Modest Mouse

It's always curious when a band that delivers sharp albums leaves your senses dulled in concert. Friday night at the Orpheum Theatre, ascending modern-rock royalty Modest Mouse played a 90- minute set that felt about 30 minutes too long. The main culprits were the dense sound mix that often subsumed lead singer Isaac Brock's quirky yelp-and-bark vocals and the tightly coiled grooves. Or more precisely, that the sextet, plus an additional, often- superfluous drummer, seemingly operated only in two rhythmic settings.

Self-proclaimed piano-slayer Amanda Palmer and her band the Grand Theft Orchestra are set to release a CD - the first in four years for the Lexington-bred lass - and she's launched a Kickstarter campaign to finance a global release. The band, featuring Michael McQuilken, Chad Raines, and Jherek Bischoff, recorded the album in Australia with producer John Congleton, who's worked with St. Vincent, Murder by Death, and Modest Mouse, among others. As part of the rollout, Palmer's planning an 18-month tour and a pop-up art exhibition in six cities in the United States and Europe this summer.

It’s hard to argue that a band still qualifies as “indie’’ when it’s not only on a major label (a disqualifier by definition), but also has a No. 1 album under its belt. But at the House of Blues on Sunday (the first of two sold-out dates), Modest Mouse demonstrated in a number of ways that it had little interest in operating according to the precepts of the mainstream just because it happens to be a part of it. For one thing, there was the tour itself, apparently undertaken simply because Modest Mouse felt like it, rather than in service of a record to promote.

POP & ROCK DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Patterson Hood has reportedly said that it might be time for DBT to take a break, so this may be your last chance to see the gifted Southern-rock storytellers for awhile. With the divine, deeply soulful "Go-Go Boots" as the reason for the tour, it should be a satisfying show in the DBT marathon tradition. Nov. 17, 7 p.m. Tickets: $25. House of Blues. 800-745-3000, www.livenation.com MISTER HEAVENLY For indie-rock fans this supergroup - featuring Ryan Kattner of Man Man, Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse, and Nick Thorburn of Islands and the Unicorns - offers an intriguing debut...

Self-proclaimed piano-slayer Amanda Palmer and her band the Grand Theft Orchestra are set to release a CD - the first in four years for the Lexington-bred lass - and she's launched a Kickstarter campaign to finance a global release. The band, featuring Michael McQuilken, Chad Raines, and Jherek Bischoff, recorded the album in Australia with producer John Congleton, who's worked with St. Vincent, Murder by Death, and Modest Mouse, among others. As part of the rollout, Palmer's planning an 18-month tour and a pop-up art exhibition in six cities in the United States and Europe this summer.

Indie Rock Manchester Orchestra Mean Everything To Nothing Sony ESSENTIAL "I've Got Friends" Manchester Orchestra plays at the Middle East Downstairs on April 30. Manchester Orchestra is not, as its name might suggest, some Tony Wilson-produced, post-punk collaboration featuring Happy Mondays, Oasis, and the Smiths. Rather, it's an Atlanta-based indie-rock quintet that sounds like a cross between Dashboard Confessional and something that came out of Seattle's grunge scene.

There is no unifying theme to the Download Festival. Unlike Ozzfest, which attracts metal fans, or Vans Warped, a punk-inspired behemoth, the Download Festival, now in its fifth year, aims to deliver "the best in alternative and modern rock," a category that includes all the good bands that aren't out with Ozzfest or the Warped tour. As one observer remarked, Saturday's 10-hour fest was like an iPod shuffle -- thankfully, one that belonged to a music fan with excellent taste. One minute Neko Case was singing windswept waltzes in a voice the size of Virginia and a few moments later...

POP & ROCK DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Patterson Hood has reportedly said that it might be time for DBT to take a break, so this may be your last chance to see the gifted Southern-rock storytellers for awhile. With the divine, deeply soulful "Go-Go Boots" as the reason for the tour, it should be a satisfying show in the DBT marathon tradition. Nov. 17, 7 p.m. Tickets: $25. House of Blues. 800-745-3000, www.livenation.com MISTER HEAVENLY For indie-rock fans this supergroup - featuring Ryan Kattner of Man Man, Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse, and Nick Thorburn of Islands and the Unicorns -...

