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Saturday, August 22nd 6 PM JESUS PRESLEY OUTDOOR STAGE See listing for 9 pm Thursday show at Jimmy Mak's. 7 PM GOLDEN DELICIOUS OUTDOOR STAGE See listing for 1 am Saturday show at Satyricon. 8 PM PINEFOREST CRUNCH BERBATI'S PAN Taking its name from a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor (although changing the "rain" to "pine") that guitarist Olle Söderström discovered on a foreign-exchange trip to the States, this Swedish quintet tosses out more of the female-fronted pop that its country has become famous for. But Pineforest Crunch has more oomph than many of its compatriots and a diversity that allows it to tackle brisk rock tunes, loungey jazz-pop and breezy ballads, all sung exquisitely by Asa Eklund. The band's first record yielded a trans-European hit in "Cup Noodle Song," and its follow-up is a richly textured, melodically complex winner called Water Garden (Polar). (RM) BLACK MARKET BABIES EJ'S Rooted in New York-style art-punk, Vancouver, British Columbia's Black Market Babies are approaching their fourth year as a band. The five-piece's cohesive and even inventive take on punk allows for a pop melodicism, though it's painted over with Billy Hopeless' snotty vocals and some searing, crisp guitar interplay between Rich Jones and Jay Millette. Obvious reference points include the Heartbreakers and the New York Dolls, but '80s and '90s influences surface as well, with Hüsker Dü-like articulations and Replacements-like recklessness balancing like a see-saw straddled by two fat kids. (RM) LARRY YES MISSION THEATER Formerly of Hitting Birth and Hungry Mob (among other Portland bands), Larry Yes is now solo. Uninhibited by convention, Larry delves into experimentation, producing dreamy gems that occasionally slide into country and surf guitar. His voice possesses a sultry sweetness that enables him to convincingly pull off such standards as "All of Me" in ways they've never been performed before. (JK) THE TORIES OUTDOOR STAGE Choosing tongue-in-cheek whimsy over heart-on-sleeve whining, this pop band defies the hard-rock roots of its American turf. The vocals are clear, guitars undistorted and lyrics noticeably lacking in machismo; in other words, the Tories sound a bit British--hence the name. If you're looking for pompous Beatles pretensions or baggy Madchester party songs, however, look elsewhere. The Tories are simple and sincere, cleaner than a bleached sheet and more restrained than a stoner in a straitjacket. Quite nice, these lads. (JG) THE YA-YAHS ROSELAND This Seattle quartet is often compared to the Replacements. Members used to be in U-Man, Crow, Silly Killers and Green Apple Quick Step. In the past six months, the Ya-Yahs have become increasingly popular on the Seattle club circuit, often playing with hometown faves the Posies and Harvey Danger. (BD) 44 LONG SATYRICON Brian Berg, the frontman for the Portland band 44 Long, writes golden pop songs with splashes of genuine American rock and country. His choruses shimmer, especially on the wholesome, should-be hit "Irregular Heart." "Divine" sports a clippity- clack beat that exemplifies the band's rockabilly strengths. Instantly recognizable yet wholly original, the 10 timeless songs on 44 Long's Collect Them All (Schizophonic) shine with a rootsy glow. (AI) PLUM TONIC LOUNGE Imagine Pat Benatar fronting Jesus & Mary Chain. In a nutshell, that describes the rocking emotional vocals of lead singer Tina Mathis and the British-invasion style licks and rhythms of Plum. Not unlike the sweet-tasting fruit from which it takes its name, this Portland band has a hard-driving sound that conjures up images of dark, succulent colors. (JK) AIKO SHIMADA TUGBOAT BREWPUB Tokyo-born Seattle resident Aiko Shimada started playing music at the ripe age of 24. Since then, she has performed with Compass Rose, a folk-rock band, and Played Twice, a folk-jazz trio. These days, Shimada can be found shivering out ethereal folk songs with strong improvisational jazz leanings. She's currently in the midst of a national tour with Magdalen Hsu-Li that runs through November. (AI) J ELLIOTT UMBRA PENUMBRA Like many former punk rockers, Elliott still manages to wax creative in a variety of areas, including publishing, photography, visual arts and spoken-word performance. This fifth-generation Oregonian, who is half Nez Perce Indian, describes his poetry as "the stuff of life and death and all the little struggles of the individual amidst the world." He has played with such memorable bands as Spy vs. Spy, Babylon 2000 and Smegma. He stays in touch with the local music scene by representing several bands through Orbis, his artist management company. (SW)   8:30 PM EVA LAKE UMBRA PENUMBRA Lake is primarily known as a visual artist, but her talent has spilled over into the spoken-word realm. She has read her poetry from Portland to San Francisco to New York City, where she has also performed in musical theater. She has shown her visual art for 18 years; her next exhibit will be at the Portland chapter of the American Institute of Architects. (SW) 9 PM MEL ASH STREET SALOON There are so many Eddie Vedder vannabes [sic] these days, you'd think an entire generation had a congenital speech defect, causing them to pronounce every vowel like an R ("I see" comes out as "Ahhrrr seeeearrr"). Unfortunately, most of these boys can't sing; Pete Donnell from Mel can, though, and he's such a good impersonator that he makes Stone Temple Pilots sound as close to Pearl Jam as Barney the Dinosaur. The rest of Mel is equally adroit at creating the rousing crescendos and thoughtful pauses necessary to keep Donnell's emotional roller coaster at top rocking speed. (JG) CRUMB BERBATI'S PAN For a band whose members are barely of legal drinking age, crumb has more experience than most of its peers. The San Francisco quartet signed to Warner Bros.' Quest imprint and released its straightforward power-pop debut, Romance Is a Slow Dance, in 1996. That summer, the young lads found themselves playing a slew of third-stage Lollapalooza gigs. Despite all the action, crumb began living up to its name in that few noticed it existed. Freed from Warner, the quartet recently inked a deal with Red Ant and recorded a more fully realized album, Seconds...Minutes... Hours, which maintains the band's youthful exuberance and love of power chords but tacks on a folky ballad and some nifty mid-tempo tracks. Dare we say it?--It's a more mature effort. (RM) SMOKELAHOMA COBALT LOUNGE This band could almost pass for the Band around the time Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm and friends took in an injured Bob Dylan and jammed away the hours in the basement of Big Pink. Smokelahoma's roots-rock is more authentic than anything those progenitors are doing these days. The Seattle quintet writes strikingly proficient folksy tunes like "Yuma Arizona" and "Breath Mints & Broken Hearts," strumming out engaging melodies and peppering the music with expert guitar fills and the roiling sound of Danny Vegas' Hammond C-3. Also featuring (young) Dylanesque vocals and three-part harmonies, Smokelahoma may be one of the Northwest's best-kept secrets. (RM) RIVER CITY RAPISTS EJ'S This band has stirred some controversy in hometown Austin because of its name, but there's more to the River City Rapists than shock value. Fronted by Texas punk vet Derek Meyers, the old-school hardcore quartet also features John Motard (the Motards), Goose (the Phantom Creeps) and Doug Didjit (the Didjits and a new member of Gwar). Having fought off the occasional feminist protesters at its shows, the band will focus attention on promoting its new 10-inch on