Also this issue:

The Bee's Knees
With Honey in the Hive, The Bigger Lovers get a taste of the sweet stuff.
-Sam Adams

Looking for the Perfect Beat
Dälek champions the original spirit of hip-hop.
-Paul Burress

Here Lay the Liars
Post-punk or not, you can believe the hype.
-Paul Burress

Beat Box
-Ain Ardron-Doley

And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Busted Ceiling Panels
-John Vettese

The Gig
-Nate Chinen on Jazz

Feria del Barrio
-Mary Armstrong

Money Mark
-Andrew Parks

September 5-11, 2002

musicpicks

Lynn Miles

With her plaintive singing style, crystalline vocals and tuneful stories of heartache and redemption, Canadian singer/songwriter Lynn Miles packs a powerful musical punch. While she explains her pop-folk songs are not about "trying to teach anyone anything," they do carry the hard-earned lessons of her own life. In the past couple of years Miles -- whose Shawn Colvin-ish single "I Loved a Cowboy" became an 'XPN radio favorite in '96 -- moved to and left Los Angeles, ended a relationship and cut ties with her longtime record label, Rounder. Hence, the title of her just-released CD, Unravel (Okra-Tone). "That's sort of what happened to my life," she says. "And that's the cycle of life: Things come apart and you have to find the gift -- and then put it back together in a better or different way." From the escapist "Surrender Dorothy," to the yearning of "Undertow," the songs on Unravel capture the struggles of ordinary souls determined to hold onto their hope.

Fri., Sept. 6, 8:30 p.m., $12, with Vance Gilbert, The Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 215-928-0770.

—Nicole Pensiero