THE BOSTON GLOBE - 01.18.00

"An Indie Band On The Rise"

Any indie music fan worth her salt wants to catch a band before they blow up. Discovery, after all, is kind of the point, right? That way, some day, when a band is packing the Orpheum, you can say: ''Yeah but I saw them when they were busking on a street corner in Saugus. It was intense.'' OK, tonight's Star Ghost Dog show at the Kendall Cafe is a long way from Saugus, but you can see where we're going. At this warmup for the band's Feb. 19 CD release party at the Middle East, Star Ghost Dog will trot out tracks from its addictive new offering, ''The Great Indoors,'' a disc that reveals a deft pop sensibility shaped by bands as disparate as Garbage and Strawberry Switchblade, with a little Jesus and Mary Chain thrown in for good measure. Ad Frank and Orbit complete the bill.

- Hayley Kaufman