Roadtrips

As if the nation's finest blues label, Fat Possum, hadn't pissed off enough blues purists already, it recently issued a disc wherein the moonshine-soaked drone-and-moan hill-country blues of R.L. Burnside get the full-on techno remix treatment by the likes of Atari Teenage Riot's Alex Empire. This, folks, is what they call punk rock. 'Course, a few of us have been known, under the influence of a few shots of moonshine, to argue that Burnside himself is more punk than Iggy Pop, and don't expect to see any junglists on stage when Burnside and labelmate Robert Cage hustle into the House of Blues (617-491-BLUE) in Cambridge for a two-night stand, October 20 and 21, and into the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton on the 23rd.

After years of honing their shtick of just sounding like a really lame jam band, junk-rock anti-heroes Royal Trux appeared to have become one the last time they came through town. To judge by the soiled-toilet album cover of what turned out to be their final Virgin disc, even leaders Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema were sick of the band. Well, the Trux are back on the indie Drag City, recording the sort of lo-fi art-damaged blooze rock that made them (semi-) worthwhile to begin with. In other words, they're bad, but no longer terrible. See for yourself when they hit the Century Lounge (401-751-2255) in Providence on October 16, and the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on October 17 with openers Guv'ner (see "Off the Record," on page 48). Our indie-rock sources have also been begging us to plug Ladybug Transistor, who're touring with one of the Elephant 6 collective's lesser bands, Of Montreal. They're at the Middle East on October 18, on a bill headlined by transplanted psych-popsters the Lilys, and then at the Call (401-751-2255) in Providence the following night.

Two final words: metal, ska. The former can be had when Incubus (soon to be touring with Cypress Hill) play Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on October 20, for those of you who were upstairs catching no-wave Japanese noise vixens Melt Banana when Incubus were downstairs at the Middle East last week. Also, the talented half of Fu Manchu -- as opposed to the half that still goes by that name -- now traffic as Nebula, and their debut EP is about to be reissued by the metal-indie Relapse. You can watch these stoner-boogie-metal firebrands smoke grunge vets Mudhoney and crotchety art-garage guy Kent 3 at Pearl Street (413-584-0610) in Northampton on October 20, the Middle East on the 21st, and the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on the 22nd. And about that ska: Less Than Jake are at the Palladium (508-797-9696) in Worcester on October 16 and Lupo's on October 17, both with our favorite flat-out no-frills punk-pop confection, Snuff, who hail from merry ol' England (i.e., that's not a fake accent) and record for Fat Wreck Chords.

-- CC