soundadvice

JAZZ

Brooklyn Sax Quartet/The Chance Trio

Call it what you want — New York downtown, underground, avant-garde deconstructed jazz — the Brooklyn Sax Quartet is of the fringe element. Harmony and rhythm gleefully collide to make music that's far-out funky. It'll be cool to catch them on the same bill as Philly's kindred-spirited The Chance Trio, another unit that's into joyful noise.
--Deni Kasrel
Sun., Dec. 19, 7:30 p.m., $18, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400.

ROCK/POP

Anders Parker

A solo debut in name only, Anders Parker's Tell It to the Dust, sounds, not surprisingly, a lot like his one-man-band Varnaline. But goodness by any other name still sounds as sweet. With Jay Farrar's throaty twang and Jeff Tweedy's morbid pop sense, Dust is a minor gem, soaring, sad and sweeping.
--Sam Adams
Sat., Dec. 18, 9 p.m., $7, The Manhattan Room, 15 W. Girard Ave., 215-739-4027.

HIP-HOP

Bohemian Fifth

For her directorial debut, Philly filmmaker Araeia Robinson teamed up with the poets and MCs of Bohemian Fifth for their first video. Shot in Fairmount Park and West Philly, "Pacemaker" is an ironic relationship sketch about a street hustler and his father. The screening will begin promptly at 9:30 p.m., followed by performances by Versus and BoFifth.
--Deesha Dyer
Thu., Dec. 16, 9 p.m., free, with Versus, Tragos Lounge, 38 S. 19th St., 215-636-9901.

ROCK/POP

Michael McDermott

One of the most literate and prolific performers to emerge from Chicago in the past decade, Michael McDermott caused a stir with his dynamic set at this summer's WXPN Singer Songwriter Weekend. Shedding the early-'90s media hype that proved more problematic than promising, he's gotten raves for his latest, Ashes, and is rocking out with a band that includes former members of the Offspring, Down By Law, TSOL and the Go-Gos.
--Nicole Pensiero
Fri., Dec. 17, 7:30 p.m., $18, with Pat DiNizio (of The Smithereens), World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400.

ROCK/POP

Jane Siberry

Idiosyncratic art-pop chanteuse Jane Siberry brings her solo Beauty Train Tour to Philly to showcase songs from her latest CD, Shushan the Palace, a collection of classical works, and most likely also some from her tender and haunting 1997 CD, Child: Music for the Christmas Season. Siberry's an eccentric, often brilliant, onstage presence, melding those ethereal vocals with vivid soundscapes.
--Nicole Pensiero
Sat., Dec. 18, 7 p.m., $28, with Adrienne Pierce, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400.

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