this week in music

SONG OF THE DAY — DEBBIE MILLER: “INCH BY INCH”

<a href="http://thedebbiemiller.bandcamp.com/album/inch-by-inch">Inch By Inch by Debbie Miller</a>

Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2
196 Allen St. between Houston & Stanton Sts.
Saturday, March 31, free, 7:00
212-477-4155
thedebbiemiller.com
www.rockwoodmusichall.com

“Please inhale these minutes / And hold it in, swish it around / To savor the love / That we found,” Debbie Miller sings on the touching “Inch by Inch,” the single from her brand-new EP, Measures + Waits. “Once upon a time I / Breathed warm rivulets down your spine / All I have left are / Patterns on cheekbones once buried in your chest,” she continues. The utterly delightful singer-songwriter, a native New Yorker who now lives in Seattle, mixes elements of classical, folk, jazz, Tin Pan Alley, and pop with an endearing honesty and a delightful sense of humor into her personal, intimate songs. The follow-up to her 2010 debut album, Fake Love, the EP contains five studio tracks and a live version of “Snippets from a Bathroom Stall,” which is composed of actual graffiti taken from bathroom stalls: “Love one another / Drink lots of holy water / Isaac Newton practiced alchemy . . . on your mother,” Miller sings. On the playful “What She’s Got,” Miller compares herself to a romantic rival, asking, “What’s she got that I don’t got / Except bigger boobs / A few inches to my height / And nothing to lose lose lose loo-loo-lose.” Miller, who plays piano and guitar and recently charmed audiences with the new song “Queen of Hearts” written for a Bushwick Book Club event in Seattle dedicated to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, will be at Rockwood Music Hall on March 31 celebrating the release of Measures + Waits.

SAKURA — SPRING RENEWS, BEAUTY BLOOMS: KABUKI DANCE

Japan Society celebrates the coming of spring with kabuki dance program this week (photo © Kiyofuji Studio)

Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
March 29-31,
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org

For more than five hundred years, Japan has been telling stories using the art form known as kabuki, a highly stylized dance play that features ornate costumes, intricately choreographed movement, heavy makeup, and extreme facial gestures. As part of Japan Society’s “Sakura — Spring Renews, Beauty Blooms” festival, nihon buyo (Japanese classical dance) master Bando Kotoji will lead his troupe through four kabuki works March 29-31. Accompanied by live music, the program includes Sanbaso, Cho no Michiyuki (“The Last Journey of Two Butterflies”), Tamatori Ama (“The Pearl Diver”), and Yoshino-yama (“Yoshino Mountain”). All performances will be preceded by a lecture on shamisen music and kabuki dance by Dr. Sachiyo Ito. Japan Society will also be hosting a kabuki workshop on Saturday morning at 10:15 led by Bando; although participant tickets are sold out, you can still attend as an observer for eight dollars. Japan Society’s spring festival continues through April 14 with such films as Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Hana: The Tale of a Reluctant Samurai, a haiku workshop led by Sho Otaka and John Stevenson, and “J-Cation 2012,” an all-day event that includes live music, dance, art, film, food, storytelling, demonstrations, and more.

ONCE: A NEW MUSICAL

Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
242 West 45th St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
Tickets: $59.50 – $186.50
oncemusical.com

In 2006, writer-director John Carney had a surprise hit with his intimate low-budget drama Once, the touching story of an Irish vacuum repairman (musician Glen Hansard of the Frames) and a Czech flower seller (singer-songwriter Markéta Irglová) who meet in Dublin and make beautiful music together. Hansard and Irglová won the Oscar for Best Original Song for the ballad “Falling Slowly,” and the duo went on to form the band the Swell Season. The film has now been turned into a Broadway musical directed by John Tiffany (Black Watch) and with a book by playwright Enda Walsh (The Walworth Farce), but in expanding the eighty-five-minute movie into a two-and-a-half-hour show, they have stretched the story way too thin. Once actually begins twenty minutes before curtain time, when ticket holders are invited to buy a drink onstage as the house band plays traditional tunes amid Bob Crowley’s set, the interior of a pub shaped like a half-moon with more than seventy mirrors hanging on the walls, centered by a large rectangular one right in the middle. Steve Kazee (Spamalot) and Cristin Milioti (The Lieutenant of Inishmore) play the Guy and the Girl, two lonely souls, he a shy guitarist who works in his father’s shop, she a very direct pianist surrounded by family and friends but missing something in her life. Girl instantly becomes Guy’s muse, encouraging him to not give up on his music, which she thinks can make him a success in New York. As they spend more and more time together, their unrequited love begins to overwhelm them.

