Dean Wareham’s wry croon wandered into my ears, hands in pockets, in the early-1990s, leading the band Luna. His voice was deadpan over a chugging guitar rhythm with shades of the Velvet Underground, and when the band burst into the chorus, Wareham stayed cool, singing the following with nursery rhyme sunshine: “And in my dreams / I slash your tires / and in my dreams / I start these fires.”
Vocalist/guitarist Wareham had spent the handful of years before that leading his short-lived but revered group Galaxie 500, but I’d been unaware, my ears busy elsewhere. Luna was a solid band, grabbing new fans throughout the decade (and beyond) with albums full of dry humor and textured twin-guitar interplay, in good company with VU, The Feelies and Television.
“Sideshow By the Seashore” has always been a favorite, with guitars warping like heat shimmer on the road ahead and cymbals sizzling like a sparkling rain shower, but their catalog shines with highlights. The heavy tom-tom groove and guitar workout of “23 Minutes in Brussels,” a straight-faced, dreamy and drama-free cover of Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” and the memorable “Math Wiz,” which I’ve put on many a mix tape, thanks to hooky melodies and the lyric, “I wrote a speech to my dad / 21 pages long / he twisted my jokes and swallowed their meaning.”
Luna broke up in 2005 but reunited last year for some touring, and they’re still together, lucky us. Doubly so, since the fantastic indie label Captured Tracks just last week put out a vinyl box set, reissuing the band’s five ‘90s LPs (and white vinyl) with a bonus record of rarities unavailable elsewhere.
Luna plays MASS MoCA in North Adams Saturday at 8:30 p.m. — outdoors in Courtyard C, weather permitting. How better to hear the band’s bewitching rock than under the stars?
The Monkees are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year with a surprisingly strong new album, their best since the late-1960s. Produced by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, “Good Times” has good tunes and its heart in the best place. It follows the original Monkees plan in 1966 — have the best pop songwriters of the day offer up some songs for the guys to sing.
The results are catchy and fun (“She Makes Me Laugh,” written by Weezer head honcho Rivers Cuomo) and sometimes even honestly emotionally affecting (hearing Mike Nesmith and Micky Dolenz harmonize on Ben Gibbard’s wistful “Me & Magdalena” won’t just make lifelong Monkees fans cry … it’s beautiful through any lens).
Dolenz, 71, sings his hat off, his strong voice seemingly frozen in time, and deeply missed bandmates and friends (Davy Jones, Harry Nilsson) magically participate in the record thanks to unearthed, previously unissued recordings from the ‘60s, augmented in the here and now by Dolenz, Nesmith and Peter Tork. It’s an inspired record. The Monkees of today, Dolenz and Tork (pictured), play the Wilbur Theatre in Boston Friday at 8 p.m.
Great Smokey is the latest star of the summer music series at Black Birch Vineyard in Southampton, Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
Wishbone Zoe (pictured) celebrates the release of her sophomore full-length album, “Fossil’s Dream,” on a local all-star bill that also features Jeremy Dubs’ Speak!, 10-piece avant-garde theatrical band The Leafies You Gave Me and Boston-based Daniel Ouellette & the Shobijin. At Flywheel in Easthampton, at 7pm. For all ages; $7 suggested donation
Vibraphonist Jay Hoggard, a professor of music at Wesleyan University, just released a new album, “Harlem Hieroglyphs,” and he’ll be the featured guest at this week’s Northampton Jazz Workshop at the City Sports Grille at Spare Time Northampton Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The open jazz jam follows at 8:30 p.m.
Fiddler Darol Anger leads the group Mr. Sun, a “21st-century string band” that also features Joe Walsh on mandolin, Grant Gordy on guitar and Ethan Jodziewicz on acoustic bass. Their show is part of this year’s “Watermelon Wednesdays” concert series, held at the cozy West Whately Chapel, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Seattle-based indie singer/songwriter Damien Jurado (pictured) first made an international splash in the late-1990s with a string of critically acclaimed albums on Sub Pop. In recent years, he’s upped the ante with another string of praised records, this time on Secretly Canadian, creatively produced by Richard Swift with a sort of psychedelic scope. The latest collaboration is the just-out “Visions Of Us On the Land.” Damien Jurado & the Heavy Light play the Iron Horse in Northamptom Thursday at 7 p.m. Ben Abraham opens the show.