Total madness!

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

If you want a good example of the opener yanking the carpet out from under the headlining bands, do yourself a favour and make sure you get down to la Sala Rossa early enough tonight to catch the left-of-centre genius of Jeffrey Lewis when he supports the Rosebuds and British Sea Power. Lewis’s wry lyrical observations can run from a chance meeting with Palace’s Will Oldham on the L train (“Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror”) to his infatuation with Mark E. Smith (“The History of the Fall”), and if you are really lucky, he just may perform his condensed rambling on the evolution of punk (“Anti Folk Complete History of Punk Rock”). His last record was yet another curveball, a tribute record to anarcho-punk band Crass, aptly titled 12 Crass Songs. His stabs at the peace-punks’ “Banned From the Roxy” and “Big A, Little A” replaced the piss and vinegar with a fresh, folky poke from his cheap acoustic guitar, and although the lefty messages remain firmly intact, his strum and nasal croon easily eclipse the original versions.

Other favourite lyrical subjects for Lewis are his native New York City, his odes to “tripping balls” (he sings about taking acid quite a bit) and musings on heroes like Leonard Cohen. Although he has been quite prolific with his recorded output, as well as being an accomplished graphic novelist, Lewis really has to be witnessed live to get the whole picture. If you miss him tonight, he breezes through town again next Thursday, May 22, with his band the Jitters at Petit Campus, where he’ll once again be the sweat act, this time for Los Campesinos! If you hate folk music, Lewis’s bizarre take on the genre is sure to please.

Also on tap tonight are the latest contributors to the Montreal Make a Riff Foundation, Wizardtron and Barn Burner, at l’Escogriffe. Warning: just listening to the latter’s knuckle-dragging anthems like “Brohemoth” and “Beer Today, Bong Tomorrow” will cost you more brain cells than huffing household solvents while viewing American Gladiator.

Tonight at Casa del Popolo, former Ecstatic Peace recording artist Tam returns after a lengthy hiatus from hometown shows with special guests Total Madness, who will get you feeling all fuzzy inside. Truth be told, I’m not quite sure if “Total Madness” is the name of the opening band or just offered as a disclaimer on the poster for a typical Tam show, but I would venture that both may apply.

Other than the prime rib that is being served up at Victoriaville this year, the big ticket this week is Thrones, featuring Joe Preston, formerly of Earth and Melvins, dropping the hammer of heaviness with Hydra Head’s avant-garde metal guitar wunderkind Ocrilim and the heavy doom-psych-noise of Montreal’s Menace Ruine at the Black Dot on Monday. It would probably be a good idea to get your tickets in advance for this one as it’s likely to sell out quick.

Finally, on Wednesday, you should head over to Zoobizarre to check out the “weird punk” of Vancouver’s Shearing Pinx, Montreal’s hardest working band the O Voids, and local noisniks ttttttttttttt.

GET WELL, ALEX…JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM