Foot to ass, hand to man.

Delving deep into its thrift-store record collection, the Jersey City quintet Rye Coalition hit upon a fierce synthesis of jagged post-punk and hair-shaking, skull-rattling, bong-shuddering '70s stadium rock.

You think it's easy to deliver this mother lode of smart cock-rock to the indie realm? Think again. The kids buying Rye Coalition records, many of whom are burdened with liberal-arts educations, might well mistake the band's hard-rock aesthetic and ruffian performances as ironic homage to music they consider a guilty pleasure.

Wrong.

"If we weren't serious, why would we waste our time?" asks drummer Dave Leto. "We could just write parody songs."

Rye Coalition's latest, On Top, sounds as if the band has discovered a new alchemy, where the rhythmic minimalism and spartan power-chord attack of AC/DC fits perfectly with the cerebral and angular churn of Jesus Lizard. "We just try to play music that we want to listen to," says Leto. "I've met lots of people in bigger bands that don't listen to the type of music they make."

On Top elaborates on the prog-meets-punk aesthetic begun with a previous album, The Lipstick Game, but this latest release is more aggressive, cynical and cohesive. The performances are tighter than ever, and vocalist Ralph Cuseglio's barbed lyrics are spiked with vicious humor. The album also marks the return of original second guitarist Herb Wiley, who nicely counters Jon Gonnelli's slicing riffs.

Formed in 1994 by a tight-knit group of high-school pals, Rye Coalition has endured eight years of hard-luck tours and underappreciated recordings. The band's vinyl debuts in 1995 were welcomed as part of the mid-'90s renaissance of American hardcore, somewhat ridiculously tagged to as "emo-core." Rye Coalition's initial releases were deemed compulsory listening by the emo-core cognoscenti. But the same fans turned a cold shoulder to the ever more prominent hard-rock trappings of Rye's later efforts.

During its life span, Rye has seen Dave Leto switch from drums to bass guitar (his brother, Gregg, temporarily taking the drum throne) when bassist Justin Morey briefly quit. Wiley left the band in 1996, sitting out Rye's debut album, Hee Saw Dhuh Kaet, and The Lipstick Game.

Now, with its original lineup reassembled, a slew of powerful songs at hand and accolades from the staunch indie elite in pocket, Rye Coalition is poised to find its proper place: on top. Dave Clifford

Rye Coalition plays Saturday, March 30, at Blackbird, 3728 NE Sandy Blvd., 282-9949. 31 Knots, Bloodbrother and Replicator also appear. 9 pm. $7. 21+.

BIFURCATED PREVIEW
The Prince Who Split in Two
Will Oldham is divisive. Very divisive.

Music fans often cling to the idea that their favorite artists are polarizing forces in Art History, love-'em-or-hate-'em, with-us-or-against-us figures who draw a firm line between past and future, parent and child.

Here's the hard truth: When your pals voice revulsion for a musician you revere, it's usually because they just don't give a damn for your personal aesthetic meanderings.

Eclectic folk rocker Will Oldham, who rolls into Portland this week under the moniker Bonnie Prince Billy, is more polarizing than most. So much, in fact, that he can create a veritable vortex of opposing opinions in just one brain: that of this writer.

The debate goes something like this:

--What's up with this Oldham guy? He can't even settle on a name. Palace Songs, Palace Brothers, Palace Music, and now Bonnie Prince Billy!?

--He doesn't want the work to become associated with a band name, one entity convenient to be packaged and marketed. He wishes recordings were filed by the title rather than the artist, like a video would be.

--Yeah, right. Music is all about the cult of personality. People like to gather these musical personalities together into cozy little collections, into "scenes" or "subgenres." Oldham should know all about that, after spending his formative years in the Louisville art-punk scene and releasing most of his records on Chicago's eclectic, ultra-hip Drag City Records.

--Well, yes, and that has allowed him to work with many well-regarded musicians, including members of Slint, Pavement, Royal Trux, Tortoise, the Dirty Three, Stereolab and so many more. There's lots of appreciation for Oldham's stark Americana and stirring sincerity.

