On the Beat: March 11-March 17

Look Mexico play with Let Me Run at The Court Tavern in New Brunswick, NJ, Thursday night.

Look Mexico

The soft-pop indie goodness, strained word wisdoms and jumbled jam-jazz progressions found of the Floridian’s just-released “To Bed To Battle” CD (Suburban Home Records) should get the attention of Dispatch, Citizen Cope and Dredg fans. The musical mixture of acoustic guitar, violin and piano is nice, too. The guys headline the Court Tavern (124 Church St., New Brunswick) tonight. Show starts at 8. Local post punks Let me Run play, too. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.

Arrow Smith

Connor Byrne’s recent blind deceptions leads to alter-egos and smart, angst-minded acoustic sets – like the one he’ll join in on tonight at Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) opening for folk-punk Tom Dunphy. The former pop-punk prince is quite the lyricist, and we can thank his MF Doom obsession for that. For fans of Saves The Day’s “I’m Sorry I’m Leaving.” Show starts at 8. The Ruining’s Nick Harris, Mary Ocher and DJ Valves round out the bill. Tickets cost $8. 18-plus.

Texas In July

The Lancaster metalcore misfits pulverize ears for the sake of the Lord. And if Jesus can’t hear the band’s turgid pose, bass bombs and metallic windstorm from the heavens, maybe he should just give up on helping out a bloodless group like As I Lay Dying to concentrate of some new blood to turn to wine. For fans of The Devil Wears Prada and Norma Jean. The guys play Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) tomorrow afternoon. Show starts at 4. Burlington’s Beyond Dishoner, whose “parody” of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” has been viewed by 1,552 people on YouTube, opens. The Kill Gene, The Abstract, Taking The Tide and Your Bright Ideas play, too. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Machuco’s Trabuco

The Trenton group’s multi-instrumental Afro-Cuban jazzercises feature bossa nova rhythms, slick trumpet and jive bass and bongos. A staple of the city’s open-air Capital City Market events every summer, the guys play a free show at the Gallery 125 (125 S. Warren St., Trenton) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7. All ages. The group also plays a Haiti benefit at Katmandu (50 River View Plaza, Trenton) on Sunday. Tickets for that performance cost $10. 21-plus.

The Plurals

According to their MySpace page, the Michigan trio based the cover art to its “Whatever Forever” CD on “Woodrow,” “the mysterious leering dog of Trenton, New Jersey.” Not sure how that helps advertise their left-of-the-dial post-punk style, but the trio – playing the Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) tomorrow night – often stop by the capital when hitting the road. Their music is a mix of Pixies and Sonic Youth and has a ’90s college-rock feel – think Velocity Girl on downers - that ventures into pure pop goodness when drummer Hattie Danby grabs the mic. Show starts at 9. Trenton crash-rock sound colliders, DEMO, headline the show. And they’ll have up for sale copies of its new disc, “Co-Pilot 2: Electric Boogaloo” to burn your ears off. Bucks County groove-punks Pistol Monk round out the bill. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

Pasadena

The beat-boxing, alt-folk Terrapins hit up the At The All Call Inn (214 Weber Ave., Ewing) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. Hopewell alt-rockers La Violencia and Bucks County ragga-jammers Among Criminals headline the show. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

Andy Shernoff

A protopunk legend through his songwriting and bass work for New York’s Dictators starting the mid ’70s, Shernoff hits the Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tomorrow night with a discography busting from the seams. Including his work in the Dictators and Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom, Shernoff – a wine connoisseur by the way - also penned songs for underground punk luminaries The Toilet Boys, The Wretched Ones, Meatmen, Smugglers and Electric Frankenstein and produced tracks for The Smithereens and Guided By Voices. Show starts at 7:30. Monte A. Melnik, the legendary tour manager of The Ramones, will open the show with a spoken word performance, where he’ll touch on the wild lifestyle of the biggest punk band to ever live. According to the promoters, Melnik plans to display a series of one-of-a-kind photos of The Ramones never before showcased in this area. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Total Ruination

The Riverside rioters’ duel-monster vocal venom is a metallic two-headed hydra that feasts on the brains of the weak-minded. It’s death metal, people. And it explodes into a mountain of fury at Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) on Saturday afternoon where the foursome will unleash its new record, “Insufferable Torment” on the masses. Show starts at noon. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.

Fuzz Orchestra

The international noise conspirators from Milan, Italy, might possibly be the most unique band to ever venture into Ewing. The grind-core threesome – invading The All Call Inn (214 Weber Ave., Ewing) on Saturday - feature multi-textured reverberations of hard-rocking guitar and smash drumming over sequenced keyboards that slice-open bag-pipe samples and shout Italian propaganda snippets, the band describe as “real-time audio manipulations” and outer sounds of old movies, noise streams and vinyl cut ups. The results are definitely fuzzy or hazy for a lack of a better term. And the band says the themes of their musical revolts – all instrumental minus the sampling – center around “glorious and dark” moments in contemporary Italian history. Think The Dillinger Escape Plan teaching social studies to RJD2 and The Refused. Show starts at 9 p.m. Rap-rock-addicts Earth’s Final Sunset and To Live & Die in NJ open. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

The Cryptkeeper Five

Trenton’s closet thing to Rocket From the Crypt – and the city’s hardest-working band - announced in January that they’ve finished recording 19 songs for their next record, including covers of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” and Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender.” Maybe they’ll try out a couple new ditties on Saturday when headlining McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence)? Show starts at 9. Local Demise and The Percs play, too. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

The Deborah Massa Jazz Project

The area singer, whose acting credits include a two-year run in the Broadway musical “Dance With Me,” shows off her jazzy side with a free show at Revere Restaurant (802 River Road, Ewing) Saturday night. Show starts at 9. 21-plus.

