Concert Previews
Hot Hot Heat Hot Hot Heat has not entirely abandoned its caffeinated, herky-jerky dance punk on the new Happiness, Ltd. (as in "happiness is limited, but misery has no end," from the title track), but it has added the morose grandeur of the Cure and early U2 to its arsenal of XTC and Cars allusions. Happiness is a breakup album, and Steve Bays pours his heart out on "Outta Heart." But the Vancouver quartet is at its best when at its zippiest, on tracks such as "5 Times Out of 100" and "Harmonicas & Tambourines." Sunday, the group tops a quirky bill with Canadian reggae band Bedouin Soundclash and De Novo Dahl, the Tennessee tricksters who alternate '60s Brit pop with '80s synth-rock and often end up approximating, in a good way, the B-52s.
Hot Hot Heat
Hot Hot Heat has not entirely abandoned its caffeinated, herky-jerky dance punk on the new
Happiness, Ltd.
(as in "happiness is limited, but misery has no end," from the title track), but it has added the morose grandeur of the Cure and early U2 to its arsenal of XTC and Cars allusions.
Happiness
is a breakup album, and Steve Bays pours his heart out on "Outta Heart." But the Vancouver quartet is at its best when at its zippiest, on tracks such as "5 Times Out of 100" and "Harmonicas & Tambourines." Sunday, the group tops a quirky bill with Canadian reggae band Bedouin Soundclash and De Novo Dahl, the Tennessee tricksters who alternate '60s Brit pop with '80s synth-rock and often end up approximating, in a good way, the B-52s.
- Steve Klinge
Tori Amos
Never one for playing it safe - either with her albums or onstage - Tori Amos is taking her "posse" on the road for a 50-date U.S. tour. The flame-haired songstress, whose unflinchingly personal songs have earned her legions of (mostly female) fans, has been slipping into a character or two from the collection of archetypal alter-egos introduced on her
American Doll Posse
CD. The first half of the show will focus on songs from this relatively hard-rocking album, with the second half offering more of a career retrospective. Moving between piano, organ, and a Yamaha synth keyboard, the former child prodigy - backed by a full band - will show off both her fierce musicality and always-provocative flair for drama.
- Nicole Pensiero
Eve
Philly's own pit bull in a skirt burst on the scene in 1999 with great bravado and a fresh new voice to add to the small pool of female rappers. Eve Jihan Jeffers, now a full-fledged TV star, returns to her roots for a rare live performance on what would have been the release day of
Here I Am,
her first album in five years. With the recording industry, especially the hip-hop genre, experiencing declining sales, it's not surprising that the much-anticipated album has been pushed back to an early 2008 release. As more and more musicians become actors, clothing designers, and gossip magazine fodder (Eve's April DUI arrest), it will be interesting to see if the blond bombshell still has what it takes to be a real MC.
- Aine Ardron-Doley