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The Red Sparowes perform "Alone and Unaware, the Landscape Was Transformed In Front Of Our Eyes."

Part of Chairman Mao’s 1958 “Great Leap Forward” plan for the People’s Republic of China called upon villagers to wipe out the country’s “four greatest evils,” namely rats, mosquitoes, flies and sparrows. The prescription for sparrow eradication called for peasants to scream and bang on pots and pans to frighten the birds and keep them aloft, thereby provoking exhaustion and heart seizures. Unbelievably, the solution is said to have worked. Problem is, this left no natural predator for the country’s locust population. In the next three years, 43 million Chinese would die of starvation due to the decimated crops and some would resort to cannibalism. This is the pretext for Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun (Neurot Recordings), the current release by Los Angeles ambient rock ensemble Red Sparowes. Comprised of drummer Dave Clifford (Pleasure Forever and the VSS), guitarist Andy Arahood (Angel Hair), guitarist Cliff Meyer (ISIS), bassist/pedal steel guitarist Greg Burns (Halifax Pier), and guitarist Josh Graham (Battle of Mice and Neurosis), the band skillfully weaves an instrumental narrative inspired by this monumental failure of Communist Chinese propaganda. Also on the bill are Philadelphia post-punk band Versoma who are touring in support of their current release Life During Wartime (Robotic Empire) and mathcore band Daughters, from Providence, Rhode Island, who will be featuring music from this year’s Hell Songs (Hydra Head).

Saturday, August 20 at 8pm. Soundlab, 110 Pearl St. (440-5907). $12