THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

Alright, I usually write a little blurb about each show I’m recommending, you know, arguing for why you should check it out. But this week I’m recommending these shows all for the same reason: each of them is a benefit for the relief efforts in Haiti. Hopefully you see something you like here, but if not, why not check out something new? Please help us show these artists and venues some love, but more importantly, let’s show a little love to the world outside our little pocket of the city.

MON, JAN. 25
Amber Rubarth, Ian Axel, Vienna Teng, Wes Hutchinson, Ari Hest and more
City Winery
8:00, $20, 21+

WEDS, JAN. 27
Cold War Kids, Ted Leo, The Wrens, Sondre Lerche, Eugene Mirman, AC Newman
The Bell House
6:00 PM, $50, 21+

El Medio, No Eye Contact, Breakfast in Fur, Drew Citron
Bruar Falls
8:00 PM, $5 with can of food / $6 without, 21+

The Roots, Kaki King, Eric Krasno & Chapter 2 with John Scofield, Matisyahu
Music Hall of Williamsburg
8:00 PM, $35adv/$40do, 18+

THURS, JAN. 28
Flanagan Smith, Matt Jones, Alyson Greenfield, Charlene Kaye, Outernational, Automa
Public Assembly Back Room
8:00 PM, $10, 21+

SAT, JAN. 30
Blag’ard, The Barrens, Sing With Voices,
Fontana’s
7:00 PM, $8, 21+

compiled by Erin Sheehy

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

Our top picks. Sorry it’s a little Saturday-heavy this week.

THURS, JAN. 21

Darlings, Lonnie Walker, Motel Motel, Gunfight
Union Pool
9:00 PM, TBA, 21+
When I think garage pop in 2010, I immediately think drunk and rowdy, but Darlings are sweet; their songs remind me of early sixties California beachy stuff, except they sing about eviction and TV. Darlings also stand out from other summertimey garage out of Brooklyn because they eschew that veil of fuzz that everyone’s been wearing. Don’t crap out yet if you think they sound too saccharine for you – Darlings let themselves get hoarse-voiced and even a little angry with songs like “If This Is Love,” and the contrast is fun.

SAT, JAN. 23

viBe Songmakers, Christy & Emily, DJ Marcelle & Kid Millions, Pterodactyl
ISSUE Project Room
8:30 PM, $15, ALL AGES
ISSUE Project Room has an awesome program where Brooklyn teenagers learn the skills they need to become successful musicians. Only four to six girls are accepted each year, and Christy & Emily are mentoring this program’s group of girls. They take music lessons, business classes, and video editing courses, besides of course writing and recording their own music, which they’ll be performing. And man, they’re performing alongside quite the lineup!
More on This Week In Shows

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

TUES, JAN 12

Led Er Est, Light Asylum
Glasslands
9:00 PM, $7, 21+
Todd Pendu’s throwing a new Tuesday Nite Disco party at Glasslands, but it’s not so much disco as “dark-electro-synth-pop.” If this lineup is any indication, these parties are going to be pretty cool. Both bands are super synthy, but Led Er Est is colder, darker, more elemental (more weird?) whereas Light Asylum plays more throwback romantic synth pop.

WED, JAN 13

The Drums, Surfer Blood, The Depreciation Guild
Bowery Ballroom
7:30 PM, $12a/$15d, 18+
Okay, another post about the weather. I’ve been thinking of this show as something like Wii surfing or like… O’Doul’s for summer? You sure won’t be capturing the real thing, but the feeling’s there. Total beach party.
More on This Week In Shows

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

Hey…so we’ve been out of the show listing game for the past two weeks, partly because there just haven’t been too many shows going on due to the holidays, but mostly because the editors have been out of town, assessing our life goals and watching old movies in bed. Anyway, it’s a new year, so time to get back in it:

TUES, JAN. 5

Real Estate, Babies
Brooklyn Bowl
8:00 PM, FREE, 21+
I think our reviewer Kyle McGovern described the evocations of Real Estate better than I can. He said they call to mind “the kinds of scorched summers that seem tedious while they’re happening and glorious when they’re not.” I know I talk about the weather a hell of a lot on this, a music blog, but man, when the heat’s out (again) and you’re duct-taping your windows shut, sometimes sunshiney music is exactly what you need to remind you that it won’t be long till you’re once again dropping ice cubes down your shirt and sticking to the subway seats. Do all the imagining you can at this free show on Tuesday.

WEDS, JAN. 6

Babies, Total Slacker, Beach Fossils, True Womanhood, The Sundelles
Glasslands
7:30 PM, $7, 21+
Ever since we found out that Kevin from Woods and Cassie from Vivian Girls were getting together to make Babies, we were like, “Yeah, let’s cover that, man, that’s gonna be the hot new shit.” But we’ve yet to see them, so one of our New Years resolutions is to get on it – might as well plan to see them twice in one week in case we flake out again. Votes for Glasslands versus Brooklyn Bowl? Well, Max, the more sophisticated JM.com editor (if you ignore his taste in beer) truly loves him some Beach Fossils, and Erin, the editor with the more impressive collection of go-go boots, is a big proponent of The Sundelles.
More on This Week In Shows

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

MON, DEC. 14

Keren Ann, Clare and the Reasons
Knitting Factory Brooklyn
8:00 PM, $15, ALL AGES

Funny, compared to 2009’s wave of bedroom pop with a melancholy undertow, artists like Keren Ann and Clare and the Reasons sound like such sparkling romantics. But let’s not forget that we need these, too – songs you can imagine slowdancing to, like Clare and the Reasons’ weepy “Pluton,” or classic pieces of seduction like Keren Ann’s “It Ain’t No Crime.” Maybe Monday at the Knitting Factory won’t push the limits of pop music to any new ground, but it should be a good showcase of tight bands with serious vocal talent.

