Druthers
Hiatus picks the the Week’s Best Bets
Holy Fuck & A Place to Bury Strangers
The Casbah / March 3 / 9 p.m. / $10
Let’s get the band name out of the way; yes, the
Toronto-based organic technicians headlining the Casbah Monday night are called
Holy Fuck, a slight barrier to entry for less open-minded listeners.
Accompanying them is Brooklyn power-trio A Place to Bury Strangers, a gothic
’80s throwback to former dark-pop giants New Order that incorporates a 21st
century noise sheen over its pleasantly derivative sound.
Holy Fuck gets its kicks from unconventional methods,
concocting a techno sound palette and using anything from 35mm-camera noises to
toy guns as long as it doesn’t fall into the familiar sample/loop framework. In
“The Pulse,” all-natural drum-and-bass rhythms cruise along to 8-bit bleeps and
sine swooshes, making for perfect highway driving tunes.
On the other hand, Strangers embrace the reliability of
laptop-borne beats that can go for hours without a break, along with more
soulful human drumming. Breathy monotone vocals poke out of the polished yet
scruffy mix in “I’ll Know I’ll See You,” reinforcing their robotic themes. Now
all these dudes need is better names.
(CK)
Banished
MCASD / Feb. 28 / 7 p.m. / $5
Straight from the 2007 Sundance Film Festival comes a
haunting and sobering look at a history of racism still prevalent in today’s
American South. In the wake of the Jena Six trial and a series of seemingly
race-related murders in the lower quarters of the
States
the modern South’s claim to gentle hospitality, deeming it a lie, underneath
which is buried racial violence that still lingers between both black and white
communities decades after the civil rights movement.
Eerily reminiscent of Williams’ previous film, “Two Towns of
Jasper,” his new documentary further shows that our racial troubles aren’t
over, despite our reluctance to acknowledge them. Nominated for Sundance’s
Grand Jury Prize, “Banished” premieres in
at the
Art
Thursday night. (CM)
Exit Strategy
This week on campus
“Sanctuary”
Auditorium
Feb. 28,
FREE
“Enchanted”
Price Center Theater
Feb. 28, 6 & 9 p.m
$3
Shoghaken Ensemble
Feb. 28,
$18
Music Improv
Feb. 29,
FREE
Terry Matsuoka
Espresso Roma
March 3,
FREE
“The Kite Runner”
Price Center Theater
March 4, 6 & 9 p.m.
$3
Reinventing Josephine Baker
Visual Arts Perf. Space
March 4,
FREE
Kamza and Bar Kamza
Auditorium
March 5,
FREE
The Chinese Stars & More
Che Cafe
March 5,
$5
