September 12–19, 1996

best bets|Music

Rock

By Neil Gladstone

Looking over the upcoming shows, it's easy to see that the Kiss reunion stop on Oct. 8 & 9 at the CoreStates Center is the overhyped event of the fall lineup. But if ancient cartoon glam-metal isn't your idea of a good time, or you just didn't get tickets in time, there are plenty of younger bands with just as much onstage drama, face paint and ball-busting riffs that will Rock and Roll All Nite.

Sept. 26: Stelrit/ The Selecter. Upstairs At Nick's, 16 S. Second St., 928-0665. Shine up your wingtips and be ready to show your appreciation for Czech Ska band, Stelrit, through the international language of skanking. That sentiment also goes for The Selecter, one of the great English ska bands of the second wave.

Sept. 27: Royal Crown Revue. Silk City, Fifth and Spring Garden Streets, 592-8838. Hey Ratpackers, put a little extra starch in your button down 'cause you'll want to look your best for your date with a band that revs up '40s-style swing-jazz so hot, you'll be channeling Benny Goodman before the night is over.

Oct. 1: Lisa Germano/ Star 69. Silk City. Germano's newest platter, Excerpts from a Love Circus (4AD), is one of her finest. Her brand of ethereal folk-rock is lighter than angel food cake and is always topped with a dollop of self-effacing lyrics.

Oct. 5: Zeni Geva/ Flour/ Vitamade/ Arcwelder. Upstairs At Nick's. No music season is complete without a night of pummeling riffs that guarantee a whirlpool of high-powered moshing. Japan's noise terrorists, Zeni Geva, pound out percussion and feedback so thick it bring tears of joy to Steve Albini's eyes.

Oct. 6: New Kingdom. Upstairs at Nick's. The last time this hard rock, hip-hop extravaganza was in town, they tore the roof off of Nick's. Well actually, a couple members of the posse were only clawing at the drop ceiling tiles, but metaphorically, they might as well have ripped the place a new skylight. Rappers Nosaj and Sebastian are brothers from another planet who lay down rhymes so heavy you'd think Tony Iommi was playing their vocal chords. With a full band and DJ behind them, their stage presence owes as much to mid-'70s metal as hip-hop. A smoke machine fills the room with a haze that reflects the reverb-laden sound and a posse member dressed up in samurai gear gallivants through the audience wielding a plastic light-saber. All the while, guitarist Scott Harding slams out monster riffs. The experience is best captured live, but New Kingdom's new album, Paradise Don't Come Cheap (Gee Street/Island) is a fine approximation of the mystical mayhem.

Oct. 9: El Vez. Silk City. Now that local label Big Pop has signed the finest Elvis impersonator of the Latin world, we can only hope he'll be blessing Philly with his sequined stylings several times a year.

Oct. 10: The Iguanas. North Star Bar, 27th and Poplar Streets, 235-STAR. You don't need to make a run for the border on this evening because The Iguanas will bring the flavor of the Tex-Mex border to you. Bouncy horn riffs, first-rate percussion and plenty of roadhouse crooning that'll get your boots shuffling and your refried heart bubbling.

Oct. 12: Dave Alvin. North Star Bar. The beerhall's always rocking when former Blaster Dave Alvin stops by. His music brings together elements of country and rockabilly and fires them up with lyrics that tell gritty tales of woe. Get juiced up for his visit by picking up his latest album, Interstate City (Hightone) — recorded live in Austin, TX; it's a shit-kicking hoedown of the highest order.

Oct. 12: Los Lobos/ Martin, Medeski & Wood/ Nil Lara. Electric Factory, Seventh and Willow Streets, 338-2000. The most recent Los Lobos offering, Colossal Head (Warner Bros.), was like a portable block party compacted onto one disc. Syncopated, Latin rock under of the spell of '70s funk made for music good enough to get your low-rider hopping.

Oct. 18: Olivia Tremor Control/ Jessamine. Silk City. Olivia Tremor Control hails from the same circle as The Apples in Stereo of Denver, CO. Like the Apples, these popsters favor the songwriting craftmanship of Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney, replete with tight vocal harmonies and snappy guitar licks.

Oct. 21: Psychotica/ Impotent Sea Snakes/ The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. Upstairs At Nick's. Get out the greasepaint and hard-boiled eggs, cause there's a freak show coming to town! Whether it's the Bowie-inspired goth musings of Psychotica or the sloppy metal of Karen Black, the real reason you're stopping by is to watch a B-grade horror movie come to life before your eyes.

Oct. 22: Fishbone/ De La Soul. Trocadero,10th and Arch Streets, 923-ROCK. Seminal progenitors of punk-ska, Fishbone may have lost a few members over the years, but they've lost none of their energy. Onetime trip-hoppers De La Soul have made a strong comeback with the pared down, old-school sound of their new outing, Stakes Is High (Tommy Boy). Less filling, but sounds phat!

Oct. 22-26: Ray Davies — 20th Century Man. T.L.A., 334 South St., 922-1011. Davies takes the sound of The Kinks and makes it palatable for the cabaret crowd with low-key versions of garage classics. Wait, there's more, he also spins heartwarming yarns of rock 'n' roll debauchery from his autobiography, X-Ray.

Oct. 24: Guv'ner/ Cat Power/ Rex. Silk City. Is there a hipsta in tha house?!!??! From the scrappy, post-punk discordance of Guv'ner to the lo-fi crooning of Cat Power, this evening gets a Sonic Youth seal of approval and should have those in the know glowing.

Oct. 26: The Lilys. Khyber Pass Pub, 56 S. Second St., 440-9683. Former Philly shoegazer Kurt Heasley returns with a new lineup and a new sound. Now living in Boston, he's started working with a member of Monsterland and is sporting a mid-'60s psychedelic pop sound that makes The Lilys new album, Better Can't Make Your Life Better (Ch/Elektra), the best thing he's ever released.

Nov. 1: Ruin Reunion. Upstairs At Nick's. Philly's seminal punk band comes back together to rock out and celebrate the re-release of their old records on CD by Black Hole Records.

Nov. 4: Billy Bragg/Robyn Hitchcock. Keswick Theater, 291 Keswick Ave., Glenside, 572-7650. Perhaps this evening should be renamed "The Clever, Post-Punk, Singer-Songwriter Convention." Bragg, the man who practically invented punk-folk, is back with a new album, William Bloke (Elektra), and still concerned with how much capitalist governments screw the little guy and the sexes dick each other around. As for Hitchcock, well, a lot of people rip off the Beatles and Pink Floyd, but few do it better than him.

And don't forget...

Oct. 4: Miracle Legion/ Jad Fair. Silk City.

Oct. 18: Soul Coughing. Trocadero.

Nov. 1: Fairport Convention. Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 928-0978.

Nov. 3: Railroad Jerk. Upstairs At Nick's.

Nov. 15: Trans Am/ Six Finger Satellite. Silk City.

Nov. 21: John Wesley Harding/ Versus. Silk City.

Sometime in the fall?...

Killdozer (their final tour) and The Who (on their fourth or fifth "final" tour).