much news to report today: first up, bellini. now in the storied world of rock 'n roll, if any one axiom holds true across genres, contexts, and situations, it's that bands will break up, often at a most inopportune point in their career. take the unfortunate example of don caballero, widely considered the most preeminent proponent of the loosely aggregated, intellectually-charged designation "math-rock." at any rate, they were sublime at what they did (caballero, 1998, 2000). after disbanding due to (as i understand it) a series of unlucky coincidences, drummer damon che hooked up with a middle-aged italian couple and their son to form bellini, who essentially worship at the altar of albini. not so much production-wise, as i haven't yet heard any of their recorded output, but judging from his riffery, the guitarist has obviously worn out multiple vinyl copies of at action park. now i love shellac, but there's no excuse for straight jacking, as my friend aden would put it. also, the guitar was painfully cranked. so i departed early. but judge for yourself when bellini comes to your town.

the other news is this: lurve is opening for rebecca gates (ex-spinanes) this coming monday at go! rehearsals. it'll definitely be the biggest show we've ever played, but we haven't practiced in a week due to our lead singer's truancy. you know how it is though. we'll get our shit together in time to impress our hippest crowd to date if we're lucky. we'll have some cds for sale as well. i bet ms. gates won't even watch us perform. ah, well: but i never was that huge of a spinanes fan anyway. so i guess we'll just have to see how things go.

and i quote, "wowee zowee!" those were the exact words i spoke to mary on thursday night just after burning airlines struck the final chord of "tastykake," i believe it was. this was the first time i had ever seen the band live, and the show easily pulverized my already lofty expectations. it's difficult to conveniently encapsulate just what made the show so phenomenal, all dancing-about-architecture excuses aside. the setlist consisted of most of identikit and a little over half of mission: control! (but not the final two tracks of the latter, to my disappointment). i suppose it was j. pushed the performance into obscenely good territory. when i heard that ba had picked up an extra rhythm guitarist, i predicted mr. robbins would drastically downsize his guitar duties to focus on singing. ha! at the show, the other guitarist reservedly strummed his telecaster a couple of times per song and supplied the occasional background vocal part. seriously though, i find it difficult to fathom how j. can pull off such incredible riffs and still frickin' sing. see, that's why he's the indie-rock guy i admire most. well, him and chad clark, but they're both great singers, guitarists and producers. if they ever collaborate musically, that would just rock so ridiculously hard. but i diverge. anyways, j. spent the set tearing away at his guitar and freaking the crowd out with his spastic-mental-patient facial expressions. and speaking of which, i was so annoyed that the cradle was barely half-full! jeezus, when jets to fucking brazil came a few months ago, not only was the show sold out, but the crowd was singing along to blake's crappy pap-rock songs! the airlines deserved a larger crowd, but the fans that showed up were duly appreciative. of course, the band did an encore, after a little mild coaxing. so i went to miami subs happy, and so did mary, who by the end of the show found herself a converted fan. best damn show i've attended all year, handsdown.

quick update today, to inform the faithful that ex-don caballero octopus damon che's new band bellini will be stopping by carrboro on monday to rock go! room 4. dimitri and i will be in attendance, of course, and you'll get my complete impression of the band, which also features an ex-member of italian noisemongers uzeda. but tonight it's burning airlines with pines of nowhere, a show which promises to rock soundly and deliciously. see you all afterwards.

and in case anyone cares, the lurve show went ok.

lurve has a show tonight. but the fuckheads at the local 506 won't let anyone under 21 in. so, like, no one tell them that i'm a minor, k? but seriously, that means that some of my friends won't be able to see me play, which is cool because lurve is sort of out of practice. but we're headlining, for chrissakes! can you believe that shit?

i'm haven't been playing bass as much as i should recently, and the band hasn't practiced together as much as we should have. but whatever: you know how it is when your friend's little indie band plays. it's always you and maybe 5 other people in the audience, minor applause, complaints about the sound, and in general you just feel sympathy for the band, playing their wee ittle hearts out for next to no one. but i do need the performance practice, and so i think i'll give it my all anyway. see you there, heh heh.

arrighty: most of the used records i ordered last week through half.com have arrived in a timely fashion from their sellers. i repurchased jawbox's life-alteringly excellent for your own special sweetheart, heretofore believed lost, only to discover afterwards that i left my original copy in robert's cd player in california. oh well. if ever there was a record worth having two copies of, that's definitely it. as well, i scored well-priced copies of both of smart went crazy's sublime releases, now we're even and con art. acrimonious slabs of wit and plastic, those. chad clark's a goddamn genius.

anyway, i also received the 1994 jabberjaw benefit comp, which as comps go is pretty solid through and through. among its highlights are an alternate take of jawbox's "chump"; one of my favorite beck tracks, "in a cold ass fashion"; an hypercharged live recording of helmet's "turned out"; and a gem from unwound's distant past, winkingly titled "broken e strings." the damn thing was ass-cheap too, so if you should happen to run across it, it might be worth your moola. but i think my least exciting purchase would have to be gang of four's a brief history of the 20th century. the first six tracks are reliably phenomenal as they were culled from the band's only worthwhile album, 1979's entertainment! after that, the band devolved forward into melodica-spiced new-wavy dreck. you can hear the depressing progression as andy gill's volatile scraps of guitar noise give way to wanky, unmemorable riffs and jon king's voice, originally direct and unadorned, becomes all histrionic and singsongy. but the only reason i purchased 20th century was because i couldn't find entertainment! but i think insound does carry it, so i'll rectify that mistake right quick when i feel like i have the money.

check out the official wolf 359 listener's guide.