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

Pullman/Califone

It's sad that John Fahey, underground guitar god of ambient Appalachia, died too soon to feel the effect of his fretwork. He would've loved Pullman's eerie configuration of stringers Chris Brokaw (Come), Curtis Harvey (Rex), Bundy K. Brown, Douglas McCombs (both of Tortoise) and the way they tear themselves from the density of their usual settings to find greater complexity in dobros, mandola, banjos and beyond. The sublime melodies of Turnstyles & Junkpiles and Viewfinder (both Thrill Jockey) evidence calm compositions done mostly live but with careful reflection and emotion ingrained deeper than rings in a redwood. For all the quiet that Pullman maintain, you can feel their thinking in each nimble stroke, strum and pluck. Califone, Chicago's pump-organ-ized confab run by Tim Rutili (of Red Red Meat fame), opens with stuff from a new kaleidoscopic Sometimes Good Weather Follows (Perishable). It's a rancid, compu-swirling carnival of a CD that would make Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombone sweet-smelling in comparison.

Pullman and Califone, Wed., April 10, 9 p.m., $10, North Star, 27th and Poplar sts., 215-922-LIVE, www.northstarbar.com.

—A.D. Amorosi