NYC music calendar 4/26-5/3/07

Thurs Apr 26, 10 PM Kill Henry Sugar plays Barbes (F train to 7 th Ave., walk down the hill a block). Americana rock duo: guitar/lapsteel and drums. Sly wit, subtly good lyrics and an entertaining stage show. Their song Mussolini is one of the most apropos post-9/11 tunes to come out of the NYC scene to date

 

Also Thurs Apr 26 the Howlin Thurstons play Lakeside, 10 PM. Instrumental, ostensibly surf music but with a punk sensibility, sometimes very noisy, fingers-down-the-blackboard, other times more melodic. Coffin Daggers fans should check them out. 

 

Also Thurs Apr 26 guitarist Todd Michaelsen and his wife Reena, both late of My Pet Dragon play Plan B (the old Drinkland) on 10th just west of B. Radiohead meets South Asian classical music with acoustic guitar reverberating through a vintage Fender amp. Passionate, anthemic, artsy, and unabashedly political, in a non-preachy way.

Fri Apr 27 Coffin Daggers spinoff Brainfinger plays Otto’s (the old Barmacy on 14th betw A and B), 10 PM. All instrumental. Same eerie surf sound, a little more keyboard-oriented, Ray Manzarek-style Balkan funeral music. Did you know that Ray Manzarek was in a surf band before the Doors? Go figure.

Also Fri Apr 27 Jack Grace plays Rodeo Bar with his band, 10:30 PM-ish, 2 sets. He books the place and predictably plays there on the weekends, but he’s worth seeing. Old school country, lots of Merle/George influences with a Tom Waits vibe from time to time. It’s a party, bigtime – everybody gets sloshed on tekillya slurpies and the band has been known to segue into and out of stuff like Whole Lotta Love and Night Fever if the mood strikes them.

 

Also Fri Apr 27 virtuoso theremin player Pamelia Kurstin plays the cd release for her new one at the Brooklyn Lyceum, 4th Ave. in Brooklyn, F to 4th Ave and walk back about 10 blocks toward Brooklyn Heights. It’s also right at the Union St. R stop if that’s easier for you. She’s fascinating to watch and actually has a sense of melody on the eerie thing. NYC’s best instrumental unit Big Lazy starts the show at 10 playing tunes from their amazing new one Postcards from X, closer to Southwestern gothic than the haunting NYC noir, reverb-driven guitar/bass/drums instrumentals that made them the darlings of indie film soundtracks.

 

Sat Apr 28 Hazmat Modine plays Terra Blues on Bleecker, 2 sets starting at 7:30 PM.

Impossible to pigeonhole: New Orleans blues instrumentation (dueling blues harps, trumpet, guitar, rhythm section, all kinds of strange ancient wind instruments). Rustic psychedelic vibe. Eerie minor keys. They’re world music without being NPR about it, delving into reggae, klezmer, calypso and blues with a charismatic frontman unsurpassed at getting the crowd on its feet.

 

Also Sat Apr 28 Ellen Foley plays Lakeside, 11 PM. She was the girl singer on the Meatloaf karaoke standard Paradise by the Dashboard Light (and sounds nothing like that live). Later she did a killer album backed by the Clash. Worth seeing what she’s up to now.

 

Also Sat Apr 28 the Knitters play Luna, expensive, $25, but it’s X playing country covers and countrified versions of X songs. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say they invented the Pete’s Candy Store sound even though they probably never heard of the place. They also play the Gramercy Theatre on May 2 – tix for that show available at Irving Plaza.

 

Sun Apr 29 it’s the Americana Family Jamboree at Rodeo Bar, 3 (three) PM featuring members of Demolition String Band playing country and bluegrass classics. This is supposed to be a kid-friendly event although I suspect the only  people in the audience will be adults nursing their hangovers over the Rodeo’s greasy food. Most afternoon shows suck because the band are likewise hungover but I’ve seen these guys hungover  and they still kick ass.

 

Later Mon Apr 30 Rev. Vince Anderson plays Black Betty, Metropolitan at Havemeyer (across the street from the new Luna) in Williamsburg, 2 sets starting around 10:45 PM. The latest incarnation of the Rev.- he’s been through a few – has him about 35 pounds leaner and more powerful than ever as a charismatic frontman and wild-ass keyboardist. Man, can that guy play: he wails on that Nord Electric like Billy Preston at his mid-70s peak. They jam out on everything except the slow pretty ballads, most everything goes on about 15 minutes and the crowd dances along. The underpinnings of the songs are old-school 60s gospel but they get pretty psychedelic. The Rev. is a NYC institution: you should see him at least once in your life.

 

Tues May 1, 8 PM Sousalves plays the cd release for his new one at Midway (the old Guernica/Save the Robots space), 8 PM. Fiery, twisted, quintessentially New York rock, delivered with fearless abandon.

 Weds May 2, in the afternoon, 3:30 PM virtuoso Italian organist Paolo Borgignon plays the vintage 1830 Appleton organ at the Metroplitan Museum of Art, concert free with admission. Don’t know the program but the organist is terrific and the organ – located in the second floor musical instruments section – is kept in working order.