Talented Tiger
Ryan Adams at Lakewood Civic, Saturday, October 27

Ryan Adams is a songwriting machine by virtue of his eight mostly quality albums since embarking on his solo career seven years ago. Adams' work to date has documented his journey from anticipated newcomer to media darling to churlish substance-abuser to penitently recovering adult, which makes Adams not only incredibly prolific but also shockingly open, honest and introspective. Easy Tiger, Adams' ninth album since his 2000 debut Heartbreaker, is possibly his best complete album. Perhaps influenced by his 2006 production turn on Willie Nelson's Songbird, Easy Tiger plays like Adams' Nashville Skyline, an overtly country record that never quite forgets the totality of his sonic scrapbook. Like a trilateral commission comprised of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Paul Westerberg, Adams (and the Cardinals, his ace band featuring Jon Graboff, Neal Casal, Brad Pemberton and Chris Feinstein) examines his newfound maturity and recent foibles on twangy folk gems like "Two" and the end-of-relationship sigh of "Everybody Knows," his retrospective rocker "Halloweenhead" and the gently visceral "I Taught Myself How to Grow Old," where he admits in his best Young quaver, "I taught myself how to grow/now I'm crooked on the outside and the inside's broke." With each successive listen, Easy Tiger reveals more facets of Ryan Adams' gift: the uncanny ability to translate his life into art and bring his art vibrantly to life. The show starts at 8 p.m. at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium (14100 Franklin Ave., 216.241.5555). Tickets: $25-$35. - Brian Baker

The Saints

The Saints' singer-guitarist Chris Bailey just returned from touring Greece, and he can't stop raving. "I love the country," he says via a transatlantic call from his home in Amsterdam. "I love Athens. It's a fabulous, fabulous city. They have a special hospitality there. And I've fallen in love with [the liquor] ouzo. I recommend it highly." For Bailey, who started the proto-punk Saints in Australia in 1975, a career of touring has been a whirlwind experience. "One of the advantages of being in a band for this long is that you have been to millions of places that you can't remember," he says, admitting he can't recall which Cleveland clubs he's played. But then, it has been years since the Saints have properly toured the US. Bailey attributes the current coast-to-coast venture, which finds the band playing the Beachland Ballroom (15711 Waterloo Rd., 216.383.1124) at 9 tonight, to a "coincidence." It just happens that the band has a US label putting out its new disc, Imperious Delirium. That the label was founded by the decidedly not-punk folksinger Judy Collins doesn't bother Bailey one bit. "I think it makes a lot of sense," he says. "There's something about the philosophy of the Saints being outside the realm of normal business. We're not typical rock-pop fodder and neither is the dare-to-be-different label. Plus, I think it makes a cool story." The band's also been recently stripped down to a trio, something that gives the new material more of a classic garage-rock feel. "I thought it would be hard to play as a trio, but I get to play louder," Bailey says. "I have a huge Marshall stack now. Whether it's evolution or devolution, I'm not sure. We get to eat more of the catering, that's for sure. I never wanted to be one of the cliché guys-in-the-mini-van rock band, but I guess that's what we've become." Not So Decent and Street Devils open the show; tickets are $12. - Jeff Niesel

Gringo Star

A retro-sounding act from Atlanta, Gringo Star alternately evokes the Kinks ("No Man") and early R.E.M. ("Transmission") on its fine new self-titled EP. The band, which classifies itself as "Southern beat psychedelia rock," has pretty good range, as the non-EP track "Overfed" comes off as a cross between Dream Syndicate and the Strokes, and the woozy "Dolls" emphasizes the band's psychedelic side. Not sure if the guys will play up the country-rock side of its sound when they play live but, given that they'll be road-tested by the time they come through town, expect a polished show from these newcomers. Dreadful Yawns and Jakeway open at 9:30 p.m. at the Beachland Tavern (15711 Waterloo Rd., 216.383.1124). Tickets: $6. - JN

Jokers of the Scene

For the past several months, local DJ Robb Mengay has hosted Shake and Pop, a monthly dance music event at the Mercury Lounge (1392 W. 6th St., 216.566.8840). This month's event is a particular coup as Mengay has booked Jokers of the Scene, a Canadian act with a new mix disc out on Fools Gold, the imprint run by A-Trak, the former Allies DJ who is now best-known for having manned the wheels of steel for Kanye West. House-oriented, the disc is appropriately titled Topshelf Motherfucker Mixtape. It features a head-spinning slew of remixes, most of which venture into trance territory. The show starts at 10 p.m. Free. - JN

