Sound Menu February 06 2002 Thur

CAT POWER, CROOKED FINGERS — Two local college-music favorites play at a local college as part of UGA’s Dawgs After Dark concert series. The show is free and open to non-students. Tate Student Center/UGA (Sarig)

COWBOY MOUTH — Yes, Cowboy Mouth is from New Orleans. You’ll most likely hear Mouthpiece Fred LeBlanc mention that barter-for-beads headquarters a time or two. But guitarist John Thomas Griffith is an Atlanta resident now — and his prickly picking keeps the band’s anthemic tunes headed in the right direction rather than dissolving into chaotic sloganistic sludge. LeBlanc makes the happy mob do his bidding while pounding mightily on his battered drum kit. Tabernacle (Smith)

VIKTER DUPLAIX — See Record Reviews, p. 101. Jamal Ahmad and Karl Injex join Philadelphia performer/producer Vikter Duplaix to keep the house knee-deep in soulful beats. Jazzy funkstress Tria di Luna also performs. eleven50 (Ware)

GARGANTUA — Our local answer to Spinal Tap, the mighty Gargantua hammer out stompin’ rhythms, crunch bombastic Wagnerian chords, and holler out iron-forged anthems that sound like Ozzy Osbourne gargling Drano. Echo Lounge (Nicoll)

CHRIS LEE, GIRL CHRIS, THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING — Chris Lee is a Southern gothic everyman, a hybrid mix of the folky jangle of master pop carpetbagger Matthew Sweet and the heavenly earthy soul of the mighty Rev. Al Green. Girl Chris is led by a wailing siren’s call of explosive outbursts from singer and guitarist Yellow. Brooklyn’s The Love of Everything makes quiet, bedroom indie-pop. The Earl (Smith/Sarig)

THA LIKS — Tha Liks — aka Tha Alkaholiks — shortened their name prior to last year’s X.O. Experience. And as the name suggests, they’re all about the party. Their witty, anarchic raps recall Fear in their predilection for the sudsy stuff, and hark back to rap’s halcyon days. On X.O., they exchange their funk-based grooves for a more contemporary hip-hop sound without sacrificing any of their wacky irreverence. Masquerade (Parker)

IAN MOORE, KITTY SNYDER — Ian Moore’s 10-year transformation from Texas guitar-god-in-waiting to willfully indefinable square peg has been a perplexing, if intermittently rewarding, ride. Pinballing from psychedelic blues rock to quirky singer/songwriter pop to prog-rock excess, Ian Moore Action Company is liable to wow you with its versatility and unwavering adhesion to the groove one minute, and numb you into submission with its overwhelmingly dense sonic swirl the next. Moore’s tour partner is recent Athens ex-patriate Kitty Snyder, a singer/songwriter who reaches across the boundaries of rock and folk to paint delightfully sketchy songs of longing and homecoming. Smith’s Olde Bar (Rowland/Smith)

NOTHIN’ BUT THE BLUES — See Talkin’ Blues, p. 83. Atlanta History Center (Powell)

ULU — This entertaining all-instrumental four-piece from New York City returns to Atlanta for a two-night stand. Ulu’s free-flowing, guitar-less tunes have enough funkin’ groove to please the spinning-hippie jam band crowd, but their songs are strong enough to satisfy jazz and rock purists. Unlike so many other improv acts, Ulu’s space-voyage noodling has a logical conclusion. Free show. Cotton Club (Smith)

YENI TURKU — Georgia Tech’s Turkish student organization presents a concert by veteran Turkish world/pop fusion band Yeni Turku, whose East-meets-West sound is just the kind of thing you’d expect from the country that links Europe with Asia. Under the Couch (Sarig)