--Oh, so that's what you call his quaint warblings? And I suppose you think a song title like "You Have Cum in Your Hair and Your Dick Is Hanging Out" is clever.

--Well, yeah. It's all part of his charm, his irreverence, his uniqueness. There's something to be said for his effect on people. There was an art exhibit of work created "while listening to Oldham," and there's a book in the works about Oldham fans.

--Jeez, this is getting creepy. Please, let's listen to music that has some bite.

--You can't fool me.... You're an old softy at heart.

--I am so out of here.

Ben Munat

Will Oldham, a.k.a. Bonnie Prince Billy, plays Monday, April 1, at Blackbird, 3728 NE Sandy Blvd., 282-9949. Rainywood, Entrance and the Holy Sons also appear. 9 pm. $12. 21+. See Oldham as a West Virginia boy preacher in John Sayles' Matewan, 7 pm Saturday, March 30, at Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave.

MUSIC, NIGHTLIFE, GOSSIP, SPORTS & LEISURE
Hiss & Vinegar

FIRE UP THE RANDOMIZER
Hiss & Vinegar is feeling damn good about the advent of spring. After all, it was pretty much a long, stone-drag winter around here, what with unemployment scraping the bottom edge of 10 percent and weird crimes happening right and left. Now, though, trees and flowers are blooming, the live-music calendar is starting to show some life...and we feel alive, dammit, alive....

In large part that's because there's a batch of new local releases floating the market. In addition to the recent Richmond Fontaine and Norfolk & Western albums, Auditory Sculpture, 31Knots, the Epoxies and Lopez all have new discs out...Check out reviews of a coupla those babies on page 35...Meanwhile, Cool Nutz's Verbal Porn has been out for awhile, but its buzz is still building--in Africa, of all places. Africasgateway.com, which claims to be the Mother Continent's top hip-hop site, just named VP its album of the month for March....

Speaking of international outreach, Pete Krebs, the Hazel/Golden Delicious/Kung Pao Chickens singer and songwriter, is off to Amsterdam for an open-ended Continental sojourn. His pals host a bon voyage party at the LaurelThirst Public House on Monday night. But who will fill the half-dozen or so slots on the weekly club calendar Pete used to occupy?

You can still sign your band up for the first-ever WW music directory. Live electronically via www.wweek.com/web/ musicdirectory.html....

We're gratified to learn that East, a cocktail lounge long planned for a hang-dawg block of Chinatown, is finally going forward after a number of bureaucratic battles. It won't be a live-music venue, but it might be cool....

H&V spent part of Sunday watching the Oregon Ducks rise to the level of their own incompetence against Kansas in the Dance. Even though Eugene is still full of filthy hippies, we got into this year's edition of the Splashin' Ducks. Gotta love a team with haircuts this bad--the Two Lukes, Ridnour and Jackson, both look like they just got off the bus from 1974. And a music fan has to dig a team that has both Robert Johnson and Chris Christoffersen (close enough) in its starting five. Go Maryland from here on out--win it for Bias, baby....

On the subject of the sporting life: The poor kids at the Portland Mercury felt so embarrassed about losing to WW in the Barfly Magazine Family Feud, they actually had to go and lie about it in their pamphlet last week. If we woulda known they'd take it that hard, we'd have let 'em win....

The jet-setting Pink Martini finally plans a new album, due soon, but the pop-cocktail ensemble is still working the deathless Sympathique. That album's signature song rears its oft-heard head (a mangled metaphor? Jamais ici!) on World Lounge, a new compilation from Putumayo, the Reader's Digest of world-music labels...In other comp news, the ever-so-fabulous Dandy Warhols landed alongside Peggy Lee, the Beta Band and PJ Harvey on the soundtrack to HBO's undertaker dramedy Six Feet Under, out now on Universal Records...A knowledgeable friend reports that the Dandys' whole crew rolled into Cal Sports, one of Northwest Portland's finest establishments, last weekend. Lead singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor reportedly declined a turn on the karaoke mic, saying he wouldn't want to be "show-offy" or anything...Come on, pal, live a little!

Send tips and gossip to hiss@wweek.com.

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