Romantic Violence

The Jersey rockers found their muse in gold-digging strippers – playing Southern-inspired groove rock aimed at shaking-up hole-in-wall nudie bars. There won’t be any breast flashes at Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) on Saturday night when the guys hit town, but there’ll be Whiskey-swilling trash rock there to get you all wet. Show starts at 9. Iron Curtain opens. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.

The John Lilley Project

The Raisin Bran-pushing ex-Hooter knows his way around the garden - starting his own landscaping business in 1995. But there’s a lot of “dance, like a wave of the ocean, romanced,” left in the 56 year old, who’s roots-rocking “Lucky Kinda Guy” release from October marks Lilley’s first fronting gig. He’ll headline The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) Saturday night. Show starts at 7:30. Cliff Hillis, the bassist for the Eric Bazilian Band, opens with an acoustic set. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $15 at the door. All-ages.

Ms. TK & The Revenge

The acne-fighting Asbury Park dance-rocker’s new wave disco gyrations mix Blondie and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but with a lot more cowbell. Also for fans of The Gossip, Peaches and The Kills. The band, which features ex Lifetime member Ari Katz, headline The Court Tavern (124 Church St., New Brunswick) Saturday night. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.

Reign Supreme Ken MySpace Video Reign Supreme

The Philly hardcore players headline Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Sunday afternoon. Show starts at 1. Mountain Man, Down The Block, Reptar, Sicker Than Most, Double Or Nothing, Cold Blooded Promise, Preaching The Converted and Cipher round out the bill. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Scott Frost’s On The Beat concert listing appears in The Trentonian every Thursday. If your band is playing around town, email the On the Beat web line at djscott111@aol.com.

Dillinger Escape Plan - Insane to the Mem-brain

Morris Plain's Dillinger Escape Plan keep drop the crazies on us as we await the release of the math-metal maniac's new CD, "Option Paralysis," - set to drop March 23. "Farewell, Mona Lisa" is the first single and video. It's nuts, spazzy and hectic. What else would you expect from the DEP? Pretty phyched that they'll be at Coachella Festival in April. In an interview I did with the guys a few years back, I mentioned that Dillinger was listed as appearing at the mega concert on one of those fake posters that always "leak" before the lineup was annouced. I remember them saying something in effect of that they were cool enough to be at one of those shows. Enjoy the video - it's a scorcher!

- SCOTT FROST

On the Beat: March 4-March 10

The Dollyrots play The Record Collector in Bordentown Monday night.

Ash Monday

The Jersey Shore slime-core carnivores’ musical bloodletting blends old school thrash with grind and skate punk. And it’s earned the foursome appropriate opening slots for AxCx and D.R.I at Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) on March 28 and May 29, respectively. Until then, they’ll headline the Trenton metal club tomorrow night – sharing the stage with Dead Womb, The Sex Zombies, Kill The Fall and Double Or Nothing. For fans of Suicidal Tendencies and Dave Mustaine spoken word. Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.

Dr. Doz Band

Make sure to thank raven-haired beauty Dena Bonfonti – and her sensual strutting of En Vogue’s “Hold On” - for bringing the necessary sex appeal this soul-strutting wedding band needs to let their inhibitions loose on McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

J.B. Kline Band

Tumbleweeds seem to dance across the thoroughfare of this Lambertville roots bluesman’s MySpace page. That’s eight friends including everyone’s bud, Tom since logging in last March. But that’s not why it feels so rustic. It’s actually Kline’s cowboy croons and down-on-farm country twang. There’s killer harmonica and depressing love tunes, too. And check out this for a motto; Kline - rolling into The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tomorrow night – says on his MySpace that he’d “rather squeeze a pound of soul into one note, than to play 250 notes.” That’s got to hurt. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $15 at the door. All-ages.

Judas Priestess

Chicks in skin-tight, studded-leather bodysuits playing Judas Priest songs? That’s got to break some kind of law. Yeah, but it sounds pretty awesome, too. The New York glam gals are “Heading Out to the Highway” this weekend – rolling into The Stone Pony (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.

Diecast

The Beantown bashers “sanctified their soul” – as heard on their MySpace page – by extending their trademark metalcore sound to a full-on harmonic attack aimed at rock-radio domination. Former members of the Century Media family, the guys still shred with the best of them – leading to a tour last year with Korn. Also for fans of Shadow’s Fall and Killswitch Engage. They’ll headline Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) on Saturday afternoon. Show starts at 2. Edge of Madness, who by the sound of their monster vocal kills you’d never think they had a female at the helm, open the show. Burial Mound, Edge of Existence and Dementis play, too. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $14 at the door. All-ages.

Fastlane

“Big” Joe Leming and his moonlighting Motowners – guitarist Mike “Led” Lenyo and drummer Mark Pultorak – rock ’n’ roll a free show at Pete’s Steak House Tavern (523 Whitehorse Ave., Trenton) Saturday night. Did you know Pultorak gigs with The Supremes? Coolness. Show starts at 10. 21-plus.

