Back in the mid-to-late 1990s, 132 Havemeyer St. in Williamsburg was home to four men who would soon be making their marks in two of Brooklyn’s most popular bands. While roommates Tunde Adebimpe and Dave Sitek formed TV on the Radio, Gabriel Roth and Martín Perna started the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. Melding the Afro-fusion of Fela Kuti with Latin jazz, Antibalas became a New York City staple, encompassing a dozen members or more as they relentlessly toured and released such records as Liberation Afrobeat, Talkatif, Who Is This America? and Security. After a long road trip in support of their first album in five years, the simply titled Antibalas (Daptone, August 2012), which they recorded at Daptone’s House of Soul Studios with Roth, the band is returning to its roots with a welcome-home show December 14 at Brooklyn Masonic Temple with Red Baraat. On the new album, lead singer Amayo, keyboardist Victor Axelrod, guitarists Marcos García and Luke O’Malley, bassist Nikhil Yerawadekar, percussionist Marcus Farrar, and horn players Perna, Stuart Bogie, Aaron Johnson, Jordan McLean get plenty funky on a half dozen groovy tunes that range in length from 6:15 to 8:07, keeping the party going on such tracks as “Dirty Money,” “Him Belly No Go Sweet,” “Ari Degbe,” and ‘Sáré Kon Kon,” coming together, then breaking off into solos galore that will get even the most laconic booties shaking. It should be one wild and crazy homecoming indeed.
this week in music
VIDEO OF THE DAY — “DEVILS LOOK LIKE ANGELS” BY THE REVEREND PEYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND
Sporting one of the best beards in the business, the Reverend J. Peyton has been leading his trio, the Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, through a rollicking brand of foot-stomping country blues for the last decade. On such albums as The Pork n’ Beans Collection, Big Damn Nation, The Whole Fam Damnily, and The Wages, Peyton, a real-life Kentucky Colonel, evokes such heroes as Charley Patton, B.B. King, and Jimi Hendrix. On the Indiana-based group’s latest record, Between the Ditches (SideOneDummy, August 2012), guitarist Peyton, his wife, “Washboard” Breezy Peyton, and drummer Aaron “Cuz” Persinger, whose kit includes a five-gallon bucket, take listeners on a thrilling journey through the back roads of America, proclaiming on the opener, “Devils Look Like Angels,” that “the devil don’t live / down in hell / the devil’s right here / doing very well / and it’s hard to tell / it’s hard to tell / when the devils look like angels / and angels look like hell.” Peyton went through hell himself when he was told as a teenager that he would never be able to properly use his left hand again on the six-string, but he proved the doctors wrong, and he continues to defy belief on Between the Ditches. “On this record, people are gonna think that there’s two guitars on it, and there’s not,” he explained at the album release show at Indy CD and Vinyl in August. “I promise, I swear, there’s no iPod, there’s no computer, there’s no loop pedal, there’s no guy hiding behind somewhere. It is all me, all right? My thumb plays bass, just like this. While my thumb’s playing bass, my fingers play the lead. Simple as that.” On the new disc, the group tears it up on such songs as “Big Blue Chevy ’72,” “Shake ’em Off Like Fleas,” “Brokedown Everywhere,” and “Something for Nothing,” creating a big yet intimate sound that just plain kicks ass. Known for their exuberant live shows where just about anything can happen, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band will be at Mercury Lounge on December 9 with Johnnie Lee Jordan and the Boys and Rosco Bandana. “I have felt a lot of love from our fans lately,” the rev. recently wrote on his blog, “and I just want to say that I promise to always bring you real, handmade, from the heart, organic music in return.” That’s a lot better deal than one with the devil.
