Andy Bodean

Andy Bodean and the Bottom Boys

Wednesday · Sudsy Malone's

Playing a slippery brand of Power Pop with a peripheral Roots Rock twist, Andy Bodean and the Bottom Boys might hail from the middle of Tennessee, but purists shouldn't come looking for like-minded traditionalists. While the trio has distinctively traditional elements in their sound, they smush them all together, blindfold them, spin them around and set them loose, ending up with something of a carnival ride of fun, dented Americana/Pop. The common thread for the Bottom Boys is a drilling, hyper-melodic sensibility -- "Missionary Ridge," the title cut from the group's last EP, is a guitar-driven collage of hooks that stick like pickles on the lunchroom ceiling. That is, until the tail end of the song, when the band rips into an electrifying Bluegrass rant that comes on like a blindsiding tackle. On "A Dream in Blue" from the same EP, the Boys rewire a mid-tempo weeper to sound like John Lennon playing Honky Tonk. It's that kind of unpredictability within the course of a three-to-four minute Pop structure that makes Andy Bodean and the Bottom Boys such an undeniably pleasurable listen. To paraphrase a famous fictional doofus, putting a Bottom Boys CD into your player and pressing "Random" is like a box of chocolates -- you never know what you're going to get. But damn if they all aren't all sweet and delicious. If they can be this jauntily entertaining on record, the group's live show should be a blast. (Mike Breen)

Danú

Monday · Jack Quinn's

Danu

While a huge World music festival was ambitiously attempted and abandoned by the Jammin' on Main folks a few years back, it doesn't mean there isn't an audience for the music in this area. Dayton's annual festival presented by CityFolk draws large crowds with acts from around the globe, while events in Cincinnati like the Celtic and Appalachian fests seem to attract a more consistent throng of listeners than the more Rock-oriented multi-act showcases. While spread out over several days and indoors, the folks at Covington's Jack Quinn's will test the waters starting Monday with a weeklong string of shows that runs an impressive gamut of diverse sounds.

The "Halfway to St. Patrick's Day World Music Festival" kicks off Monday with Danú, a young collective of Irish lads keen on keeping traditional Celtic music alive and unafraid to render a few of their equally expressive originals in the vintage style. Beautifully played and lovingly crafted, the songs on the group's most recent effort, All Things Considered, jig from energized yet tastefully restrained rave-ups to whisperingly sweet balladry, painting a vivid, divine and colorful picture of their hallowed homeland. Singer Ciarán O Gealbháin is a standout on All Things Considered, his well-tempered lilt (which oddly resembles James Taylor's at times) providing the soul to the album's rich patchwork of Irish tradition. But the band has since parted ways with Gealbháin in favor of new vocalist Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, the band's first female singer who will appear on the next album, in its final stages of completion. Regardless of who is behind the vocal mic, Danú's faithful musical ruminations remain one of the better dictionary-definitions of what archetypal Irish music is all about.

The band has done very well in the Cincinnati area in recent visits (their last local concert was a sell-out, and the group was a popular headliner at last year's local Celtic Festival), so advanced tickets wouldn't be a bad idea. Visit jackquinn.com or call host organization Cincinnati Folk Life at 513-533-4822. (MB)

Gongzilla featuring Chuck Garvey

Tuesday · Jack Quinn's

Gongzilla

Planet Gong lives on! Cult-classic Progressive Rock artists Gong have built a reputation as one of the best of their genre since their inception some 30 years ago, and offshoots and reunions have kept their fervent popularity intact to this day. Don't discount the "Jam Band" fan-base factor as one of the keys to their survival and revivals in recent years: Younger open-minded lovers of open-ended music have taken to some of Prog's less-gaudy acts, with Robert Fripp becoming as much of a Guitar God to the legions as anyone named Garcia.

Gong's members have branched out and extended the band's Jazz/Rock explorations in a number of forms, though they seem a little reluctant to give up Gong's recognizable brand name. There's been Mother Gong, NY Gong and Planet Gong, as well as Tuesday's Gong-y group du jour, Gongzilla, featuring Gongsters Hansford Rowe (bass), Bon Lozaga (guitar) and Benoit Moerlen (vibes, marimba). Longtime fan and Cincinnati-based guitarist Chuck Garvey of moe. lends a hand on this local stop, and he should help to lure his own substantial Midwestern fanbase in and get them turned on to the band's ambient, circuitous guitar work and spellbinding, tasteful grooves. Gongzilla is out supporting its new East Village Sessions, a deep, often hypnotic album the band recorded live, using all analog equipment. The production approach of "just press 'Record' and play" creates a much-needed immediacy to the band's Fusion; the varying tones and sounds would feel cold and laughably phony using the usual synthetic, digital approach. While they can occasionally fall into a lulling New Age drone on Sessions, Lozaga's neon-light guitar flicker and the group's general telepathic arrangements and interplay help maintain a sense of the unexpected. Assuming Garvey sits in for a few numbers, he should add even more spontaneity with his sharply-honed improv instincts. (MB)

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