Kaleidoscope

If opening for Health (this Friday, at First Unitarian Church) seems like a weird spot for Virginian-turned-Philly gal Tickley Feather, you haven't heard Hors d'Oeuvres. It's not like her second CD is as jagged as Health's new works. But it is more jiggly, beat-filled and ghostly sounding than Tickley was previously — as if all the somnolence of her eponymous debut shook loose some demons. Rather than stay folky and lo-fi, Feather found the mean-ass ambience familiar to Ariel Pink records and commenced to fry up Hors d'Oeuvres.

—A.D. Amorosi

From the snap-brim-sharp author who brought you the staccato cadences of The Black Dahlia comes what James Ellroy's called a ghastly tale of political malfeasance and bad juju. The finale to his Underworld USA trilogy, Blood's a Rover brings something scummy, cold, rapier fast and deeply corrupt: From its first pages, Ellroy (who'll read at the Free Library tonight) comes out shooting, splashing blood across the stinking corpses of Howard Hughes' Las Vegas, Richard Nixon's 1968 run for the White House and J. Edgar Hoover's abusive grasp of the FBI.

—A.D. Amorosi

Hard to believe, but it's been almost nine years since Sara Sherr's Sugar Town variety show/lady fest made its debut at The Balcony. This Saturday's lineup at Tritone is remarkably varied, featuring Helium-heavy rumble-guitar act Renminbi and dancy-pants duo Void Vision, joined by queer hip-hop mainstay Rachel Tension, DJ Lil Sis between sets and pop sextet Dangerous Ponies headlining. The Ponies alone are reason to attend; their debut Dr. Ponie, Medicine Ponie (Punk Rock Payroll) dropped earlier this month, and is every bit the ebullient crêpe-paper-and-balloon party we imagined when we hipped you to them back in the spring.

—John Vettese

Turner Classic Movies, always a go-to for Golden Age cinephiles, is also in the DVD biz. These days they're putting out themed four-packs — romance, musical, horror — for $20 under the Greatest Classic Films Collection banner. Unlike most movie collections, these aren't lapsed copyright obscurities, either. How else can you get The Maltese Falcon, Dial M for Murder, The Postman Always Rings Twice and The Big Sleep (from the recently released Murder Mysteries collection) for five bucks a pop? Go to tcm.com for more info.

—Molly Eichel