Local Bands Astari Nite and the Craven Open for Goth Jokester Voltaire Tomorrow Night at Respectable Street

Tomorrow night's show continues Respectable Street's recent trend of catering to the darker set. As such, headlining the bill tomorrow is the singularly pseudonymous Voltaire, flying down from his cave in New York as part of a brief national tour in support of his recent musical endeavors. Voltaire calls himself a "modern-day renaissance man," which is accurate -- the multidisciplinary fellow is also an animator and visual artist.

Astari Nite

And perhaps a friend has given you, as a sarcastic present, one of his tongue-in-cheek books. (For a birthday I once received his small hardback, Paint It Black: A Guide to Gothic Homemaking. It included a pretty funny graveyard cake recipe.) The common thread, here, is that while Voltaire might have come from a dark scene, he has, thankfully, a robust sense of humor that is often missing from it. As for the music, it's a bouncy, multi-instrument, gypsy-ish sort of thing, a little like Gogol Bordello, perhaps, but with almost Broadway-type stylings.

Two South Florida acts open. From Miami comes Astari Nite, still plugging away at its chilly, Placebo-influenced rock. The band has been particularly active lately, playing the usual suspect venues around downtown Miami, but the big news for them is that a proper debut EP is finally in the works. The band is heading into the studio soon with Howard Melnick, formerly of Fashionista and currently of Champagne Days, to record a five-song, self-titled disc. It's due out in August. Besides a show at PS14 in Miami on June 5, Astari Nite has several shows scheduled in Ft. Lauderdale, so Broward folks, check the band's MySpace page.

via myspace.com/thecravenband

The Craven

Rounding out the bill is the Craven, a side project of the ever-prolific (and one-time Broward-Palm Beach New Times cover star), Timb Krueller. While Timb's solo stuff flits around genres, it's mostly guitar-based. With the Craven, he and friend Danny Ae get their synth-pop ya-yas out, mining the icy silver tones of Gary Numan, the Human League, and company. Timb, much like Voltaire, sees humor in everything, so with nobody taking themselves too seriously, Friday's show should eschew the expected mope fest in favor of a good time.

8 p.m. Friday, May 8, at Respectable Street Cafe, 518 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. Tickets cost $12 in advance. Age 18 and up. Call 561-832-9999, respectablestreet.com.