FRIDAY

The Kingsbury Manx

I’ve come to the conclusion that God doesn’t like us making noise. In fact, I’m pretty sure that ol’ Yahweh wishes we would just shut up already. Then again, every eon or so, I’m convinced that the Good Lord Himself is tempted to remove the Jupiter-sized cotton balls from his ears and come check out some earthly tunes. If that’s the case, then the Almighty would be a fucking moron if he missed the Kingsbury Manx/Ugly Casanova show. The Kingsbury Manx’s debut album was so lovely (in a Pink Beach Byrds kind of way) that awed listeners started rumors about how these North Carolina guys were some kind of top-secret government project or something. The band’s new one is called Let You Down, and it does everything but. The boys’ smoother-than-lassi vocals, dreamy melodies, and frequent moments of pure instrumental grace invoke the ’60s without dwelling on them; such wonders as “Porchlight” and “Arun” let you know what it would be like to smoke your old vinyl and catch—you know—a buzz. Ugly Casanova, at least on disc, is an inspired collaboration between Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, Califone’s Brian Deck and Tim Rutili, Black Heart Procession’s Pall Jenkins, and Holopaw’s John Orth. The band’s Sharpen Your Teeth is pointier than Camille Paglia’s choppers, thanks to lots of programming, weird percussion, and freaky noise-making. Yet the lunacy never overwhelms the songs, which veer from the “Rock On”-like subgenius of “Spilled Milk Factory” to the wonderful “Parasites,” which features the inspirational lyric of the year: “And all your thoughts—yeaaah—they rock!” The bands (and maybe Jehovah) will appear with Iron & Wine at 9:30 p.m. Friday, June 28, at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $12. (202) 667-7960. (Michael Little)