VIDEO OF THE DAY: “KIN” BY 8MM
Judging by the lyrics on 8MM’s second full-length album, Between the Devil and Two Black Hearts (ChelseaGirl, September 2012), it might not be obvious that the band is led by husband Sean Beavan and wife Juliette Beavan, who actually appear to be a very happy couple. “You’re the devil and you’re killing me,” Juliette sings on the title track. “I breathe you in and you just bleed me out,” she cries on “Kin,” adding, “Every love’s a scar,” on “Around the Sun.” Formed in 2004 in California, 8MM was initially considered a trip-hop industrial group, but they have burst out of any confining mold on the new disc, from the Fleetwood Mac–esque title song and the hard-rockin’, anthemic “Kin” and “Around the Sun” to the bluesy “The Weight of You” and the country ballad “Everyone Says,” evoking such forebears as Aimee Mann, Fleetwood Mac, PJ Harvey, and Hank Williams along the way. Juliette, a Stop Staring! celebrity model, and Sean, a longtime producer of such powerhouses as Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, and Guns N’ Roses, exchange verses and harmonize together more than on their previous releases, going off in myriad directions and absolutely exploding on the hot, sexy “The One,” which ends in an orgiastic frenzy. 8MM, which also includes drummer Jon Nicholson, will be at Pianos on December 7 at 11:00 with Emily & the Complexes, Sophie et la Femme, the Henry Millers, the Middle Eight, and Wolff & Tuba.
VIDEO OF THE DAY: “LIONESS EYE” BY XAVIER RUDD
“Do you feel like any of this is wrong? Do any of you feel like any of this is wrong? Coz I feel like some of this is wrong,” Australian musician and activist Xavier Rudd declares on “Comfortable in My Skin,” one of thirteen eco-friendly tracks on his seventh studio album, Spirit Bird (SideOneDummy, June 2012). A one-man band who fights for the environment, indigenous cultures, animal rights, and other causes, Rudd again plays a multitude of instruments on the new record, including numerous guitars, keyboards, harmonica, drums, a stomp box, and the yidaki, (didgeridoo). In addition, several songs feature bird and whale samples; one of Rudd’s current causes, and whose call can be heard on Spirit Bird, is the endangered black cockatoo. Rudd recently participated in an online auction sponsored by the Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Rehabilitation Centre, where he’s visited. He donated a specially commissioned, signed Tjukurtjarra Didgeridoo on which he has written, “One love / One mob / For country / Arms up / Thank you, Kaarakin!” Rudd’s world music sound mixes elements of folk, pop, dance, and reggae with African and aboriginal rhythms that often border on New Age before picking up speed, especially on the epic, mostly instrumental ten-minute “Full Circle.” The album ends with Rudd pleading, “Please patience please patience please / I’m creating a dream.” You can join Rudd’s ever-growing movement on December 3, when he plays Irving Plaza in a show rescheduled from October 28, which was postponed because of Hurricane Sandy; Chris Berry opens up.
FIRST SATURDAYS: GO
GO: A COMMUNITY-CURATED OPEN STUDIO PROJECT
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, December 1, free, 5:00 – 11:00 (some events require free tickets distributed in advance at the Visitor Center)
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org
During its December free First Saturday program, the Brooklyn Museum will be collecting supplies for people and public schools affected by Hurricane Sandy, asking visitors to bring such items as baby diapers and wipes, hand sanitizer, construction paper, pencils, crayons, and notebooks. Among the special events scheduled for the evening are concerts by Underground System Afrobeat, Maya Azucena, and Avan Lava; screenings of Flex Is Kings, followed by a dance demonstration and a Q&A with directors Deidre Schoo and Michael Beach Nichols, and Jim Hubbard’s United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, in honor of a Day With(out)Art / World AIDS Day; a Book Club talk with Cristy C. Road about her new graphic novel, Spit and Passion; an excerpt from Parachute: The Coney Island Performance Festival; an interactive hunt led by Ben McKelahan; a talk with some of the artists included in the new exhibition “GO: a community-curated open studio project”; community-action art talks with Laura Braslow and Ian Marvy; a dance performance by L.O.U.D.; and more. Also on view at the museum now are “Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe,” “Materializing ‘Six Years’: Lucy R. Lippard and the Emergence of Conceptual Art,” “Jean-Michel Othoniel: My Way,” “Raw/Cooked: Duron Jackson,” and “Aesthetic Ambitions: Edward Lycett and Brooklyn’s Faience Manufacturing Company” in addition to long-term installations and the permanent collection.