Radical Supernatural

The South Jersey disco-funk copycats headline McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) Saturday night. Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

Richard Barone

The wordsmith behind no wavers The Bongos leapt into a profitable career as a solo artist after the band’s demise in the late ’80s. David Browne, in a review of Barone’s 1990’s “Primal Dream” for Rolling Stone, wrote that “Barone is fast moving beyond the limited vocabulary of 12 strings and wimp-pop vocals.” Later on collaborations with Jill Sobule (“I Kissed A Girl”) and production work landed his songs on “The West Wing,” “Dawson’s Creek” and “Felicity.” On Saturday he’ll hit The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) armed with a ukulele for a tribute to Tiny Tim. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Leatherface

Tobe Hooper’s favorite punk buzz saws invade Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) Saturday night. The Brits, whose style was often described as a cross between Husker Du and Motorhead, are touring in support of their ninth album, “The Stormy Petrel,” released recently on No Idea Records. Show starts at 8. Yesterdays, Bridge & Tunnel and Lemuria open. Tickets cost $12. All-ages.

Bring Out Your Dead

Bane and Comeback Kid share in the same old school ideals and death-defying vocal punches as these Long Island hardcore hit men, headlining the Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) Sunday afternoon. Also for fans of One King Down, Snapcase, pile-ons and hardcore dance moves like picking up the change. Show starts at 5. Detonate Records label mates The Progress are also on the bill along with Cranbury post-punks A Lesser Evil – who just released its “These Old Streets” EP - New Brunswick’s John Wilks Youth and straightedge hard-corers, Outlast. Tickets cost $8. All-ages.

The Timid Roosevelts

Cute. Quirky. Kind of tired of describing the Parker sister’s indie pop outfit quirky and cute. Shoot. Did it again. How about eccentric Bordentown sisters churn charming shy-and-sly college pop with a bashful-by-the-bunches melodic nature? That’s better. Fun for fans of Los Campesinos!, Tegan and Sara and adult trick-or-treaters. The gang’s smile-a-minute road show hits Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Sunday afternoon. The benefit show starts at 2. Static Radio, Full Of Fancy, Lemuria, The Sirs, Post No Bills, The Tea & Whiskey, Curious Buddies and Radio Exiles play, too. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.

The Dollyrots

Foxy Floridian Kelly Ogden’s sugar-pop singing style may conjure up visions of Avril Lavigne, but combined with her backing band’s Green Day-styled three-chord punk slugging it’s hard not to think Runaways either. In fact, The Dollyrots – headlining The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) Monday night – made a fan out of Joan Jett when both were featured on the 2006 Warped Tour, prompting the original Runaway to sign the trio to her Blackheart Records. The Dollyrots have an arsenal of new tunes to their disposal while on tour with Bowling For Soup this winter. Their third full length is scheduled for release this summer. In the meantime, the band just put out its “California Beach Boy” EP, for which the single “Dumb” was donated to Songs For Haiti 2010 Earthquake Relief. For fans of Cub, The Muffs, lip gloss commercial themes and punching Hanna Montana in the face just because she tries way too hard to be edgy. Show starts at 7. Tickets cost $5. All-ages.

The High Society

The Bucks crew Circa Survives on the melody-enriched post-punk made famous on the now-generation’s Vans Warped Tour, but with sentimental wordplay aimed at drawing the tone-def All Time Low fans over to the intelligent side of the mosh pit. The guys headline a festival-style fundraiser for directrelief.org at Polanka Park (3258 Knights Road, Bensalem, Pa.) Wednesday evening with drama-core newbies Life On Repeat (Equal Vision Records), whose cover of Miley Cyrus’ “Party In the USA” is hit within the blog universe. Get there early to check out the hottie singing for Philly metal band The Power Sense. Hubba, hubba. Show starts at 6. Atlanta’s I Rival, Virginia’s Conditions and hardcore homies, Since The Collapse (Langhorne) and A Dream Worth Dying For (Bensalem), round out the bill. Tickets cost $10. All-ages. Scott Frost’s On The Beat concert listing appears in The Trentonian every Thursday. If your band is playing around town, email the On the Beat web line at djscott111@aol.com.

On the Beat: Feb. 25-March 3

Chicky folk-pop stars Antigone Rising play Bordentown's Record Collector Friday night.

Fishbone

Angelo Moore, 44, is just one of those iconic figures in punk rock history that can never stick to one style. Fishbone’s been an L.A. staple since 1979 – swaying between funk-metal, new wave and jazz avant-grade and giving that scene the party band it needed to offset the serious nature – and often heroin-induced - poetic thinking of Jane’s Addiction. Plus, who could forget Dr. Madd Vibe’s sax-on-the-beach-skanking with Annette Funicello in the film “Back To the Beach,” the wildman, futuristic funk-titude on display in the group’s classic “Party At Ground Zero” video, or how he tossed in Theremin tumbles on the California ska legend’s 1996 comeback album, “Chim Chim’s Badass Revenge?” Always a great live band – and now with “Dirty” Walter A. Kibby III back full-time on trumpet – the “Truth and Soul” commando’s 2010 Spring Skaward tour with fellow new-wavers, The English Beat (“Mirror In the Bathroom”), hits The Stone Pony (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) tonight. Show starts at 6. Tickets cost $25 in advance, $30 at the door. All-ages.

