| reviews | clubs by night | bands in town | club directory |
| jazz clubs | pop concerts | classical concerts | jazz concerts | hot links |

*** Placebo

BLACK MARKET MUSIC

(Virgin)

Sure, Brian Molko sings like a lower-pitched Geddy Lee, but Placebo offer a different kind of rush. Their stripped guitar/bass/drums approach, augmented here by delirious synthesizer flashes and piano, maintains a brisk pace that’s kicked up a notch whenever Molko steps on a distortion pedal and makes his six-string come on like a sonic tornado. And the burbling keyboard lines that emerge when the dynamics drop, or plunge like lemmings into the swirling storm of amplification, enhance the music’s psychedelic edge. Then there’s the lyrics Molko delivers in his oddly affected croon: they’re quick-flipped images of murder, revolution, drug consumption, defiance, race baiting, death tempting, and sexual ambiguity. Combine all that with the trio’s androgynous look and it’s no wonder Michael Stipe tapped these guys as the back-up band in the flick Velvet Goldmine. These grisly sounds and signifiers add up to something William Burroughs might have relished: a sleek, modern rock band with a sense of thrust who thrive somewhere between the mainstream and the demi-monde.

— Ted Drozdowski