynch says. Eventually, the group came to the realization that it Why, Seqewenzer was writing the soundtrack for a movie that didn’t yet exist. Then, [tEcHNO] With a slew of releases about a year ago, it decided to try and develop the movie, too. from across the indie technosphere, Bombay Beach has other ideas for expanding its universe, from Berlin’s tresor to chicago’s Impact Mechanics, Angel Alanis including comics and possibly a documentary of its attempts to is a prolific Midwestern pioneer sell the movie in Hollywood. Of course, a film is significantly more of techno and acid. the latter’s involved than an album, and there’s a chance it will never material- screeches and squelches can be a little grating, but over his nearly ize. But according to the band, completing the project isn’t the 20 years of experience working on entire point. three continents, Alanis has dis- covered how to temper that harsh- “The finished product is this one thing, but personally, for ness with neatly compressed beats me, the process is the thing,” Hayden says. “I tell people, ‘If you and dubby samples. MITCH LILLIE. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 234-5683. want to be in a band, you better enjoy the process, or just get 9 pm. $10 advance, $15 day of show. the fuck out.’ So this has allowed for a process on two fronts.” 21+. MATTHEW SINGER. SEE IT: Bombay Beach plays Rontoms, 600 E Burnside St., with Peter Rainbeau, on Sunday, March 8. 8:30 pm. Free. 21+. Willamette Week MARCH 4, 2015 wweek.com 27 .