Honah Lee

The job-hating airwave invader’s shameless self-promotion tour crash lands on Philly radio tomorrow evening, followed by a headlining gig at McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) a few hours later. The Trenton rockers – whose style resembles The Replacements with sprinkles of Weezer, Pixies and The Clash – spin-out a few tunes live on Radio104.5 at 5 in front of 20 friends who’ll brave the expected snowy trek to the station’s Bala Cynwyd studio. Who said radio was dead? The guys have been making their radio rounds the last several months – having already starred on 94.5 WYSP in December, and just this past Tuesday on the nationwide Voltraradio.com music site. On the Beat has also learned that Honah Lee will debut a new cover on tomorrow’s radio program, but refused to divulge the song’s identity. Piggy-backing from their Philo days, the guys have been known to get their fans singing-along to their own rendition of Dramarama’s “Anything Anything” at local gigs. The McGuinn’s concert starts at 9. The Riverwinds, Justin Pellecchia (Dead Flowers) and Reality Stricken play, too. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

Along Those Lines

The Virginia alt-rockers – think Motion City Soundtrack – headline Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. Sam and the Sea, Mongrel Mix, Only the Brave and Apex open. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.

Antigone Rising

The four-piece female freedom fighters - whose angelic harmonies and pop-country mix of folk and coffee-house Americana earned them top billing along with The Indigo Girls, Natalie Merchant and Sheryl Crow at the 1998 Lilith Fair - debut their new lead singer and hopefully a few new tunes at The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tomorrow night. Nini Camps – a Cuban-born Floridian formerly of Lovepie - has taken over the leads for the all-girl powerhouse, who head back into the studio this month to work of their seventh studio record. Show starts at 7:30. Deni Bonet opens. Tickets cost $15 in advance, $18 at the door. All-ages.

Turbo Fruits

Be Your Own Pet’s Jonas Stein’s garage-pop project, which made its national debut on the soundtrack to Drew Barrymore’s roller jam, “Whip It,” slides into Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) tomorrow night. The band’s touring in support of its new disc, “Echo Kid.” The record’s been described as a spontaneous pop-rock collision of The Monkees and Dead Kennedys. Show starts at 8. Snake Sustaine and Nouvellas open. Tickets cost $8. 18-plus.

When Gotham Falls

Rough mixes of the Baltimore rocker’s new tunes consist of robotic vocal filters, melodic choruses and twirling guitar effects that seem to slither into the pop-metal realm made popular by Linkin Park and P.O.D. No white-boy rap here, though. The sextet headline Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Saturday afternoon. Show starts at noon. Lion & the Pride, The Reverend Christopher Eissing, Cheat to Win and Sara play, too. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.

A Family Plot

The Brooklyn rockers ditched the rap-metal electronics from their past as ex-members of Candiria for well-calculated melodic-punk that’ll have Thrice, Catherine Wheel and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin fans shouting “Like A Martyr.” The group headlines a benefit concert set for the Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) on Saturday night. Show starts at 9. The Cryptkeeper Five and The Timid Roosevelts play, too. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

Larry White

The Trenton reggae legend celebrates countywide love and unity through island vibing and a few Bob Marley songs at McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) Saturday night. Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

Your Bright Ideas

The Burlco-based melody-metallic hardcore squealers conquer Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Sunday afternoon. Show starts at noon. Calling All Chaos, Deceiver, The West Memphis, Decaying Crypts, Since the Collapse, Taking The Tide, Square One, My Name is Nathaniel, Edge of Madness, After the Genocide and Sanitarius round out the bill. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.

Cage The Elephant

The Kentucky band’s bratty Brit-pop sound was all the buzz on the festival circuit in 2009. And that’s probably because the mad-hattery vocal wine was cultivated in lively-London recording sessions after signing with EMI in 2007. It helped unleash the band’s Blur-meets-Arctic Monkeys rascal edge to the world. Also for fans of The Wombats. The guys, who have only charted in the UK, play with As Tall As Lions – an art-folk outfit recently added to the Coachella Arts and Music Festival lineup this year – at The Stone Pony (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) Monday night. Show starts at 7. Tickets cost $15 in advance, $18 at the door. All-ages. Scott Frost, whose On The Beat concert listing appears in The Trentonian every Thursday, wishes fellow Bronc alum and former newsroom bud, Jeff Edelstein, good luck with his live comedic debut opening for funny couple Brian McKim and Traci Skene at The Record Collector Saturday night. Believe me, he’s way funnier in person. And if your band is playing around town, make sure to hit up the On the Beat web line at djscott111@aol.com.

On the Beat: Feb. 18-24

Queens indie rockers The Beets headline a free show at The Terrace Club in Princeton Thursday night.

The Beets

The Jackson Heights indie darlings’ low-fi, indie-pop and country club quirkiness belongs in Wes Anderson film. The Queens foursome’s shimmering throwbacks jingles mostly pay homage to ’60s-style garage a la The Beach Boys and The Kinks, but with that idiosyncratic, folk-buzz-zing that most indie scenester tend to fancy. The group’s tour – which includes a free show at The Terrace Club (62 Washington Road, Princeton) tonight - features jams off The Beets’ new disc, “The Beets Spit in the Face of People Who Don’t Want to Be Cool.” Show starts at 10. Christmas Island and Beach Fossils play, too. 18-plus.

The Harvesting

The Breathing Process (NEW SONG/LAYOUT/BLOG) MySpace Music Videos

The Breathing Process

The soul-reaping Connectivania black-mass metaler’s exorcisms – complete with Dimmu Borgir-style piano haunts - will drag you to hell right after school today at Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton). Also for fans of Opeth and “The Omen.” Show starts at 4. Once Beloved, In Wake of the Plague, I Am The Trireme, Open Denile, Internal Fear and Tears of the Departed, open. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Karma Bat!