Kazee and Milioti are terrific in the lead roles, forming a believable team that audiences will pull for not only as a musical pair but hopefully as a romantic one as well. The staging is also excellent, with everything taking place on the same set with small furniture changes signaling such other locations as a piano shop, a recording studio, and Guy’s and Girl’s apartments. Whenever the Girl speaks in Czech, she actually says the words in English, with the Czech translation projected onto the top of the bar, which leads to a memorable moment when she discusses love with the Guy. The members of the house band double as the show’s minor characters, sitting on chairs on either side of the stage until their participation is required. But while some of these characters offer fine support, particularly David Patrick Kelly as the Guy’s father and Elizabeth A. Davis as the Girl’s sexy friend Réza, others drain the show of its subtle intimacy, , with silly, repetitive, over-the-top comic relief from Paul Whitty as the owner of the piano store and Andy Taylor as a bank manager. In addition, much of the second act feels added on and repetitive, including reprises of songs. The score features such familiar tunes from the film as “Falling Slowly,” “If You Want Me,” “Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy,” “Gold,” and “The Hill” as well as several new ones; the production admirably doesn’t Broadway-fy the music or lapse into over-choreographed dance numbers, keeping things relatively simply for the most part. There’s a lot to like about Once, and fans of the film are likely to be charmed. But there’s also a lot that could have been trimmed, paying heed to the more personal warmth and honesty of the original.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: ENTER SHIKARI

British electro-punks Enter Shikari are blowing out venues around the world in support of their third album, A Flash Flood of Colour (Hopeless, January 2012), the follow-up to 2007’s Take to the Skies and 2009’s Common Dreads. On the new disc, guitarist Liam “Rory” Clewlow, bassist Chris Batten, drummer Rob Rolfe, and lead singer and keyboardist Roughton “Rou” Reynolds blast their way through such songs as “Sssnakepit,” “Hello Tyrannosaurus, Meet Tyrannicide,” “Arguing with Thermometers” (the video for which pays homage to the Beastie Boys classic “Sabotage”), and the opening double shot of “System . . .” and “. . . Meltdown.” Not just hardcore screamers — although they’re rather adept at that — Enter Shikari also mixes in power pop, techno, heavy metal, electronic noise, and, dare we say it, melodic balladry. They’ll be at Irving Plaza on April 6, playing with At the Skylines and Letlive.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: PAULA CARINO

Pianos
158 Ludlow St.
Monday, March 26, $8, 9:00
212-505-3733
www.paulacarino.com
www.pianosnyc.com

“I am lucky in love / I don’t need your comfort or care / I am so lucky in love / even when life is unfair / Yeah, don’t tell me life is unfair,” Paula Carino sings on “Lucky in Love,” from her excellent 2010 album, Open on Sunday, which she financed through Facebook fan donations and released on her own label, Intellectual House o’ Pancakes Records. We’re not about to tell the singer-songwriter, yoga teacher, blogger, and pop-culture columnist that life is unfair, but we don’t mind saying that if life were indeed fair, Carino would be a star. The multitalented musician has been a fixture on the New York City music scene for the better part of a decade, whether playing solo shows at the Parkside Lounge on the Lower East Side or at Freddy’s Backroom in Brooklyn (or twi-ny’s tenth-anniverary party at Fontana’s) with her backing band, which she has given such names as the Better Mind Your Own Business Bureau, the Virtually Spotless, and the Scurvy Merchants. Carino, who lately has been studying counseling psychology while working on a new album, appears to have finally arrived at a permanent appellation for her group: the Good Evening Friends, as in the Frankie Laine and Johnny Ray duet and the classic vaudeville sign-off. Carino and TGEF, featuring Nancy Polstein on drums, David Benjoya on guitar, and Andy Mattina on bass, will play their first gig under that name at Pianos on March 26 at 9:00, preceded by Jett Brando at 8:00 and followed by Teeth and Tongue at 10:00, Dope Dod at 11:00, and Rocky Business at midnight.

