Wed. Aug. 1

 Negativland is a band, no a concept, no a provocateur, no a mind-scrambling multi-media project ... What they are is a kind of Residents-like entity: Four (or five) guys who've been using music, video, text and appropriated other's work or images for their own subversive desires. They call if "culture jamming." This has gotten them sued twice for copyright infringement, once by U2's label for a 1991 recording called U2. This led to a 270 page book and a 72 minute CD called "FAIR USE: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2." Negativland might be called the house band for Adbusters, the glossy journal that dissects the methodology of how we are marketed to. What Negativland does is take the familiar and twist it, recontexturalize what we know, use humor, hoaxes and pranks to give us a skewed take on life and commerce, that's maybe not as skewed as it may seem. (That is, maybe Negativland is telling us the truth and everyone else is lying to us.)  Musically, you'll find traces of old school punk, Pink Floyd, John Cage ... And, frankly, when they show up at the Middle East Downstairs Wednesday Aug. 1 for a 9 p.m. (sharp!) show, we can't tell you exactly what you're going to get. Not that we think you'd want us too if we knew. This should be provocative journey into the dark. You can get a taste of 'em if you order the double live CD, "It's All In Your Head FM" from their www.negativland.com website. Nope, you won't find it at Wal-Mart or anywhere else. This is also the name of the show they're doing at the Middle. Exactly the same? Don't know that. Tickets: $15. (If you can't make it and are curious, WMBR is simulcasting from 9-11:30 p.m.)

472 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278 www.mideastclub.com