Man's Ruin. (RM) HAREBRAINED FLANDERS STREET BREWPUB Harebrained stirs up a violin version of "My Favorite Things" and revamps standards and waltzes to arrive at its repertoire. Most of the material hammered out by this local string quartet--guitar, mandolin, bass and violin--just sounds like twangy bluegrass in a jazzy brown paper package tied up with string. (CM) CAROL ROSSIO GREEN ONION Instead of turning to drugs or younger men, Carol Rossio reacted to a corporate layoff by having a productive mid-life crisis and jetting off to southern French paradise in Aix-en-Provence. She ditched her worldly possessions and pursued art and music in the lovely town and eventually became fluent enough to play clubs in Portland and Paris alike. Now she has an album, French Mix, an appropriate blend of English and French lyrics and a tangible result of her retreat. Rossio sings about life as a modern women with a good dose of knowing humor. (CM) LUCIE GAMELON JIMMY MAK'S Los Angeles buzz band Lucie Gamelon (the name comes from a Jane Bowles novella) stops in at NXNW on its way to a couple of Lilith Fair dates in late August. These invitations are the latest honors bestowed on the quartet, which has seen the accolades trickle in after the recent release of its debut six-song EP. Led by singer-songwriter-turned-frontwoman Blair Tefkin, Lucie Gamelon plays artful pop suffused with a darkly comic outlook ("There are dead people in my phone book," Tefkin sings in "The Enduring") and supported by Bernard Yin's textural guitar work. (RM) HADACOL KEY LARGO Led by brothers Greg and Fred Wickham, Hadacol is a Midwest roots-rock band that plays equal parts cowboy honky-tonk and dirty rock 'n' roll. Named after the alcoholic elixir that sponsored Hank Williams' 1940s radio show, the Missouri band recently released Pets and Fryers, its debut for Checkered Past Records. (AI) ILLYAH KURYAHKIN LALUNA Dean Wilson began his solo project after he'd reached the other side of 30, but he made up for lost time, immediately finding an audience for his meditative musical soliloquies in New York's hip Lower East Side scene. With a name taken from a mysterious character on the television program ancien, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Wilson recorded the warm and wily debut Count No Count (Arena Rock Recording Co.), a collection that somehow combines the fuzzed-out melodies of Guided by Voices, the darkly heady musings of Nick Cave and the lyrical acuteness that Michael Stipe had before he subscribed to Details. Illya Kuryakin takes a break from recording an anticipated follow-up to make this West Coast debut at NXNW. (RM) HERMAN JOLLY MISSION THEATER Sunset Valley's Herman Jolly recently began appearing solo. Following the release of his band's acclaimed debut, he emerged from his bedroom with a contemplative batch of Western Gothic tunes better suited to a stripped-down treatment. Sitting on a folding chair, guitar in hand, he silences the usually chatty crowds in Portland's rock clubs with inspired sets that accentuate his offbeat charm. His songs and lyrics wind their way through the seedier parts of the psyche but always steer onto smoother terrain (though Jolly still rides the bumps like a deranged bus driver).These songs betray Jolly as an urban singer who has no use for the city; he prefers to peer off into the woods or up toward the sky to see what's lurking. (RM) JIVE TALKIN' ROBOTS MOUNT TABOR PUB Everyone knows hippies like to think they're groovy, meaning they know how to "get down to the funky sound, brah." But everyone who's seen 'em dance knows the opposite is true. The guys in Jive Talkin' Robots, who've attracted a patchouli-scented following, are a different story. Tighter than a fat man's pants, yet loose enough to expand generously (incidentally, also like a fat man's pants), these guys bounce and pounce on fusion-funk with charisma and style. Lots of wah and way-out jams keep this rooted in the '70s, especially with that electric piano blipping in the background. And they can play like a mutha, brotha... Just leave the bellbottoms at home, please. (JG) EENIE MEENIE POKERFACE Vocalist/guitarist Denise Siegel (wife of Grant Lee Phillips of Grant Lee Buffalo) formed eenie meenie with bassist Kendra Sparks a few years back. Drummer David Lovering (ex-Pixies) signed on, and the band recorded an EP with help from Phillips and Medicine's Brad Laner. Siegel's wispy voice lends to a dreamy ambiance, but this L.A. trio genre skips, swaying into hip-hop, rock and pop. (JK) TERROR OF TINY TOWN ROCCO'S PIZZA It would be so cool if Terror of Tiny Town was, like the movie from which it takes its name, composed entirely of midgets. Alas, we'll have to settle for a gang of goofballs who play funny music with more variety than satellite dishes have channels. When I first saw the band in 1995, it was one of the most head-spinning shows I'd ever seen: What was that peculiar lyric? How can these songs all be so different? Whose bizarre idea is this, anyway? Even long after the sounds faded from my brain, I never forgot the band. If nothing else, Terror of Tiny Town represents a triumph of personality. (JG) SLOW GAS HEATER ROSELAND With a voice uncannily like Chris Cornell's, Dominic Garcia leads this Seattle quartet through a musical journey that's a little bit grunge and a little bit Star Trek. Occasionally lapsing into Radiohead-like dramatic highs and lows, Slow Gas Heater possesses a sound that is very "Seattle." (JK) BLACKFIRE SANDOVAL'S Arizona's favorite Native-American skacore band carries a sociopolitical message within its scorching tunes. Consisting of three siblings from the Benally family, Blackfire has traveled around the country and to Europe to spread its peaceful yet urgent philosophy and to sing out against tyranny and repression. (RM) PETE KREBS SATYRICON One of Portland's most beloved musical figures, Pete Krebs is challenged only by Elliott Smith as the town's favorite singer-songwriter. His acousti-country folk tunes are touching, emotional and a bit more forceful than Smith's delicacies yet maintain the confessional quietness that makes both so accessible to listeners. His membership in the rootsy bluegrass band Golden Delicious has increased his popularity, giving Krebs a chance to fill his songs with expanded instrumentation. Still, it's as a solo performer that he shines most: just him and a guitar and an honest attitude. (JG) LYNDAL CONTROL THE SPOT With a raging vocal style that ought to have Henry Rollins scampering off to the gym to pump up his vocal chords, Lyndal Control reveals an angry punk edge. Offset by slower, melodic bridges building up to an angst-ridden crescendo, Lyndal Control may leave you wondering where you put those Black Flag albums. (JK) TEXAS TERRI AND THE STIFF ONES STAGE 4 THEATER The Rolling Stones had blues roots. So did the Stooges, New York Dolls and Heartbreakers. Yet what put those bands over the top was a sleazy, greasy, gutter-minded attitude that gave their music spunk (no pun intended). Add to the list Texas Terri and the Stiff Ones, a female-led Hollywood scum-punk band whose mutual love of rock that was more trashy than splashy united them as a force for good, battling the evil sunny-faced music most associated with Southern California. Being on the wrong side of the scene seemed like a good idea to them, and I have to agree. (JG) DRIVE TONIC LOUNGE This Eugene quartet recently materialized from nowhere, beaming onto Portland stages and effortlessly gliding through sets of alternately pretty and gritty rock. Constructing sonic layers with violin, guitar, bass, drums and male-female vocal interplay, Drive delivers confident, complex songs that