The Forecast: twangy with a chance of cow-punk.
This week’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them:
Monday: The Forecast are the most curious band on screamo-purveyor Victory Records’ roster. The Illinois quartet’s alt-country twang and rootsy songs have little in common with its labelmates’ larynx-scraping and heart-puncturing confessionals. Still, there’s some serious genre restlessness on its latest album, In the Shadow of Two Gunmen – which merges cow-punk, pop-punk, and post-punk styles. They’re at the
Agora ballroom tonight.
Tuesday: We’re not that crazy about most of the songs on neo-grunge band
Silversun Pickups’ debut album, Carnavas. But we love “Lazy Eye,” a hook-filled blast that sounds like a mix of the Pixies and Smashing Pumpkins – and it’s way better than anything those two bands’ recent reunions yielded. They play the Agora Theatre.
Wednesday: As far as all-female, maybe-lesbian, Led Zeppelin cover bands go,
Lez Zeppelin is pretty much at the top of the list. And they rock more convincingly than other Page- and Plant-goofing jokesters like Dread Zeppelin. The songs -- “ The Ocean,” “Communication Breakdown,” and “Whole Lotta Love” -- remain sorta thes ame. They’re at the
Beachland.
Thursday: We’re excited to see two performers at
Screamfest ’07: R&B singer Ciara’s “Promise” is the best Janet Jackson single in almost a decade. And T.I.’s new T.I. Vs. T.I.P. is an intriguing work that pits the Southern rapper against himself. Half chronicles the club playa in him; the rest is a tribute to his street-gangsta persona. Cool stuff. The tour comes to
CSU’s Wolstein Center.
Friday: Next week, Capitol releases Bad to the Bone: 25th Anniversary Edition – an expanded version of
George Thorogood’s most popular album. The title track’s menacing opening guitar riff has become synonymous with big- and small-screen badasses. Thorogood and his band the Destroyers mark the occasion with a nationwide tour with Bryan Adams. It comes to
Tower City’s Time Warner Cable Amphitheater. --
Michael Gallucci
