Music Picks 

NASHVILLE PUSSY

There’s nothing quite like a Nashville Pussy show: Six notches past the illegal decibel mark, five kegs of sweat, four perky boobs, three raunchy chords and one ugly sumbitch named Blaine. Sure, records like Let Them Eat Pussy, High as Hell and last year’s Say Something Nasty are debauched spins through Southern-fried boogie-metal and AC/DC 101, but the real live thing always proves the Pussy have the musicianship to back up the mayhem. “We rock for the stupid and the smart,” says singer Blaine Cartwright, “and our audience runs the gamut every night.” Thursday, Feb. 27 @ Xscape, 115 S. West Temple, 8:30 p.m. 800-888-TIXX.

MISSTRESS BARBARA

Montreal’s hard-driving Misstress Barbara (yes, that’s the spelling, a combo pun of “Miss” and “Stress”) came by her relentless techno DJ style easily: Before decks, she had sticks. “That’s why I’m not into trance—because I used to play the drums, not the violin,” she says. “Techno will always be underground. Because it doesn’t represent a happy, fluffy, formulaic genre, it will never be accepted by the masses. It’s just like Hollywood; people want a predictable, happy ending. That’s why people like pop music and trance—they’re very predictable forms of music.” Thursday, Feb. 27 @ Axis, 108 S. 500 West, 9:30 p.m. 800-888-TIXX.

GENE LOVES JEZEBEL

Attention: This is Michael Aston’s GLJ, not Jay Aston’s. The twisted tale of Welsh twins goes that Michael broke from Gene Loves Jezebel in ’89, after the goth-pop band’s initial radio heyday of “Desire,” “Heartache,” “Motion of Love,” et al. Jay kept the GLJ name; Michael also began using it; much confusion and legal ugliness followed. Scoreboard: Jay rocks the hits, while Michael prefers creating new, more experimental work. “It’s just far more artistic,” he told Aversion. “It’s more honest to the original Gene Loves Jezebel concept.” Friday, Feb. 28-Saturday, March 1 @ Expose, 204 W. 2100 South, 7 p.m. 800-888-TIXX.

FURTHER SEEMS FOREVER

Florida’s Further Seems Forever used to include whiner/T-shirt model Chris Carrabba, who’s now fronting puss-rockers Dashboard Confessional. This could be the very definition of “good riddance.” Although FSF’s brand of hooky emo-crunch is of the Christian variety, their new How to Start a Fire (Tooth & Nail) still beats the hell out of anything DashCon have done recently, and not even Ned Flanders-esque quotes like the following can change that: “God gave me a blessing to go sing for this band,” Carrabba’s replacement Jason Gleason says. “With God, you can do anything.” Okily-dokily. Friday, Feb. 28 @ Xscape, 115 S. West Temple, 8:30 p.m. 800-888-TIXX.

SNOCORE ROCK TOUR

It’s the hard ‘n’ heavy emo-centric sounds of Sparta, Glassjaw, Hot Water Music and Dredg, kiddies; the Snocore Polka Tour (featuring renowned headliners Lederhosen Death) won’t be stopping in SLC this year, sorry. Still, the Rock Tour has everything you’ll need: “We’ll be doing the same show in every city we play,” Snocore co-producer/co-owner John Boyle says. “For the kids in Salt Lake City, the skiing and snowboarding videos we’ll show between bands will connect directly to their experiences.” Minus, of course, most of the actual snow this season. Saturday, March 1 @ Bricks, 579 W. 200 South, 6 p.m. 800-888-TIXX.

SLUG ANNIVERSARY PARTY

Salt Lake Underground magazine has been around for 14 years—and yet they still haven’t found a way to keep it from making your fingers black. Printing issues aside, this year’s all-ages anniversary party for your surly neighborhood punk ’zine is also a birthday bash for SLUG Princess Jennifer Neilsen, and features the appropriately rawkin’ musical lineup of The Corleones, Iodina, Anima Nera and Stiletto. Alas, SLUG founder J.R. Ruppel is too busy globetrotting as a dirty, shoeless hippie to attend … a damned shame. Saturday, March 1 @ Xscape, 115 S. West Temple, 7 p.m. 800-888-TIXX.

PERE UBU

Reverently regarded as the missing link between the Velvet Underground and punk, Cleveland’s Pere Ubu are closing in on nearly 30 years of gloriously off-kilter and influential rock & roll. Pere Ubu’s 18th and latest record, St. Arkansas (SpinArt), is as good a starting point as any, a darkly theatrical testament to the twisted talents of frontman Dave Thomas—but don’t call it experimental. “We know what we’re doing, we don’t need to experiment,” Thomas says. “We’re mainstream … the Rolling Stones, who are 50 years old and still acting like adolescents—that’s weird, that’s experimental.” Saturday, March 1 @ The Zephyr Club, 301 S. West Temple, 9:30 p.m. 800-888-TIXX.

SAM BUSH

“We had a large impact in that we made it more acceptable to do a long jam and improvise,” says mandolin master Sam Bush of his breakthrough band New Grass Revival. “We showed young people that there was a different way to play bluegrass.” On his third solo outing since NGR’s retirement in 1989, the live Ice Caps: Peaks of Telluride (Sugar Hill), Bush continues the different way, even going so far as to cover Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration” on a disc some call “the only bluegrass album you’ll ever need.” Saturday, March 1 @ Port O’ Call, 78 W. 400 South, 9:30 p.m. 521- 0589.

LUDACRIS

The best news to drop all week: Atlanta rapper Ludacris (along with Bernie Mac and Lil’ Kim) will provide a voice for Lil’ Pimp, an animated movie described as “South Park meets hip-hop.” That ought to get his Pepsi commercial back, huh? Between this and a role in the sequel to The Fast and the Furious, Luda has still found time to establish the kid-friendly Ludacris Foundation (might want to rethink the title, though) and work on Chicken & Beer, the spring follow-up to last year’s Grammy-nomed Word of Mouf (DefJam). He’s also on the Enemies of Bill O’Reilly shortlist … damn, life is good. Wednesday, March 5 @ Harry O’s, 427 Main, Park City, 9 p.m. 800-888-TIXX.

COMING UP

DJ Rap (Axis, March 6). King Johnson (Harry O’s, March 6). Ben Taylor (Zephyr Club, March 6). Macy Gray (U of U Union Ballroom, March 8). Folk Implosion (Liquid Joe’s, March 8). Global Funk Council (Port O’ Call, March 8). Oleander (Xscape, March 10). Atom & His Package (Kilby Court, March 19). Iron & Wine (Liquid Joe’s, March 19). Garaj Mahal (Port O’ Call, March 20). Tha Alkaholiks (Suede, March 21). American Hi-Fi (Xscape, March 22). Bang Tango (Expose, March 21-22). Keller Williams (Harry O’s, March 26). Fastball (Zephyr Club, March 26). Lynch Mob (Expose, March 28). Cheap Trick (Harry O’s, April 4).