Double Dagger

Yet another cult commodity from Baltimore, Double Dagger has finally been doused in the national attention it deserves with the May release of More on the ever-trustworthy Thrill Jockey. Unwieldy on paper but effortlessly catchy on record, the trio constructs brainy post-punk anthems as sturdy as steel girders with just bass, drums, and Nolen Strals’ shouted vocals. Bringing an art-school inventiveness to the brawny speechifying of hardcore, Double Dagger lunges into each song with a wolfish hunger, Bruce Willen’s swaggering bass blurring with distortion and activity while Denny Bowen’s drums work themselves into dizzy flurries. It’s a rare band that can bridge the gap between No Age and Wilderness while still warmly reminding us of the Minutemen and the Fall. Even potentially self-serious entries like “Luxury Condos For The Poor” – off 2007’s Ragged Rubble– and More’s “The Lie/The Truth” find unlikely life as infectious near-pop delights…at least until you notice the lyrics. With Arbitron, Chk Minus, Brain Fruit.
Sun., July 5, 8 p.m., 2009