The Lawrence bunches’ psycho-silly-sassed-out-carny-punk is like a trip on the Tilt-A-Whirl with Cinder Block and Gogol Bordello. Also cool if you dig Oingo Boingo, Skakin Pickle and riding the Gravitron backwards 10 times in a row. The gang plays McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. Burning Jersey and Conetic Culture play, too. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

Johnny B. Morbid

The Toms River horror-punking Grave(s)-robbers release the ghouls - and a host of Dan-zingers - on Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) tomorrow night. For fans of The Misfits and Blitzkid. Show starts at 9. Sorrow Night, Silver Hounds, The Zombie Mafia and The Mad Splatter play, too. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.

Judy Collins

The Grammy-winning folk activist, Yippie sympathizer and actress – remember Gov. Arnold’s 1994 flopper, “Junior?” – recorded a collection of Beatles in 2008. Hopefully a few are found on the hit list of show tunes and “Turn, Turn, Turning” hippie standards the 70-year-old freedom singer is known for when headlining McCarter Theatre (91 University Place, Princeton) tomorrow night. Show starts at 8. Tickets cost $20. All-ages.

Angel Band

The high-spirited, all-female folk trio strum Mississippi-style bluegrass and gospel with a roaring ’20s soul that’ll remind you of the music on the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack. It’s hand-clapping fun – and on its way to drive the devil right out of The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Black 47

The Irish-rock superstars get crunk at The Stone Pony (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. The Stolen Rhodes and The Fullers open. Tickets cost $15 in advance, $20 at the door. All-ages.

Weigh The Wind

The Central Jersey punk rockers play with Mark This Day, The Raidz, The Coastline, The Creetons, Count To Four, Rushmore and Foul-Play! at Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Saturday afternoon. Show starts at noon. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.

Free Yon

Expected not to survive a post-high school break-up, the Hightstown hell raisers are back with six new songs on a digital release ready to drop on Saturday with a reunion show of sorts in the Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton). “Off,” the crew first release in a couple years, is a mult-layered punk-rock romp that vaults between math-core erratics, pit-inducing openings and melodic, duel-vocal choruses in a heavier Circa Survive sort of way. Also fun for fans of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Thursday and Sunny Day Real Estate, but angrier and more in-your-face. The guys tell On the Beat they’ve been concentrating on college and haven’t scheduled any other shows other than Saturday’s all-ages punk party, so it might be the only time this year to see one of Mercer County’s more talented hardcore outfits in their element – going crazy by rocking a one-“Off” live show of new material. Show starts at 5 p.m. Return To Gold (ex-Save Your Strength), The Glory Days, Exit She Calls and Forever Is Fleeting round out the bill. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.

Arlo Guthrie

There’s a multi-generational protest parade on tap Saturday night when the folk God’s Family Legacy Tour rolls into McCarter Theatre (91 University Place, Princeton) Saturday. Sort of Partridge Family with a socially-conscious-going-green theme. Thinking “Waltons,” too. Arlo’s baby girl, Cathy Guthrie - who’s in a band with Willie Nelson’s kid, Amy - is on the tour, along with siblings Abe, Annie, Sarah Lee and a litter of third-generation tikes who’ll probably join in on the jug, washboard, stovepipe, kazoo and wash-tub bass. Show starts at 8. Ticket cost $40 and $48. All-ages.

Fighting Forty

A live rendition of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” has earned top billing of this local cover band’s MySpace page with 288 plays. That dwarfs the amount of spins Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and Cindy Lauper’s “Time After Time” has gotten, but does expose the group’s diversified tastes and resume of quality copies expected to be showcased at McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) on Saturday night. Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

The Doughboys

The Plainfield rockers “live for the night, live for the mood” with a modern spin on ’60s psychedelics. One of Little Steven’s favorite “Underground Garage” bands, the guys will debut brand-new CD, “Act Your Rage,” at The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) Saturday night. For fans of The Yardbirds and Supergrass. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Silent Civilian

The thrash-metal California-sound-killas’ avalanching “In The Dead of Winter Tour” with Bind Witness and Years of the Red Sky crashes Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Sunday afternoon. Show starts at noon. Sicker Than Most, Within Dying Days, Mass Punishment, The Waking Alley, A Dream Wirth Dying For, Amica, Burial Mound and Dear Dallas round out the bill. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $14 at the door. All-ages.

Scott Frost’s On The Beat concert listing appears in The Trentonian every Thursday. If your band is playing around town, email the On the Beat web line at djscott111@aol.com.

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Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M. (Beatles Mashup)

Wu-Tang Clan - Uzi (Pinky Ring) (Beatles Mashup)

Somewhere in the heavens Ol Dirty Bastard and John Lennon are sharing a glass of Cavasia listening to Tom Carvana's mega mashup of the Wu Tang Clan and Beatles. The deejay - who's done awesome remixes of MF Doom and Large Professor for Tea Sea Records - delicately mixes up Beatles music over Wu-Tang acapellas to the point where you really have to listen to the beats to find the Beatles parts. There's also some fun pop culture samples from radio and TV interview of both groups smashed in. Easily one of the best mix tapes I've ever heard.

Reckless: Radio Ga Ga

Hamilton, New Jersey, rockers, Reckless, debuted some new music on "Rock On Radio" last Sunday. This proves DJ Daniel Coleman has his pulse of what's cool around the Trenton music scene. Maybe he's reading from column every Thursday in the Trentonian, too, as we all know Reckless was first discovered by yours truly when I was running weekly features in the newspaper. Nah, Mr. Coleman knows what's up with good music in Garden State.

