JUDSON CLAIBORNEBefore Midnight Scholar(self-released)
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The new Parsley Flakes single is going for five bucks on the Hewhocorrupts site, which works out to around a dollar per minute of music. Normally that’d be a terrible ratio—most seven-inches frankly can’t justify their price—but for what you’re getting here it’s a steal, even if you don’t score one of the 100 copies pressed on what the label’s calling “Ecto-Cooler green” vinyl. “Dead Living” is a two-and-a-half-minute epic, a manic, riot-worthy synth-punk anthem that can make you want to put your fist in the air even if you’re listening on headphones at your desk. And the band makes it happen with nothing but boy-girl vocals, tinny drum machine, and overdriven keyboard—it’s like the B-52s were kidnapped by crusties.
POISON ARROWSCasual Wave(File 13)
In certain corners of the metal world, slow drone and minimalism are as popular as they’ve ever been outside of contemporary classical music, and local four-piece Rabid Rabbit is pushing that aesthetic as far as anyone in town. The band’s new “single,” CSection—so named because the guitar and both basses are tuned down to C—is a 16-minute instrumental track cut into one side of a vinyl 12-inch. It takes about a minute to fade in after you drop the needle on its outer edge, and for its entire length it sticks to a droning riff that alternates between just two notes—the drums don’t even kick in till halfway through. But the band manages to inject this drawn-out sludgefest with some ferocious groove, and the wild-man sax solo from Yakuza front man Bruce Lamont sets it on fire. The record won’t be officially released until Halloween, but it’s a good idea to try to pick one up at a show right now—the band’s only pressing 250 copies.
Fri 9/12, 10 PM, Subterranean, 2011 W. North, 773-278-6600 or 866-468-3401, $15, 17+.
Fri 9/12, 10 PM, Cal’s, 400 S. Wells, 312-922-6392, $5 donation requested.
