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More Music: «« April 29th | May 13th »»

Browse This Issue: May 6th, 2010

This Week's Issue
The Great Unsteady
Heaven Is Whenever is The Hold Steady's most musically varied record yet.
by Patrick Rapa
Among its 10 tracks are extended ballads, Southern-tinged arena rockers and strange studio anomalies. Not every gamble pays off.

Album Reviews
Julia Nunes' I Think You Know | TJ Kong & The Atomic Bomb's Idiots | John Ellis & Double-Wide's Puppet Mischief

Music Picks:
Phosphorescent
Wed., May 12, 9 p.m., $10-$13, with The Quelle Source, Blockley Pourhouse, 3801 Chestnut St., 215-222-1234, theblockley.com.
by K. Ross Hoffman
Here's to Taking It Easy should be an homage to the Eagles, and that's roughly how it plays, with a newly full-fledged band injecting some welcome sunshine and a rangy Neil Young looseness.

Reconsider Me:
Eat Me
Natalie Merchant's Leave Your Sleep
by M.J. Fine
After taking off to have a daughter six years ago, Merchant's back with Leave Your Sleep, a two-disc set of songs inspired by 18th- and 19th-century poems for children. It's stunning, both in its musical scope and its depth of research, with the singer's notes filling a beautifully packaged book.

Music Picks:
Caribou
Sun., May 9, 7:30 p.m., $13, with Toro Y Moi, First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., 877-435-9849, r5productions.com.
by K. Ross Hoffman
If Dan Snaith's 2007 album Andorra could be summed up by the title of its stunning tone-setter, "Melody Day," his new one is more like Rhythm Night.

Karl Berger
Sun., May 9, 8 p.m., $12, International House, 3701 Chestnut St., 215-387-5125, arsnovaworkshop.org.
by Shaun Brady
German pianist/vibraphonist Karl Berger performed alongside many of the greats in improvised music, including Don Cherry, whose music he revisits with an all-star septet Sunday at I-House.

Shelby Lynne
Sun., May 9, 7:30 p.m., $31-$44, with Findlay Brown, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.
by M.J. Fine
Shelby Lynne's calling all the shots.

One Track Mind:
It's A King Thing
"Wine and Ponies"
by John Vettese
At its best, King Thing ascends to absurd levels of Fountains of Wayne-style catchiness.

Music Picks:
Bobby Zankel/Rudresh Mahanthappa
Bobby Zankel and Warriors of the Wonderful Sound featuring Rudresh Mahanthappa, Sat., May 8, 8 p.m., $25, Science Center Theater, Montgomery County Community College, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell, 215-641-6518, mc3.edu.
by Shaun Brady
Bobby Zankel's avant-big band, Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, have been wrestling their way through the dense foliage of the saxophonist's compositions for almost a decade now, overspilling the tiny stage at Tritone once a month.

Sub Swara
Thu., May 6, 9 p.m., $15, with EOTO and Ryat, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.
by K. Ross Hoffman
It was only a matter of time before dubstep got its very own Asian Dub Foundation.

Hair Rocket
Thu., May 6, 9 p.m., $8, with the Danvilles, Nikki and the Weeps and Solved with Science, Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888, thekhyber.com.
by John Vettese
Last week Xiu Xiu made a call for fans to donate locks of hair, which his band would then burn and inhale for whatever ungodly reason. This sent Chris Blasucci into a furor; his one-man-production Hair Rocket has been doing this for the better part of two years.

MUSIC . Blog Posts
ADVENTURES OF AN OPEN-MIKER: Mugshots Coffeehouse in Fairmount
by Matt Cantor
809 days ago
There were only six performers Tuesday night at Mugshots in Fairmount—and it was wonderful. Everyone got to play four or five songs, and »»
VIDEO REVIEW: Lady Gaga's "Born This Way"
by Massimo Pulcini
810 days ago
Alien outer space births, DMT trip sequences, facial spikes, and unicorns — what will she (err…Capital S-H-E) think of next? When Lady Gaga released »»
10 Track Mind: Playfully subversive
by Eric Schuman
810 days ago
I set my iPod on shuffle. Here’s where it led me … 1. Alice Cooper - “Teenage Lament ‘74” From Muscle Of Love, the last album where “Alice Cooper” referred »»
The Roots Picnic 2011 Lineup!
by Eric Schuman
811 days ago
Behold, the lineup for this year's Roots Picnic! As usual, it's anything but your average day-festival lineup. As always, The Roots Crew themselves will »»
CONCERT REVIEW: The Low Anthem @ First Unitarian Church, 2/25
by Matt Cantor
811 days ago
The Low Anthem got their timing right. At a moment when woodsy, Americana-inspired lyrics are approaching the mainstream (think Fleet Foxes, »»

MUSIC . Listings

Rock/Pop | Jazz/Blues | Folk/World | Classical/New Music

MUSIC . Extras

Local Support: City Paper's bi-weekly local music podcast. Hosted by Jon Solomon.

City Paper Music Store: Listen to what we write about.

MUSIC . Picks
RSS
Bobby Zankel and Warriors of the Wonderful Sound featuring Rudresh Mahanthappa, Sat., May 8, 8 p.m., $25, Science Center Theater, Montgomery County Community College, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell, 215-641-6518, mc3.edu.
by Shaun Brady
Bobby Zankel's avant-big band, Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, have been wrestling their way through the dense foliage of the saxophonist's compositions for almost a decade now, overspilling the tiny stage at Tritone once a month.
Sun., May 9, 7:30 p.m., $13, with Toro Y Moi, First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., 877-435-9849, r5productions.com.
by K. Ross Hoffman
If Dan Snaith's 2007 album Andorra could be summed up by the title of its stunning tone-setter, "Melody Day," his new one is more like Rhythm Night.
Thu., May 6, 9 p.m., $8, with the Danvilles, Nikki and the Weeps and Solved with Science, Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888, thekhyber.com.
by John Vettese
Last week Xiu Xiu made a call for fans to donate locks of hair, which his band would then burn and inhale for whatever ungodly reason. This sent Chris Blasucci into a furor; his one-man-production Hair Rocket has been doing this for the better part of two years.
Sun., May 9, 8 p.m., $12, International House, 3701 Chestnut St., 215-387-5125, arsnovaworkshop.org.
by Shaun Brady
German pianist/vibraphonist Karl Berger performed alongside many of the greats in improvised music, including Don Cherry, whose music he revisits with an all-star septet Sunday at I-House.
Wed., May 12, 9 p.m., $10-$13, with The Quelle Source, Blockley Pourhouse, 3801 Chestnut St., 215-222-1234, theblockley.com.
by K. Ross Hoffman
Here's to Taking It Easy should be an homage to the Eagles, and that's roughly how it plays, with a newly full-fledged band injecting some welcome sunshine and a rangy Neil Young looseness.
Sun., May 9, 7:30 p.m., $31-$44, with Findlay Brown, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.
by M.J. Fine
Shelby Lynne's calling all the shots.
Thu., May 6, 9 p.m., $15, with EOTO and Ryat, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.
by K. Ross Hoffman
It was only a matter of time before dubstep got its very own Asian Dub Foundation.
 
 
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