August 5-11, 2004

musicpicks

Power-Ups

ROCK/POP

Let's face it. The '90s blew, outside of Saved by the Bell. The decade's house band was Hootie & the Blowfish, for God's sake. The '80s were much better, especially in the bits-and-buttons domain of video games. Kids maiming gangsters while committing Grand Theft Auto is cute and all, but it's got nothing on hunting ducks with a clunky plasma gun. The golden days of the cartridge are long gone, though. Which is why acts like the Power-Ups are essential to pop-culture preservation. The Chicago foursome has crafted ingenious, multilevel arrangements of the classic game soundtracks Castlevania, Contra and Punch-Out! "These songs were great in their original form of bleeps and bloops, but when you get that rock guitar wailing on these melodies it is freaking amazing," says bassist Angie Snyder. Brother Jeff Snyder writes the live arrangements in traditional music notation for the group. Of the '80s influence, he says, "I also had a Fisher-Price record player around that time, as well as an orange pompom for simulated rock-star hair. This explains everything."

Wed., Aug. 11, 9 p.m., $8, with Chromolodeon, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888.

—Andrew Parks