Also this issue:

Aimless by Design
Indie elders Yo La Tengo finally get their day in the Sun.
-Sam Adams

Prcss of Elimination
Estranged rock band converges on Philly and drops the vowels.
-Maura Johnston

Klasik Sundayz
-Ainé Ardron-Doley

Levon Helm & The Barn Burners
-Nicole Pensiero

Dave Holland Quintet
-Kyle Parker

Assemblage 23
-Helen Thompson

Kevin Burke
-Mary Armstrong

Evgeny Kissin
-Peter Burwasser

April 17-23, 2003

musicpicks

The Postal Service

Don't you hate it when an album gets under your skin and almost forces you to like it? Much like a persistent suitor, a record can wear you down until you can do nothing but at least give it a chance. Death Cab for Cutie kids Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello have made such a suave and smooth playa out of their Postal Service side project's debut, Give Up (Sub Pop), that though you don't want to get suckered by the next hip danceable-indie thing, you can't help yourself. Straying from their main band's guitar pop, the dynamic duo have gone the sampler 'n' sequencer route with some assistance from Jen Wood and fellow Cutie Chris Walla. Peppered with bits seemingly swiped from old Nintendo games -- more out of homage to the jerky eight-bit rhythms of their youth than hipster kitsch -- Give Up will either come off like a guilty pleasure better than anything The Information Society could muster, or as the birth of a dance house rock band reminiscent of The Pet Shop Boys at their peak.

Thu., April 17, 7:30 p.m., $8, all ages, with CEX and Certainly, Sir, The North Star, 27th and Poplar sts., 215-684-0808.

—Paul Burress