7
FRIDAY
The unfortunately monikered Mink Lungs hail from Brooklyn, N.Y., where you’d think people would know how to come up with a band name that doesn’t suck. Lucky for us, the quartet’s new The Better Button is as great as its band name is dumb. Eclectic to a fault, the album moves from seemingly dashed-off lo-fi power pop (à la Vampire on Titus-era Guided by Voices) to heavily distorted scuzz rock (imagine the Breeders with blown amps). A couple of these tunes are instant classics, such as the anthemic “Snail,” which sounds like an unholy mating between T. Rex and Pavement, and “Blue and Crème Car,” which features a happening banjo and guys with fake English accents singing cryptically about “God’s audiovisual aids/Dioramas and life-like displays.” Hey, you just gotta love a band that Hula Hoops on stage and thinks “Heaven is TV.” Mink Lungs play with Luna at 10 p.m. at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $14. (202) 393-0930. (Michael Little)