Also this issue: Searching for Zen Local electronic label Zenapolæ will not go looking for you. -Sean O’Neal Tom Keifer -A.D. Amorosi Summer Monster The package tour -- something wicked this way comes. -Patrick Rapa DJ Nights -Sean O'Neal Aereogramme -Paul Burress

July 5-11, 2002

musicpicks

Sneaker Pimps

Remember the British/Bristol trip-hop revolution of 1995? Massive Attack, Portishead, those guys? Even Tricky was still making good records then. Sneaker Pimps were there too, down the road a bit in Reading. But theirs was the brightest of the moody dub-mellotron sound. With Kelli Dayton's clipped, white-soul vocals and the Pimps' sunny guitars atop lopsided loops and ambient waves -- dag, the trio was nearly Pet Sounds-ish in their dreary optimism. Still, '96's Becoming X was righteous dark pop, and their newest CD, Bloodsport (Tommy Boy), also doesn't fall far from the bitter fruit tree. The Sneakers pimp crinkled samples and rudely snooting beats on smartly compressed Bacharachian melodies. In fact, with its gruff edges and Dayton's arrogant, frenetic airs, the soundtracky "The Fuel" and the memorable murk of "Sick" are better than anything X became and beyond. I felt dirty just taking Bloodsport out of the jewel case. Brava.

Wed., July 10, 9 p.m., $12, with Sweetie, The North Star, 27th and Poplar sts., 215-684-0808, www.northstarbar.com.

—A.D. Amorosi