The Bad Plus, Colette, Dimitri From Paris, Some Girls

BAD PLUS
So you’re downloading novelty Sabbath covers for your Geezer Butler Birthday Bash. You’ve got Opium Jukebox’s “Suicide Solution” and Type O Negative’s 10-minute “Paranoid” dirge. You come across The Bad Plus’ “Iron Man”. It starts with this crisp piano bassline and you’re drawn in. Eight minutes later, you realize that you’re listening to jazz…and digging the hell out of it. The Bad Plus is a Minnesota 3-piece that gained recognition covering rock songs from the Pixies to Nirvana. Their new album, Suspicious Activity?, features Bjork’s “Human Behaviour” and Led Zep’s “Immigrant Song”. When they cover a song, they re-conceptualize it into something completely their own — yet familiar. They are extremely intricate without getting all noodly and obnoxious, and can easily transition from soft and melodic to hard and abstract. And now you like jazz. (Appearing with John Ellis at the Old Town School of Folk Music on Feb. 10) –text: Eric Lab Rat–photo: Phil Knott

COLETTE
House ingenue Colette may have left her native Chicago for the reliable warmth of Los Angeles a few years back, but musically her heart’s still firmly rooted in the city where she and house music originated. It was during the mid-’90s house revival that Colette’s crystalline voice started appearing on records by the likes of Mazi & Motion and DJ Sneak. By 1997, she’d found her way into the DJ booth but Colette never put down the microphone. Often wearing a headset microphone while playing, Colette combined her well-trained voice with pumping dancefloor house to build her reputation as a peerless player on the local house scene. In the studio, Colette has continued to work with top house heads like Kaskade and Greenskeepers and last year she followed several mix CDs with her debut artist album, Hypnotized. Her studio work is reliable, but Colette is at her best when she’s behind the decks with her mic at the ready. (Appearing at Smartbar on Feb. 11) –text: Noah Levine–photo: Marc Goldstein

DIMITRI FROM PARIS
France-based DJ/producer Dimitri From Paris’ persona matches the styling of a certain “la capitale de l’amour” from which he draws his name: 1950s jet-setting nostalgia, never-ending weekends, elegance at all costs, and even a cheesy thin moustache. The music — Dimitri’s own mix of cabaret, up-tempo disco and house — has made a fitting soundtrack to Chanel fashion shoots and Playboy-themed parties. After starting in radio, compiling a long list of remixes including Bjork and New Order, and releasing an international album debut in 1996, Dimitri was asked to play a set sponsored by Playboy at Paris nightclub Respect. A few house beats spliced with retro disco chants later and the plans were set: Dimitri DJing a party at Hugh’s famed mansion in L.A. and an album called A Night at the Playboy Mansion. The guest list at Smartbar shouldn’t be quite as selective, but expect the Running Man and Robocop to show up just the same. (Appearing at Smartbar on Feb. 9) –text: Sean Condon

SOME GIRLS
It’s refreshing to see the A&R folks at Epitaph broadening their horizons beyond the label’s staple So-Cal pop-punk. One of the imprint’s newest signings, Some Girls, is a veritable San Diego hardcore super-group, consisting of members of The Locust, Give Up The Ghost, The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower and Unbroken. Some Girls plays brutal hardcore punk that’s more likely to appeal to art school grads than gutter punks. From the pregnant nun cover art on their new album, Heaven’s Pregnant Teens, to the scatological song titles (“Hot Piss” anyone?) to the caterwauling vocals, Some Girls packs a wallop that hits the head as hard as the body. “Basically, we wanted to brutalize people and have each song punch people in the face and not let up until they were choking on their own blood,” says Some Girls drummer Sal Gallegos. Okay then. (Appearing at Beat Kitchen on Feb. 9) –text: David Mittleman–photo: Chris Woo