SHOWDOWN: Like an anthem in disguise

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SHOWDOWN: Like an anthem in disguise

POSTED: Monday, April 26, 2010, 8:27 PM

Filed Under: Music The Showdown

Monday: The shy, lovesick Casiotone for the Painfully Alone will be hitting the stage with a full band and horn sections. Typically known for keyboard and drumbeat sounds, tonight CFTPA adds some umph to the songs with the help of Magical Beautiful. Read my interview with CFTPA leader Owen Ashworth first, though. With Magical Beautiful and Light Pollution, 9 p.m., $10, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684. Tuesday: Taylor Hollingsworth isn't easy to pin down against one genre. He's without a doubt southern blues with his twangy six string and spoons rattling on the knees. But he's got this punk rock aesthetic to him, too. And that voice! Southern drawl mixed with nasally nerdiness. With Winston's Dog, Funkslaw and Disgruntled Sherpa Project, 8 p.m., $8, M Room, 15 W. Girard Ave., 215-739-5577. Wednesday: Badass guitar slinger Kaki King will be belting it out at the TLA. It could just be a gender and genre thing, but she's been compared to St. Vincent, Neko Case and Laura Veirs. What puts King in a league of her own, though, is her experimental guitar manipulation.With Steph Hayes, 8 p.m., $18, TLA, 334 South St., 215-922-1011. Thursday: If you want some dancey, poppy indie sounds cut with tambourines, samples and (I think) the side of a glockenspiel being played with a bow, then it's Body Language that you're after. And when the songs aren't off-the-walls-make-out-on-the-dance-floor, they're a mellow let's-make-out-in-the-grocery-store-parking-lot. Either way, it's cute and dirty. With City Rain, 8 p.m., $10, Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 215-291-4919. Friday: Vampire Hands live up to their spooky but kooky title. They have low-crawling bass lines, chilling choruses and drums and cymbals that sneak into the frame to later crash and startle. They're catchy, though, and almost every song sounds like an anthem in disguise. A really good disguise. With Daughters of the Sun and Far Out Fangtooth, 9 p.m., $5 - $10, Danger Danger Gallery, 5013 Baltimore Ave. Saturday: So Monica reminds most of us of the '90s, specifically "The Boy is Mine," her banging duet with Brandy. But Mon's got herself a new album out this year, aptly titled Still Standing, as if we had forgotten about her. She's still got that velvety R&B voice and she's still got those feel good love songs. Luckily for us, she's still touring, too. At 8 p.m., $30 - $40, House of Blues, 801 Boardwalk Ave., Atlantic City, 609-236-2583. Sunday: Tonight check out local faves Reading Rainbow. They're lo-fi crunch guitars and girl-boy vocals are always pleasurable. Plus openers, Soft Landing — a darling, percussion heavy indie project of three Brooklynites, two of which are former members of Beirut — will have their first Philly show. With Soft Landing and Icy Demons, 7 p.m., $10, Little Berlin, 119

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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