225BatonRouge.com - Blogs

What’s out this week:

When I clicked on the NPR website to listen to Mirror Traffic, the new album by Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, I thought the first line was "I caught you streaming on NPR" which I thought to be a rather blunt statement from the often oblique pen of the former Pavement figurehead. It turns out it was "I caught you streaking in your Birkenstocks" which can arguably depict Malkmus’ aging demographic in which I am included; we might have a few wild oats to sow, but we are going to wear comfortable, unfashionable shoes while we sow them. Mirror Traffic is an affable record that like much of his post-Pavement material, just doesn’t stick.

I found myself on a Patti Smith kick this week, putting “Ghost Dance” from her fantastic, problematic 1977 album Easter, a peerless cult initiation jam. It’s not on the new greatest hits collection Outside Society, but everything else you need to get to know one of the greatest practitioners of "rock as art" is there. Smith’s genius, in my opinion, really comes through on her idiosyncratic takes on other people’s songs, transforming “Gloria” into a raging declaration of the damned, the Byrds’ “So You Wanna Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” as a dare, Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as an exorcism. My favorite song of hers, “Ask the Angels,” is absent, but that’s a minor quibble against this comprehensive and gripping traipse through her career.

What’s happening this week:

I got four words for you: DRIVE, BY, TRUCKERS, Y’ALL. The greatest band in the land is touring behind their exquisitely titled hits package Ugly Buildings, Whores & Politicians: Greatest Hits 1998-2009, pulling a reasonable 16 songs from their magnificent catalog. If you’ve never heard “Outfit” or “Bulldozer’s and Dirt” or “3 Dimes Down” put this on and get ready for your neo-Southern rock awakening. You might be compelled to jump something with a three-wheeler. If you haven’t seen them live, get ready for the last band to be trusted with electric guitars.

Wednesday, Aug. 31

Drive-By Truckers and the Wheeler Brothers at the Varsity

Thursday, Sept. 1

Meriwether, The Vettes, and Godspeed the Jackal at the Varsity

Friday, Sept. 2

Zaemon at the Varisty

Prom Date, Rareluth, Cute Machines, and DJ Jordan at the Spanish Moon

Cari Quoyeser at North Gate Tavern

Saturday, Sept. 3

Dov Charney, Secret Society in Smaller Lies and Sighthound at Spanish Moon

Cari Quoyeser at North Gate Tavern

Rotary Downs at Chelsea’s