In choosing a name for their debut full-length album, Brooklyn-based Ex Cops chose Terence McKenna’s 1993 tome True Hallucinations, which boasts the lofty subtitle Being an Account of the Author’s Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil’s Paradise. That book begins: “For thousands of years the visions imparted by hallucinogenic mushrooms have been sought and revered as a true religious mystery. Much of my thought over the past twenty or more years has been caught up in describing and contemplating this mystery.” Now, we are not claiming that Ex Cops, which was formed in 2011 by North Carolina’s Brian Harding and Denmark native Amalie Bruun, were on mushrooms or any other psychotropics that sent them into the devil’s domain when they were making the record; nor are we encouraging anyone to chomp on some ’shrooms before listening to the disc. But listen to True Hallucinations you should, no matter your state of mind, for it will transport you to another across its thirty minutes. The disc is the first official album released by Other Music, one of the city’s best record stores, whose first signing as a label was Ex Cops. The world of True Hallucinations is populated by the machine-gun rattle of “You Are a Lion, I Am a Lamb,” the beachy keen “Spring Break (Birthday Song),” the psychedelic “Jazz & Information,” the jangly “Billy Pressly,” the fuzzy “Nico Beast,” the very indie “Broken Chinese Chairz,” and the Asian/VU-influenced “The Millionaire.” On the video for “Ken,” the band pays tribute to the Replacements, whose classic videos for “Bastards of Young” and “Hold My Life” were each made in one continuous long shot of a speaker, a turntable, and a couch, the way music used to be heard, once upon a time. Harding and Bruun, joined by lead guitarist Kai Kennedy, bassist Leif Young Huckman, and drummer Sam Bair, will be headlining at Mercury Lounge on February 15 with Ski Lodge opening. Let the hallucinations begin.
this week in music
VIDEO OF THE DAY: “DO THE STRAND” BY THE BRYAN FERRY ORCHESTRA
The most elegant man in the history of rock has now made his most elegant album yet in a career of elegant albums. In 1999, Bryan Ferry, who cofounded seminal British art rockers Roxy Music, released As Time Goes By, a collection of 1930s standards featuring Ferry on vocals, backed by an old-fashioned big band. Now sixty-seven, Ferry is releasing his latest record, The Jazz Age (BMG/Chrysalis), in the U.S. this week, thirteen songs selected from throughout his career, performed by the Bryan Ferry Orchestra. “After forty years of making records, both in and out of Roxy Music,” Ferry explains on his website, “I thought now might be an interesting moment to revisit some of these songs, and approach them as instrumentals in the style of that magical period — bringing a new and different life to these songs — a life without words.” For The Jazz Age, Ferry has chosen such Roxy favorites as “Do the Strand,” “Virginia Plain,” “Love Is the Drug,” and “Avalon” along with such solo hits as “Slave to Love,” “This Is Tomorrow,” and “The Only Face,” played in the style of the Roaring Twenties by longtime Ferry musical director Colin Good on piano, Robert Fowler on clarinet, Malcolm Earle-Smith on trombone, John Sutton on drums, Martin Wheatley on guitar, banjo, and ukulele, Alan Barnes on baritone sax and clarinet, Enrico Tomasso on trumpet, and Richard White on bass saxophone. The songs take on a new life indeed, bursting with fresh energy, together forming a soundtrack to a period film that doesn’t actually exist, except in the listener’s imagination. Some are more recognizable in relation to their original incarnations than others, but each one is a delight, playing off elements of their rock versions with genius and even a touch of mystery. “Slave to Love” is particularly effective, liable to cause you to start whirling around, humming along and dancing. Ferry will be touring the UK in the fall of 2013 with his rock band as well as the Jazz Age orchestra; there are no US dates announced, but you can meet the ever-elegant gentleman on Tuesday, February 12, when he’ll be at the Union Square Barnes & Noble at 7:00, signing copies of the new album. (He will not be performing.) The event space opens up at 5:00, and you must purchase the CD at B&N in order to join the line. In the meantime, you can check out the record, the best album of the year so far, for free on his website here.
