Well, Pretty Girls didn't get Omaha'd. At least not much. Only a handful of the 130 or so on hand at Sokol Underground last night left after Giant Drag finished their set. Giant Drag, by the way, were pretty good. Little frontwoman Annie Hardy came off like a female version of Emo Phillips doing wonky schtick between songs, saying things like "I need more vocals in my monitors," to the soundguy, then "I like more vocals in my monitors just like Micah likes more cocks in his... monitors." She needled drummer Calabrese with these little comments all night. I felt like I was watching a husband and wife act in the Catskills circa 1969. Hardy was a tiny little thing, waifish. She looked like she weighed all of 75 pounds with that big ol' guitar slung over her shoulders. They made the most out of their two-person combo, with Calabrese playing drums and keyboards at the same time -- it was quite a feat. With the tiny keyboard somehow strapped to his drumset, he poked out small but potent counter melodies between swings of his drum stick. Talk about leveraging personnel costs. Hardy's voice was thin as a reed, but enough to push these minimal songs along in a Breeders/Blake Babies/Madder Rose sort of way. Her peep along with her broad guitar tone were enough to fuel a grungy cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game." Nice. When will this parade of two-piece bands come to an end?

Pretty Girls Make Graves came on shortly afterward and only a few people walked out before their set. With their bigger-than-life frontwoman they come off with sort of an arena rock vibe, even though their songs lack whopping-big central hooks. Frontwoman Andrea Zollo is like an indie version of Pat Benatar -- less glamorous but just as pouty. The bass was way high in the mix, and after about three songs, I Omaha'd the set, having to get up early this morning.

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Where's this week's feature? It's been incorporated into this week's column in an effort to give the writer more real estate to work with. Look for it tomorrow, featuring the fine folks in Kite Pilot.

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