New Band Alert

For years, rock and rap had largely forged an unholy alliance thanks to such clown acts as Limp Bizkit. But that's changed (thanks God!) with forward-thinking young groups like Gym Class Heroes and the most brilliant new hip-hop act of 2008, The Knux. Comprised of brothers Krispy Kream and Rah Al Millio, the sibling duo was born and raised in New Orleans but their sound, style and ethos has more in common with Atlanta stalwarts Outkast than anything to emerge from under the Cash Money umbrella.

So, this is my last post for Listen.com. I figured I'd wrap this up with that staple of the nerdy music journalist: the year end list!

More ways to avoid that holiday shopping list...

Ever wonder what it would've been like to live in Cleveland in the late '70s? Me neither! But I have wondered what it would be like to hang out in the "Mistake by the Lake" clubs of that era, when proto-punk bands like the Pagans, Electric Eels, Deadboys, and Rocket From the Tombs all rocked hard as trigonometry. And now, thanks to Hank IV, you -- and I -- can do just that, sorta.

To say that Poison Arrows vocalist Tuk Smith has matured since his days spent jamming on plasticine punk chords with his former band the Heart Attacks isn't quite accurate, but he is more focused these days. The same can be said for the rest of the fashionable young lads who make up Poison Arrows; Mikey Portwood (bass), Joey O'Brien (drums) and Josh Hitson (guitar).

The budding glam punk crew finds former Heart Attacks cohorts Smith and Portwood exhibiting the benefits of digesting a broad swath of rock 'n' roll history that began in the 1950s and comes to a screeching halt somewhere in Britain circa 1975. Trace elements of Nick Lowe, Cheap Trick, the Boys, and Slade bare a distinct mark on the group's strutting guitars and sneering pop songwriting. Portwood decrees that he doesn't want to be thought of as a record collector band, but Smith chimes in to the contrary. "I don't want to make the same mistakes the Heart Attacks made," he says. "I don't want to be thought of as a little kid band. I would like to take it to another level where we actually write good songs and play good songs. To me the Heart Attacks were a gimmick band. I was 19 and we were crazy."

I've been pretty amazed by the variety and quality that the loose group of New York musicians affiliated with the Desco/Daptone Records juggernaut has maintained over the past decade, combining funk, Afrobeat, and hard soul. Flagship band the Dap-Kings have enhanced the already considerable appeal of singer Sharon Jones to the point that they're headlining the Vic with her on Thursday (it wasn't so long ago that they were playing the Double Door), and their members have also turned up in various combinations backing Amy Winehouse, Al Green, and Lily Allen, among others. Other label-affiliated groups, some of which predate the Dap-Kings, include the Daktaris, Antibalas, the Soul Providers, the Sugarman 3, and the Budos Band.

On your mark, get set, go! The holiday party season is off and running. If you can't get invites to the Yelp party at the Exploratorium or the SF Weekly gig at the Aquarium, here's some other ideas.

There's a scene in the recent film Role Models in which a horn-dog convinces a woman to take a bunch of Ambien before having sex, because it's supposed to get really trippy if you can fight it and stay awake. This is kind of how I feel about the idea of seeing Palms on Saturday, after eating all the turkey day leftovers.

Palms are pretty much the same band as the Finches, only with a different name. Confused? Me too! Carolyn Pennypacker-Riggs is still the main singer, but she's joined by a bunch of new folks (including Dear Nora's Katy Davidson), all of whom are listed as being in the Finches as well. 

One time a few years back, I decided I was going to kick the post-Thanksgiving Tryptophan coma by shotgunning a few cans of Red Bull after devouring the turkey et al. If you're not into that kind of energy drink freakout (it does come with a nasty hangover), I suggest checking out Les Hormones on Saturday instead. The local trio -- featuring one hot lady and two hot gents -- infuses the typical garage-rock racket (see Crypt Records, Supercharger), with an added bit of French snarl. They've got one single out, on Head's Up Records, which has also released odd, scuzzy discs by lady vegetarians and King Khan's six-year-old daughter.

For this show, they're joined by Personal & the Pizzas, a semi-local outfit that plays the kind of '70s punk that flirted with power-pop and didn't get it's ass kicked (see Milk 'n' Cookies, Hubble Bubble). 

Les Hormones, Personal & the PIzzas, Wild Thing @ Hemlock Tavern on Saturday, November 29; doors 9:30 p.m., tickets $5.