It List: Tuesday 4/24/07

Das Kapital/Decibel Dudes/Koji Kondo/Black Wizardz/Kaboom
(J & J's Pizza): It seems this show is centered around this touring band from Chicago, Das Kapital, but the local bands are actually where it's at. I'm not a big fan of this upbeat, melodic Replacements-influenced style of punk that Das Kapital plays. Few have the song-writing chops to pull it off well, and most just play into this kind of sneering cutesiness. Their home page says the guitarist/vocalist was in the far superior Traitors. I've never heard Decibel Dudes and I liked the scratchy, beat driven samples on their page. Black Wizardz is somewhat traditional rock and roll layered endlessly with distortion and the impressive double task of a singer/drummer. Kaboom puts on a very animated live show with a heavy 90's underground sound influenced by The Jesus Lizard and Arab On Radar. Koji Kondo you've heard us talk about before but I heard from some anonymous comment that they're just a "punk band." If more so-called punk was like that, the world would be a much more tolerable place.