Check out the new tunes from Reckless, buy their album on iTunes, and tune into "Rock On Radio" Sunday nights at 10 p.m. at www.wifi1460am.com, www.wildniteradio.com, www.hamiltonradio.net and www.starfmradio.net.

The Attack - Sick of It All

The Attack open for NYC hardcore legends H2O at The Trocadero Theatre in Philly on Feb. 19 - four days after the Floridians' new record, "Of Nostalgia and Rebellion" hits stores.

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The Attack - Prove It

The Attack - a hardcore band from Florida - will get you sweating. The swift-rhythms and high-enery haymakers on "Of Nostalgia and Rebellion" - the bands new disc - is a chest-pumping good time. Reminded me a lot of classic Sick Of It All and the musical mayhem of the mid '90s New York City hardcore scene that used to get this face a bit bruised from time to time, so it's not too surprising to see the guys hitting the road with H2O. Other influences - especially in the spirited vocal kicks and rebellious attitude - seem to flow around Avail, Dropkick Murphys and The Cro-Mags.

No track on the record lasts more than 3:23 - and it's that quickness that'll get me buzzing through the 40-inches of snow that's accumulated outside my apartment building. Another cool thing about the disc is the jolly bass baselines a la The Bouncing Souls and a totally rad rendition of CCR's "Bad Moon Rising."

It's not out till next week, so in the meantime, On The Beat's got a free download for ya that help tie you over until next Tuesday.

Features a member of the Spitvalves.

RIYL: Ten Yard Fight, Avail, Sick of It All.

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra: Big Sound, Eh!

Canadians Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra drop their "Lollaps Tradixionales" album on Feb. 16.

Got a lot of music to absorb as I pace myself between shoveling and more shoveling. Got the new Massive Attack. And some new Hot Chip. But its the psychedelic rock fuzz out slivering through Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra's "Kollaps Tradixionales" that's snow-blowing me today. It's Canadian, so it's as expected ... weird. But I like it's modernized gypsy-music feel, it's hallowed singing structure, dark-aged chatting, sonic thust and refurbished '60s acid-rock, attack-the-brain-from-all-angles-(and the kitchen sink of musical experimentation)-energy. No tour dates in the states yet, but that could change. In the meantime check out, "Kollaps Tradicional (Bury 3 Dynamos)" below. RIYL: Black Mountain, Portugal.theMan, Dearhoof, Jac. - Scott Frost

On the Beat: Feb. 11-18

Virginia rockers Cloak/Dagger play with Off With Their Heads and Trenton's The Ruining at Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, NJ, Friday night.

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Don't Need A - Cloak/Dagger

Return To Gold

The Save Your Strength kids are buried up to their shoulders in emo-centric harmonies in their new rock enterprise that should lasso in fans of Circa Survive, Saves The Day and the melodic parts of Thursday. The Trenton rockers headline a free, acoustic show at Shogun Skate Shop inside the Quaker Bridge Mall (8177 Route 1, Lawrence) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7. All-ages.

Upton Fink & Peggy Salano

The jazz and gospel duo headline a free show at the Turning Point Café (15 S. Broad St., Trenton) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7. All-ages.

Fluster Kluck

The groove rockers hit up McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) tomorrow night. Show starts 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

The Tea & Whisky

The Old Bridge bunch’s indie-pop panache throws-back to the ’90s alternative radio days and the heavily rotated Lemonheads. Also for those who dig The Hold Steady and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. The trio heads into Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) tomorrow night for a show with Take One Car and The Break Evens. Show starts at 9. Brick Mower and Filmstar play, too. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.

The Lost Patrol

Shoe-gazing dream pop and starry-eyed female leads has this New York trio casting flashbacks of the mystical new-wave-despair found in early Cure, Cocteau Twins and Slowdive. The band – playing The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tomorrow night - also tend to spill in some surf and Velvet Underground-style psychedelics in their wall-of-sound. Show starts at 8. Ocean Grove garage rockers, Mod Fun, plays, too. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Off With Their Heads signed with Epitaph Records earlier this month after Mr. Brett saw the guys opening for Against Me!

Cloak/Dagger

“Lost Art: A Good Example of What Went Wrong” - the Richmond foursome’s Fall Jade Tree release - is a rocket-fueled punk wallop that’ll remind you of The Circle Jerks and Electric Frankenstein, but with vocal yelps heard in The Hives. Also for fans of Hot Snakes and Paint It Black. The guys play Asbury Lanes (209 4^th Ave., Asbury Park) tomorrow night with Off With Their Heads (Epitaph Records) – an underground sensation whose blue-color rock ’n’ roll karate chops graduated from the same dojo as Against Me! and The Gaslight Anthem. Show starts at 8. Trenton blood-and-guts punks, The Ruining – think Dillinger Four with an MMA obsession – open up the show. The Slow Death round out the bill. Tickets cost $8. All-ages.

The Doughboys

The Plainfield garage-rock shore stars headline The Stone Pony (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7:30. The Easy Outs, Leider and Wakah Chan open. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.

Everyday Rockets play Championships Sports Bar and Grill in Trenton Saturday afternoon.