CULTUREMART 2013
Bora Yoon collaborates with Adam Larsen and R. Luke DuBois in surreal WEIGHTS AND BALANCES (photo by James Chung)
HERE
145 Sixth Ave. at Dominick St.
Through February 10, $10 in advance, $15 within twenty-four hours of show
212-647-0202
www.here.org
The HERE Artist Residency Program, known as HARP, is now in the second week of its annual Culturemart festival, consisting of unique, experimental works, often in double features, from emerging presenters in such disciplines as dance, theater, music, visual arts, and puppetry as well as a melding of several of them. On February 4-5, Mei-Yin Ng’s Lost Property Unit explores loneliness and solitude in the digital age, referencing television and movies through dance, live and prerecorded music, and robot sculptures, while in Hai-Ting Chinn’s Science Fair the mezzo-soprano combines opera with science in a multimedia performance. On February 6-7, Robin Frohardt’s The Pigeoning uses music and puppets to look at the end of the world, while Joseph Silovsky’s Send for the Million Men is a solo piece that reexamines the Sacco and Vanzettti case with puppets and handmade projectors. Also on February 6-7, Bora Yoon’s Weights and Balances is a surreal opera featuring an interactive performance design by R. Luke DuBois. On February 8-9, Stein / Holum Projects’ The Wholehearted is a work in progress about a woman boxer looking back at her glory days. On February 9 at 2:00, there will be a free performance of David T. Little’s opera-theater piece Artaud in the Black Lodge, which links Antonin Artaud, William S. Burroughs, and David Lynch through a libretto by Anne Waldman. The festival, which also celebrates HERE’s twentieth anniversary, concludes February 9-10 with HERE artistic director Kristin Marting and David Morris’s Trade Practices, a live, interactive market in which audience members become participants in the event.
EP OF THE DAY: OH FEBRUARY BY Y LA BAMBA
“Say what you want to say / Say what you mean out loud,” Luz Elena Mendoza sings on the title track of the latest EP, Oh February (Tender Loving Empire, January 29), by her enchanting group, Y la Bamba. The tall, heavily tattooed Mendoza has been saying what she wants and means since her solo debut, 2008’s Alida St., after which she formed a full band named after her six-toed white cat. On such previous albums as 2010’s Lupon, produced by Decemberists guitarist Chris Funk, and 2011’s Court the Storm, produced by Los Lobos sax man Steve Berlin, the Portland, Oregon-based Y la Bamba created a unique blend of various genres that come together beautifully on Oh February, which reunites them with Funk. Mendoza’s ethereal voice has never been better as she leads the way through a half dozen English-language songs (previous albums included a mix of English and Spanish tunes), her vocals serving as another instrument, complemented by guitarists Sean Flinn and Paul Cameron, bassist Ben Meyercord, accordionist Eric Schrepel, drummer Mike Kitson, and percussionist-clarinetist Scott Magee. Mendoza, who suffered a debilitating case of amoebic dysentery ten years ago during a spiritual journey to India that led her to reevaluate her strict Catholic upbringing headed by her Mexican immigrant father, incorporates elements of traditional Mexican and Latino music, jazz, indie pop, depression-era Tin Pan Alley, and more into such beguiling songs as “A Poet’s Tune,” “Death on the Road,” and “River in Drought.” The EP culminates in the mesmerizing “Oh February Part 2 (Mad as We Are),” a duet with Cameron that encapsulates everything that Y la Bamba stands for: “We are changing . . . Got nowhere to go / Don’t look back,” Mendoza sings. The continually evolving Mendoza and Y la Bamba should have plenty of places to go, including Terminal 5 on February 1-2 opening for the Lumineers. The show is sold out, but you can check out their dazzling new EP above now for free.
FIRST SATURDAYS: AFRICAN INNOVATIONS
Unidentified Lega artist, “Three-Headed Figure (Sakimatwemtwe),” South Kivu or Maniema province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, wood, fiber, kaolin, nineteenth century (Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1922, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund)
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, February 2, free, 5:00 – 11:00 (some events require free tickets distributed in advance at the Visitor Center)
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org
The Brooklyn Museum celebrates Black History Month at February’s free First Saturdays program with a focus on the long-term installation “African Innovations,” which comprises approximately 200 works spread across 2,500 years. The evening will include live music by the Republic of Cameroon’s Kaïssa, the multinational Akoya Afrobeat, and Sierra Leone’s Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew, guided pop-up gallery tours, the debut of Zimbabwe dancer-choreographer Rujeko Dumbutshena’s Jenaguru, children’s workshops on traditional West African instruments and linguist staffs, a curator talk on “African Innovations” with Kevin D. Dumouchelle, the multimedia Afrika21 project, a screening of Africa Straight Up preceded by a discussion with Applause Africa, a fashion show with designs inspired by African textiles and music by Ethiopian DJ Sirak, and a book club discussion of Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe’s 1958 novel Things Fall Apart. Also on view at the museum now are “GO: a community-curated open studio project,” “Raw/Cooked: Duron Jackson,” and “Aesthetic Ambitions: Edward Lycett and Brooklyn’s Faience Manufacturing Company” as well as long-term installations and the permanent collection.
