Mandomorphosis ~ Saturday, January 16
Pop music has relegated the mandolin to sideshow status, an accompaniment for the likes of R.E.M. and Counting Crows, while alt-country and No Depression types give it more measured treatment. But MandoMorphosis, seven mandolins strong, shoves the instrument out front and center. Far from self-indulgent, MandoMorphosis' self-titled record (celebrated tonight) is far more melodic and controlled than a seven-member mandolin ensemble has any right to be. (It helps that the players double on instruments like violin and dobro.) There's a vocal quality to the lead parts, and each track on the 60-minute–plus album feels like a different scene from a suspense film. Tension builds and breaks, and on "A Minor Squabble," it's pretty clear that both parties go home a bit bruised. Empty Sea Studios, 6300 Phinney Ave., 8 p.m. $13 adv./$15 DOS. CHRIS KORNELIS
Meg Bryan
Ben Barnett’s new band, Blunt Mechanic.
Related Content
More About
Le Sang Song ~ Sunday, January 17
Le Sang Song is the solo guise of Seattle's Craig Chambers, who also fronts the noise-garage duo Love Tan and the more brittle trio the Lights. Although Chambers recorded his project's self-titled debut in 2007, it's only now seeing official release—thanks to the decade-old local label Dragnet, resurrected for this occasion. Limited to a vinyl pressing of 660, the album will hopefully find a curious audience via online word of mouth. Le Sang Song recalls early Smog in the best ways, tapping into something cryptic and insular on "Ring Ring" and "Gingerella." "Hot Reggae" melds a gurgling beat and repeated guitar riff, while "War" is more old-soul folk, underscored by a lonesome violin and whistling. Buttressed by Climax Golden Twins, this record-release show features Le Sang Song's live incarnation, a quartet with Love Tan drummer Matthew Ford, Dragnet head Min Yee (of A Frames fame), and Chambers' wife, Adria Garcia. May it provide the crucial first push this jittery, unique album deserves. With Climax Golden Twins. Jewelbox/Rendezvous, 2322 Second Ave., 441-5823. 10 p.m. $6. DOUG WALLEN
Al Kooper ~ Tuesday, January 19
Al Kooper is revered for a lot of things. Among them, cooking up the instantly legendary organ howl on "Like a Rolling Stone," serving time in the mighty Blues Project, co-founding Blood, Sweat & Tears, and penning the oldies nugget "This Diamond Ring." My personal fave has got to be the blistering Super Session. Conceived by Kooper and guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills, this album is one of the foundations of sweat-stained hard rock, right up there with the best of Cream and Hendrix. For all his accomplishments in the 1960s, more than a few critics feel Kooper's two most recent albums, Black Coffee and White Chocolate, are the very best of his career—exploratory fusions of blue-eyed soul, uptown blues, round-midnight jazz, country, and vintage rock & roll. There's really no stopping the guy, is there? Triple Door, 216 Union St., 838-4333. 7:30 p.m. $25. All ages. JUSTIN F. FARRAR
Nana Grizol ~ Tuesday, January 19
Charm can get one a long way, and Nana Grizol carries it for miles on its sophomore effort, this month's Ruth.While the charm of NG's debut, Love It Love It, came channeled through a raw immediacy bordering on amateurism, this time it's a bit more suave. Fuzzy guitars and simplistic melodies are still somewhat prevalent, but find a medium poised between eagerness and polish. The enthusiasm of the debut record still shines through Ruth, but it's as if this is the second, measured breath that comes after that first headlong downhill sprint. The new poise gives the band a chance to flesh out its arrangements a bit more, in particular to create a space for the horns and "non-rock" instrumentation to truly shine—and to sound more like proper elements of the music, rather than like something carelessly if effectively attached because "hey, we know some horn players who are pretty good." Of course, it doesn't hurt that those horns come courtesy of former Elephant 6ers Laura Carter and Robbie Cucchiaro, whose time with Neutral Milk Hotel left them with very particular ideas about how to cultivate band-geekism into full-fledged rock cred.Ruth doesn't treat that strength as a crutch, though, instead allowing the arrangements to grow and swell around and with the instrumentation, rather than being merely a vehicle for it. With the Max Levine Ensemble, iji, A MIllion Years. Vera Project, 305 Harrison St., 956-8372. 7:30 p.m. $6. NICHOLAS HALL
