MAY 3

Apparently these NYC transplants are tired of Japanese bands being stereotyped as chirpily exotic (Cibo Matto, Shonen Knife) or inscrutably manic (Boredoms, Violent Onsen Geisha, any other Japanoisers): On God Is God…Puke Is Puke, the downtown brutalists in Ultra Bide opt for abusively nihilistic. As always, though, wacky Japlish proves more charming than intimidating. Sometimes the language barrier provides for quirkily poetic manifesto (“I’m not Venus/I’m not angel/I’m not Jesus/I am fucker”), sometimes witless taunt (“Fatty fatty mayor/Yo-yo/Loony cops/Yo-yo/Naked yuppie/Yo-yo”). With D.O.A., whose predictable but not unpleasant The Black Spot poignantly finds the Vancouver punks threatening bodily harm in their lyrics (both “Unchained Melody” and “Cut Time” menace, “I’m gonna cut you right in half”) but reminiscing in the liner notes about friends who suffered less theatrical deaths (surprisingly only one drug overdose, to three cancers and a congenital heart condition), and Black Market Baby at 10 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1831 14th St. NW. $9. (202) 667-7960. (Glenn Dixon)