skirt around the alt-rock field and into a less crowded territory where art meets music and morphs into an accessible sonic treat. (RM) JEN WOOD TUGBOAT BREWPUB As one-half of the delicate duo Tattle Tale, Jen Wood staked her claim among a stable of up-and-coming Northwest folk performers without tumbling into the oft-bland coffee house circuit. As a solo artist, the young singer has moved to the forefront with her debut album, Getting Past the Static (Win), an aquatic collection of pouty--but not self-pitying--tracks bathed in cerulean vocals and glimmering flashes of violin, acoustic guitar and mandolin. (KO) DOUG SPANGLE UMBRA PENUMBRA This globe-trotting poet has spent his entire life in exotic locations. From Turkey to Germany to Wisconsin, Spangle's travels have inspired countless poems that have been published in countless journals. Now firmly settled in Portland, he's an editor for Rain City Review and covers poetry for Anodyne. When he's not immersed in poetry, Spangle is a Maritime Traffic Coordinator at the Portland Marine Exchange. (SW) HEAVY JOHNSON TRIO ZOOT SUITE For some reason (El Niño, maybe? global warming?), the hardcore riff-rock scene has evaporated across the region. Once was a time when muscle-strained guitar gods reigned over this town, wresting tense streams of noise from uncooperative equipment, but now they're practically extinct. Fortunately, there's one band with the strength to survive, howling triumphant after the strenuous battle: the Heavy Johnson Trio. This feisty foursome (not threesome, as you may have guessed) sinks its claws into meaty slabs of sound and doesn't let go until the beast has been leashed. This rock-and-roar dinosaur is invincible, so don't mess. (JG) 9:30 PM DAVID CHELSEA UMBRA PENUMBRA Who would have thought that a cartoonist for the New York Observer was a closet spoken-word performer? Chelsea, author of the graphic novel David Chelsea in Love, admits to late-night escapades during which he "becomes a word man, a cowboy poet without a horse, swooping into the downtown poetry clubs to give the underground a taste of rhymed tetrameter." (SW) 10 PM THE HARLOTS ASH STREET SALOON Someone call Bill Gates and tell him he spent way too much money buying that Rolling Stones song. Doesn't he know the Harlots are twice as catchy and half as costly as those washed-up wrinklies? This Portland band could've started him up with style, but no, he didn't bother to hear its punky rock'n'roll party tunes. He missed out on the Harlots' image-enhancing fashion presence, their youth-demographic glamour, their...well, everything. Don't get stuck in nostalgia for ancient faces; catch the new wave of the old sound. (JG) YOGI BERBATI'S PAN With multi-part harmonies and dramatic-voiced lead singer Jamie Hadley--who's often compared to Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley in the British press--Yogi doesn't crunch and crash like many of its Brit-pop brethren. The quartet from Glasgow, Scotland, jingles and jangles its way through songs about love and life in a way that's similar to countrymen Del Amitri, though with a bit more zing. The latest tracks will soon be released on the band's second full-length and its first as Yogi--a previous album and some EPs were issued under the name Big Wednesday. (RM) WIT WOO COBALT LOUNGE With a signature song that celebrates a garment, "Lucky Scarf," it's no surprise that Seattle's Wit Woo has a Weezeresque sound. The quartet's self-released five-song EP has call-and-response vocal harmonies, super-sized hooks, fuzzy-wuzzy guitars and a potent dose of wackiness. There's a 38-second grunge-pop tune called "I'd Like to See You Naked in the Kitchen Makin' Bacon" and a song in which the narrator walks through the grocery store and has imagined conversations with chicken parts and iced clams. If the year-old band's material were a bit catchier, the songs would be funnier. As it is now, Wit Woo's an above-average power-pop band with a healthy, if adolescent, sense of humor. (RM) EARTHLINGS? EJ'S Featuring a couple of hot-shot producers and a guitarist who got his start with the late, great Tex and the Horseheads, earthlings? channel distant planets and report the various pop, punk and rock transmissions emitted from outer space. The band recorded its debut far from society in the California desert near Joshua Tree, and the album recently hit the shelves via the charmingly named Crippled Dick Hot Wax label. Too diverse to be dismissed as a space-rock band, earthlings? shouldn't have a problem finding an audience with aliens and terrestrials alike. (RM) GREAT NORTHERN PLANES FLANDERS STREET BREWPUB This Portland quartet is more likely to be found at state or country fairs than in the city's rock clubs, but the ace musicians are stepping out to play their laid-back traditional bluegrass. With a banjo, guitar, stand-up bass and mandolin, the Great Northern Planes strum out appealing tunes rendered in multi-part harmonies as proficient as any barbershop quartet's. After a series of missteps, the band finally released its debut CD last year and hinted at the struggle by calling it the Great Northern Planes Long Awaited CD. (RM) FREIGHT TRAIN CASANOVA GREEN ONION Portland's answer to Tom Waits presents an array of hectic, eclectic songs heavy on percussion and gruff vocals, augmented with such varied instrumentation as sax, accordion and cello. (JG) MARC OLSEN JIMMY MAK'S Marc Olsen's tremulous voice often sounds dangerously close to cracking, but gorgeous fills of pedal steel, violin and Dobro patch up the fissures before the singer's world comes crashing down. Olsen's world is a sepia-toned labor camp where the narrators work hard, sweating through layers of dust, only to get home and discover a "Dear John" letter in an empty shack. (KO) THE FLATIRONS KEY LARGO Climb off of that pile of hay, spit out that wad of chewing gum and make sure your red gingham shirt is starched and clean, because the Flatirons are coming to play a show for you and yours. Hearkening back to the days when country and swing were the hippest things going, this young Portland band knows that crying in your whiskey won't make a lost lover return, but it will make the ache feel that much better. (AI) TRACK STAR LALUNA Two guitarist-vocalists and a frenetic drummer make up this staple San Francisco band. Track Star specializes in the loud/soft thing, alternating between sensitive, melodic ditties and screaming dirges. On vinyl the trio is catchy; live, it's addictive. One rabid fan even started a 'zine about the band called Wyatt Riot after one of the members. Track Star has sold out shows along the West Coast and has packed several all-ages venues in Portland. (BD) CHAD CROUCH MISSION THEATER When Chad Crouch isn't occupied exposing local singer-songwriters to audiences via his upstart Hush label, the strapping young vocalist and guitarist appears in coffeehouses and rock clubs to pour out his heart in plaintively strummed songs. A prolific visual artist, he decorates his frequent releases in starkly designed packages that hint at the music within, finely detailed narrative tunes that bask in the glow of such influences as Elliott Smith, Rex and Red House Painters. (RM) MARGINAL PROPHETS MOUNT TABOR PUB If you've ever read Keith Knight's "K Chronicles" cartoon strip (in Portland's Anodyne and elsewhere), you've already gotten into the Marginal Prophets' groove: idiosyncratic, irreverent and very fun. Knight (who's K2 in the Prophets) and his partner-on-the-mic, the Noble Def G, don't get too stressed about being the dopest G's in the hood, sporting tats and gats and sippin' gin 'n' juice to be cool; they'll party with anyone. Their funky deep