Also this issue:

Lefty Hooks
Lefty’s Deceiver picks up new tricks and throws down the rock on Cheats.
-John Vettese

The Folksman
The music world pays tribute to Philadelphia’s living legend Gene Shay.
-Mary Armstrong

Mallard Rising
Synth music avatar David Borden updates the Moog cookbook.
-A.D. Amorosi

Mary Bichner
-Patrick Rapa

Haley Bonar
-M.J. Fine

Fruit Bats
-Sam Adams

Adrian Crowley
-Sam Adams

The Party of Helicopters
-John Vettese

May 8-14, 2003

musicpicks

Mastodon

Much like Dairy Queen, Relapse Records knows how to treat you right. After staging the Contamination Festival at the Troc in January, they are taking the music to the masses for the Contamination Tour. Calling on a cross section of the Relapse roster, the tour will feature Cephalic Carnage, Uphill Battle, Rune, The End and locals Dysrhythmia. Headlining the trek across North America is Mastodon, one of the highlights of the C-Festival¹s first night. The Atlanta quartet¹s precision playing and guttural vocals recall the caustic grooves of Japan¹s Zeni Geva, but there are also shades of Relapse¹s own Today Is the Day, in which drummer Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher used to play. Also utilizing bassist Troy Sanders and guitarist Brent Hines (both of Social Infestation), Mastodon concocts a strange brew that takes a few cues from melodic British new wave and as much jazz consciousness as the metal scene will tolerate. In the live setting, Mastodon really opens up its clandestine intensity and spastic fury.

Wed., May 14, 7:30 p.m., $9, all ages, with Cephalic Carnage, Dysrhythmia, The End, Rune and Uphill Battle, First Unitarian Church, 22nd and Chestnut sts., 800-594-8499.

—Paul Burress