Eels

Eels main man Mark Oliver Everett, a.k.a. E, had a fascinating time on the East Coast last week. The White House called to reject an invitation he’d extended to the President and First Lady to attend Eels’ Washingon, D.C. concert (the 2000 Bush campaign had cited an Eels album as an example of “inappropriate lyrical content”). And then E—looking rather Unabomber-ish with his beard, shades, and hood—was spotted at the New Jersey shore riding a tandem bike with very drunken bandmate “the Chet” as the latter screamed “I love our bro-cycle, bro!” E and company have had a pretty fascinating career, too; one full of personal and artistic triumphs and disasters, which is summed up on two new retrospective discs—one “essential” and the other “useless”—the group is celebrating as it rolls into town. Eels’ quirky, alternately euphoric and poignant musical world incorporates everything from electronic-tinged indie-folk to power-pop to chamber-rock to demented blues, offering a loopy, engrossing sonic bed upon which Everett’s sharp, emotional lyrics can lie. Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave., 628-3151. MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG
Fri., April 11, 8 p.m., 2008