Telepathe ~ Wednesday, June 10
Eliza Douglas
Telepathe: So sparkly, and yet so serious.
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BFFs Busy Gangnes and Melissa Livaudais, aka Telepathe, slip heavy narcotics into their electro-pop concoctions, but take care to sip slowly so that they don't, say, spill the ambience all over the guitars. Their stuff goes down smooth but leaves you woozy. The Brooklyn duo's video for "So Fine," off their full-length Dance Mother, features the girls bobbing along amid a subdued sea of dancers, the perfect visual complement to a track lifted by the siren's-call vocals but grounded by machine-beat timekeeping. (Bonus: There's a Diplo remix.) There's a darkness to their buoyancy that has faint echoes of the Knife's medieval brooding. But Telepathe is definitely having a lot more fun, even if they don't show off. "Lights Go Down" has an improvisational quality, with marching drums doing battle with swirling voices and sound effects, as if Gangnes and Livaudais couldn't determine which would dominate. Not that they needed to: That's what their narcotic reverie is all about. With Nite Jewel, Joey Casio. Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison St., 324-8000. 8 p.m. $8 adv./$10 DOS. KEVIN CAPP
Kate Voegele ~ Thursday, June 11
At the tender age of 18, Kate Voegele was performing alongside rock icons like Neil Young and John Mellencamp. And the Cleveland-bred talent collected several awards for her songwriting skills, including first place at the prestigious New York Songwriters Circle back in 2006, before signing with MySpace Records. Since then, Voegele's continued to do what she's best at: making catchy guitar-driven pop songs. On her recently released sophomore album, A Fine Mess, she swings back and forth, singing about both the joys and grievances love brings. Admittedly, the cute-brunette-with-a-guitar shtick is getting a little tired. And Voegele's girly vocals and eager strumming are easy to confuse with those of has-beens like Lisa Loeb and Michelle Branch—remember them? The odds are against her, but here's hoping Voegele sticks around a little longer. With Angel Taylor, Amy Kuney. Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. 7 p.m. $15 adv. All ages. ERIKA HOBART
Portland Cello Project ~ Thursday, June 11
For the Portland Cello Project, collaboration is the name of the game. Over the past few years, the traveling troupe of Portland cellists have created backing tracks for the Builders and the Butchers, Laura Gibson, Loch Lomond, and pretty much every other buzzed-about band in the Rose City. The PCP writes few completely original tracks; instead, the 10-cello orchestra accompanies other musicians live or on record, sometimes rearranging songs in the process. Lately the ensemble has managed to expand its reach well beyond its eponymous hometown: The PCP signed to Kill Rock Stars last year, and is pairing with Thao with the Get Down Stay Down (and a few other bands) on a new record. The combination has created a totally different sound for lead singer Thao Nguyen: A song like "Tallymarks" is slowed to an almost lilting pace, with Nguyen's sultry vocals checked by the cello's sonic earful. It's proof that 11 heads can be better than one. Triple Door Mainstage, 216 Union St., 838-4333. 7:30 p.m. $15 adv./$17 DOS. All ages. PAIGE RICHMOND
Shellac ~ Thursday, June 11 and Friday, June 12
Fair or not, most everybody who critiques music in any kind of public forum is eventually met with retorts along the lines of "You're probably just bitter because you're a failed songwriter" or "You're not a musician—what qualifies you to talk about music?" Engineer/producer extraordinaire Steve Albini has skewered plenty of deserving bands over the years—both in pieces written for various magazines and in interviews—but he's made himself immune to the aforementioned attacks because of the completely fucking awesome music he's delivered to the world over two-plus decades via his bands Big Black, Rapeman, and, since 1992, Shellac. A dynamic and forceful trio featuring Albini (guitar/vox), fellow recording engineer Bob Weston (bass/vox), and drummer Todd Trainer, Shellac makes a minimalist but exceptionally potent post-hardcore racket with loud, slicing guitars and a gut-punching rhythm section. Clearly, Albini knows what sounds good. No, you don't have to be a kick-ass musician—or a musician at all—to offer your opinion, good or bad, about music. But it helps. With Arcwelder.Vera Project, 305 Harrison St., 374-8372. 7:30 p.m. $13. All ages. MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG
Camp Lo ~ Friday, June 12
The Bronx duo Camp Lo's hit single "Luchini," off their 1997 release Uptown Saturday Night, contains within its celebratory bounce and carefree rhymes a potent danceability—and a fucking great hook. "This is it, what?" If you don't remember that call to the clouds off the top, trust me—if they rock that cut tonight, you will. Thankfully, Camp Lo has other tunes to knock, including those from 2002's Let's Do It Again, 2007's Black Hollywood, and this year's Stone and Rob: Caught on Tape, which continues Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suede's blaxploitation-style street swagger. There's something at once hard and jokey about Camp Lo, as if they're rapping about people they know and not themselves. In other words, they take their flows seriously, but not necessarily themselves. Just look at their names. With Fatal Lucciauno, Clockwork, Helladope, DJ Sosa, DJ Marc Sense, Vitamin D. Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison St., 324-8000. 9:30 p.m. $12 adv. KEVIN CAPP
