[ Music Index | Metro | Metroactive Central | Archives ]

Beat Street
By Todd S. Inoue

Robert Scheer Fooling Around: Monkey headlines the next Gaslighter Theater show on Sept. 5. Underground Notes: Radio Free LG and Gaslighter connection SKA-PUNK FANS have found a friendly all-ages venue at Campbell's Gaslighter Theater. The most recent show, two weeks ago, featured the Facet, Creech, Captured by Robots, Attaboy Skip and 78 RPM. Attaboy Skip turned in the best set of the night with a just-right recipe of ska-punk. The eight members echoed early Bosstones, balancing anthemic choruses, twin-guitar lines and a full brass section. On the other hand, even with ex­Skankin' Pickle members Lynette Knackstedt and Lars Nylander at the controls, 78 RPM exhibited all the signs of a work in progress. I missed Creech but got to hear a tape of the band's performance two days later on a micropowered radio station broadcasting at 91.3FM out of Los Gatos known as Radio Free Lost Gatos. The guys in Creech guest DJed, heckled callers and played the whole of their set along with some of their favorite bands. According to RFLG owner/manager/DJ Dr. Slick, the station has been operating out of a house "buried in the Los Gatos hills" for three years. "I do it for fun," Slick says. "I don't do it because I'm an 'anarchist.' I don't go out and say, 'Kill the cops.' I'm positive with radio." Slick was mum on the wattage but said that 91.3 reaches all of Los Gatos and parts of Campbell. Slick plays classic rock, jazz and "a little bit of Bach" when not turning the controls over to guest DJs like the members of Creech. The station can be heard Sundays and Wednesdays, 8pm­3am. Meanwhile, the next Gaslighter Theater show stars Monkey, Blue Beat Stompers, Steadyups, Lucky Strike and Pigs in Space on Friday (Sept. 5). As always: all ages and five bucks. Local Releases Floyd's Ordeal Spinning Ragged Edge In rock crit­speak, saying "the band does what it does well" is interchangeable with "I don't like this music, but someone else out there does." So defines my ordeal with Floyd's Ordeal. Lead by bassist Floyd Killen, Floyd's Ordeal is an original-rock band by day that moonlights as a flannel-wearing cover band by night. The band's double life affects tracks such as "Rat Race" and "Pink Slip," which echo Social Distortion and Bon Jovi in the workingman's-woe department. The strongest points are "Hate U," "Time and Time Again" and "My Maryling," which are melodic head-bangers. Lisa Dewey Lola Cuki Kitchen Whore Dewey dishes up lush 12-string guitar work and ethereal vocals that work like a dream machine operated by the Cocteau Twins. It gets better; Dewey also displays a hearty punk-folk ethic, adapting a strong country twang to boxcar odes such as "I Caught a Canary" and "Your Hands Are Dirty, I Can't Sleep." Her only fault is a tendency to repeat key lines, as if caught in a mantralike loop. Her voice is strong and injected with a sense of entitlement, making it worth waiting out the words for the next tongue trip. Rasta I Know What You're Going Through JFig Impressive raggamuffin rapper who toasts over gangsta beats and keys instead of reggae rhythms. "Jealous," "Ghetto Life" and especially "Kill 'Em" are inspired by East Bay gangsta boogie like Mac Mall or Too Short. The Girl & I Oh, and the Hail Self-Released Soothing acoustic (mostly piano and guitar) music with pained female vocal (Tori Amos springs to mind). Nyree Rabushka's voice performs similar fluttery tricks on "Silence in the Court" and others. Hard-core Tori fans would rebel; casual Tori fans will probably appreciate the Girl and I. [ Metro | Metroactive Central | Archives ]