Saturday Apr 26, 2008 (8:30pm)
Sadly, the Joggers have been incubating since the release of 2005's With a Cape and a Cane. A smart indie-rock record if ever there were one, Cane wove catchy pop guitar lines and bass melodies around frontman Ben Whitesides' speak-sing vocals in complex arrangements, calling to mind similarly skewed poppers like Deerhoof. In turns jarring and harmonious, the Portland-based quartet hits town tonight alongside hard hard-rocking Brooklynites the Big Sleep. Touring in support of their sophomore album, Sleep Forever, the latter drops a mutant mix of reverb-heavy shoegaze, fast-paced punk, and crescendo-laden post-rock.
– Joe Blankholm