March 27, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle

musicRECOMMENDED EVENTS FOR MARCH 27 TO APRIL 2NEKO CASE THE ALICE ROSEStubb’s, Tuesday 31Mohawk, Thursday 2EDITED BY AUDRA SCHROEDERThat sound you hear, the wind No one churns out classic powerpopin Austin quite like the Alice Rose.listingsin the willows, something’s blowingin. Our rain-parched wellspring After two addictive singles, the localwelcomes the Middle Cyclone (Anti-)THEquintet, led by the emotive JoDeeDICKSPurkeypile, hit its stride with recentRoom 710, Friday 27sophomore effort All Haunt’s Sound,which takes all the right cues fromForget the jokes about “WheelchairSqueeze and early Elvis Costello. Likemindedlocal female trio Tribella andEpidemic” being the theme song foraging punks. Anyone who saw theDicks’ incendiary performance at theLeonard CohenLeonard Cohen’s probably the closest a musicianhas come to beatification. The Canadian poet, artist,and singer always radiated a mystical worldliness,The Long Center, Wednesday 1 & Thursday 2especially when women broke hisheart and wine didn’t take theweight off his shoulders. Songremains his redemption and communion,from 1967’s Songs ofLeonard Cohen through 1977’sDeath of a Ladies’ Man, the holytrinity of sex, death, and religion.Approaching 75 and on his firsttour in 15 years, Cohen kicksoff his hotly anticipated NorthAmerican tour here in the hometownof musical director RoscoeBeck and drummer Rafael Gayol.When I spoke with collaboratorPhilip Glass before his musical productionof Cohen’s Book of Longingstopped at the Bass Concert Hallin February, he shed some light onthe thread that makes Cohen’s arttimeless: “With Leonard’s work,you have to take several looksto figure out what he’s doing.Some of his work is angry. Someof it is whimsical. Some is funny.There’s not a deadly seriousnesswith him, which can happen withpoetry. Leonard Cohen is alwaysthere. He hides behind poetry, butI feel every word counts with him.”Tickets are still available for bothnights. 8pm. – Audra Schroeder88 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E MARCH 27, 2009 a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o mAustin Music Awards last week knowsGary Floyd and company still striprock music to its bare bones andrattle the cage with anti-authority likethey’re twentysomethings at Raul’s.C’mon, when’s the last time youbraved the pit? – Margaret MoserFRANK GRATKOWSKISalvage Vanguard Theater,Friday 27No Idea Fest organizer and localpercussionist Chris Cogburn continuesinternational band immersion withCologne, Germany-based saxophonist/multireedistGratkowski. Cogburnaccompanies, along with double bassistKurt Johnson, lending the blower’sunpredictable, jazzy tones somerhythmic backbone. Gratkowski plays asolo set first. 8pm. – Audra SchroederMASSHYSTERIBeerland, Saturday 28Proof that the garage rock resurgenceextends globally, Sweden’sMasshysteri keeps its catchy crunkpunkin the red and out of control, harnessingan irresistible male/femalevocal front that should sound right athome at Beerland. On the local front,headliners the Strange Boys had evenRolling Stone’s David Fricke bobbingand weaving at South by Southwest,and the quartet’s In the Red debut,And Girls Club, should be the feel-goodhit of the summer. Local quartet HexDispensers open. – Austin PowellTHE CALM BLUE SEAAlamo Drafthouse at theRitz, Sunday 29Three years before expressionistmasterpiece Metropolis, Viennesevisionary Fritz Lang wielded Norsemythology in Die Nibelungen:Siegfried (1924), Wagner operasamping princesses and dragon slayers.The Alamo’s history of local actsscoring visual retina burns continueswith the largely instrumental explosionsin the sky of Austin fivepiecethe Calm Blue Sea, staking its oneoffperformance against local psychsST 37’s occasional reanimation ofMetropolis. 7pm. – Raoul HernandezWe’re all hosed down and ready to talk aboutSouth by Southwest 09 at austinchronicle.com/earache.herself, proclaiming on her new disc,“This Tornado Loves You.” Neko Caselast visited her Mother Nature vocalizationsat Stubb’s one hot Augustnight in 2007, and a post-SXSWpunctuation to PJ Harvey’s intergalacticcharisma on the same stagepromises Canada’s national anthemwooing all “Prison Girls.” LocalsShearwater open. – Raoul Hernandezin-storesTuesday: The Flatlanders, WaterlooRecords, 5pmHouston’s Arthur Yoria get the nightstarted softly. – Austin PowellBY AUDRA SCHROEDER soundcheckWHITE DENIM, BUILT BY SNOW,HARLEMAntone’s, Friday 27Three locals bucking in the garage.TRIBUTE BAND MARATHON/NIGHT OF 1,000 STEVIESEmo’s/Club de Ville, Friday 27The Orgasm Addicts, Big Mess,Barracuda, Joy Division Cover Band, andmore get under the covers at Emo’s;Stevie Nicks fans twirl at de Ville.BUGS HENDERSONSaxon Pub, Saturday 28Austin gets the blues.JACOB FRED JAZZ ODYSSEYThe Parish, Saturday 28Set funk phasers on stun.DAN DYER, SUZANNA CHOFFELLamberts, Saturday 28Smooth sounds from Austin’s kingand queen.‘PAINT THE TOWN’Salvage Vanguard Theater, Sunday 29Milwaukee’s Insurgent Theatrebrings a revolutionary tale to the stage.Douglas Ferguson, Yellow Crystal Star,and Amir Coyle play around it. 8pm.PLUTONIUM FARMERSAustin Moose Lodge No. 1735,Monday 30Double-drummered noise-rock trioseeks moose head to love.APRIL GHOULS DAYRed 7, Wednesday 1The Henchmen and Pickled Punksjump out of the casket, put toothpasteon your Q-tips.live music venues p.92roadshows+ club listings p.95| CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:FRANK GRATKOWSKI (FRI., 3/27)MASSHYSTERI (SAT., 3/28)THE ALICE ROSE (THU., 4/2)NEKO CASE (TUE., 3/31)