Kaleidoscope

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Published: Oct 7, 2009

The King of Pop didn't become a complete punch line until his reign was in decline, but R. Kelly, the self-declared King of R&B — and who's gonna challenge him? Usher? No. I'd watch out for The-Dream, though — has managed the not-inconsiderable feat of maintaining his crown while emerging as the genre's undisputed clown prince. Perhaps it's because the jokes we make about R. (who plays the Tower on Tuesday) couldn't possibly be as entertaining as the ones he's constantly playing on himself (and, just maybe, on us).

Portland, Ore.'s sixtysomething rock-bringers Fred and Toody Cole won our hearts in the dirty, lo-fi trio Dead Moon. But now that they've got a new drummer (poor guy mistakenly thought he was a bassist before the first band practice) and a new name, will we follow? Yes. The Pierced Arrows (at the Khyber tonight) are grungier and more epic. The fi is lo-er, the moon is deader.

Ever since he started making records in the 1990s, DJ Spooky (at North Star on Friday with Dev 79) has gone back and forth between making illbient musique concrète jawns, smart-ass jazzed-out backing tracks for guys like Gysin and Burroughs and galactic funk things with nods to No Wave. Count his new album, The Secret Song, as part of the latter category with a set of rugged rhythms and spacey silken atmospheres with pals Thurston Moore, The Jungle Brothers and The Coup along for the ride.

Rachel Grimes (you may know her from indie classical trio Rachel's) moves her fingers in forceful, natural waves across the piano on Book of Leaves (Karate Body). And Sarah Cahill (who has debuted pieces by Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros and a million others) has been known to bang out dramatic, cacophonic mood swings. There's no telling what'll happen when the two pianists share the bench at the Ethical Society on Tuesday for four-handed pieces by Michael Byron and Claude Debussy.

Man Behind the Masks
Is It Ironic?
Busby Berkeley
Educated Jest
TimberLand
Identity Crises
Philadelphia OpenStudio Tours
Rigidigidim De Bamba De: Ruptured Calypso
Energy & Matter