Show Worthy 5/18 - 5/24

Monday, May 18
Night Moves, Eli Keszler, Kate Village, Dr. Oriental at Charlie's Kitchen ($5, 9:00, 21+)
You should know Eli 'cause I talk about him a lot. He does live stuff with Ashley Paul and he's one half of the ridiculously great Red Horse (whose new full length just came out). Kate Village is the guitarist from The Major Stars and Heathen Shame. Dr. Oriental is the Mike from Life Partners. Night Moves is a cover band that plays classic rock stuff, mostly Bob Seger, Steely Dan, The Band, etc. This is a very unique show. Lots of solo stuff that you probably won't ever see happen in the same room again.



Nmperign & Jason Lescalleet at Brainwaves '08
Wednesday, May 20
Nmperign, Tyler Wilcox & Paul Neidhardt at Outpost 186 ($donation, 8:00, all ages?)
Nmperign is Bhob Rainey and Greg Kelley. I loved Kelley's solo release, Self-Hate Index, and I got to see those two guys play together along with Jason Lescalleet at Brainwaves '08 and it was brilliant. Wilcox & Neidhardt seem to be two like-minded musicians who will collectively blow your mind, especially with a description for Wilcox reading "finding inspiration in the wind through cedars and lombardy poplars, rivers, melting glaciers." Um, yeah. Go to this show.



Mick Barr at PA's Lounge via
Thursday, May 21
Wolves In The Throne Room, A Storm Of Light, Krallice, Phantom Glue at Great Scott ($12, 9:00, 18+)
Wolves In The Throne Room is black metal for people who don't like black metal. And people who do like black metal. So it's a win/win situation. They're fucking amazing. A Storm Of Light are quite awesome as well, as I discovered when they put out a split with Nadja that I reviewed on diskant. Krallice is guitar shredder extraordinaire Mick Barr's (Orthrelm, Ocrilim, etc) new metal band. That alone should require you to go to this.



Mind Wheel at Oxfam Cafe
Friday, May 22
Mind Wheel, Selbyville, Graham, Dead Electrician at The Armory ($?, 8:00, all ages?)
I saw Mind Wheel open for Mountains at Oxfam Cafe and they were astounding. Selbyville looks to share at least one common member with Mind Wheel so that must mean good things. The rest of these guys are all local experimental awesomeness. This show gets the AGB Stamp Of Approval.



Neptune at The Middle East Upstairs
Saturday, May 23
Growing, Neptune, World Map, Long Knives at Church ($9, 8:00, 21+)
Growing puts on a super hypnotic drone noise show that you won't experience anywhere else. I've seen them multiple times and it gets better each time. Neptune is opening and if you live in Boston and haven't seen Neptune yet, wtf is wrong with you? Do it already. This is World Map's first show ever. Their Myspace doesn't even have any songs on it so your guess is as good as mine. Not sure about Long Knives, if that's even their real name...




Sunday, May 24
WizRock Iz Dead: A WizHop Blowout with Swish & Flick, Dumbledore, Big Whompy, MC Kreacher, DJFF, MC Remus & The Lupins, Griz-ed & Fiz-orge at The Middle East Upstairs ($10, 1:00 PM, all ages)
Harry & The Potters are putting on another one of their Wizard Rock shows except this time, as I'm sure you can tell, it's not rock, it's hip-hop. I'm pretty sure this is a once in a lifetime thing and I can pretty much guarantee it'll be fun as hell even if you're not a Harry Potter fan (like me). And it's a day show, so you'll still have time to do your regular Sunday night things like watch Adult Swim (or be a lame-o and go to bed early to get a good nights rest for Monday).

Wolves In The Throne Room - Malevolent Grain

Wolves In The Throne Room - A Looming Resonance


If you've already heard Wolves In the Throne Room's last full length, Two Hunters, then you're obviously a fan. And if you're already a fan, then you need this. For the uninitiated, let me initiate. Wolves In The Throne Room are awesomely epic, mostly black metal. Think of them as the BM band for the non-BM-lovers.

Malevolent Grain is a vinyl only EP, kind of like a little treat before their next full length, Black Cascade, comes out in March. Each side has a single track and they're both fucking amazing.

The A side, "A Looming Resonance," is so so so beautiful. Jamie Meyers (of Hammers Of Misfortune) guests and does vocal duty on the song. Holy shit. I would not have expected this chick to sound good singing over buzzing black metal but WOW. It is unbelievably gorgeous. Almost makes me wish that WITTR would take her hostage and force her to sing on all their songs. Almost.

Then you flip the record and "Hate Crystal" comes on, reminding you why Wolves are fucking perfect the way they are. Yeah, Meyers sounded good, but you really can't let lead singer Nathan Weaver go that easily. Not that he makes the band, per se, he just completes it. He rounds out the whole epic post/black metal thing, and makes damn sure you know you're not listening to any of that pussy Pelican bullshit.

Malevolent Grain is a super sweet intro to the next album and only solidifies my love for them as one of the best USBM bands out there.