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Fire walkers

Grand Buffet

if the existential pranksters in Ween had cut their musical teeth on Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa, they'd probably be Grand Buffet. A suburban Pittsburgh duo on the comic, underground fringe of hip-hop, Grand Buffet first attracted national attention touring with the late Wesley Willis.

Contemptuous of anyhing that smacks of pretension, these guys - who go by the pseudonyms Lord Grunge and Grape-a-Don - nonetheless dared to go epic with a cycle of EPs they dubbed the "Trilogy of Terror." On these discs, as well as their debut full-length, Sparkle Classic, they produce a bed of minimalistic, electronic burps and squiggles, over which they free-associate like the overstimulated, deadbeat bohemians that they are.

Current Choice

Grand Buffet
with
Dj Jester/Prince Klassen, Lotus Tribe, Character Flow, Beatards, Zeale 32, and Montview
10pm
Thursday, August 19
$5 women; $7 men
Sanctuary
1818 N. Main St.
(all ages)
732-0339

Song titles like "Benjamin Franklin Music," "Nate Kukla's History of Lemonade," "Big Bastard," and "Chew On a Rubber" occasionally promise more surreal hilarity than they deliver, but at their best (e.g., "Things That Go Hump in the Night") Grand Buffet's creations serve as psychological roadmaps for late-night, convenience-store America.

Currently on a "Texas Trouble Mini-tour," Grand Buffet will be part of an August 19 Sanctuary blowout featuring the likes of DJs Jester and Klassen, Lotus Tribe (with Theory of Everything & Sly), and Character Flow. The biggest compliment Lord Grunge and Grape-a-Don can give anything is to describe it as "fire" (as in "Canada was fire"), occasionally going out on a limb to praise something as "straight fucking fire." By the group's own exacting standards, there's little question that Grand Buffet's visit to San Antonio should qualify as fire.

By Gilbert Garcia

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Tags: Music Etc., Music, music