Thursday, July 10
Blackberry Smoke @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
Whilediverse stylistic range is often the hallmark of profound musical study,sometimes there's something equally admirable about cornering and perfecting aspecific niche. That's the path taken by
Friday, July 11
Missy Higgins @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 8 p.m.
Endlesslycompared to Sarah McLachlan and Vanessa Carlton because, well, shesounds an awful lot like both of those artists, Missy Higgins is a bonafide star in her native Australia,where she's charted regularly since her next-big-thing emergence fiveyears ago. Her latest album, On A Clear Night, places less emphasis ongentle piano-pop in favor of more tumultuous (but still pretty),“Grey's Anatomy”-ready guitar pop. Singer-songwriters Eric Hutchinsonand Julie Moffitt open.
Paul Cebar's Tomorrow Sound @ Bastille Days, 11:45 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Whobetter to headline Friday night of Milwaukee's annual four-day,French-cul ture celebration than Paul Cebar, the man who, with hisMilwaukeeans, made danceable, New Orleans-styled R&B a staple ofour city's music scene? Tonight Cebar performs with his new outfit,Tomorrow Soundessentially a rechristened version of the Milwaukeeans.
The Pistols at Dawn @ The Borg Ward Collective, 7 p.m.
Aswe creep into the dog days of summer, it seems only fitting to scorethe season with the upbeat organ work and whammy bar fades of authenticsurf rock. Madison's The Pistols At Dawn, influenced as much byNintendo start screens as The Ventures, seem more than up to the taskof bringing a fresh take on a relatively abandoned genre. They don'tstray far from convention, but it's all for the best. Milwaukee'sSquidbotz, all synth bloops and post-Tom Morello licks, open the show,along with King's Horses and The GC Love Band.
Saturday, July 12
Hulot & NAOTA w/ D.A. and the Madpack @ Mad Planet, 9 p.m.
Electronicartists Hulot & NAOTA's affinities for nostalgic, Amon Tobin jazzsmoothness appear to make them strange bedfellows with openers D.A. andthe Madpack's circa-Manfred Mann guitar work and Talking Heads vocals.But all these electronic artists find vaguely common ground ininformed, respectful throwbacks to older works and genres. In thatsense, the spirit of Black Flag appears alive and well on songs likeD.A.'s “Critical Miss,” whereas NAOTA seems more comfortable weaving'30s-style clarinet jazz and occasionally heavily distorted guitarinto spacey melodies.
3 Doors Down w/ Staind and Hinder @ Marcus Amphitheater, 6:30 p.m.
Liketheir phonetically similar post-grunge peers, Three Days Grace, 3 Doors Downwrite soundtrack-ready, doom-and-gloom scorchers about matters oflife-and-death urgency. It's a profitable formula, and all their albums sincetheir 2000 hit single “Kryptonite” have charted reliably. It's been a whilesince Staind released their signature 2001 single, but since that hit, theone-time Fred Durst protégés have continued their shift away from alt-metal andtoward
Slippery Slopes w/ Johnny and the Limelites' Pizza Patrol and Plexi 3 @ Linneman's Riverwest Inn, 10 p.m.
Orlando,Fla., group Slippery Slopes plays what can best be described as asurf-punk hybridbut the punk in question is relatively light bycontemporary standardsof the user-friendly Stooges brand (their leadsinger can often sound like a dead ringer for Iggy). Nevertheless,their nostalgic approach is comfortably reminiscent of the days whenpunk wasn't necessarily defined by simple, aggressive song structureand was free to be fun and melodic. Midwest retro-pop reps Johnny &the Limelites' Pizza Patrol open along with Milwaukee's Plexi 3.
Monday, July 14
Bullet For My Valentine @ The Rave, 7:30 p.m.
Lordhelp us: The emo kids are discovering '80s hair metal. It's tough tosay whether their newfound interest stems from a genuine appreciationof the much maligned genre or from ironic laughs at the expense of theprimed rockers of yore, but like their fellow South Wales band Funeralfor a Friend, Bullet for My Valentine makes a strong case thatReagan-era metal was smarter than music historians give it credit for.Bleeding Through and Cancer Bats open.
Tuesday, July 15
Kittie w/ Dope @ The Rave, 8 p.m.
Kittieearned considerable press in the late-'90s for the obvious noveltyfactor: They were four cute women playing nu-metal, a genre dominatedby chest-beating men. The quartet has improved over the years,softening its sound on the 2007 release Funeral For Yesterday to relymore on melodic, Veruca Salt-ish vocals and less on primalgruntsthough, to be sure, the guitars still grind away angrily indeference to their metal roots. New York industrial institution Dope,the type of testosterone outlet that makes Kittie such a curiosity,opens.
Wednesday,July 16
SonAmbulance w/ Jennifer O'Connor, Fable & The World Flat @ Cactus Club, 9p.m.
SonAmbulance is the brainchild of one-time Bright Eyes sideman Joe Knapp, whoemploys similar melancholic, electro-beat backdrops in his own somber tunes,but has begun to distinguish himself from his more-famous
