The Fall, Blonde Redhead and Secret Machines

In rock and roll, it is usually the rule that the young will eat the old. What happens, then, when the old guys continue to outclass their disciples? That’s the case with indomitable noise veterans like Mission of Burma, Wire and the headliners on Friday evening at Trees, The Fall. After more albums and lineup changes than some musicians have candles on a birthday cake, Smith leads The Fall with as much confounding, hazy British jive talk as ever, with the wiry vocalist’s unapologetic wit still snarling over clanging rhythms and splintery salvos of guitar and keyboards. The Fall’s trip to Dallas last year found Mark E. famously pissed off (reportedly because of the limitations of Gypsy’s “small side”) and piss drunk. One can only hope that Trees will keep our man on the mission at hand: tearing up highlights from the caustic, energized brilliance of their latest (titled, simply, The Real New Fall L.P.) and leaving nothing to expect except racket, attitude and proof that The Fall still rules.