Also this issue: Rebirth of Butterfly Ishmael Butler and Cherrywine have a whole new digable plan. -Ainé Ardron-Doley Where House? DJ X-Dream rants on raves. -Sean O’Neal Hurricane Mozart The Orchestra unleashes a season-ending windstorm. -Peter Burwasser One night the rain began to fall and it would not stop. -Patrick Rapa The Downbeat 5 -M.J. Fine Jonathan Richman -Sam Adams Glass Candy -M.J. Fine Dynamo Productions -Sean O’Neal

June 26-July 2, 2003

musicpicks

Gold Chains

Funny white-boy backpacker rap stuff is no longer a thrill. From the sly Beasties to the nasty Gonzales, from the yodeling Paul Barman to the smoldering Beck, it's all been done, right? That's what San Franciscan MC Topher Lafata is up against when he lets loose his computer-generated one-man-band CDs on the weary public -- Straight From Your Radio, the Gold Chains EP, the hilarious Live at The Betalounge DVD. His aggressive new Young Miss America (Pias America) is a gluttonous ghetto-tech blend of hard electronics, rapid-fire rhythms and a haughty hip-hop veneer. With his pimp-meets-scholar texts, tongue-speaking speedy chicken squawkings and a glorious falsetto, Gold Chains sounds off through the squeaks of '80s synth pop, laptop rock, DMR-style industrial, stark pre-gangsta rap, Blaxploitative disco and a slew of accordions.

Thu., June 26, 9 p.m., $7, with Gravy Train, Click DJs Dave Pee and Julian S, Silk City, Fifth and Spring Garden sts., 800-594-TIXX.

—A.D. Amorosi