September 18-24, 2003

music

Soundadvice

Get Out.

Town and Country

With all due respect to loud, brash bands, sometimes it takes more balls to play minimalist instrumentals. Of the six tracks on 5 (Thrill Jockey), only "Shirtless" rises above a whisper. Town and Country's so hushed, crickets could drown out the acoustic guitar, viola and clarinet that barely breach the surface. Try that in a loud bar.

—M.J. Fine

Tue., Sept. 23, 8 p.m., $12, Tritone, 1508 South St., 215-545-0475.

Busta Rhymes

Last year, Philly's finest, The Roots, rocked Eakins Oval at the Philadelphia College Festival. This time, the Parkway free-for-all concert will pump rowdier than ever with the dread-headed captain of hip-hop hype. He'll surely be instructed to deliver a PG-13 performance, but Busta's been known to make it clap anyway he can, cussin' and all. Woo ha!

—Ainé Ardron-Doley

Sat., Sept. 20, 3-9 p.m., free, two stages with jonah.can.explain, Silvertide, Rowdy Black Giants, Paul Green School of Rock, Mutlu, Still Standing, Muses Wild and more, Benjamin Franklin Parkway, www.campusphilly.org/collegefestival/schedule.html.

Lightning Bolt

Anyone can hang crap on a wall and call it art. Lightning Bolt creates art-damaged noise and calls it music. As seems to be the trend these days, the music is bass-less -- but more like Slayer cutting the throats of Black Dice than any form of garage schlock. It's bewildering and often brilliant, in a wunderkinds-banging-pans sort of way.

—Andrew Parks

Tue., Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m., $8, all ages, with Hanged Up, Battles, An Albatross and Necronomitron, First Unitarian Church, 22nd and Chestnut sts., 800-594-TIXX.

The Bronx

In the garage, The Bronx doesn't feel safe. It's paranoid and pissed, bouncing off padded studio walls and screaming to be heard. Like Hot Snakes or peanut-butter-'n'-glass era Iggy Pop, the quartet's eponymous debut (White Drugs/Ferret) is as bloody and raw as a freshly torn scab. Bonus cool points for enlisting retired Gunner guitarist Gilby Clarke to invoke the whiskey-and-coke-sans-cola sound of L.A.

—Andrew Parks

Sat., Sept. 20, 9 p.m., $12-$14, with The Distillers, The TLA, 334 South St., 215-922-1011.

Jenn Lindsay

Man, Jenn Lindsay hates her day job. It's as plain as the Mountain Brothers sample in "Tick Tock," from Lindsay's self-released Fired! EP. She hates her job in hip-hop beats. She hates her job in insubordinate folk songs ("Not a Good Fit," "Paper"). She hates her job in dreamier fare ("Shoo Fly Shoo"). Why be a resigned cubicle jockey when you can be an aspiring rock star?

—M.J. Fine

Thu., Sept. 18, 8 p.m, $8, Manayunk Music Exchange, 4369 Cresson St., 215-487-1413.

Randy Newman

For those who worried that that long-awaited Oscar would go to Randy Newman's head -- keep worrying. Newman says The Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. 1 (Nonesuch) was his record company's idea, but Newman's too iconoclastic to sit still for a wax sculpture, no matter who commissioned it. Re-recording his own greatest hits alone at the piano, Newman throws a few sliders: a movie score excerpt here, an unrecorded obscurity there. Expect more curve balls, thrown with both hands on Wednesday night.

—Sam Adams

Wed., Sept. 24, 7:30 p.m., $35-$45, Keswick Theatre, Easton Rd. and Keswick Ave., Glenside, 215-572-7650.