Helicopter Helicopter

Adam Marsland

Wednesday · Sudsy Malone's

Adam Marsland's sad tale of label malfeasance is nothing new on the landscape of Rock's rich pageant, but it's still a pointed tragedy of missed potential. After a trio of fabulous albums with Cockeyed Ghost, a Power Pop band with legend-in-waiting stamped all over it, Marsland had to endure the ignominy of being dropped when his label went busto in '99 and then had to weather the insult-to-injury of finding no takers among the cloth-eared label system. Two years later, struggling mightily to keep the band afloat with no corporate support, Marsland and Cockeyed Ghost homemade their masterpiece, the stunning and widely lauded Ludlow 6:18. Sadly, the band all had pressing home commitments that made touring the album impossible at the time, so Marsland soldiered on alone, road-dogging as a solo acoustic act and notching an astounding 195 shows in 232 days. The dual results of that tour were clubs filled with sweat-soaked and deliriously satisfied Pop fans and a recorded document of one incredible show along Marsland's Rock & Roll Bataan march. If 232 Days on the Road proved anything, it is that Marsland's songs, stripped of their exquisitely crafted Pop arrangements, are still powerful musical nuggets that shine magnificently in the dim light of a coffeehouse stage. And for good measure, Marsland threw in three CG studio tracks as further proof of the cluelessness of major labels in continuing to ignore the Pop majesty of Cockeyed Ghost. In the end, Adam Marsland is probably better off operating as a true independent. It might not make his accountant any happier, but Pop fans everywhere will be witness to the undiluted work of one of Rock's true grassroots visionaries. (Brian Baker)

Buck 65

Wednesday · Top Cat's

A new breed of Hip-Hop animal is emerging in the underground, one that looks to push the artistic boundaries not yet reached in a field of music that has been so streamlined it can unflinchingly serve as the soundtrack to a Rally's commercial. From lyrics and flow to sample manipulation, track layout and DJ adventurousness, labels like Anticon and Mush have amassed a stable of artists who are like the Beat poets of '00s, concocting new models of what Hip Hop can be ... and then tearing them down and starting over again. Nova Scotia lyricist/MC Buck 65 has released several mind-boggling albums for a variety of independent labels (including the staggeringly inventive Man Overboard for Anticon in 2001), but he's now poised to test the waters of being a nonconformist Hip-Hop savant on a major label, as his spellbinding new record, Square, has been released by Warner Bros. in Canada and parts of Europe. Buck 65 (aka Richard Terfry) has a blunt, occasionally anxiety-riddled delivery that brings to mind the spoken-word-and-beats SubPop album by late poet Steven Jesse Bernstein. But it's the broad musical landscape that makes Square so grabbing. Devised like an old conceptual Jazz album, Square is blocked off into four quarter-of-an-hour tracks that dip into Alfred Hitchcock samples, ambient patchwork and tight, tense and unanticipated beat loops. Buck's lyrics -- like the ominous musical tone -- shade toward the dark side, but his wordplay is still mischievous, which sucks your attention even deeper to what he is saying. It's almost ridiculous to think that the mainstream would ever have the patience to tolerate Buck 65's challenging, wily style, but if he were to become the next 50 Cent, Top 40 radio would be an immensely more bearable place. (Mike Breen)

Helicopter Helicopter

Thursday · Southgate House Parlour

Boston has given the world some great slanted Pop/Rock music over the years (from The Cars to The Pixies), and it is still a hub for guitar bands that worship at the altar of "The Hook." One of the best of the new breed is Helicopter Helicopter, who formed in 1998 and released a few records with Beantown indie Lunch Records, including the striking, radiant By Starlight. The band's new CD, Wild Dogs with X-Ray Eyes (their first for Initial Records), continues right where they left off, loaded with smart, dazzling Pop that is given distinctive personality thanks to the dual vocal/guitar interplay of frontpeople Chris Zerby and Julie Chadwick. Chadwick and Zerby switch off and harmonize to great effect on hyper-melodic album highlights like disc kick-off "Helicopter Fight Song," the lilting, punchy "Talk the Flyer Down" and the vivacious "The Devil," which combines a Beatles-y pulse with an instantly grabbing, classic-sounding melody that would make Teenage Fanclub blush with envy. (MB)

C. Gibbs and The Caradia Bros. With Benna

Thursday · Yorkshire Club

Knowing what's on most of singer/guitarist/songwriter C. Gibbs résumé will not prepare you for the lush, mature Indie Americana on The Pinkermen Set, Gibbs' third solo effort. Besides fronting the Psych/Garage trio the Morning Glories in the '90s, Gibbs has been a sideman for '80s wavers Modern English, The Damned's Dave Vanian and Industrial pioneer Foetus, as well as an opening act for comedian Margaret Cho. Gibbs saw his first solo effort, Twenty Nine Over Me, released by Atlantic Records in 1999, followed soon after by the indie release, Sincerity's Ground. On Pinkermen, Gibbs sounds like he has found home in the rustic, burnt-orange sky sound that incorporates traditional Country and Roots elements (including pedal steel from former Cincinnati musician Gerald Menke) with keen Pop intuition and an omnipresent ghostly glaze. The album ruggedly glides from Johnny Cash-worthy C&W ("Superficial Flesh Wound") to lilting orchestral Pop ("Killing Snakes") to Jim Jarmusch soundtrack-ready romps ("Tall Shoe Marie"). For his touring band, The Caradia Bros., Gibbs has enlisted local musician Zach Mechlem (Mohenjo Daro, The Rottweilers) as a guitarist. (MB)

Enon with Shesus, Fudgie and Fufu and The Not

Friday · Southgate House

Enon is the remarkable band fronted by singer/guitarist/keyboardist John Schmersal (formerly of Dayton legends Brainiac) and now featuring former Blonde Redhead member Toko Yasuda and drummer Matt Schulz, known around these parts as the propulsive former skinsman for Let's Crash. Enon's full-length debut, Believo!, was like a groovy mix-tape featuring bands you never heard of, as Schmersal's songs moved from Post-Punk freak-outs to electro giddiness to layered, melodic Indie Pop. Last year's brilliant follow-up, High Society, cemented Enon's position as the best band on Touch and Go Records since, well, Brainiac, as Schmersal and Co. enjoyed an even more expanded canvas thanks to Yasuda's vocal and songwriting input, which gives songs like "In This City" a chilled, Stereolab-like luster. While the band finishes the upcoming long-player, Hocus Pocus, they've released a teaser EP featuring remixes of "In This City," a version of "Murder Sounds" from the forthcoming album and a bass-booming retooling of "Inches" from one of the band's all-instrumental releases. Also included are videos for three songs, including ex-Brainiac bassist Juan Monasterio's Japanese urban bling vision of "In This City." And, if you want to further connect the Brainiac dots to this show, openers Shesus features guitarist Michelle Bodine, whom Schmersal replaced in the band in 1994. (MB)

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