THE SHOWDOWN: Like smoking blunts in the summer

POSTED: Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 5:41 PM

Filed Under: Music The Showdown

Every Monday Tuesday this week, The Showdown tells you who to see and where to see 'em. Tuesday: Chain and the Gang are a DC band fronted by Ian Svenonius, the lead singer of The Nation of Ulysses (they were like Fugazi, but not as good). These guys pretty much sound like the DC hardcore movement met ' well ' a chain gang. Soulful choruses and Ian's trademarked rambling, abstract, sermon-lyrics. With Drink Up Buttercup, 8 p.m., $8, Space 1026, 1026 Arch St. 2nd Floor, 215-574-7630. Wednesday: One of the songs Br'er had posted on their Myspace sounded like the singer from Muse and the keyboard player from Tears for Fears gave birth to a cuckoo clock. With Zebras, Power Animal and Barrett Lindgren, 8 p.m., Danger Danger Gallery, 5013 Baltimore Ave. Thursday: This girl ditched on the USSR, moved to New York and used her classical training as a Russian pianist to make crazy American 'anti-folk' for your listening pleasure. So unless you love communism, you'll go see Regina Spektor. With Jupiter One, 8:30 p.m., $38, Electric Factory, 421 N. 7th St., 215-569-9400. Friday: Mutemath is one of the more versatile electronic-influenced alternative bands out there. They do down-tempo, they do glitch, they do catchy-as-hell and they do it all well. With As Tall As Lions, 9 p.m., $24.50, Theater of the Living Arts, 334 South St., 215-922-1011. Saturday: Shwayze is a black dude from Malibu who 'lives by the W's: weed and women.' He makes slacker-anthems and cheery hip-hop, like Asher Roth, if he had a shred of street cred. His lyrics are totally inane, but he knows it, and his music sounds like smoking blunts in the summer. With B.o.B., Tabi Bonney, Cold Flamez and Beardo, 7 p.m. $19, The Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., 215-922-6888. Sunday: A poppier version of Tsunami Bomb, The Action Design is what Avril Lavigne would sound like if she didn't write such shitty, angsty music. With Donora and Sick of Sarah, 7 p.m., $8, The Khyber, 56 S. 2nd St., 215-238-5888.

SFA

Posted 2009-09-23 01:44:18

RE: "The Action Design is what Avril Lavigne would sound like if she didnâ  t write such shitty, angsty music"



Comment: The fans seem to like her music.....after all, she has sold over thirty million albums...

Catherine Grubb

Posted 2009-09-24 13:32:00

the Spice Girls sold double that, are they quality music too?

Posted by Catherine Grubb @ 5:41 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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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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