Sound Menu November 08 2006

THURS/9

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ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Guest conductor Jun Mäerkl brings his lean, intelligent conducting style to the ASO podium with music celebrating prototypes of the natural daemon/genius: Ludwig Van Beethoven's "Overture to the Creatures of Prometheus," Franz Liszt's tone poem "Prometheus" and "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss. The program also features the dashingly elegant playing of violinist Nikolaj Znaider in Beethoven's "Violin Concerto." $18$63. 8 p.m. Symphony Hall. 404-733-5000. www.atlantasymphony.org. Mark Gresham

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BARENAKED LADIES, MIKE DOUGHTY Those clever Canadians in BNL peaked in the late '90s, but their new stuff is just as good, if not better, than Stunt and Rock Spectacle. You know, the stuff you sold at the used-CD store several years ago. Their newest — released two months ago — Barenaked Ladies Are Me, is a great record. If 99X would stop playing Nirvana long enough, you might hear a track or two on the radio sometime. But screw them, anyway; just pick up a copy at the show. And get there early because crafty former Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty opens. $30-$60. 8 p.m. Arena at Gwinnett Center. 770-813-7500. www.gwinnettcenter.com. — Lee Valentine Smith

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CHEAP TRICK Since the '70s, this Rockford, Ill., power-pop band has wanted you to want them. And you do, because this Cheap Trick is rich with melodic, riff-laden jams. As all-time album moments go, there is little more exhilarating than when on At Budokan the band introduces the gloriously sneering "Surrender." The group's legacy continues to infuse the hipster illuminati (the Hold Steady's recent "Southtown Girls" is a partial descendant of Cheap Trick's "Southern Girls"). All Cheap Trick wants is to roll some numbers and have someone to love. And tonight, it's you. $36. 8 p.m. Roxy Theatre. 404-233-7699. www.ticketmaster.com. — Tony Ware

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HEADLIGHTS Champaign, Ill., trio Headlights enlivens its indie pop with hard textures and rippling guitar. On the band's new album, Kill Them with Kindness, Tristan Wraight and Erin Fein play like Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett in Rilo Kiley, with mostly successful results. The group's Atlanta appearance is supplemented by local indie-rockers La Chansons, Jondonson and Morrish Idols. $5. 9 p.m. Lenny's Bar. 404-577-7721. www.lennysbar.com. — Mosi Reeves

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KINKY Much like Los Amigos Invisibles, Mexican quintet Kinky fuses electronic music with all sorts of sounds (but, thankfully, mostly rock). The group has earned a fervent cult following in the states as a result of its three critically acclaimed albums, including the just-released Reina. $13. 8 p.m. Vinyl. 404-885-1365. www.vinylatlanta.com. — MR

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PANIC! AT THE DISCO, BLOC PARTY Along with My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco is responsible for a highly erroneous vein of geek chic: the marching-band dandy. And you know what that means? It means we've got trouble, right here in River City. that starts with "T" and rhymes with "PPPB" and that stands for "pompous, pop-punk buffoons." I'll give My Chemical Romance credit for constantly attempting, and often succeeding, to scale new dramatic heights, but Panic! At the Disco scrambles desperately to make the lowest common denominator high theater. This is no Night At the Opera; this is a self-aware, high school drama club with a wasted budget. The U.K.'s Bloc Party, with a new album slated for a February 2007 release, has a more taut, emotionally nuanced grasp of post-punk dynamics, so we won't hold the Panic! At The Disco's winking-as-we're-wincing against their tourmates. Jack's Mannequin also appears. $15-$30. 6:30 p.m. HiFi Buys Amphitheatre. 404-443-5090. www.hob.com/venues/concerts/hifibuys/. — TW

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FRI/10

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ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA See Sound Menu for Thurs., Nov. 9. $18$63. 8 p.m. Symphony Hall. 404-733-5000. www.atlantasymphony.org. MG

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BO DIDDLEY AND FRIENDS Bo knows because he was there. A night with Bo Diddley is a jovial celebration of 50 years of rock history. From the "shave and a haircut" beat that virtually everyone in modern music has copped, to memories of '50s and '60s package tours to "colored only" back door entrances of the thankfully distant segregated past, Bo's seen it all. He's survived as one of rock's elder statesmen and his live shows are just a whole lot of good-natured fun. With Alvin Youngblood Hart and Ruthie Foster. $36-$62. 8 p.m. Rialto Center For The Arts. 404-651-4727. www.rialtocenter.org. — LVS

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BROOKS & DUNN, JACK INGRAM, SUGARLAND B&D may be the most successful duet act in country music history simply because they know how to milk a formula. They have their moments of brilliance, but most of it is pretty forgettable. Ingram is a singer/songwriter overnight success (15 years in the making). Atlanta's own Sugarland hits the big stage in support of its new CD, which sounds just like its last CD. $18.50-$58.50. 7 p.m. HiFi Buys Amphitheater. 404-443-5090. www.hob.com. — James Kelly

