I know it’ll be hard to pull yourself away from the television this weekend, what with televised Iraqi carpet bombing and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament to brighten our days. While the prospect of late nights with Lute Olsen and Wolf Blitzer will certainly be enticing, I recommend getting your ass off of the couch and heading down to the 9:30 Club on Friday and Saturday for a cheap pair of concerts that blow Saddam-watching out of the water.
On Friday, Swedish sextuplet The Soundtrack of Our Lives bring its spacey Swede-pop to V Street. (Please note: Make sure you go to the 9:30 Club at 10 p.m. and not 6 p.m., lest you be stuck with the kind of lame scene that is Macy Gray). The Soundtrack of Our Lives may have an unfortunate name and an even more unfortunate acronym-TSOOL-but for fans of ‘90s Brit-pop in the vein of the Verve, disappointment is unlikely.
Formed in Sweden in 1994, TSOOL released its third album Behind the Music in February to rave reviews from the British press. Normally, the British press (read: NME and Q Magazine) will jump on anyone’s jock if they sound at all like Travis or the Charlatans and, well, this is no exception. Looking like a bunch of scraggly Braveheart extras gone indie, TSOOL pull off the Oasis-fashioned brand of pop rock to perfection.
With pseudo-derivative hints of everything from the Beatles to the most recent New Order album, the band at times seems to sound like every British rock album to come out since Definitely Maybe. However, TSOOL’s experimental versatility takes its sound well into the 21st century. It’s too bad the band will be touring with Oasis in Europe this summer since the Gallagher brothers moved to Coked-up Irrelevance Town about five years ago. In any case, TSOOL is worth a look. It’s about to make a big splash on this side of the ocean.
If you just hate European people and crave a more American musical flavor, then check out Cat Power on Saturday night. Cat Power, real name Chan Marshall, was born out of the folky/blues tradition of the South and made her first splash on the indie scene with 1995’s Dear Sir. A native of Atlanta, Marshall played in New York for about six years before returning South in search of “America’s musical roots,” whatever that means. She put out a gorgeous album of covers in 2000 featuring songs by Lou Reed and Bob Dylan.
This year’s You Are Free is her first album of original material in four years. Slow and moody, Marshall’s dry voice lies somewhere between Nico and Norah Jones. With a twangy guitar and the occasional piano, file this album on your rainy day shelf next to Beck’s Sea Change and Hayden’s Skyscraper National Park. While the depressing songstress genre may not be the best live experience for a Saturday night, you’ll want to go once you find out our water supply has been laced with anthrax and a Scud missile has destroyed Rhino’s.
Trust me, it’s gonna happen. Cat Power and TSOOL will save you.
The 9:30 Club is located at 815 V St. N.W.
