by SHANE SINNOTT

Anyone who pays much attention to music, especially independent music, will notice that irony runs rampant these days. “Joke” bands abound, hipsters dress like hicks—the whole thing starts to feel kinda insincere. It was with pleasure, then, that I discovered the Burning Hell (www.myspace.com/mathiaskom). The mostly-ukulele music and laugh-inducing lyrics of Mathias Kom stay on the good side of silly, while still maintaining that increasingly scarce sincerity. To wit: “Love/it’s like a hurricane /it happens in Florida/and gets into everything,” or “Love/it’s like a monster truck/it fills up whole stadiums/and it crushes smaller trucks.” They’re unsigned, but a rotating set of songs are available on the MySpace page.

In keeping with the silly/sincere/vaguely religious theme, check out Geoff Berner, also known as the Whiskey Rabbi (www.geoffberner.com), who played here just last week with Bob Wiseman. My source on this put it this way: “The idea is, he’s seeing that klezmer music has strayed far from its roots, that it’s become something that’s taught in music schools, so his plan basically is to bring klezmer back to the bars.” There’s lots to download on the site, and it’s fun stuff indeed.

With the godawful month of February behind us, shows are becoming more plentiful in our fair city. You are hereby advised to visit Magic Weapon on the world wide web, and to go see them tonight, March 1, at the intimate Friendship Cove. With Jordan Robson Cramer of Sunset Rubdown playing, it’s not surprising that they sound a lot like the messier parts of SR songs, but with a Helium-ish fuzz thrown in as well. Check them out at www.myspace.com/magicweapon.

Another good bet this week is Holy Fuck, the dance music band that indie types like, and the indie band that dance-music types like. You can download some tracks at www.holyfuckmusic.com (evidently, www.holyfuck.com was already taken), and see them on Sunday, March 4 at Cabaret.

No more winter! ssinnott@gmail.com