TUES, DEC. 15

Cold Cave, Small Black
Music Hall of Williamsburg
10:00 PM, FREE, 21+

Go 18 Dummy at the FREE VBS.tv holiday party this Tuesday. Talk about a good end-of-the-aughts set; Cold Cave and Small Black have had a persistent presence in both the blog world and the real live world of shows this year, and they’ve really proved their meddle. Small Black’s more like the other sandy lo-fi bedroom stuff that the internet’s been hemorraghing lately, and Cold Cave is more of a crispy ’80s throwback, but they both exude a foggy longing that we can’t get enough of. The show’s sponsored by 1800 Tequila, which isn’t important really, but you should check out this cool special edition bottle Vice produced for the party. RSVP REQUIRED! If you wanna go, click here.
More on This Week In Shows

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

Our top picks…

MON, DEC. 7

dubknowdub, Long Distance Poison, K Holes, Behavior
Matchless
8:00, FREE, 21+
Casey from Eat Records curates a night of experimental music…
You might have heard of K Holes, the Golden Triangle/Georgiana Starlington offshoot. If Golden Triangle is some disorienting typhoon of noise, K Holes is more of a slow-rolling haze, kinda like that fog on “The Simpsons” that turns people inside out. Ultimately they’re sorta woozy and fun.  Listening to Long Distance Poison, on the other hand, is like falling witness to an unending procession of ogres trudging toward some ritualistic beheading. It might make you a little scared, or at least uncomfortable, but it’s totally entrancing, and when the thing ends and you blink once or twice you’ll be like, “whoa, that was really cool!” Doomed out droney noise, twenty-minute songs and a Minimoog. Get with it!

WEDS, DEC. 9

The Santamaria Collective Presents: Dynasty Electric, Zigmat, Terry Poison, Rebel Diaz, Jani “Bomba” Rose, DJ Ron Zilla
The Studio @ Webster Hall
8:00 PM, $10adv/$15do, 19+

Seriously, doesn’t donating things make you feel really good? At the Santamaria Collective show this Wednesday, audience members are asked to bring new, unwrapped toys, which will be given to the children at Harlem Hospital & several homeless shelters in New York City. I know money’s tight, but even picking up a small gift means a lot. Or hell, why not splurge and give yourself an excuse to go play on the big piano at FAO Shwarz? (Is that thing even still there?) This’ll be an eclectic mix of bands, but if you’re going to check out any of them, look up Rebel Diaz, who’ve been using their group as a platform for serious social activism in the South Bronx. They call themselves “periodistas de la esquina,” or “street journalists,” which I sorta like…
More on This Week In Shows

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

WEDS, DEC. 2

Jaguar Love, The King Left, Yes Giantess, Violent Soho
Mercury Lounge
8:00 PM, $10 adv/$12 do, 21+
People have said that Johnny Whitney of Jaguar Love sounds like “Robert Plant on steroids.” I was gonna say he sort of reminds me of Jay Reatard in a higher register. Either way, we’re talking shrieky, jolting energy. These guys make some catchy, noisy, uptempo pop with y’know, canned beats. Enjoy!

Werewolves, Strange Rivals, Heliotropes
Glasslands
8:00, $5, 21+
Never underestimate the power of the keys to take something dramatic and make it cinematic. I’m using the term “cinematic” very liberally to mean that you might find yourself playing out long scenes in your head while listening to Werewolves. Or maybe it’s their sneering vocals that do it, I don’t know yet. What I do know is that they’re dynamic performers and they’re playing Glasslands this Wedsnesday…

SAT, DEC. 5

Bowerbirds
Union Pool
8:00, $10, 21+
Did you know that the male bowerbird hops around with a flower in his beak in an attempt to woo a mate? How sweet! On the other hand, the male angler fish sniffs out the female, bites her, releases an enzyme that fuses the two at the blood-vessel level, and then atrophies until he is no more than a pair of parasitic gonads. The world is ugly, but if you want to linger on the more poignant aspects of life, why not get all acoustic and snuggly with Bowerbirds for the night? They’re also playing Bowery Ballroom with Elvis Perkins on Thursday, but I like to promote the more intimate, boozier, cheaper shows…

Or you can just head towards Kent Ave. and then decide…
More on This Week In Shows

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

TUES, NOV. 10

Free Energy, Diehard, Small Black
The Bell House
7:30 PM, $8, 18+
I don’t know how I feel when, on their self-titled track, the lead singer of Free Energy says that he’s “making out with the wind,” but they’ve got a great, if sometimes corny, teenage ’70s power-pop feel, especially on the glammy “Dream City.” But the reason I first got excited about this show is that I somehow managed to miss Small Black during CMJ, and after reading our writer Tricia Patterson’s interview, I got all amped up to go see them this time round. (Shameless plug, yes, but also totally true.)

THURS, NOV. 12

Home Video, Dead Heart Bloom, Heads Up Display
Public Assembly
9:00 PM, $8, 21+
Yes, it’s the JezebelMusic.com Monthly Feature Show. It’s also a great chance to check out the gorgeous haunt of Home Video’s electro rock. Their song “Every Love That Ever Was” always makes me picture a montage sequence of some film where a couple has broken up but is still in love; maybe someone shuts a door, then slides down it in tears. Or a Tuesday night when you’re home alone, and you feel alone, and you realize tomorrow will be the same. Not to say this band is oversteeped in depression – their beats tread too swiftly and the keyboards soar too high to wallow – but Home Video has a way of cutting deep, to something structural, a basic human longing.
More on This Week In Shows