Roadtrips

Of all the blues explosions detonated by Jon Spencer, my favorite comes on Boss Hog's homonymous mid-'90s album for Geffen, when he and his wife, Hog frontwoman Cristina Martinez, trade the volleys once bandied by Ike and Tina Turner on the latter's "I Idolize You." One of the most overused clichés describing the interpersonal dynamic of rock bands is that it's akin to an unconsummated marriage; on "I Idolize You" you get a taste of a utopian scenario in which people in rock bands suddenly jump into bed together, right there, on the wax. None of my other favorite modern-day rock couples -- Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo -- has come up with so convincing and sassily sweet an ode to commitment, and certainly none has made monogamy sound so sexy. The joy of listening to Boss Hog comes from watching Spencer's carefully calibrated semiotic deconstruction come unwound, or rewound, in his wife's presence until he's actually playing what he'd merely enclosed in quotes his whole career. The latest Boss Hog album, a soft-focus funkathon called White Out (In the Red), is even sweeter: it sounds as if Spencer actually wanted to make his wife a star, especially on "Get It While You Wait," in which she is draped in the luxurious baubles of a Tore Johansson production of the type previously worn to Top 40 galas by the Cardigans. Get a glimpse when Boss Hog hit the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on March 30 and the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on March 31.

Hank Rollins finally gave up the jazzcore fusion of his long-running Rollins Band and simply anointed a new version for his new Get Some, Go Again (DreamWorks), which in all but its most excruciatingly dumb moments comes off as a trifle. But oh, what dumb moments: matching his meathead lunk of a voice to his young new band's straightforward but excitable take on an old Thin Lizzy number, or trying his hand at Motörheaded asshole rock, Rollins finally seems to have found his true calling. And though there's a paucity of good material on the new album, the fresh blood bodes well if reinvigorated oldies make their way into the set list. The Rollins Band hits Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on April 4 and Avalon (617-423-NEXT) in Boston on April 5.

Elsewhere, the most influential heavy-metal band of the decade, Korn, march into Worcester for two shows at the Centrum (931-2000) on March 30 (sold out) and 31 (damn near). Summer break is still a month away, but 14-year-old blues phenom Shannon Curfman -- who by the nature of her songs swings closer to Sheryl Crow than to Johnny Lang -- is on a tour that brings her to the Karma Club (617-423-NEXT) in Boston on March 31 and to Lupo's on April 1. Elsewhere on April Fool's Day, Eric Bogosian brings his latest caffeinated monologue, Wake Up And Smell the Coffee, to the Calvin Theatre (413-586-8686) in Northampton; and the sublime close-harmony indie-folk group Ida -- who were, last time we checked, signed to Capitol but have yet to release an album for the label -- are at the Middle East.
-- Carly Carioli