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INTELLEKT & DIRTY DIGITS, PSYCHE ORIGAMI Hip-hop and ya don't stop. Well, maybe make one stop and that's at this show, where the duo of MC Intellekt and DJ Dirty Digits will be celebrating the release of their CD, featuring a Native Tongues convivial consciousness. Also headlining the bill is party rockin' trio Psyche Origami — backpack, hip-hop scene godfathers with an alliterate, fluid funk and A-to-tha-Bay meta-mentality that tries to be as heady as head-bobbin'. Junk Science, Bisc 1 and Loer Velocity support with lo-fi, high concept but earnest Brooklyn corner beats. $10. 9:30 p.m. The Earl. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com. — TW

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LEE BOYS, HEARTLESS BASTARDS Sacred steel is pretty hot right now and the Lee Boys, a fourth generation of pickin' Pentecostals, know how to bring it on. They rocked (and shocked) the Merlefest Sunday-morning crowd this year with their wild and wooly holy-ghost revival show. The very secular bluerockers Heartless Bastards open. $10 advance. 8 p.m. Smith's Olde Bar. 404-875-1522. www.smithsoldebar.com. JK

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MAKE BELIEVE, ECSTATIC SUNSHINE, THE PLOT TO BLOW UP THE EIFFEL TOWER, IRREVERSIBLE Make Believe reshuffles Joan of Arc's lineup to transcend the emo tag while churning out clear-eyed, experimental rock. Baltimore duo Ecstatic Sunshine blasts guitar minimalism and art-afflicted noise that's draped in a jumble of rhythmic complexities. San Diego quartet TPTBUTET crafts a cacophonous crash of jazz, punk and hardcore jitters. Atlanta's Irreversible plays epic, instrumental post-hardcore. $10. 8:45 p.m. Drunken Unicorn. www.thedrunkenunicorn.net. — Chad Radford

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TIËSTO A mainstay in the Top 5 of DJ magazine's yearly "Top 100 DJs" list, the Netherlands' Tiësto has an ego as soaring as the prog/trance tracks he peddles internationally. Glossy melodies often reach for the heavens as vocal tracks melt glaciers. Wanna know what broke Pangaea into the continents? Tiësto. He filled a 25,000-person stadium. You barely fill out those jeans. So are you wet yet? No? Well, you will be because we've got hours more of immersion and tripping the light spastastic to go. Build up, break down, and repeeeeeat. Tiësto is like infused vodka and tonic — fine for a few sips but I'm always left wondering, 'Where's the pulp?' $30. 9 p.m. The Tabernacle. 404-659-9022. www.livenation.com. — TW

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SAT/11

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AARON LACRATE, KLEVER Bangers are not just mushy British sausage, nor only fingerfuls of fun. Bangers are those club tracks that make you feel like you're the tunnel, the track is the train and it's the world's longest, most unrelenting bullet plowing through. It's a very filling feeling. OK, maybe it does have something to do with "sausage." Regardless, this event features two DJs — Brooklyn's Aaron "Gutter Music" LaCrate and Atlanta's "Clever" Klever — laying down bangers to make you move where the sun don't shine until the sun come up. That means you're gonna shake that azz to the sounds of hip-hop, house, rawk, baile, B-more and much more. This is the last installment of "Sloppy Seconds" Saturdays so it's sure to be a 40-drippin' off-the-wall ball. Come prepared. Call for admission. 10 p.m. The Royal. 404-653-1644. www.theroyalatlanta.com. — TW

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CHARLAMBIDES Charmlambides hails from the American Southwest, Texas to be exact. The group carries with it a sense of desert mysticism that comes in the form of glowing noise and improvisation. Built around the duo of Tom (guitars, lap steel) and Christina Carter (guitar, voice and bells), alongside Heather Leigh Murray (pedal steel and voice) the group draws haunting and otherworldly tones out of very earthly and traditional instruments. $8. 9 p.m. Eyedrum. 404-522-0655. www.eyedrum.org. — CR

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SUN/12

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ED ROLAND, GEORGIA Singer/songwriter Roland is the voice and founder of Collective Soul. Tonight, the gregarious entertainer finally sheds the rest of those other Collective guys and goes solo at the Attic for a very rare and intimate show. Maybe he's trying out some new stuff. Maybe he just wants a break from all that microphone-stand-dancing. If you're a true fan, there's only one way to find out. Georgia — the band, not the entire state — opens. $15. 7:30 p.m. Eddie's Attic. 404-377-4976. www.eddiesattic.com. — LVS