Everyday Rockets

The Philly band’s Hum-out guitar fuzz, post-punk rhythmic patterning and melodic female leads sounds like a less-poppy Rocking Horse Winner. Musically their influences also seem to lie somewhere between Sunny Day Real Estate and Fairweather – and that’s always cool, yet rare for Championship Sports Bar and Grill’s (931 Chambers St., Trenton) regularly hard-rocking Saturday matinees. In this case, Everyday Rockets open for The Honey Grape Vanillas. Acoustic soloist Acquainted With The Night plays, too. Show starts at noon. Shadowplay, Studio Trip and The Brain Farts round out the bill. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.

Vice Royal

“Heal,” the lead song on Philly four-piece’s MySpace Page, is a slow-burning, heart-hurting, alt-rocking musical wizard spell casted in the spirit of A Perfect Circle. Also for fans of Russian Circles and slower Soundgarden. The guys open for Hopewell’s La Violencia at McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) Saturday night. Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

Wasteland Eclipse

The Woodbridge doom dealer’s haunting synths, creepy, mid-evil chanting and grandiose guitar solos are a frightening black-metal mesh of In Flames, Opeth and Dimmu Borgir. Inspired “by an apocalyptic state of the soul and by the great search for the primordial beast,” the mayhem-makers headline Championship Sports Bar and Grill’s (931 Chambers St., Trenton) “Anti-Valentine’s Day Massacre” on Saturday night. Show starts at 9. Black Iron, Von Kull, Mythology and Absolution round out the bill. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.

Glass Trees

The psychedelic noise-maker’s musical weirdness, minimalistic sound strokes and ear-alarming shoegazing – think Sonic Youth on a ’60s acid with Lou Reed – starts its South By Southwest journey in Trenton’s Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) Saturday night. The band is slated to play the barbecued industry party March 14 after tour stops in Hoboken and Staten Island. Bizzaro is its stirring vocals and buckling guitar sneers, Glass Trees is also for fans of Black Angels, older Modest Mouse, Black Mountain’s “Druganaut” and the bizarre music Princeton Record Exchange uses to chase you away near closing time. Show starts at 9. Folk-punk freedom fighter Austin Lucas headlines. Sugarhigh and Neutralize The Knife play, too. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

The Good Rats

The Long Island rockers, whose career highlights include opening gigs for Led Zeppelin, Journey, Rush and Styx at places as large as The Philadelphia Spectrum and New York’s Central Park in the 1970s, cram their arena personal into The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) Saturday night. Their music mixes hard rock and jazz, but what made them infamous was their on-stage tomfoolery; including baseball-bat air guitar, garbage-can solos and rubber rats in flight. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $15 in advance, $20 at the door. All-ages.

Rose Funeral

The Ohio hardcore hitmen’s savage death sets clobber your skull with a sound collision comparable to a wreaking ball taking out a Mack truck. For fans of The Red Chord and Job For A Cowboy. The metal heads – whose “The Resting Sonata” was released by Metal Blade Records last year - headline Championship Sports Bar and Grill’s (931 Chambers St., Trenton) presidential day-off celebration Monday afternoon. Show starts at 4. Decaying Crypts, After the Genocide, Taking The Tide, Within Cold Blood and An Ambiguous Descent play, too. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Scott Frost’s On The Beat concert listing appears in The Trentonian every Thursday. If your band is playing around town, email the On the Beat web line at djscott111@aol.com.

On the Beat: Feb. 4-Feb.10

Poor Righteous Teacher, Wise Intellegent, joins Rakim and Brand Nubian on stage at the Trenton War Memorial's Patriot Theatre, Friday night

Popa Chubby

The erotically named New York blues performer’s music is often in a state of flux. Although inspired to play electric guitar through his appreciation for Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones - and eventually becoming one of the top visionaries in the ’90s modern blues scene - the 49-year-old candy-store-owner’s son incorporated pop and hip-hop in his start-of-the-century recordings. And if that didn’t sound like a crazy clash, Chubby - whose name matches his immense girth - headlines The Trenton War Memorial’s Patriot’s Theatre (1 Memorial Dr., Trenton) tonight a couple years after constructing a country-punk CD, “Vicious Country,” with wifie, Galea. Show starts at 7. Tickets cost $25. All-ages.

Idgy Vaughn

The Texas-toasting cowgirl’s gravy train – and country-fried campfire tunes – mosey into The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tonight. It’s classic pop Americana you hear at Southern “American Idol” auditions, but with Woody Guthrie-like venom in its true-to-life lyrical mastery. For fans of Jewel and LeAnn Rimes. Show starts at 7. Jim Rowland opens. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

DJ Kava

The New Brunswick selector sets the head-nod on bobble when spinning the dopest plastic from deceased beat miner J Dilla in the basement of The Court Tavern (124 Church St., New Brunswick) tonight. Dilla – the Jay part of Madlib’s Jaylib project and Slum Village’s deejay - also orchestrated fly production on A Tribe Quest’s “Beats, Rhymes & Life” and The Pharcyde’s “Labcabincalifonia.” Sets starts at 10. The Mad Notes play upstairs at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

Eddie Spaghetti

The Supersucker drops the punk-rock snarl act for Hank Williams-dusted country-bumping and Whisky-drenched bar blues when rolling solo these days. The rocker - whose latest release, “Old No. 2,” features a frightening photo of a tatted babe dropping a deuce on the cover – headlines Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) tonight. Show starts at 8. Tickets cost $10. 21-plus.

