Melvins, or the Melvins, depending on whom you ask, but Melvins if you ask the band (or at least their Myspace,) have been together for 25 years, and have released 25 albums. That's an album a year for a quarter of a century. While their music over that timeframe is arguably too complex to express in words, if you would please take the following words with you as you listen to them, I think it may help:

Jungle Assault Jet Fighting Wild Summer Camp With Strippers Action Metal

These guys are tight and with all that touring experience under their belts, it stands to reason that their show at Emo's will be off the hook! Come out and find out why bands like Tool and Mastodon owe so much of their sound to this group, and why Kurt Cobain, Mike Patton, and John Zorn praise them.

Friday, August 22nd, with Big Business.

Get Tickets Here.

As a whole, music fans in today's world, in my experience, are fairly open minded. Unlike generations past, most of us are fine blending musical tastes, and staying fairly open to new definitions of the genres we do like. One spin of the vast array of radio stations with "rock" in the name will offer up dozens of different interpretations of the word, with lyrics on every subject from broken hearts to broken televisions, and we, as the music-consuming public, are totally cool with putting it all under the same umbrella. "Electronica" in our world is a word used to describe everything, depending on who you ask, from Nine Inch Nails to the Postal Service to BT to Tapes N Tapes, again, with little demur from the public at large.

But try to call Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, or Bus Driver "Hip-Hop" to the wrong person, and you will have a war on your hands. For whatever reason, the Wild West that makes today's musical landscape so exciting has been slow to arrive in Raptropolis, and, in my personal opinion, a lot of amazing, innovative groups like those mentioned above are pushed into a musical oblivion where they are either embraced by a fringe community, as happened when Slug & co were signed to Epitaph, or left to rot, only to be celebrated years down the line, when the community has caught up to the inventiveness they, at the time, were unable to accept and understand. Even classic hip-hop, great groups like Public Enemy that contributed to Hip Hop in unprecedented ways, are brushed aside by many "heads" for their lack of cultural relevance.

Luckily, there are groups out there that span the great chasm between the hardcore hip-hoppers and the casual crowd, great bands that keep it real while pushing the boundaries: bands like The Roots, Hieroglyphics, and now, the second wave, groups like The Cool Kids, who have taken the classic formula, spliced it with everyday subject matter that makes them instantly relatable, and added in enough butt shakin to satisfy drunken partygoers of any age, and Free Sol, who's IDM-infused variety of hip-hop and soul offers, pure, unadulterated chill in near-lethal doses. Both artists, by the way, at Emo's August 20th, get your tickets here.

Oliver Future @ Emo's

Oliver Future is coming to Emo's with Pudge Zeppelin on Sunday, August 16th. The group is very passionate about their music and I've heard that they put on a great live show. Check out the video below, and if you like what you hear, tickets await!

TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS

They are Toots and the Maytals. They are one of the original granddaddies of the Reggae sound. They are legends. They are at Antone's this Wednesday. If this seems a little short, it's because I can't understand why the entire city is not lining up there already. If Bob Marley was Bob Dylan, the storyteller who moved mountains, and Peter Tosh was John Lennon, the visionary, then Toots and the Maytals are Led Zeppelin. Yes, this show really is that big of a deal. I'm just going to say it: if you are a fan of Reggae, Rocksteady, Ska, Hip-Hop, Funk, or Jazz, and you don't go to this show, you are an idiot.



TICKETS

In Case You Didn't Know...

Does anyone remember back when Fueled by Ramen was that label that Less Than Jake was on?  They've come a way since then, thanks in no small part to Fall Out Boy and Pete Wentz, who, besides his talents for genitalia self-portraits and paparazzi posing, really does seem to have a great ear for talents across all genres.  All of the Radio vs Underground, Major vs Indie stuff aside, its great to find a label that's not afraid to put Tyga and the Hush Sound on the same imprint and encourage kids to do something our parents seldom did: diversify.

And, speaking of the Hush Sound, come show 'em some love when they play Antone's this Sunday, with Steel Train no less.  TIXXX

Wild Sweet Orange

Wild Sweet Orange don't have any songs about fruit, but they do have insightful power-folk-pop anthems that make me feel good inside and get me thinking the way Conor Oberst did, and they are danceable in this surprisingly comfortable manner, which brings me back to Death Cab on the Photobooth album.

Anyway, they're going to be at Stubb's Sunday, August 10th (that's this Sunday,) and if either of the bands I mentioned before are your deal, you should do yourself a favor and come check them out with Electric Touch and Jets Under Fire, and unwind for an evening.

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