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THE MOTET, JAMIE McLEAN There's a force in acid jazz and Afrofunk that just pulls me in, like an invisible hand grabbing my shirt. Sometimes it's just my curiosity, but with the Motet it's the smooth groove that permeates its amazing new CD from start to finish. Opener McLean is the guitarist for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band but is a rocker at heart. $12 advance. 7 p.m. Smith's Olde Bar. 404-875-1522. www.smithsoldebar.com. — JK

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MY MORNING JACKET, WAX FANG If Wilco is the king of adult-contemporary-Americana, then My Morning Jacket is the aching, pained soul of Americana, a sound echoing as far as Jim James' voice will carry. The band doesn't sound as desperate as At Dawn, and its 2005 album Z is a little too quirky for my tastes. But if its new live album, Okonokos, is any indication, the group's reputation as a live act par excellence is well deserved. Fellow Louisville, Kentuckians Wax Fang open, then head backstage to take notes. $25. 8 p.m. The Tabernacle. 404-249-6400. — MR

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MON/13

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TWO DOLLAR GUITAR, CHRIS BROKAW, MOORISH IDOLS Two Dollar Guitar is the voice of Hoboken, N.J., native Tim Foljahn, singing grim ballads steeped in loneliness and life on the road. Two Dollar Guitar's lineup features Foljahn (vocals, guitar), Steve Shelly of Sonic Youth (drums) and Brokaw of Come (bass). Brokaw also fills in the middle slot playing an off-key hybrid of bluesy psychedelia. Moorish Idols open. $8. 9 p.m. The Earl. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com. — CR

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TUES/14

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BLUE CHEER, THEE CRUCIALS, THE SWEETLOVES Legendary and loud '60s power trio Blue Cheer continues to vibrate amps and innards a mere 38 years after the release of their now-classic melted-Marshall/melodic-metal opus Vincebus Eruptum. Founder and singer Dickie Peterson and drummer Paul Whaley are joined by "new" guitarist Duck McDonald (he's only been in the band for 20 years or so). Overdriven? Yes. Overwrought? No. Their new motto is "If it's too loud, you're too young," a nod to their advanced years and high-volume mushroom (both kinds) cloud aural assault. Openers the Sweetloves and Thee Crucials won't be as thunderous as the headliner, but few have survived extended exposure to that much volume anyway. $13. 9 p.m. The Earl.

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404-522-3950. www.badearl.com. — LVS

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DEKALB SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DSO music director Fyodor Cherniavsky leads a program featuring "Eine Idee ist ein Stuck Stoff" ("An Idea is a Piece of Cloth") by Alvin Singleton, Atlanta's most prominent resident composer. For the romantic side of the program, Robert Schumann's "Symphony No. 3" ("Rhenish") opens and pianist Robert Henry is soloist for the "Piano Concerto No. 2" of Sergei Rachmaninoff. Senior and student discounts available. $20. 8 p.m. Marvin Cole Auditorium, Georgia Perimeter College. 678- 891-3565. www.gpc.edu/symphony. — MG

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SONIC GENERATOR Get your geek on with Atlanta's newest music ensemble. Sonic Generator includes some familiar names from the local new music community but takes on a decidedly "techno-garde" posture. One highlight, "Jam'aa," by Gil Weinberg and Scott Driscoll, features percussionist Tom Sherwood in a duo with Haile, a robotic drummer that listens to Sherwood's playing, analyzes it, and improvises along. The rest of the program's works, some going back as far as the ancient 1970s, use technology in different ways to extend the palette of live musicians. Free. 8 p.m. Georgia Tech Alumni House. 404-385-7257. www.sonicgenerator.gatech.edu. — MG

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WED/15

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ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Itzhak Perlman may be the world's best-known violinist, but he is less known as a conductor. With violin in hand as soloist, Perlman leads Vivaldi's "Spring" and "Winter" concerti from "The Four Seasons." He then trades fiddle for baton to conduct two other "safe-bet" traditional crowd-pleasers: the very "Academic Festival Overture" of Johannes Brahms and Pyotr Tchaikovsky's colorful "Symphony No. 5," with its prominent horn solo and march-dominated conclusion, ending the program with a bang. $59--$70 8 p.m. Symphony Hall.

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404-733-5000. www.atlantasymphony.org. — MG

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THURS/16

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ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA See Sound Menu for Wed., Nov. 15. $23 8 p.m. Symphony Hall. 404-733-5000. www.atlantasymphony.org. — MG

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•Bands/performers/venues wishing to be included in Sound Menu's noted-acts boxes may send recordings, press material and schedules two weeks in advance to Creative Loafing c/o Heather Kuldell, 384 Northyards Blvd., Suite 600, Atlanta, GA 30313, or e-mail information to: heather.kuldell@creativeloafing.com. To be included in the listings only, e-mail venue and band schedules by Friday at noon (for the issue that comes out the following Thursday) to soundboard@creativeloafing.com.