Lovers of creative indie rock can always rely on Chicago's Joan of Arc for something interesting. The band's recent album, Joan of Arc, Dick Cheney, Mark Twain is a concept album about well, all three of those people, and also Internet porn, Galileo, and the Friendster Web site.
If you know the band's music, you know it's filled with odd sounds, crazy ideas and oblique lyrics. So, all the horns, keyboards and sampled power drills on this disc won't freak you out. Leaders Tim and Mike Kinsella and their musical coterie - the band now has a dizzying number of exterior guests - somehow remain relatively cohesive with the concepts, but the overall tone is one of cynicism. In short, modern times are pretty nihilistic. Culture is shot. Only music can save us.
The band wears its pretension - and luckily, its humor - on its sleeve with song titles such as I Trust a Litter of Kittens Still Keeps the Colosseum and Half-Deaf GirlNamed Echo.
The album also marks the debut of the band's newest member, Cale Parks, on vibraphone and percussion.
Joan of Arc performs with Isobella, Auto! Automatic!! and Hanlon. 9 p.m. Friday at the Orpheum, 1902 Avenida Republica de Cuba, Ybor City. $8-$9. (813) 248-9500.
