THE SHORT LIST
By Michael Byrne
Published: April 27, 2011

WEDNESDAY: A local-ish hip-hop showcase dubbed “Smoker’s Delight” takes over Sonar with Dank, Graddai, Greenspan, and more. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is no worse for the wear at the Ottobar with the Desert Boys. Adam Endres and Conor Kizer’s the Creepers bring their distorted love songs to the Metro Gallery with In Tall Buildings and Strange Fur. Rise Against is sold out at Rams Head Live but you know where to look for tickets; Bad Religion and Four Year Strong open. Jimkata combines “raw guitar power with industrial blasts of synthesizers and drum machines” at the 8X10 with Roots of Creation. Baltimore thrash-punk beast Bad Biology celebrates a record release at the Sidebar with Ape, Heaviness of the Load, Pala, and Nudes. If last month’s opening gig at Rams Head Live turned you off, Titus Andronicus passes back through the area at the Black Cat with Double Dagger and Dinowalrus. Deep house-cum-electro house producer/DJ Wolfgang Gartner performs at Bourbon Street with 2rip, Uncle Jesse, and Agent Max. Don’t miss: Tristan Perich, creator of the 1-bit Symphony, performs his “Elevation Maps” composition for five accordions and 1-bit electronics at the Red Room at Normal’s Books and Records with Lesley Flanigan and Owen Gardner.

THURSDAY: CunninLynguists speak for themselves at Sonar with

Homeboy Sandman and UllNevaNo. Chicago lo-fi band the Smith Westerns play the Ottobar with Unknown Mortal Orchestra and the Water; upstairs, omni-beat dance party Kowli Nights returns. Party-minded dubstepper Rusko plays Rams Head Live with Doorly. A whole buncha tough-guy hardcore rattles the Sidebar, including Angry and Broke, Bass Line Bums, Station, and Pipe Smoking Rabbits. Baltimore bluegrass band the Manly Deeds make their monthly outing at Joe Squared. Wiz Khalifa does the public service of making the harbor smell like weed at Pier Six Pavilion. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra starts a three night run of Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 at the Meyerhoff. Don’t miss: Leading Baltimore twanger Caleb Stine dusts up the Windup Space with sublime guitar picker and American primitivist Gregory Rago, Swampcandy, and Gary Wright and Leah Weiss.

FRIDAY: Krallice straight owns black-metal’s new-school at Sonar with Withered, the Wayward, and Birth Noise. New party Prizm Nights checks into the Talking Head with music from Lawless. Shaft XXL and Uncle Larry guest at James Nasty and Antonio Harper’s Physical Education party upstairs at the Ottobar. Alt-rock band Guster sells out Rams Head Live with Good Old War. Pianist Jenny Lin performs Chinoiserie (Chinese-ish music, particularly opera) at An die Musik. Camp Barefoot, a jammy music fest in rural West Virginia in August, has a preparty at the 8X10 with Segway, the Deaf Scene, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, and Jesters of Kindness. The Austin psych dreamers of the Dry Season take on the Sidebar with Invisible Days and Bad Liquor Pond. Washington, D.C., Afrobeat ensemble Elikeh performs at the Windup Space with the Chris Pumphrey Sextet. Avi Wisnia, “think Ben Folds meets Norah Jones. . . if they had a lovechild in Brazil,” does something like that at Joe Squared with Jennings. Recently passed pedal-steel force Dave Giegerich gets a night of remembrance courtesy of the Hula Monsters, Dede Wyland, Randy Barrett and Mama Tried, Smooth Kentucky, Stoney Point, Tracey Eldridge, and Karen Collins at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson. Baltimore indie-rock band Sal Bando steps to the plate at the Metro Gallery with Goodbye New Plans, Gray Young, and Magic Missles. Don’t miss: Noise-punk alchemists Parts and Labor gnash in the catchiest way at the Golden West Café with Double Dagger and Beyond Say.

SATURDAY: Prog-metal band Protest the Hero plays early at the Ottobar with Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Tesseract, and Balor’s Eye. Sheppard Pratt’s 19th annual Care for Kids Concert takes over Rams Head Live with Michael Feinstein doing Sinatra. New Orleans’ Stooges Brass Band takes over the 8X10 with Soul Island Rebels. The Sidebar hosts a rockabilly night with Slim Slip of Slim Slip and the Sliders, some of the Garnet Hearts, and DJ Old Skool Shaun. Baltimore emocore band Octaves return to Charm City Art Space with Texas Instruments and Sleep Bellum Sono. The Bosley Brown Rhythm Review, a quite likely even quirkier side project of Tommy Tucker, heads up a benefit for the Turning Pages Family Reading Club at the Metro Gallery with Stone Mason. Don’t miss: The Los Angeles Electric 8 does chamber music—with eight guitars—at An die Musik.

SUNDAY: Arsonists Get All the Girls is surely some world-changing stuff at Sonar with A Plea for Purging, Lionheart, Contortionist, and Volumes. Reagan Youth is a classic punk/hardcore band from the ’80s, so of course it’s touring again now in some weird form and is at the Ottobar with Stressbomb, Angry and Broke, Just for Now, and T.F.M.; upstairs, Unregistered Nurse delivers garage-pop courtesy of the White Wires, cave-punk from Hollywood, and hardcore from Deep Sleep. Roots guy Jackie Greene performs at Rams Head Live with Deep River and Waylon Speed. The Beau Soir duo of flute and harp performs at An die Musik. Indie standard Pinback is back at D.C.’s Black Cat with Judgement Day. The Sweetlife Festival delivers a whole bunch of way-cool bands to Columbia’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, including the Strokes, Girl Talk, Lupe Fiasco, Crystal Castles, Cold War Kids, Ra Ra Riot, and more. Wicked fun Canadian hardcore mutant Life in Vacuum lays into Charm City Art Space with Paranoia Agent. Short List guilty pleasure the Alkaline Trio plays Towson’s Recher Theatre with River City Extension. Don’t miss: Joe Fiedler makes the trombone jazz-sexy with his trio at the Windup Space; Lafayette Gilchrist delivers a solo performance.

MONDAY: Del the Funky Homosapien takes another blunted lap at Sonar with Bukue One. Metalcore band Stray From the Path finds its way back to the Talking Head with And It Must Occur, Watership Down, the Lives to Come, and American Womanhood. Cullen Stalin and Scottie B’s No Rule party returns to the Metro Gallery.

TUESDAY: Family Force 5 delivers “Christian crunk rock” to Rams Head Live with Stereo Skyline, Swimming With Dolphins, and Since Forever. The Out of Your Head collective returns to the Windup Space for sonic scrambling fun. Dig with Landis Expandis and DJ Napspace is back at Joe Squared. Don’t miss: Holly Golightly and the Broke-offs bring their born-classic, dusty folk-rock to the Ottobar with Teen Angel and Television Hill.

WEDNESDAY: Don’t miss: Talib Kweli needs no introduction at Sonar with Jean Grae and local support worth the trip by itself: Saleem and the Music Lovers and For the People Ent.

IN THE WINGS: New Orleans bounce breakout Big Freedia comes to Sonar May 25 with Javeline, True Womanhood, and DJs Mark Brown and Cullen Stalin. (For more information visit sonarbaltimore.com or call [410] 783-7888.) J. Roddy Walston and the Business play the Ottobar May 27 and 28. (For more information visit theottobar.com or call [410] 662-0069.) Brazilian electro-rock pack CSS comes to Rams Head Live May 14. (For more information visit ramsheadlive.com or call [410] 244-1131.)