beats are guaranteed to get the joint busting, while the samples test your cultural knowledge--was that really Men Without Hats I heard? Sweet. (JG) CARMINA PIRANHA POKERFACE Earlier this year, the five females in Carmina Piranha used their estrogen-enhanced voices to create a dramatic rock opera, Revenge Poems, commissioned as the score for an original work by the Oregon Ballet Theater. The songs on Revenge Poems are all beautiful and evocative of warm Latin evenings filled with gaudy-smelling gardenias and dark-haired women. The band's sardonic edge separates it from many of its female contemporaries. (BD) JOEY KLINE & THE STRIKE 3 ROCCO'S PIZZA Joey Kline, who fronted Seattle's peculiar pop-punk act the Squirrels, unveils his latest project. JK & the Strike 3 also features ex-Scruffy the Cat bassist Macpaul Stanfield, ex-Sister Psychic drummer John Fleischman and a guitarist-pianist who goes by the name Plastic Dick. The newly minted group promises a kooky yet competent blend of rock, R&B and country-pop. (RM) CRIME FAMILY ROSELAND Filled with familiar names from the Seattle scene, Crime Family is composed of ex-members of Swallow, Creep, the Bun Family Players, Sport-O and Flood. Reminiscent of the hard punk days of yore, Crime Family delivers definitive rock 'n' roll, with fast-paced guitar and drums and heavy, hearty vocals. Tossing grunge and "alternative" rock out the window, Crime Family is punk at its best. (JK) HUMBLE BUMS SANDOVAL'S Eclectic as a patchwork quilt, Austin's Humble Bums are more aptly described as a musical collective than a band. The six players claim a varied range of influences from Blind Melon and the Sugarcubes to Tito Puente and Santana. (BD) SPLIT LIP RAYFIELD SATYRICON Lately it seems bands opt either for no bass or for a stand-up. Wichita's Split Lip Rayfield takes the latter route, with a homemade one-stringed, gas-tank version. Grungy vocals are put to better use here than in Pearl Jam--they sound much less pretentious over a banjo on songs like "Coffee" and "Outlaw." In their hometown these insurgent country boys are nicknamed "The Devil Went Down to Kansas." (BD) DIRT NAP THE SPOT Listening to Below the Speed of Sound, it's obvious that Dirt Nap has studied the methods of its Chicago brethren well. One moment the band is delicately ringing with post-rock prettiness, then it spins into a vortex of tempestuous, fuzz'n'feedback emocore. It's a vertiginous mix that's as unnerving as it is unpredictable. I think the band's foamy sonic shampoo even cured my dandruff. I'm not sure about its choice of name, however--Dirt Nap is definitely alive and kicking like a just-woken war horse. (JG) DOORSLAMMER STAGE 4 THEATER This Los Angeles punk-pop band recently released a debut on Prisoner of Consciousness Records and has been receiving extensive radio airplay--in Wisconsin. Lead vocalist and bassist Todd Westover hails from the Cheese State, where programmers have taken to Doorslammer like cows to a wheatfield. But Westover and his three-piece backing band now must make it in the more competitive SoCal scene, and they're well on their way. (RM) SEXY DEATH SODA TONIC LOUNGE Whether acting the part of a whimsical Brit-pop band or a catchy rock unit, Sexy Death Soda puts songcraft first. That's why the Los Angeles quintet's compositions operate around circular melodies that recall the playfulness of XTC one moment and the walkin'-on-a-wire tunefulness of the La's the next. On its Bong Load debut, California Police State, Sexy Death Soda also pumps out the odd garage track and even a song that can only be described as a New-Wave samba, the delightfully weird "Janitor Strike." (RM) NANCY HESS TUGBOAT BREWPUB This Californian-turned-Portlander recently released one of the surprise local albums of the year, Away (Vilanelle). Hess plays mature, aching pop, but she doesn't hesitate to dip into rock for some gritty accouterments. Using full-band arrangements and a crack squad of studio musicians, the sweet-voiced, adept guitarist crafts songs with a subtle stylishness comparable to Lisa Germano and achieves moments of shimmering, refined beauty. (RM) DAVID HEDGES UMBRA PENUMBRA Out-of-towners who long to see a real Pacific Northwest treehugger need look no further. Hedges is heavily involved in environmental activism, and his passion emerges in his poetry. His published work includes the collections Petty Frogs on the Potomac and The Wild Bunch. Besides writing poetry, fiction and essays, he serves as president of the Oregon State Poetry Association. (SW) MARVEL KIND ZOOT SUITE With about a dozen instruments and a similarly sprawling musical outlook, Marvel Kind is the very definition of expansive. The Chicago quintet's '98 debut, MK Mini (Throwrug), confronted listeners with brash passages of pulsating rock and meditative pop excursions. Known in the Windy City for its frenetic live shows, this band is primed to turn on listeners from coast to coast with dizzying improvisations and manically composed sonic tricks and treats. (RM) 10:30 PM BARBARA LAMORTICELLA UMBRA PENUMBRA Radio fans may recognize LaMorticella's voice as that of the host of the Talking Earth show on KBOO, Portland's community radio station. Her poetry collection, Rain on Waterless Mountain, was nominated for an Oregon Book Award, and her work has been anthologized in places like the local Poetry in Motion campaign. She lives in a shack in the woods outside Portland. (SW) 11PM MICHAEL ALLEN HARRISON ALEXANDER'S He may look like the improbable spawn of Don Henley and Kenny G, but it's the way he plays piano that has made Michael Allen Harrison a household name in Portland. This classically trained musician knows how to carve a cheerful melody out of the ivories, and his pop-jazz delicacies have won a throng of dedicated fans in the profitable adult-contemporary market. If he so chose, world domination would be just a Windham Hill contract away. (JG) THE BELLRAYS ASH STREET SALOON If the MC5 had been fronted by Tina Turner in 1977, the result might have sounded something like the Bellrays. The Los Angeles quartet is fronted by a punky, funky diva named Lisa Leilani Franklin, and she leads her troupe through blistering three-chord rock madness and tantalizing forays into '60s-era soul. The band's full-length debut, Let It Blast (Vital Gesture), is due to be released sometime this year. (RM) LAUNDRY BERBATI'S PAN This tenacious power trio features former Primus drummer Tim Alexander. Laundry's 1994 debut, Black Tongue, was released on Les Claypool's Prawn Song label. Not surprisingly, the band's music rides a rolling tide of boom and bass. (JG EX-GIRL COBALT LOUNGE One of the brightest lights on Japan's post-punk horizon, EX-Girl shrieks and slices up sounds, then molds them into haunting, angular mood pieces that share qualities with bands like Buffalo Daughter and Blonde Redhead. The three women ignore typical pop frameworks, instead playing in offbeat time signatures that range from plodding to explosive. Along with the originals on EX-Girl's debut, Heppoco Pon, there's possibly the weirdest version of James Brown's "Sex Machine" ever recorded, with cut-and-paste rhythms and squealing vocals. Throughout the record, the band augments its guitar/bass/drum lineup with electronic and toy instrumentation and, rather ominously, what they refer to in the liner notes as "metal." It may not be pretty, but it's certainly different. (RM) HAI KARATE EJ'S There is a trail of empty beer cans across the Northwest, and the heathens responsible for it call themselves Hai Karate. Once they disguised themselves as members of Gas Huffer, the Putters and others, but when their livers needed sustenance they united for some