"Dogwood Rust," the opening track of Comets on Fire's "Avatar," kicks in with a broad stretch-and-yawn of guitar, as if a great hoary beast had just awakened and was stumbling from a cave under an underground radio station circa 1967. But it's the only slow mover: The rest of the band seems to have already downed three double espressos.

The same mix of jitter and groove plays out over the rest of "Avatar's" seven tracks. (All but one are more than six minutes long.) On "Jaybird," drummer Utrillo Kushner is clearly trying to shake the spiders off his arms, while his oblivious bandmates croon blues-rock harmonies, culminating in Ethan Miller's blood-raked howl of a chorus, over an ever-accelerating Led Zep-like riff. The magnificent instrumental "Sour Smoke" encroaches like thunderclouds, even as rattlesnake percussion embellishes the rhythm; Kushner's piano tinkles fetchingly and the guitars tease with folk-rock mellowness now and again. "Lucifer's Memory" allows us to catch our breath, though Miller is still a little het up about something. Maybe it's because, in blues-derived-rock style, he's "destined for the gallows."

But with these guys' energy, they can outrun the hangman. Or at least drown him out, with the swaggering guitars of Miller and Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) and Ben Flashman's bass offering last century's noises and Noel Von Harmonson's electronic squeals keeping things up to date. It's as if they feel like life is short and they've got to cram everything in all at once.

--Pamela Murray Winters (September 2006)

Meanwhile, local singer-songwriter Benjy Ferree has taken almost the complete opposite approach. He performs enough to let you know he's around, but at nowhere near the rate of Welbilt or the Speaks. He is extremely press shy; for a recent feature in the Weekend section, Fritz had to track Ferree down at his job and work hard to extract just a few quotes from him. Ferree is content to let his music do the talking, and it's not hard to see why. His debut EP, "Leaving the Nest," was a charming piece of backporch Americana that brought to mind the likes of Iron & Wine, Beachwood Sparks and even a bit of Bright Eyes. Recent live performances at which Ferree has been backed by a full band have shown off his ability to write catchy, crunchy rock songs in addition to his more subtle singer-songwriter stuff. And the feather in his cap is his recent signing to the American arm of indie label du jour, Domino Records, where he is now labelmates with Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand, as well as up-and-comers Sons and Daughters, Clearlake and Junior Boys. Ferree kicks things off tonight at the Black Cat, and once he exits the stage things should become much louder, heavier and, uh, swirlier as psych-rock locals (the Sounds of) Kaleidoscope and California noise rockers Comets on Fire (on Sub Pop Records) follow.

--David Malitz (August 2006)