Also this issue: Austin Power Philly bands look for big breaks at SXSW. —Maura Johnston Laying It Bare Dashboard Confessional jams on the breaks. —Brian Howard Fiddle Sticks Laurie Lewis says the bluegrass craze is for real this time. —Mary Armstrong Clinic —Sam Adams Bobby McFerrin —Nate Chinen

April 4-10, 2002

musicpicks

Hayden

Toronto's Hayden Desser has weaved in and out of the outskirts of mellow indie-folk rock for nearly a decade. He achieved spotlight status a handful of times -- an opening gig on a Guided by Voices tour, MTV airplay, a stint on Outpost Recordings (a Geffen offshoot) and the title track to the 1996 film Trees Lounge -- gathering praise by critics and fans throughout for his downer drop-out rock. Then he disappeared, possibly into the self-loathing, milk-toast lifestyle he sang about. As legend has it, he became a recluse (rarely seen outside his hometown) and supposedly suffered from writer's block. Meanwhile, an Internet fan base spent three years watching and waiting for the melancholy artist's return. Last March, Hayden re-emerged with Skyscraper National Park (Hardwood), a subdued, laid-back album complete with that watch-life-pass-you-by feeling in drunken mumbles and painful longing. A great way to reenter the world of the living.

Sat., April 6, 9 p.m., $10, The Fire, 412 W. Girard Ave., 267-671-9298.

—Karen Williams