VIDEO OF THE DAY: “AMERICAN SUN” BY THE RIVERBREAKS
Washington, DC’s the Riverbreaks take listeners on a rousing cinematic journey on their second album, Wildfire. Releasing February 1, the twelve-song disc shows off the band’s engaging blend of alt-country Americana indie pop, referencing classic southern rock along the way. Produced by the Riverbreaks with DBs cofounder Chris Stamey, Wildfire was recorded in Chapel Hill, where lead singer and acoustic guitarist Ryan Bailey, electric guitarist Jesse Prentice-Dunn, keyboardist Andrew Satten, and violinist Neela Rajendra went to college. They are joined by bassist Drew Ball and drummer Kirk Anderson as they traverse the open roads of America, speaking up for marginalized indigenous cultures, fighting to save the environment, and falling in and out of love. Much of the album was written by Bailey in Costa Rica, an influence perhaps most evident on the opening song, “Wild Fruit,” in which Bailey sings about the Ayoreo, a Paraguayan tribe battling for survival, declaring, “You can slash and burn these woods until this land is clear / Until the creek beds are dry and the birds have disappeared / You can smoke me from the hills but you can’t bribe me to leave / You’ll never tame the lost ones and you’ll never take their spirit from me.”
The album also features sweet guitar wailing at the end of the visually evocative “Paper Moon,” an infectious organ groove that powers “American Sun,” a memorable riff tailor made for a Western movie theme in the bluesy “Corn Blue Night,” a touch of the Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony” on “El Dorado,” and a jaunty bounce on “Waiting for the Rapture,” on which Bailey actually repeats, “I pray it don’t come.” Wildfire is like the soundtrack to an indie Western you’ve heard about for a while but have yet to see. You’ll get your chance this week when the Riverbreaks will be holding album release parties at the Kennedy Center on February 1 before making their way to the Living Room on February 2, where they’ll play at 7:00, followed by Tam Lin, NICKCASEY, the Ramblers, and Rocket & the Ghost. Be ready for a down-home celebration, as they explain on “Tell the Girls”: “Tell the girls to wear their dancing shoes / Tell the girls to show up dressed to kill / And the band will play too / until the night is through / until the light shines through.”
BARE THE MUSICAL
Revamped BARE musical explores relationships among a group of teenagers at a Catholic boarding school
New World Stages
340 West 50th St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
Through February 3, $92.50
www.baremusicalnyc.com
Bare has been around since October 2000, appearing in various versions around the world, usually billed as a pop opera. But in its latest incarnation, it has been transformed into a straightforward musical, presented by an energetic cast in an extremely entertaining production. The story takes place in St. Cecilia’s co-ed boarding school, where the shy, nerdy Peter (Taylor Trensch) has fallen for beautiful blond basketball star Jason (Jason Hite). While Peter is not ashamed of being gay, Jason is determined to hide their secret relationship, no matter the cost. Wanting to spend more time with Peter, Jason auditions for the school production of Romeo and Juliet, run by the controversial Sister Joan (Missi Pyle), who tends to bend the rules when it comes to certain religious practices, which does not make Father Mike (Jerold E. Solomon) happy. Soon jealousy and envy take center stage as Jason is cast as Romeo opposite supposed slut Ivy (Elizabeth Judd), who Matt (Gerard Canonico) thinks he is dating, while Jason’s sister, wry, cynical drug dealer Nadia (Barrett Wilbert Weed), has the hots for Matt. Comic relief is provided by Alice Lee as ditzy Asian Valley Girl Diane and Alex Wyse as Alan, the only Jew at St. Cecilia’s. Jon Hartmere, who wrote the original book and lyrics, has updated the show, with Lynne Shankel adding new songs to Damon Intrabartolo’s score to make the show more relevant to current events.
Jason (Jason Hite) and Peter (Taylor Trensch) share a forbidden kiss in BARE THE MUSICAL
Director Stafford Arima (Carrie, Altar Boyz) and choreographer Travis Wall (All the Right Moves) keep things moving fast on Donyale Werle’s hip set as the company performs such numbers as “A Million Miles from Heaven,” “Drive You Out of Your Mind,” “Kiss Your Broken Heart,” and “Pilgrims’ Hands.” One of the new songs, “Hail Mary,” is meant to be a showstopper, with Pyle portraying Mother Mary camping it up in a Vegas-style romp, but although it revs up the audience, it ends up detracting from the developing story. Otherwise, the first act unfolds beautifully, with well-developed characters and a smart use of Shakespeare’s classic romance as it relates to what is going on between Peter, Jason, Matt, Ivy, and Nadia. The shorter second act is not quite as crisp, wandering too much as it tries to make its points about forbidden love and religion, still not quite there after all these years. An engaging night of theater, Bare continues at New World Stages through February 3. There are various ways to get tickets besides buying them in advance, including $26.50 same-day general rush, “30 at 30” $30 tickets available thirty minutes before showtime for people under thirty, and “20at20” $20 tickets twenty minutes prior to curtain.