Married to Drums and Keyboard

The ingredients of Mates of State are so simple and few — drums, organ, two voices, the infectious glow of marital bliss — that you’d think the band would be treading water after five albums. Quite the opposite: The ever-harmonizing pop duo of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel has rewarded fans with constant reinvention. Last fall, Gardner and Hammel released the first volume of remixes from 2008’s Re-Arrange Us, which was darker and more atmospheric than their previous work. Now they’re set to follow it up with a covers record. Having reworked Bowie’s “Starman” and Jackson Browne’s “These Days” in the past, they’re tackling such disparate sources as Tom Waits, Nick Cave, the Mars Volta, Daniel Johnston, and Fleetwood Mac. Perhaps they’ll road-test the above during their pair of shows in San Francisco, the city the band called home in the early 2000s.

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More About

• Kori Gardner
• Jason Hammel
• Mates of State
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
• Relationships

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Mon., Feb. 1, 8 p.m., 2010