Sound Menu July 11 2001 Wed week out

THE DROPSCIENCE — Avant-hard experimentalism from San Diego, the Dropscience’s upcoming release, Experimenting with Contrast, is subtitled “an audio interpretation of color, light and space.” That, of course, is just a fancy way of saying “we threw some loud shit together.” In its more accessible moments, however, the album recalls the loose, ultra-earnest energy of Fugazi. Definitely for the margin-friendly ear. Squaresville (Hutchinson)

LES CLAYPOOL’S FLYING FROG BRIGADE — On a hiatus from his 17-year career fronting Primus, bass guru Les Claypool makes an impressive foray into the ever-popular genre of jam music. However, instead of cloning Phish, Claypool infuses his oddball brand of heavy funk with the Frog Brigade’s wailing horns and tribal drums to create a sound that’s like no other. Variety Playhouse (Jordan)

JOHNNY NEEL — Latter-day Allmans pianist Neel is touring as frontman of his own band, the Lost World, with whom he recently released the CD, Late Night Breakfast. Smith’s Olde Bar (Sarig)

TOADIES — Apparently someone out there was actually anxiously awaiting a new Toadies album. It’s been six years since their last release, but the band doesn’t seem to have noticed. Their singularly uninspired, by-the-numbers grunge/metal sounded anachronistic in 1995, but here in the 21st Century it seems downright silly. Hell, the whole thing almost makes you pine for a Soundgarden reunion. Almost. PlanetJam Cotton Club (Robertson)

BAYOU ROOM: Eric Austin

BILLY’S: Heather Luttrell

BLIND WILLIE’S: Houserocker Johnson

BRANDYHOUSE: Nitti Cunningham Trio

BRIDGES: Piano with Bruce

BUFFALO’S-PLEASANT HILL: Live Entertainment

CHURCHILL GROUNDS JAZZ CAFE: Pursuance with Lee Hogan & Dan Furman

CJ’S LANDING: Top of the Tree III Band Competition with STB, Fusebox, Candella

CLUB GENO’S: The Brethern

COMEAUX’S: Sal Gentile & Rick Bell

COWBOYS: Ladies Night with Darrin Robbins, Kickback

DAILEY’S DOWNSTAIRS: Obie, Blaze

DARK HORSE TAVERN: David Brown, Star Parlour, Rose Hill

DARWIN’S: Open Blues Jam with The Blues Barons

ECLIPSE DI LUNA: Bonaventure Quartet

FAT MATT’S RIB SHACK: The Electromatics

40 WATT CLUB-ATHENS: John Mayer

FUZZY’S: Mike Veal

JAKE’S ROADHOUSE: Superstring Theory

KARMA: Cream

KAYA: Wind Down Wednesday - live jazz, spoken word, poetry

METROPOLITAN PIZZA: Metropolitan Wednesdays

9 LIVES SALOON: Bitch, Slow Motion Suicide, Sleazoid

NOMENCLATURE MUSEUM: Diva Destruction, Salome’s Wish

NORTHSIDE TAVERN: Daniel “Mudcat” Dudeck

PEASANT UPTOWN: The Steven Charles Jazz Duo

PLANETJAM COTTON CLUB: Toadies, Diffuser, Slangbanger

POPPER’S: Bill Sheffield’s Acoustic Blues

SMITH’S OLDE BAR: Johnny Neel, Delta Moon

SQUARESVILLE-WOODWARD AVENUE: The Dropscience

STAR BAR-L5P: Haricot Vert, Rizzudo, Machodonkeywrestler

TASTY WORLD-ATHENS: Danger Room Drum and Bass

VARIETY PLAYHOUSE: Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade, Colonel Bruce Hampton & The Codetalkers

VININGS INN: Ian Schumacher

VIOLETTE RESTAURANT: Jus Jazz featuring Dave Wallis, Eddie Taylor, Dan Coy, Shack Lewis, Rita Graham

Contributors to this week’s Menu are Charles Bethea, John Falstaff, Mitch Foy, Kevin Griffis, Matt Hutchinson, Hal Horowitz, Hamilton Jordan, Lea Keel, James Kelly, Regan Kelly, Omar Khalid, Gregory Nicoll, Justin Robertson, Roni Sarig, Lee Smith, Tony Ware and Lang Whitaker.