cheap-drunk, three-chord cow-punk (kinda like the Supersuckers without the stupid Satan schtick). Why question if it's original? '57 Chevy ragtops are 40 years old and still cool. Pabst isn't passe, and it's over 100 years old; Levi's is 150. Hai Karate--and I--dare you to disagree. Losers buy first round. (JG) MARK ALAN INSLEY FLANDERS STREET BREWPUB Meshing bluegrass and rock, Mark Insley cultivates a sound reminiscent of Dwight Yoakam's country brilliance. (JK) ALLON BEAUSOLEIL GREEN ONION Obvious comparisons can be made between local songwriter Allon Beausoleil and pop icon Beck. Both use absurd nonsensical lyrics, electronic beats and traditional instruments (Beck favors the acoustic guitar, Beausoleil the sitar), and both rely heavily on pop-culture and drug references to accentuate their wit. ("Walt Disney's favorite porno house/was bought and killed by Mickey Mouse," sings Beausoleil in his song "Head Full of Glitter.") While many of Beck's songs are filled with a hard-nosed cynicism that borders on nihilism, Allon's songs are saturated with soft-minded mysticism and New-Agey rhetoric. The result is an often whimsical display of clever songwriting that's both light-hearted and easy to dance to. (DK) LAEL ALDERMAN JIMMY MAK'S It's been an eventful year for this young Eugene singer-songwriter. Not long after recording his first demo, Lael Alderman found himself in Los Angeles, gettin' a-courted by nearly a dozen major label execs, who recognized the musician's ability to turn a song into an emotional wrecking ball. He signed with Geffen, which will next year introduce Alderman's lissome, effervescent and slightly rootsy tunes to an unsuspecting public. Recently he toured with regional neighbors Marigold and the American Girls in his first shows outside the comfy confines of his hometown. (RM) WALTER SALAS-HUMARA KEY LARGO Walter Salas-Humara has frequently denied labeling his music "roots rock," insisting he's more urbane than that. It's an understandable point since, like fellow New Yorker Chris Whitley, he can conjure images of both weather vanes and skyscrapers or midnight cowboys hustling the city streets. His latest outing with the Silos, Heater, strengthens his case by uniting classic country guitar sounds with distorted drums and the occasional artsy sound effect. It's a true talent that an indie-rocker can seem so schizoid while maintaining a definite personality. (JG) VOLUME ALL-STARS LALUNA This Seattle trio features some of the folks behind the fine Slabco label, which has released records by Land of the Loops and Sukpatch. Along the same lines as these acts, Volume All-Stars uses samples, tape loops, live instrumentation and female voices to portray their whimsical pop sensibility. (RM) JIM GREER MISSION THEATER No, this is not the same Jim Greer who writes for Spin. Yes, it's the guy who plays keyboards for Tipsy and Dr. Octagon. No, his solo work isn't electronic. Yes, it's singer-songwriter solo-pop. No, it doesn't suck, 'cause he's got a unique vision, a talent for idiosyncratic arrangements utilizing toy organs, de-tuned pianos, accordions and the like. Yes, you'll like it, especially if you enjoy imagining a pow-wow between Ben Folds, Jonathan Richman, Michael Penn and Cake. And yes, the incessantly quirky melodies will stick in your head like chewing gum in hair. (JG) POSITIVE SOUND MASSIVE PRESENTS MOUNT TABOR PUB The Positive Sound Massive record label--an imprint from California dedicated to producing reggae and dub--is sponsoring nine dancehall, dub-inspired, hip-hop and reggae groups from San Francisco and Oakland. The New Dealers, Jah Warrior Shelter Hi-Fi, Stand Out Selector, DJ Barry, Rocker T, Jamalski, Grandson Demus, Wookie J, Jr. Robby and DJ SOS are scheduled to play. This showcase will give Portland a sampling of just about every sub-genre of reggae, from roots to jungle-infused DJs. Jamalski--a one-time member of New York's legendary Boogie Down Productions--supposedly performed with KRS-One back in the day, which is reason enough to see him. (DK) JANA McCALL POKERFACE The brown Platteville that is Ellensburg, Wash., is best known for three things: the staunch smell of slaughterhouses pervading the air near the interstate; the Screaming Trees; and one helluva Labor Day rodeo. Anyone who spends a winter in E-burg probably endures it with numerous Prozac cocktails. Jana McCall's short stay in Cow Pie City was good fodder for her love-and-death songwriting themes. Like her Up Records labelmate Mike Johnson, McCall stays close to the slow and muddy banks of life; if Gillette really checked its demographics, her pining voice could be the selling point in the company's twin-blade razor commercials. (KO) THE IMPS ROCCO'S PIZZA Chico, Calif., popsters the Imps are the resident workaholics of the sleepy, redwood-peppered city, spilling forth their nympholeptic sonics in the form of tongue-in-cheek ditties like "Disease Named After Me" and "Vegetarian Lesbian." The band's growing notoriety has been largely responsible for luring more metropolitan rock acts like Creeper Lagoon and Satan's Pilgrims to the tranquil town's venues. (KO) COMB*OVER ROSELAND When you hear this band's thoroughly sarcastic songs--such as "Would You Sleep with Me for Money?" and "Me, I Hate Everything"--you may want to come at Comb*Over with your defenses up. Musically, Comb*Over has a hard, driving sound nearly slipping into the genre of surf guitar. (JK) OMAR TORREZ BAND SANDOVAL'S As one of eight finalists in the Jimi Hendrix National Guitar Competition, 27-year-old Torrez and his trio of players brought the crowd at the Seattle Center's Opera House to its feet with a rendition of "Little Wing." The group combines rock, funk and blues with bits of flamenco and Afro-Carribean rumba into a highly danceable melange. (BD) GRIEVOUS ANGELS SATYRICON Now this is more like it: insurgent country that actually surges forth with genuine energy. Most of these No Depression bands are so bad it's incredibly depressing--even the much-worshipped Wilco can't be forgiven for occasionally sounding like the Grateful Dead. The Grievous Angels, on the other hand, manage to convey the sadness of good country with the glad madness of rock. They look like college boys, so the white-trash twang may be a bit contrived, but when they cover the Sex Pistols' "Bodies" (the hidden track on their New City of Sin CD) all is forgiven. (JG) PAVE THE ROCKET THE SPOT When I think of brother-and-sister duos, Donny and Marie are first in mind. Thank goodness there's Pave The Rocket to blast those unwanted memories from my brain. This St. Louis quartet, led by Stacey House (guitar) and her brother Jason (vocals, guitar), recently unleashed Taken In on Deep Elm Records, and it showcases more sharp chords than there are children in the entire Osmond family. Whether the band's cruising gently along in whispered emocore mode or motoring in the Fugazi fast lane, Pave The Rocket has got the goods under the hood to pass everyone else on the indie-rock freeway. Get on board or be left in the dust. (JG) BACKBITER STAGE 4 THEATER Underground credibility-establishing factoids: The folks of Backbiter are former members of Clawhammer, the Angry Samoans and the obscure Porno Sponges. They've ditched the punk community, though, in favor of a full-on move to Rawk City. In this once-bustling metropolis (now reduced to a few hardy denizens), towering erections are built riff by steely riff, then outfitted with glistening cymbal crashes, shivering vibrato vocals and serpentine guitar solos. Occasionally throbbing organs help increase the length, er, height of these monuments to classic rock. (JG) POOLSIDE TONIC LOUNGE After years of playing