Wise Intelligent

Trenton hip-hop will always been defined by this Poor Righteous Teacher – rocking his first city set since 2008 tomorrow night at the War Memorial’s Patriot’s Theatre’s (1 Memorial Dr., Trenton) “Return of the God MCs” showcase. Be it his hip-hop party-movers or poetic-yet-militant vocal awakenings, Wise sets the standard for Trenton emceeing by educating and uplifting with his lyrics while promoting provocative thinking to a hungry hip-hop underground nationwide. And even as the most accomplished rapper to emerge for Trenton, Wise refuses to let whack, money-motivated trends blind his scientific wordplay. Of course, Wise spent the ’80s “Follow(ing) The Leader” – that “Microphone Fiend,” Rakim, whose headlining set a tomorrow’s show will most definitely “move the crowd.” Show starts at 8. Brand Nubian and Wu-Tang Clan members Cappadonna and Masta Killa light up the stage, too. Tickets cost $35, $45 and $75. All-ages.

Sourland Band

The Pennington blues-rock jammers – think Grateful Dead and early John Mayer - headline McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

Brooke Shive & the 45’s

Led by the gritty-yet-energetic holler of second-generation performer Brooke Rachel Shive, the Bucks County foursome get your hips-a-shaking with tight musicianship and a soul-rock vibe inspired by the spirit of Janis Joplin and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Rachel – a Newtown, Pa., resident and soap actress whose father sessioned with Hall & Oates – leads the band into The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7:30. Shore singer Cara Salimando plays, too. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Blanks 77

The Jersey street-punk’s time-warping exploits and nihilistic temperament embodies the climate-clash of Britain’s harsh, hardcore underground of the late ’70s featured in truth-speaking, anti-heroes Discharge and GBH. Lineup shifts through the early 2000s - including punk-rock outsourcing to AFI and Murphy’s Law – led to the band’s premature break-up. The spikey-haired hooligans, however, reformed in 2004, are said to be working on a follow-up to 1998’s “C.B.H.” and are slated to headline Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) tomorrow night. For fans of The Casualties and Rancid. Show starts at 8. Despised Reunion, Night Birds, Radio Exile and Teenage Whoremoans round out the bill. Tickets cost $8. 18-plus.

Revocation

The Bostonian brain-scrambler’s vulgar display of power is sparked by glorious, well-calculated and tyrannical thrash-metal guitar insanity, demonic vocal spazzing and destructive drum turbos. Their Relapse Record’s debut, “Existence Is Futile,” represents a verity of maniacal musical fusions - from the groove-metal hell raising of Pantera and A Life Once Lost to the spastic lunacy of Every Time I Die and prog-metalcore of Misery Signals. Pretty powerful stuff – and best yet – there will be no wuss emo choruses damaging the speakers at their headlining gig at Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Saturday afternoon. Show starts at noon. Hypnose, The Binary Code, Triggered Impulse, Thrasher, NoN-SToP!, Humanity Falls, Slutty Earth, The Necrophiliac Yacht Club, After the Genocide and The West Memphis open. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Jed Steadson and the Kumas

Trenton folklore contends Steadson and his crew of merry minstrels’ “cheesy,” “yacht-rock” songstyles were greeted with mild success in the 1980s on the South London pop charts – only to crash in burn throughout the cocaine era. Well, they’re set to reunite for one night of pop-rock thrills in the Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) Saturday night. Don’t be shocked if you recognize the cast of characters that make up the band. Strangely enough, the five-piece finds its inspiration from local luminaries Moscow Girls, Boxcar, Jac and Mad Elephant in their musical compositions Steadson himself described to On The Beat as “catchy pop tunes played with expert precession, which have relevant emotionality.” Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

Heroes Anonymous

The Hopewell ragga-rappers – think SX-10, 311 and Matisyahu – will be jammin,’ man, at McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) with Mercer pop-rockers Selkow Saturday night. Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.

Dennis Diken and The Bell Sound

When Ronnie Spector, Nancy Sinatra, The Beach Boys and Frankie Valli needed a studio drummer in New Jersey, they called in this Smithereens original – set to headline The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) Saturday night. Diken went solo with “Late Music” this past September – earning praise from a number of critics for its ’70s-style radio-pop feel. Or as Fountain of Wayne’s Chris Collingwood explained, Diken “paints a dreamy, wistful landscape that fondly recalls The Lovin’ Spoonful or ‘Pet Sounds’ on steroids.” Show starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Echo Movement

The stoney roots-rock wailers claim “God smokes weed,” and “was high when he made (them).” And they know it because they “feel it in (their) DNA.” Yeah, sounds like they burn more than the ganja when reshaping vintage Bob Marley – that Trojan and Upsetter rhythms - into their own brand of suburban-bred reggae. The Shore dub-steppers will attract fans of Pepper, Badfish and State Radio on Saturday when headlining a concert at the – appropriately named here - Stone Pony (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) to celebrate what would have been Bob’s 65th birthday. Show starts at 8 p.m. Quincy Mumford, Can’t Hang, The Irie Sound and The Ice Picks play, too. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.

Scott Frost’s On The Beat concert listing appears in The Trentonian every Thursday. If your band is playing around town, email the On the Beat webline at djscott111@aol.com.

Norah Jones - Beastie Break Down

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Norah Jones - That's What I Said (The NYC Remix by Adrock and Mike D)

Gentle jazz giant Norah Jones and two-thirds of The Beastie Boys are walking hand-in-hand these days - at least on a new remix part of the singer's "Chasing Pirates" EP. Doesn't fit all the way, but anything new from the Beasties is welcome On the Beat. It's pretty down-scoped and filled with zany break beats. Not a club banger. But tastier than Jones' traditional coffee house yawn.