Also this issue: Random House The Twin Atlas’ curious methods and haphazard road map to rock. -Brian Howard The Nut Never Sleeps -Sam Adams Alexi Murdoch -Nicole Pensiero Tom Tom Club -A.D. Amorosi DJ Buck -Sean O’Neal Mary Lee's Corvette -Nicole Pensiero Yerba Buena -A.D. Amorosi The Gossip -M.J. Fine

July 10-16, 2003

musicpicks

Melt Banana

For all the malignant, static energy they produce in the short controlled blasts that constitute their songs, Melt Banana may be the cutest band on earth. Not a Tiger Beat or hot-band-alert kind of cute, but more of a "we're nervous and we're happy to be here" kind of thing. The Japanese natives made their name in America after signing to Chicago's haven of noise, Skin Graft, and releasing Scratch or Stitch with assistance from members of Chicago's underground music cartel. Be forewarned though, these guys (and gal) may seem as bubbling as Shonen Knife, but the Banana can whip up an angular vortex of dissonance that would make Merzbow or the Boredoms take a step back. With a decade of performing attention span-challenged spasms under their collective belt, and the No Wave renaissance in seeming full bloom, Melt Banana may be poised to make headway into at least the outer reaches of the M2 solar system.

Thu., July 10, 7:30 p.m., $8, all ages, First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., 800-594-8499.

—Paul Burress