Also this issue: Acid Reigns British DJ legend Gilles Peterson loves Philly back. -Sean O’Neal Riot Going On The latest Red Hot disc has hip-hop and soul's current whiz kids taking on Kuti classics. -A.D. Amorosi Teddy Pendergrass -A.D. Amorosi Titan of 'Clash Punk, trash, electroclash, it’s still rock ’n’ roll to Tee. -A.D. Amorosi Eternity Dave Vanian's gonna smash it up till there's nothing left. -Helen H. Thompson thesuitespot -Peter Burwasser on Classical Is This Still It? -Sam Adams Beenie Man -Ainé Ardron-Doley

October 10-16, 2002

musicpicks

Mirah

With all due respect to indie rock, there's a good reason it gets so little airplay: Most lo-fi songs fail the crappy-car-stereo test. That explains the taste gap between urban hipsters and the future frat boys of America. City dwellers, not needing wheels to get where they need to go, forget that big drums are what give cars the power to traverse highways. "Break On Through" and "Kashmir" -- even "Hurts So Good" -- make better driving music than any Stereolab song. So, what a revelation it is to hear Mirah's "Cold Cold Water" on the radio. Phil Elvrum's production can seem overpowering when Advisory Committee (Zeitlyn) is the only sound filling a tiny apartment, but when battling the whoosh outside the driver's-side window, it replicates post-orgasmic chill. Onstage, Mirah doesn't need studio tricks. Her lyrics extol the ecstasy and devastation of losing control, but although her voice wavers, there's never any doubt that it does whatever she wants it to. And when she asks even the coolest crowd to sing "ba-dada-bum-bum" on "Pollen," so will you.

Tue., Oct. 15, 7 p.m., $5-$7, Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 S. Rittenhouse Sq., 215-735-3456.

—M.J. Fine