The Kills; Arab Strap

You know what they say about April showers: They bring dour indie-rock duos from the U.K. to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for intimate shows at crowded nightclubs. Arab Strap, perhaps the U.K.'s premier dour indie-rock duo, turn up opening for Bright Eyes on Wednesday night at Trees, and while that...

By Mikael Wood

April 10, 2003

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You know what they say about April showers: They bring dour indie-rock duos from the U.K. to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for intimate shows at crowded nightclubs. Arab Strap, perhaps the U.K.'s premier dour indie-rock duo, turn up opening for Bright Eyes on Wednesday night at Trees, and while that Bright Eyes moppet seems like he's been through some serious shit--hundred-dollar haircuts, say, or a broken tour-bus air conditioner--it's doubtful he's got anything on Scotsmen Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton. Their new album, Monday at the Hug & Pint, is more of the wildly moody, heavily accented folk-disco they've been making for years, complete with a killer bagpipe solo and a tune called "Act of War" that doesn't offer a single intelligible lyric outside of the title. (Just kidding about Mr. Bright Eyes, in case you were getting ready to IM me--his latest was on at Urban Outfitters the other day, and it made picking out a new pair of Diesels so much easier. Sorry, that's the last one!)

At Rubber Gloves on Saturday the Kills appear in support of Keep on Your Mean Side, their lacerating Rough Trade debut that imagines the White Stripes as a pair of London cokeheads with leftover Jesus and Mary Chain fixations. At a show last week in New York, the duo--singer VV and guitarist Hotel--tried a little hard to convince the roomful of hipsters of their bad-ass blues-punk legitimacy, but there's something about their minimalist menace that transcends rote neo-garage scenesterism. Can't wait till May!

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