The Thermals

The Thermals' third album, last year's The Body, The Blood, The Machine, finds the Portland, Oregon trio downsized to singer-guitarist Hutch Harris and bassist Kathy Foster, who split studio drum duties. But the band's sonic and philosophical ambitions increased exponentially; the semi-conceptual disc is the Thermals' most fully realized album to date. After the raw, visceral punk simplicity of 2002's More Parts Per Million, TBTBTM is almost expansive by comparison. The Thermals remain angry and loud, as evidenced by the Iggy blurt of "A Pillar of Salt" and the insistent Pixies shriek-and-swagger of "St. Rosa and the Swallows," but Harris and Foster fold in touches of gently powerful melodicism ("Test Pattern," "Power Doesn't Run on Nothing") while Harris delivers his Pete-Seeger-meets-Green-Day warnings about the feared-and-not-the-least-bit-paranoid Christian-sanctified fascist overthrow. The Thermals may be howling about big-picture concerns, but they're utilizing pure punk's laser-focused rage to alert the masses and kick some asses. Reporter and Coffinberry open at 9 p.m. at the Beachland Ballroom (15711 Waterloo Rd., 216.383.1124). Tickets: $12. - BB

Blue Rodeo

For the better part of 20 years, Toronto's Blue Rodeo has established itself as one of Canada's premier rock acts, issuing 10 albums in that time. Singer-guitarists Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor are the band's mainstays and the two exhibit synchronicity of notable magnitude on their latest effort, Small Miracles. Whether they're harmonizing like a Canadian CSNY on "So Far Away" or turning up the twang for "Blue House," Cuddy and Keelor have hit their stride. To emphasize the rich Canadian Americana scene, they've enlisted Great Northern guests such as Ron Sexsmith and Luke Doucet, both notable singer-songwriters on their own, for this tour, which they've billed as "Blue Rodeo & Friends" as an homage of sorts to Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue. G.S. Harper opens the show at 8:30 p.m. at the Beachland Ballroom (15711 Waterloo Rd., 216.383.1124). Tickets: $15. - JN

Matthew Dear's Big Hands

For over five years, Ghostly International Music, a small imprint out of Ann Arbor, has cultivated a roster of electronic and indie artists, most of whom have blown beneath the mainstream radar. Its biggest name is Detroit DJ Matthew Dear, who's the headliner on this tour celebrating the label's fifth anniversary. Backstroke, his first album for the label, is an eight-song EP that features slowly percolating beats (they call it micro-house) accompanied by voices (including Dear's own) that he's remixed and reconstructed through electronic wizardry. His latest effort, Asa Breed, finds him backed by a live band that he's dubbed Matthew Dear's Big Hands. The band gives his psychedelic soundscapes a more organic feel. Brooklyn's Mobius Band opens at 9 p.m. at the Grog Shop (2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., 216.321.5588). Tickets: $10. - JN

Lotus

On tour to support its live double disc, Escaping Sargasso Sea, Philadelphia's Lotus is one of the more adventurous bands on the jam circuit. The group combines electronic dance music with (mostly) instrumental post-rock and has a brain-melting psychedelic light show to back it up. The tune "When H Binds to O" has an exotic, otherworldly feel. With the squealing and gurgling synthesizer sounds, it sounds like it belongs on a Japanese monster movie soundtrack. No wonder LCD Soundsystem's Juan Maclean has decided to work with the band on a remix project that's due out later this year. Unwed Sailor, another trippy instrumental act, opens at 8 p.m. at the Kent Stage (175 Main St., 330.677.5005). Tickets: $10 advance, $12 day of show. - JN

Anuna, 12 Girls

Fans of "PBS" music - ensembles and artists that combine commercial adult-oriented pop music with some "higher" form of music such as classical, jazz, folk, Celtic or world music - should be in heaven this week with two such acts coming through town. Celtic musical ensemble Anuna began as the vocal ensemble with Riverdance and that alone will probably cue you as to whether it's your thing. "Greensleeves" and John Denver's sentimental "Annie's Song" collide in the repertoire of this group, said to have spawned the Celtic soprano craze. China's 12 Girls features a dozen comely lasses, assembled via auditions, with serious musical chops who smush together Chinese classical and folk music, Western classical music, jazz and pop. They use traditional Chinese instruments during their show, which sounds intriguing; they also perform the overexposed aria "Nessun Dorma" and cover Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," which doesn't. Both shows are at Playhouse Square's Allen Theatre, Anuna tonight and 12 Girls tomorrow. Tickets: $25-$55. Call 216.241.6000. - Anastasia Pantsios

Ezra Weiss

Phoenix-bred, New York-based pianist Ezra Weiss made a significant stop in Northeast Ohio on his way to a blossoming career as a jazz composer, performer and teacher. He got his bachelor of music in jazz composition in 2001 from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he studied with Wendell Logan and Neal Creque and formed a jazz sextet called Blues Connotation. He returns to the area with three CDs under his belt, including the new Get Happy in which his own skillful, melodic compositions sit bravely alongside those of Rodgers and Hart (and Hammerstein), Styne and Cahn and Bill Evans. He and his cast of almost a dozen other young musicians give them sensitive, understated performances. When he comes to Nighttown (12387 Cedar Rd., 216.795.0550) at 7 and 8:30 tonight, he'll bring a smaller ensemble featuring three of the players on his disc: drummer Billy Hart, bassist Corcoran Holt and tenor saxophonist Kelly Roberge. Tickets: $15. - AP