Rites of spring

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Despite Almanacs contending that spring has indeed been in full swing for a couple of weeks now, the real indicator to me is when tour vans start steering in our direction. The plethora of shows happening this week proves my theory that spring has indeed sprung—that, and the amount of rollerbladers and dog shit.

Tonight, May 1, is a great triple stack of shows, so you’d better chose wisely on this one. One of the most interesting and best live bands around today is An Albatross and they park their spastic thrash/psych/noise at la Sala Rossa tonight with Big A little a, Thundrah and Italy’s Trouble vs. Glue. If you saw An Albatross completely wipe the floor with sludge legends Blue Cheer last year, you already know just how mighty they can be.

It’s no secret that metal has been ripping off Stravinsky and Bartok for years, but nobody can come as close as Finnish heavy metal cello quartet Apocalyptica, who are playing at Metropolis tonight with DJ Ghostsnake. If you ever wondered how heavy a cello through a Marshall stack would sound, or have been just getting downright topical by spinning Strav’s “Rites of Spring” this week, then don’t miss this.

Making this Thursday even more loaded is the Cave Singers with the dark psych-folk of ex-Deadly Snakes Nordic Nomadic at Divan Orange. Friday, on the other hand, is a no-brainer when ex-Rye Coalition guys the Black Hollies stop in at Casa del Popolo. While fans of Rye Coalition’s near perfect merging of straight-up rock and Jesus Lizard’s precision insanity might be a bit miffed at the Black Hollies’ allegiance to Get Hip-style psychedelic soul, this should prove to really put the sweat on the walls at Casa. Adding ballast to the bill is Montreal’s busiest two-piece, the recently organ-less Wizardtron.

Saturday night once again proves to really be the king of the week, with the Constantines, Attack in Black and Castle Music at Lambi. If you are dumb enough to actually think rock is dead, go get yourself resuscitated when Montreal fave Reverend Horton Heat has a psychobilly freakout with the Southern riffage of Nashville Pussy and Grady at les Saints. Ministry are playing Saturday night at Metropolis which, aside from bringing a nostalgic tear for Foufounes’ better years, should prove to be as interesting as watching paint dry, but the middle slot, held by Sweden’s Meshuggah, will be the real ticket of the night.

Stalwart local record and CD vendors Cheap Thrills celebrate 35 years in the game on Saturday night at la Sala Rossa with Torngat, Anemones and Clues. Also happening on Saturday night is ex-U.S. Maple singer with ex-Feu Thérèse and Et Sans K.A.N.T. N.A.G.A.N.O. and Cloudland Canyon at Casa Del Popolo.

If you had the good fortune of seeing Coliseum destroy les Saints when they opened for High on Fire last year, check them out when they headline Katacombes on Wednesday with Sweden’s Victim, Trash Talk and Metz. Finally, on Wednesday, Shortpants Romance, Kicking Television and DJ Boredom bring the rawk with them to Zoobizarre.

GO HABS GO!JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM