Tonight: The Manichean + Muhammadali + The Julys + Reggie O’Farrell + More

Some good shows tonight, so I wanted to slap a quick note up here about ’em, mostly because two of the shows feature bands I really, truly like/love quite a bit, and the third I’m pretty intrigued by, as well. Away we go:

10th Grade Cutie/ Muhammadali/ FG and The Gunz/The Wrong Ones/Cop Warmth/Thou Shalt Not Kill…Except @ Super Happy Fun Land
I’m not yet convinced when it comes to headliners 10th Grade Cutie (place umlauts in there wherever you will), never having seen their reportedly epic live show, but hell, I don’t care, because I like what I’ve heard of trashy, glam-y garage-punks The Wrong Ones, a band that seemingly does everything right when it comes to resuscitating that late-’70s snotty Noo Yawk sound, and I dearly fucking love Muhammadali more and more each time I hear ’em.

I very recently finally got off my ass to review the band’s early-2009 split-cassette with Black Congress and adored every fucking minute of it — it now lives in my car so I can howl along with “I Believe,” “Cumincide,” and “Here To Go,” pounding my fist on the steering wheel the whole while. They play rock that’s raw, loose, and noisy, yet surprisingly smart and riddled with melodies that carve their way into your skull with an X-acto, and, well, it’s pretty damn great. I won’t rehash the whole thing in this space, but if you feel like it, my late-to-the-party take on and that’s how i forgot about the bomb. is up over here. Looking forward to checking out both the 7″ they’ve got coming on Twistworthy Recs and the split tape they’re doing with brothers-in-arms Legsweeper; if you see ’em, grab copies of both. Trust me on this.

The Cor-Tet/The Manichean @ Avant Garden
Not real familiar with experimentalists The Cor-Tet beyond the name and what Google gets me, sorry, but openers The Manichean are well, well worth a listen/viewing. Their sound’s a little hard to describe, but it’s complex and sweet and busy and beautiful all at the same time, like what Sparta might’ve sound like if they’d digested a whole lot of the Decemberists and gone all cleverly mysterious indie-prog pseudo-folk. Keep an eye out for the band’s debut EP, Whispers, coming out pretty dang soon.

The Julys/If The War Should End @ Boondocks
Haven’t seen The Julys yet, either (I just don’t get out much these days, sorry), but I’ve heard the stuff they’ve put up online, and it’s fairly impressive, swooning and gentle at times and upbeat and bouncy at others; there’s kind of a Rainer Maria-gone-soul thing going on, and hey, I can’t be down on that. Plus, If The War Should End sound promising, in an epic, squished-down early Coldplay way; I’d dearly love to check ’em both out, myself…

Reggie O’Farrell @ House of Tea (1927 Fairview; 9PM)
Cool, cool; happened across this late addition a bit randomly, but it’s a welcome thing to see The Western Civilization co-frontman Reggie O’Farrell hit the stage again, even if it’s solo. He’ll be playing tonight, supposedly, up at the House of Tea on Fairview at an open-mic deal, somewhere in the realm of 9PM. Go check him out & make him feel guilty for taking so long to get the new Western Civ album out…

There you go. Who says Monday nights suck? Nope, nope, nope.