Here at RFT Music, so many shows come across our desks on a regular basis in the form of announcements, previews and reviews that things can get pretty darn redundant. So when we come across fun coincidences, like the photo of Man Man sporting some homemade D.R.I. swag above, we're a little too easily amused (both bands are in town this week)! See how worlds and sounds collide by checking out our show recommendations after the jump.
Murder By Death & Man Man Monday, Feb. 18, 8 p.m. w/ Damion Suomi @ The Firebird - $12 By Michael Dauphin You could throw on essentially any album from Man Man and Murder by Death's vast catalog and you would find very few similarities. Aside from the bed of subversive darkness that permeates each band's sound, it's hard to find too much common ground between the two, but one thing that certainly unites both is the proclivity to put on exhausting, head-spinning live shows. Bloomington, Indiana's Murder by Death - no stranger to these parts - consistently delivers sprawling, whiskey-soaked marathon sets, while Philadelphia's Man Man is known to churn out spastic, keyboard-pounding dirges that psychotically dance around the fringes of standard pop music.
Samantha Crain CD Release Tuesday, Feb. 19, 8:30 p.m. @ The Gramophone - $8 By Christian Schaeffer With a quavering stridency reminiscent of Jolie Holland, Samantha Crain delivers a wallop from her tiny frame. The singer-songwriter mines a comfortably familiar terrain of indie-friendly Americana on 2010's You (Understood) -- banjos pluck in circular patterns, and guitars get strummed into submission around Crain's voice, while loose and resonant drums clap away in the background. She never settles on one sound for too long, though, and this month Crain released the "A Simple Jungle" seven-inch, recorded with famed songwriter and producer John Vanderslice.
D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) Wednesday, Feb. 20, 7:30 p.m. @ The Firebird - $15 By Rick Giordano Who says you can't be a snot-nosed punk all the way into your fifties? D.R.I. (short for Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, for all you posers out there) is hard evidence that there is no time limit on playing with raw attitude, aggression, and intensity. The band has been going strong since 1982 and in that time has had an undeniably huge influence on what we've come to know as punk, hardcore, and metal alike. D.R.I. hasn't released a new album since 1995 and I believe it's because, frankly, with the arsenal of songs the band has already got it doesn't have to. But the good news for old school fans is that means there's no chance of having to wait through song after song of new material before digging into the classics.
Garagefest Day 1 Thursday, Feb. 21, 8 p.m. w/ Burrowss, The Black Shades, Pillow Talk, Dad Jr., Armadillo @ The Heavy Anchor - $6 By Christian Schaeffer From a 2012 album review of Burrowss: Emily Keefauver and Matt Stuttler began playing together in the small but musically fertile community at Greenville College in Illinois. The pair moved to St. Louis and began playing as the Kerouacs a few years ago but chose a more phonetic spelling for their next Beat Generation band name. (Is the extra "s" in Burrowss for "William S."? We may never know.) For Don't Take It Slow, Burrowss tries on a host of rock & roll styles without settling on a single sound, which makes the record sound alternately adventurous and bipolar.