its forceful post-punk as Sidecar, this quartet recently adopted a new tag to appease a veteran act from back east with a prior claim to the name. Now known as Poolside, the Portland band will soon release its long-awaited debut for Bong Load. Vocalist and guitarist Mike Wu leads the four-piece through a post-punk landscape, with chopped-up and spit-out riffs that bounce around between bass, synthesizer and syncopated drums. Taking cues from Sonic Youth, Gang of Four and Seam, Poolside creates thinking feller's rock that slashes but never burns. (RM) THE GREEN & YELLOW TV TUGBOAT BREWPUB This upstart Los Angeles quartet has already developed such a convincing punchy pop sound that it's a contender for next buzz band even in its infancy. The sturdy guitar-driven melodies and inventive songcraft suggest that soon we'll all be watching Green and Yellow TV. (RM) DAN RAPHAEL UMBRA PENUMBRA Raphael has endeared himself to Portland's cultural community by undertaking a quest to publish chapbooks by as many local poets as possible. His resulting 26 Books series of poetry collections has immortalized--or at least publicized--a boatload of regional talent. Raphael describes his own work as the result of "encounters with the energy of language in that large body in these strange times." (SW) ¡CARADURA! ZOOT SUITE One of this year's most welcome acknowledgements of a new genre is Rock en Español, which the music industry finally began to notice when faced with steadily increasing sales of Spanish rock records. One of the category's up and comers is Caradura, a seven-piece ensemble from Watsonville, Calif., that comes complete with the catch phrase musica sin filtro, or "music without a filter." This means Caradura slips between ska, punk and ranchero without sticking to a set style. (RM) 11:30 PM JOHN SHIRLEY UMBRA PENUMBRA Trekkies will be pleased to note that multi-talented Shirley has written scripts for Deep Space Nine. Literary aficionados will certainly admire his many books, including his latest, Black Butterflies, which his publisher describes as "the dark side of the dark side." And punk rockers will remember him for his contribution to the genre as frontman for such bands as Sadonation and the Monitors. (SW) MIDNIGHT DODI ASH STREET SALOON This upstart Seattle quintet features ex-members of Pure Joy and the Walkabouts, but it has quickly developed a sound of its own. Led by charismatic vocalist Archie O'Conner, Dodi plays trickling New-Wave-informed pop constructed from fuzz guitar, pulsing and syncopated rhythms and rich keyboard sounds. O'Conner sings with an amiable snarl, imparting surreal lyrics that'd bring a mustache to the Mona Lisa's taciturn lips. The band's demo includes an irony-tinged, hook-filled nursery rhyme of a song called "Quiverpuss" that's already mustered airplay in Seattle. We'll probably be hearing more of this offbeat band on the radio in the near future. (RM) ROLLERBALL BERBATI'S PAN With every passing hour, the deep space voyagers of Portland's Rollerball drift farther into the unknown, the synth-pop structures of their early days dissolving in the band's acidic personality. Experimentations in sound lead them into increasingly darker voids, areas of music where free-jazz trumpet bleats meet creepy keyboards, and whispering voices pirouette around weaving basslines. You will not hear another band at North by Northwest (or anywhere else) like Rollerball because they are a singular entity, a nebula of noise where newborn stars erupt into life. (JG) THE COUNTRYPOLITANS COBALT LOUNGE They call themselves the Countrypolitans, and country music they do play. Sticking mainly to originals, this Portland band occasionally throws in an homage to such heroes as Merle Haggard. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Elisabeth Ames' style recalls the 1950s, when country greats like Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells and Loretta Lynn ruled the airwaves. Rounding out the Countrypolitans' lineup is Roger Conley on upright bass, Geoff Clarkson on lead guitar and Pete Burak on steel guitar. (AI) THE STREETWALKIN' CHEETAHS EJ'S The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs frequent a thriving intersection where punk, pop, garage and glam converge, and where each green light brings a burst of flailing guitars, Iggyfied vocals and high-octane rhythms. The Los Angeles quartet's late-'97 full-length Overdrive (Alive) teems with thick guitar squalls and turns corners with the smoothness of a vintage Jaguar (the car, not the guitar). Borrowing its name from a line in a Stooges song, the Streetwalkin' Cheetahs take the Motor City sound a couple of steps further. Punk fans are advised to follow in their path. (RM) DANNY BARNES FLANDERS STREET BREWPUB Banjo maestro Danny Barnes just keeps getting busier. Since his appearance at last year's NXNW, he's written and recorded a forthcoming album as frontman for the Bad Livers, composed and performed the score for Richard Linklater's The Newton Boys and worked extensively on his solo material. A whimsical songwriter with a memorable voice that gives away his Texas roots, Barnes sings and plays banjo with an irresistible charm and irrefutable talent. (RM) MICHAEL STIRLING GREEN ONION Few people can call themselves masters of the didjeridu; Michael Stirling is an exception. Capable of coaxing wondrous music out of this hollow limb, the Portland world-music stalwart has turned this instrument of the Australian Aborigines into an artistic extension of himself. (JK) GARY HEFFERN JIMMY MAK'S Gary Heffern's raspy voice shows he's been through a lot, from gigs with early '80s punk bands to cutting a record (Painful Days) with Peter Buck and Victoria Williams. Since he moved to Seattle years back, Heffern has split his time as a singer/songwriter and spoken-word performer. (BD) THE OLD JOE CLARKS KEY LARGO Mike Coykendall has got one of those adenoidal voices that instantly recalls Bob Dylan and Tom Petty, so it's a good thing that he, too, knows how to write moody, heartfelt odes to the nation's dispossessed. His songs, as recorded with the Old Joe Clarks on Town of Ten, are mellow and melancholy, like strolling slowly down a dirt path, humming to yourself and feeling the beat of the heartland. A minor chord strums in your mind, then is joined by a weeping fiddle, slide guitar and banjo. Though the surroundings may be bleak, the music is always there, wrapping you in warmth and cutting the cruel wind to a quiet chill. (JG) CREEPER LAGOON LALUNA When rattlesnake-like samples introduce Creeper Lagoon's glitzy "Dear Deadly," it's a deceptively pragmatic beginning to a violent end. Like many of the Bay Area quartet's skulking rock-plus songs, "Dear Deadly" hits white-water rapids when high-tech meets traditional; "Sell your shit for any price," taunts Ian Sefchick, an odd thing to verbalize since both the Dust Brothers and DreamWorks count Creeper Lagoon among their stable of newbies. Regardless, the four-piece sculpts premium mood rock without bowing to mawkish pseudo-angst. (KO) JOEL R.L. PHELPS MISSION THEATER When Joel Phelps left Silkworm just before the band signed to Matador, many in Seattle's rock community questioned his judgment. He answered with an understated gem of a solo debut, Warm Springs Night, on which he sounded like the embodiment of a streetlight that shines through the mist and illuminates a lonely scene. With an evocative voice that zigzags through the middle and higher registers, Phelps delivers striking tunes that catalog desperate hope and hopeful despair. He's recently released an EP and a full-length, 3 (Pacifico), with his Downer Trio, making his early critics listen in awe. (RM) THE