.Critics Choice for the Week of October 24

We recommend Budget Rock, Rachel Garlin, Magnificat with The Whole Noyse, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Angela Wellman, and Rocky Votolato

Budget Rock

Is it a tinny ruckus banged out on ramshackle equipment in a dank club? Is it competent rock ‘n’ roll showcased en masse for sensible audiences at a discount price? What, exactly, is Budget Rock? It’s all of the above across four days and thirty bands at the Stork Club this week, for starters, as well as a brazen celebration of “mindless garage rock” and the sound of buzzing amps. Now in its sixth year, it’s evidence of the Bay Area’s fecund underground rock scene. It’s the exploding drums in the Flakes’ “Open up Your Door” (playing Sunday) and the raspy drawl of Haunted George’s voice in a cover of Pat Boone’s “Moody River” (playing Saturday). It’s the sort of thing you just have to be there for. Four-day passes cost $35, single day tickets $10. Thursday and Friday, October 25 and 26, 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, October 27 and 28, 2 p.m. BudgetRockParty.com #151 Nate Seltenrich Catie Curtis and

Rachel Garlin

In their first local appearance together, singer-songwriters Catie Curtis and Rachel Garlin share the stage tonight (Thursday, October 25) at Berkeley’s Freight and Salvage. While Curtis is from Boston and Garlin is a Berkeley native (now living in New York) with very different backgrounds, they share the use of the folk-pop song form as a means of looking at details of everyday life and drawing universal insights, all within some of the catchiest tunes extant. The New Yorker magazine called Curtis a “folk-rock goddess.” Although younger, Garlin is on her way, and recorded her third CD in concert at the Freight and Salvage. 8 p.m., $21.50 advance, $22.50 at door. Freightandsalvage.org #151 Larry Kelp

Magnificat with The Whole Noyse

The superb Magnificat baroque vocal and instrumental ensemble, directed by Warren Stewart, joins The Whole Noyse and the Sex Chordae Consort of Viols to present Music from Hamburg, 1607. This reconstruction of the 1607 re-dedication of St. Gertrude’s Chapel features music by Praetorius, Jakob Handl, and others. Saturday, October 27 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Berkeley. $28, $22 seniors, $12 student. 8 p.m. MagnificatBaroque.org #151 Jason Victor Serinus

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

Given how infrequently Bruce Springsteen has worked with the E Street Band in the past two decades plus, you have to wonder if the Boss and his collective crew have grown apart like an old married couple. Well if there’s any truth to that theory, it’s pretty undetectable given how solid the recently released Magic sounds. Packing an emotionally powerful punch driven by rich character-driven rockers and anthems a-plenty, this batch of songs has the stamp of vintage E Street fare #151 Clarence Clemons’ soaring sax and the kind of sweeping arrangements endemic to Springsteen’s late ’70s/early-’80s canon. Magic may not be quite on the level of Born to Run or Darkness on the Edge of Town, but it still reflects an artist hitting on all cylinders in the later phases of his career. And while contrarians will moan that this Springsteen/E Street Band reunion is this Jersey boy’s way of keeping people off his back about indulging himself with projects like The Seeger Sessions, Springsteen can never be accused of phoning it in once he hits that concert stage. Thursday, October 20 and Friday, October 26 at Oracle Arena, Oakland. $93.50, $57.75 7:30 p.m. Coliseum.com #151 Dave Gil de Rubio

Angela Wellman

The prospect of witnessing one of the Bay Area’s hottest female trombone players #151 a Kansas City-raised woman who used to sit in on jam sessions at her hometown club Local 626, years before consolidating her career as a bandleader #151 should be enough to get you heading out to Anna’s Jazz Island this Friday. But if Angela Wellman‘s trombone skills don’t pique your curiosity, maybe some of her personnel will. Guitarist Calvin Keys, who signed to Gene Russell’s Black Jazz Records label in the ’70s and briefly changed his name to Ajafika (“one who has not yet arrived”), remains one of the flyest musicians in the local jazz scene. Also featuring singer Lori Wellman, bassist John Heard, percussionist Rondo Hoover, and drummer Lorca Hart (son of the great Billy Hart), Wellman’s band bears a long and fascinating history. The Angela Wellman Group performs Friday, October 26 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $12. AnnasJazzIsland.com #151 Rachel Swan

Rocky Votolato

Rocky Votolato started his career in a post-hardcore rock band, but recently switched back to acoustic instruments and the country-influenced folk sound he grew up with in Texas. His songs are full of ghosts, wilted flowers, bitter memories, broken bones and shattered dreams, accented by the kind of bleak humor that makes you cry as you laugh. His quiet compelling vocals add even more drama to his wrenching visions. Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter and Slender Means open. Sunday, October 27 at Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco. $12. 9 p.m. Tickets at Ticketweb.com or the door. bottomofthehill.com #151 j. poet/i>

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

East Bay Express E-edition East Bay Express E-edition
19,045FansLike
14,592FollowersFollow
61,790FollowersFollow
spot_img