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Nine Wood
With their debut recording, New Can of Ice, Bay Area rowdies Nine Wood join Vaccination Records eccentrics Charming Hostess, Eskimo, Rube Waddell, and Giant Ant Farm in their defiance of sing-and-strum standard pop fare. Freaky-sexy vocalist Angela Coon swoons to the crushing beats of drummer Mathias Kolehmainen and the double riffage of bassists Karen Roze and Chris Papa, whose thick, lurching tones recall the stealthy grooves of Cop Shoot Cop and the Jesus Lizard. Coon's confrontational insouciance, a playful baiting of sorts, lends an odd profundity to enigmatic tunes such as "Bone Dirge" ("He had no bones in his body/ He dreamed the sound of a thousand little clowns lighting fires") and "TV Western" ("Ruler in my pocket/ Measure every-thing/ I see all the apples falling/ It's a habit of mine"). On "Mini Rink," one of the album's heaviest tracks (and shortest, at just over a minute), hammered rhythms fuel Coon's barking command: "Comb your hair/ Comb your haaaiiirrr!" What's that all about? "The space between things," screams the vocalist. Obviously, logic matters little in Nine Wood's universe. In concert the members dance on tree stumps and compel audience members to hula hoop for prizes: nutty and rambunctious to the end.

-- Sam Prestianni

Nine Wood celebrate their CD release party with Charming Hostess, Optimist International, and Sten Rudstrom on Saturday, April 4, at 9 p.m. at the Transmission Theater, 314 11th St. (at Folsom). Tickets are $8; call 861-6906.