MAROONS POKERFACE This mainstay of Portland's pop scene features some accomplished, talented players. Guitarists John Moen and Jim Talstra once held up the rhythm end of the Dharma Bums, bassist John Cox moonlights in Satans Pilgrims and Moen has also been a fill-in drummer for Heatmiser, the Spinanes and, most recently, Sunset Valley. Now, Moen refocuses his attention on fronting the Maroons and strumming through a set of affecting melodies, tight-as-an-OJ-glove rhythms and the type of sensitive-guy vocals that could make young ladies swoon. (RM) KIND OF LIKE SPITTING ROCCO'S PIZZA Kind of Like Spitting definitely belongs in the "sad, gloomy boy" music category, which is not a bad thing. The band's mysteriously unnamed frontman revels in writing and performing pensive indie rock tinged with quiet desperation. In fact, the lead singer's strained voice and the simple-but-solid guitar playing make the acoustic ballads about unrequited love, loneliness and failed relationships almost heartbreaking, even though the subject matter of the songs is common territory. The guys in Kind of Like Spitting seem to know exactly what they like (gloomy songs about love), and have chosen to perfect that genre rather than experiment with eclectic sounds. (DK) 10 MINUTE WARNING ROSELAND Nirvana is gone. Soundgarden bit the dust. And Candlebox always sucked. Is grunge, that Seattle amalgam of hardcore and dirty rock, finally dead? No way. Not while 10 Minute Warning is still playing. This five-piece pioneered the crossover of punk and metal way back in the early '80s, then took a 15-year breather while the members moved on to bigger things (such as Guns'n'Roses and Green River). Now they're back to prove the old formula still works, to show that a bitchin' riff and blasting roar can rock your socks--not cocks--off. After all the post-Pearl Jam white-boy whiners that have been shoved down our throats, 10 Minute Warning sounds refreshingly real. (JG) CHRIS COMBETTE SANDOVAL'S Born in French Guyana, Combette grew up on the Caribbean island of Martinique. Not surprisingly, his virtuoso guitar playing explores nautical musical styles like reggae, salsa and calypso. Singing in French, English and Creole, Combette won the best composer prize in Martinique and has played on albums with a variety of musicians. (BD) RICHMOND FONTAINE SATYRICON The countrified punk ponderings of Portland's Richmond Fontaine have left more than a few souls shaking in the wake. The soul that comes across in singer Willy Vlautin's corn-fed, rusty voice is as real and genuine as the day is long. While Richmond Fontaine most certainly has that alt-country sound and feel, the stuff this band puts forth is as rich and textured as an old wool blanket, as evidenced on the band's duo of albums on Cavity Search. (AI) MAGSTATIC THE SPOT Magstatic, from the Mormon HQ of Salt Lake City, makes the kind of sappy-in-a-happy-way pop that hasn't been heard since the demise of Material Issue. Terrance's vocals transmit a charming naïveté that makes you want to buy him a soda pop--or maybe his first beer, if he were younger--and his songs are as simple and direct as a kid asking for candy. A fully productive member of adult society, however, he adds just a dash of salt (probably licked from a certain local lake) to the proceedings to make it spicy enough for mature consumers. (JG) THE CARTELS STAGE 4 THEATER There are the refined things in life--champagne and caviar, Renaissance art and classical music--and then there are the Cartels. These Canadian troublemakers are to America what Rancid is to Britain: enthusiastic students of style. Only the Cartels idolize Cadillacs and hair pomade instead of scooters and mohawks. The music, however, is similar late-'70s punk, lots of singalong choruses and songs about being bored and misanthropic. Enjoyable proof that Budweiser and bowling translate equally well north of the border. (JG) JR. HIGH TONIC LOUNGE As frontman for Crackerbash and Moustache, Sean Croghan displayed endless amounts of spastic energy. But there's more to the man than simple punk rockitude--he's a pretty good songwriter to boot, a skill that shines in Jr. High. Croghan's songs realize what might happen if Elvis Costello, XTC's Andy Partridge and Bob Dylan sat around the kitchen table, sharing licks and lyrical tricks. Then there are the hooks, sharp but tempered with a wry smile that winks slyly as it passes. Kinda like Sean himself, in fact. (JG) HEEND TUGBOAT BREWPUB This Seattle-by-way-of-Olympia trio plays mostly improvisational rock, and musicians Terry Parks (bass), Andrew Woods (guitar) and Adrian Woods (percussion) say they're adept at any number of styles. The band's self-released debut CD, 13, backs up their claim, sashaying through fusion, hard rock, pop and prog in seamless, sprawling jams that recall Zappa and, at times, King Crimson. (RM) WALT CURTIS UMBRA PENUMBRA Portland's quintessential poet has entertained and outraged audiences for three decades. Curtis will try anything in his performances and help any struggling writer to achieve the same sort of insane nirvana that fuels his own creative drive. He has written countless collections of poetry and prose. Another Portland celebrity, Gus Van Zant, adapted Curtis' book Mala Noche for his first feature film. (SW) LOS MOCOSOS ZOOT SUITE Another ska-tinged entry into the Rock En Español sweepstakes, Los Mococos is a San Francisco ensemble that's aligned itself with the reputable Aztlan label. (RM) 12:30 AM PENNY ARCADE UMBRA PENUMBRA If the spoken-word portion of NXNW has a headliner, this woman is it. Arcade has been shaking the performance-art world since her salad days in New York during the '60s, when she wowed Warhol and worked in John Vaccaro's Playhouse of the Ridiculous. Over the years, her solo and group performances have delighted and offended audiences all over the world with such titles as BITCH!DYKE!FAGHAG!WHORE! and A Cunt Is a Useful Thing. Her books include Verses That Hurt, Out of Character and Please Kill Me. Incredibly, her Portland performance marks her West Coast première. She will be accompanied by her collaborator, Chris Rael, one of the country's more unique Indian musicians. (SW) 1 AM DOWNER ASH STREET SALOON Wrestling with Jesus, Downer's recent debut on Ammunition, begins with an apt if poorly structured message from gravel-voiced vocalist John Scott: "Anybody wants to get mellow you can turn around and get the fuck out of here, all right?" The Orange County hard-rock quartet proceeds to decimate any trace of melody that may have carried over from the songwriting process, cranking out alternately speedy and sludgy music that's reminiscent of Whiplash-era Metallica and any of Alice in Chains' MTV hits. But Downer doesn't settle for a blatant in-your-face style. One of its songs juxtaposes an acoustic guitar riff against industrial screeches, and the band changes speeds regularly to prevent the music from falling into a monotonous drone. It's not quite thinking man's metal, but it's a lot more thoughtful than the usual monsters of rock approach. (RM) MACHENE BERBATI'S PAN Machene is an Australian group that combines heavy metal and early punk in a strong alternative groove. Loud but melodic instrumentation serves as the backdrop to songs with lyrics like "Such a perfect day/to be blown away." Machene relies on a wry humor to offset its sometimes dark music. (JEMM) THE STATE FLOWERS COBALT LOUNGE Landing a gig opening for the Apples in Stereo last January, this band of Portland music veterans got off to an enviable start. Led by talented vocalist Corrina Repp (whose solo CD, A Boat of Hope, received raves from several local papers) and originally called