IAN HUNTER & THE RANT BAND
Ian Hunter wants your vote on hard-rocking new album (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
The Paramount
370 New York Ave., Huntington
Sunday, December 2, $25-$49.50, 8:00
www.ianhunter.com
www.paramountny.com
Hey, if it were legal, perhaps we’d seriously consider voting for Ian Hunter for leader of the free world. “I’m gonna lean on the one percent / when I’m president / No more bargains in the basement / when I’m president,” the Shropshire-born rocker sings on the title track of his latest album, the excellent When I’m President (Slimstyle, August 2012). “Washington — Jefferson — watch out, baby, ’cos here I come / Abraham — Theodore — you’re gonna see my ugly mug up on Mt. Rushmore.” Hunter, who used to live in Waterside Plaza before moving to Connecticut, rants about the state of the world on the new disc, backed by his appropriately named Rant Band, a crack group featuring James Mastro and Mark Bosch on guitar, Paul Page on bass, Andy Burton on keyboards, Steve Holley on drums, and Andy Burton on keyboards, who have been playing with Ian for years now. Lyrically and musically, they reference Hunter’s past as lead singer of 1970s glam rockers Mott the Hoople and as a solo artist, making allusions to such Hunter classics as “All the Way from Memphis” and “All American Alien Boy” as they power through such tracks as the hard-driving “Comfortable (Flyin’ Scottsman),” the bluesy “I Don’t Know What You Want,” the bouncy “Saint,” and the gorgeous “Just the Way You Look Tonight.” Hunter also takes on America’s Wild West history, playing the role of Crazy Horse on “Ta Shunka Witco,” praising Jesse and Frank James on “Saint,” and celebrating Sam Peckinpah’s ultra-violent Western on “Wild Bunch.” Now in his early seventies, Hunter shows no signs of slowing down, continuing to put out consistently solid records every two or three years (such as 2001’s Rant, 2004’s Strings Attached, 2007’s Shrunken Heads, and 2009’s Man Overboard) and playing great live shows highlighting songs from throughout his five-decade career while looking at life as only he can, through his ever-present dark glasses. “I hope you had a good time / hope your time was as good as mine,” he sings on the new album’s closing track. “My, you’re such a beautiful sight / I can’t believe after all of these years / you’re still here and I’m still here.” Curly golden locks and all, Ian Hunter is indeed still here, and he and the Rant Band will be at the Paramount in Huntington on December 2 with another English ex-pat known for his biting lyrics and beautiful ballads, Graham Parker, who has reunited with the Rumour for a new album and tour. It should be more than just another night when these two team up for this one-time-only gig. (Hunter will also be playing February 9-10 at City Winery.)
REEL ROCKERS: COME GET CRAZY IN THE EAST VILLAGE
Malcolm McDowell gets plenty crazy as rock god Reggie Wanker in Allan Arkush’s GET CRAZY
GET CRAZY (Allan Arkush, 1983)
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave. at Second St.
Saturday, December 1, $45-$70, 2:00
Series continues through August 9
212-505-5181
www.anthologyfilmarchives.org
www.gvshp.org
One of the most underrated, little-seen rock-and-roll movies ever made, Get Crazy should be a cult classic. Directed by Allan (Rock ‘n’ Roll High School) Arkush, Get Crazy evokes the closing of the Fillmore East as Neil Allen (Daniel Stern) and Willy Loman (Gail Edwards) help put together a New Year’s Eve farewell concert for the beloved Saturn Theater, which the conniving Colin Beverly (Ed Begley Jr.) is trying to steal out from under Max Wolfe (Allen Garfield). Among the special guests at the show are Bill Henderson as the Muddy Waters clone King Blues, Captain Cloud (Howard Kaylan of the Turtles) and the Rainbow Telegraph, and Nada (Kid Creole Coconut Lori Eastside) with Piggy (Lee Ving of Fear), but the movie is stolen by Malcolm McDowell as the Mick Jagger ripoff Reggie Wanker, who literally lets his member do the talking, and Lou Reed as the Dylan/Donovan homage Auden, a folksinger desperate to write a song before the show, so he spends most of the film riding around in a cab, rambling on about whatever is right in front of him. And be sure to keep an eye out for John Densmore, Fabian, Bobby Sherman, Clint Howard, Linnea Quigley, and Paul Bartel. In addition to the live numbers, the soundtrack includes songs by Sparks, Marshall Crenshaw, the Ramones, and Reed, whose awesome “Little Sister” plays over the closing credits. Extremely silly but still loads of fun Get Crazy is screening December 1 at 2:00 at Anthology Film Archives as a fundraiser for the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and will be followed by a panel discussion about the history of the East Village cultural scene with members of the cast and crew and Joshua White of the Joshua Light Show, moderated by Jesse Kornbluth. The festivities will then continue at the after-party at Veselka Bowery, with a two-hour open bar and appetizers.