22

SUNDAY

They just don’t make Gotham bands like they used to. A few years back, rockers claiming inspiration from the likes of New York School composers (John Cage, Morton Feldman, etc.) and Fluxus artists (John Cage, Yoko Ono, etc.) tended to sound a bit like, say, John Cage (or even just Sonic Youth). Calla’s music is less experimental: Aurelio Valle’s melodramatic whisper-vocals and saturnine electric guitar dominate the accessible indie rock on the group’s latest disc, Televise. Electronic “programming” often simmers just beneath the surface, but it never quite boils over. “The bottom line is that I like a good song,” Valle said in a recent interview. Which is fine, except that Televise is lot heavier on smoky, late-night atmospherics than whistle-in-the-shower hooks. Calla plays with American Analog Set and Certainly Sir at 8:30 p.m. on the Black Cat’s Mainstage, 1811 14th St. NW. $10. (202) 667-7960. (Brent Burton)