Scenic Overdrive, the State Flowers' dramatic dual guitars and poppy rhythm section offer plenty of candy for the ears. (BD) FURIOUS IV EJ'S It's been a while since San Diego produced another in its reliable lineage of noisy punk-pop bands, but fortunately Furious IV is on the verge of breaking out of the conservative confines of that fine scene. The quartet's songs bounce around like Ricochet Rabbit, making the debut, What's Become of the Baby?, a purer energy source than Vivarin. Guitarist-vocalist Ian Flannon Taylor is as straightforward as they come, simply singing his lines with a restrained growl and then stepping back to trade riffs with Brian Kelsey Bunn as the rhythm section pounds, plucks and powers the Furious IV into punk-pop bliss. (RM) ZUCKERMAN ELECTRIC FLANDERS STREET BREWPUB This Austin quartet recently self-released its debut, Double Dam, a chronicle of the band's blend of rock, bluegrass and Eastern-European influences. (RM) DAVIS REDFORD TRIAD GREEN ONION Davis Redford Triad is the misleading moniker for solo guitarist Steven Wray Lobdell. Mr. Lobdell's sonic experimentations can be heard on his self-released The Mystical Path of the #86. He lives in Portland and is currently working on his next album and watching baseball. (CM) THE GIVEN JIMMY MAK'S Each year, NXNW co-sponsoring paper The Salt Lake City Weekly holds a battle of the bands and sends the winner to the festival; this year's champ is the Given. The quartet recently released its debut full-length, and it's reportedly a radio-ready collection of sensitive-guy rock. (RM) JOHNNY DOWD BAND KEY LARGO Johnny Dowd looks like the auto-mechanic brother of filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and summons up creaky murder ballads that rival even Nick Cave's most elaborate bloodbaths-as-fables. Oddly, Dowd isn't looking to create a flashy spectacle; on Wrong Side of Memphis, the 50-something late bloomer--who didn't pick up a guitar until he was nearly 30--meticulously hinges his four-tracked, wobbling vocals on simple organ fills and drum beats no louder than blades of blowing grass. When Dowd's harrowing voice warns, "Be content with your life/It may not get any better," it carries the persuasive tone of a Southern Baptist preacher. (KO) SUNSET VALLEY LALUNA Sunset Valley responded to the hype of becoming one of this city's hottest bands by releasing one of the indie albums of the year, The New Speed (Sugar Free). Led by Herman Jolly, the quintet solders subliminal New-Wave messages into angular pop songs that speed up, slow down and spin around like a bike messenger on a rain-slicked street. Originally a trio, the band's initial recordings were so strong that producer Jeff Saltzman signed on to play keyboards, and ex-Heatmiser drummer Tony Lash joined as well, solidifying Sunset Valley into an electrifying quintet and helping it secure touring spots with Creeper Lagoon, Possum Dixon and Sixteen Deluxe. (RM) PILOT POKERFACE Seattle's Pilot recovered from not one but two major-label mishaps in the past few years--albums with both Elektra and Mercury were scuttled and never released--but frontman Jeremy Wilson took his blows like Rocky Balboa and pulled himself off the ropes. He and his band found a more reliable working partner in the New York indie Thirsty Ear, which recently released the impressive Stranger's Waltz, an album of cascading melodies and buzzing rock riffage. Now that he's gotten his crew through the turbulence, Wilson is poised to take Pilot gracefully into the blue skies of success. (RM) POINTY BIRDS ROCCO'S PIZZA With a dark, chaos-driven sound, the Pointy Birds sound as if they should be on the soundtrack for The Crow, if it weren't for their death-metal vocalist, that is. Their live shows prove bewitching, especially when the dark forces are unleashed and chaos reigns from the stage the Pointy Birds call their domain. (JK) MEDICATE ROSELAND This Seattle quartet is like the Statue of Liberty for outcasts of major label outings gone awry. Super Deluxe's former guitarist and bassist, John Kirsch and Jake Niesheim, joined forces with ex-Man Ray frontman Josh White, then secured drummer Jade Devitt on loan from Lucky Me to form Medicate. The only prescription the newly minted group would fill is that of a drama-rock-lovin', headbangin' patient with a hankering for bludgeoning side-effects. Medicate picks up where My Bloody Valentine left off--and with a high rate of accumulated sonic interest, paid off with dividends of feedback squalls and vocal histrionics. (RM) CHATA ADDY & SUSUMA SANDOVAL'S Susuma means "soul" in Ga, Chata Addy's native language. The Portland singer and tri-conga drummer creates ecstatic, funky dance music with the help of backing musicians on bass, guitars, drums, keyboard, sax and flute. (BD) GOLDEN DELICIOUS SATYRICON Infusing high-octane energy into old backwoods Appalachian-style ballads, Portland's Golden Delicious is a true back-to-the-basics band. The neo-hillbilly ensemble mixes traditional songs and Holy Modal Rounders covers with their own originals, and listening to the old and new songs side by side, it's hard to tell which is which. Featuring banjo player Kevin Richey (Bingo), Pete Krebs (ex-Hazel) and a talented cast of sidemen and women, Golden Delicious has become one of the Pacific Northwest's most beloved good-time bands. It's also released a full-length and a sort-of split LP (half of which features Krebs playing solo), both on Cavity Search. (AI) THE 5 DEADLY VENOMS THE SPOT The four members in St. Louis noisemakers The 5 Deadly Venoms have collectively spent over two decades of their lives in other riff-heavy vehicles, including Bunnygrunt, Back of Dave and Pave the Rocket. The band's power-pop rhythms can be found on a new release from the Venoms' own Trophy Wife record label. (KO) AUTOMATIC HEAD DETONATOR STAGE 4 THEATER It's amazing that no one thought of such an obvious combination--techno and tuff-guy rock--before Automatic Head Detonator. Oh, there are industrial crossover bands (Ministry), electro-punk stars (the Prodigy) and digital hardcore kids (Atari Teenage Riot), but AHD prefers to keep the rock separate from the rave. John Stone on drums and Tommy Loya on bass guitar are undeniably live, laying down the sludgy groundwork for Zeke Wray's samples. It's a unique take on techno and sure to drive smart-drink-guzzling ravers insane. (JG) LESBIAN MUFF DIVERS TONIC LOUNGE Three-chord Ramones rock was supposed to escape the excesses of '70s glam-metal, but some people actually liked both, the spunk of simple punk and the spectacle of glitter and makeup. Seattle's male-led Lesbian Muff Divers are able to take these seemingly opposed belief systems and synthesize an enjoyable mixture of the two: happy "whoa-oh" choruses with (self-consciously) silly guitar solos, unpretentious chord progressions with prog-rock lighting and dancing girls. (No word from Camp Lesbos whether the dancers do the amorous acrobatics implied by the band's name.) When this merry gang "practices its licks," I bet the phrase takes on a whole new meaning. (JG) FERNANDO Y LOS COCHINOS ZOOT SUITE Fernando Viciconte's foray into Spanish rock has been a rousing success. The native Argentinean and current Portlander's album, Pacoima(Cravedog), spans a wide array of styles and moods--from the Tex-Mex stomp of "Oye Mamasita" to "Wiseman," a slide guitar song as poignant as anything by Neil Young. The waltzing sway of "Ay, Mi Amor" sounds like a lost track from West Side Story, and "El Curda De Buenos Aires" sways with a clipped tango beat. Even if you don't speak Spanish, Viciconte's expressive and gravelly voice conveys feelings strong enough to let you in to his world. (AI)