The third album from the Chicago-bred, Kanye-hyped Lupe Fiasco spent nearly three years in a state of limbo, plagued by excessive delays, name changes, and disputes with his label, and the final product reflects the drama of this tug of war. “Lasers’’ oscillates between angsty rap-metal crossover tracks laden with political platitudes (“I really think the war on terror is a bunch of [expletive]/ Just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets,’’ he raps on “Words I Never Said’’)

Brooklyn's Animal Collective has been doling out its free-form indie rock for half a decade, and to an increasing number of takers. Demand for tickets in Boston, where the band kicked off its winter tour on Tuesday night, pushed the band's performance from the Paradise (capacity 650) to Avalon (capacity 1,850). And the latter was almost sold out, too. Animal Collective is not a collective that rotates around a star, like, say, Bright Eyes, but a quartet numbering Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist, and Deaken: a group of Maryland natives, who regrouped in Brooklyn post-college.

It’s hard to argue that a band still qualifies as “indie’’ when it’s not only on a major label (a disqualifier by definition), but also has a No. 1 album under its belt. But at the House of Blues on Sunday (the first of two sold-out dates), Modest Mouse demonstrated in a number of ways that it had little interest in operating according to the precepts of the mainstream just because it happens to be a part of it. For one thing, there was the tour itself, apparently undertaken simply because Modest Mouse felt like it, rather than in service of a record to promote.

Indie Rock Manchester Orchestra Mean Everything To Nothing Sony ESSENTIAL "I've Got Friends" Manchester Orchestra plays at the Middle East Downstairs on April 30. Manchester Orchestra is not, as its name might suggest, some Tony Wilson-produced, post-punk collaboration featuring Happy Mondays, Oasis, and the Smiths. Rather, it's an Atlanta-based indie-rock quintet that sounds like a cross between Dashboard Confessional and something that came out of Seattle's grunge scene.

There is no unifying theme to the Download Festival. Unlike Ozzfest, which attracts metal fans, or Vans Warped, a punk-inspired behemoth, the Download Festival, now in its fifth year, aims to deliver "the best in alternative and modern rock," a category that includes all the good bands that aren't out with Ozzfest or the Warped tour. As one observer remarked, Saturday's 10-hour fest was like an iPod shuffle -- thankfully, one that belonged to a music fan with excellent taste. One minute Neko Case was singing windswept waltzes in a voice the size of Virginia and a few moments later...

It's always curious when a band that delivers sharp albums leaves your senses dulled in concert. Friday night at the Orpheum Theatre, ascending modern-rock royalty Modest Mouse played a 90- minute set that felt about 30 minutes too long. The main culprits were the dense sound mix that often subsumed lead singer Isaac Brock's quirky yelp-and-bark vocals and the tightly coiled grooves. Or more precisely, that the sextet, plus an additional, often- superfluous drummer, seemingly operated only in two rhythmic settings.

Tribute compilations come with an inherent high degree of difficulty. There’s a tricky balance to land between paying homage and reinvention. Too often these things end up sounding like a lazily plotted Pandora station with a tenuous through-line. In the case of Buddy Holly, the proto-rocker without whom none of the acts on “Rave On’’ would exist, it’s further compounded. It’s a testament to the consistency and strength of his voice that Holly manages to assert himself throughout in a rock ’n’ roll seance that utilizes the musical medium talents of disciples like Paul McCartney (who...

You can tell a lot about a band by the artists they choose to cover, as their influences and aspirations sometimes shine through the spaces. Shine was certainly the key word Wednesday night at the Orpheum Theatre as the Shins enlivened an already beguiling 100-minute set by judiciously devoting prime real estate to three of its antecedents: eternal summer surfers the Beach Boys; harmonious troubadours Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and British sonic...