I SCENE IT 10-11-06

his week Frank hits Kid Congo Powers, Bludwulf, and Jucifer

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I believe

The mighty Kid Congo Powers drives on the odd side of the road. There's more to see there and the music sounds better, too. Powers and his group The Pink Monkey Birds are the type of band that can be mentioned in the same breath --- or bark --- as Beefheart, Waits, Cohen, and Cave. In fact, Powers did a three-album stint with the Bad Seeds as well as The Gun Club and The Cramps. It's the teenaged Power's twang on The Cramps' 1983 live Smell Of Female album that baptized me into church of the lo-fi --- probably because it was the first thing I could actually play along to and the fact that it sounded like the ladies in the magazines hidden under my bed looked. I still feel this way, but the ladies are on the coffee table now.

Powers' Saturday show at The Bug Jar had a bit of a '60s pop sound to it; however, the lyrics ran deep and Beat. Really cool. His music was like postcards from an edge we should all visit more often. I'll drive.

Also on the bill was Blasé Debris, a rock (in the spirit of Electric Frankenstein) band from Albany. It was plain to see these dudes really, really dig The Misfits.

Bludwulf warmed up the floor, not the stage, for AtlantaGeorgia's Jucifer last Thursday, because there just weren't no room what with guitarist Amber Valentines amps and all. Bludwulf is a band you can enjoy. Bludwulf is a band you can believe because they believe. They use the same product they sell. I mean, you want your barber coifed, your drycleaner in clean duds, and you wouldn't trust a skinny chef. So why take your rock 'n' roll from a band that doesn't believe? Bludwulf believes, baby... and so do I.

--- Frank De Blase