TWI-NY TALK: DAVID GEDGE OF THE WEDDING PRESENT

David Gedge cuts loose at the Seaport in August 2010 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

More than a quarter-century ago, the Wedding Present anchored NME’s C86 cassette, which helped introduce the world to such British indie bands as Primal Scream and the Mighty Lemon Drops. The Wedding Present’s lineup has changed often over the years, but there has been one constant throughout: lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter David Gedge. In August 2010, the Wedding Present played a blistering free concert at the South Street Seaport, including a full performance of their 1989 record, Bizarro. The foursome is back in New York this week for two shows that will feature their 1991 Steve Albini–produced disc, Seamonsters, as well as tunes from their eighth studio album, the exceptional Valentina (Scopitones, March 20, 2012). The brand-new record consists of exquisite, mature, bittersweet songs of love and heartbreak, of relationships gone seriously wrong. Powered by Pepe le Moko’s loping bass, Charles Layton’s furious drumming, and Gedge and Graeme Ramsay’s guitars, the quartet pounds out the group’s trademark sound of continually changing styles and tempos, moving from punk to pop to lounge to electronic noise, sometimes within the same song.

“So now you want to apologize / Well, that comes as no surprise / ’cause I can read you / and I don’t need you,” Gedge sings with brutal honesty on “You’re Dead,” which opens the new album. “This time you went too far / I know exactly what you are / I understand you / and I can’t stand you / But how come during times like this / I still want your touch and I want your kiss / It’s insane and I can’t explain why / You’re not the one for me although / I just can’t seem to let you go,” he continues. But on the next song, “You Jane,” he spits out, “I hope you find what you’re looking for / Do you even know what that is anymore? / I hope he’s really the one who / will make all your dreams come true / But if by some unexpected chance / this doesn’t turn out to be your fairy-tale romance / Just don’t come crying to me.” We corresponded with Gedge just as the Wedding Present, who come to the Bell House on March 21 and (le) poisson rouge on March 22, was preparing for a series of shows at Austin’s SXSW festival.

twi-ny: In 2010 you played Bizarro in New York City, and now you’ll be tackling Seamonsters. What do you think of this relatively recent trend of playing older, complete albums?

David Gedge: I must admit that I wasn’t particularly fond of the idea when it was first suggested to me, but now I’m a complete convert. I think I felt that, as an artist, I should be looking forward, not back, but it really is such an interesting experience to revisit something you’ve done a while ago. It’s a brilliant opportunity for reevaluation and reinterpretation. So I think I’ve now come to the conclusion that what we’ve done in the past is just as valid as what we’re doing today. Seamonsters, especially, works very well live. It’s such an intense experience.

twi-ny: Do you envision revisiting any other earlier records in the future?

David Gedge: Whether we’ll do more, I don’t know . . . I’m not a big planner. Planning’s for architects, not rock musicians!

twi-ny: How has the Wedding Present managed to be among the only two post-Smiths, C86 bands (besides Primal Scream) that’s still around and successful?

David Gedge: Hopefully it’s because we’re good at what we do! We have attained a certain standard and try not to let people, or ourselves, down; I’m very conscious of not releasing weak material. But also I’ve tried to establish a relationship with our fans. I’m not here just to sell them products. I want people to have a lasting relationship with us . . . and I hope that doesn’t sound like marketing-speak!

twi-ny: You’re currently in the midst of playing a series of shows at SXSW. What is that experience like?

David Gedge: We’re not there yet . . . courtesy of United Airlines! Our early-morning flight to Austin is now a late-night flight to San Antonio! We have a pretty hectic schedule ahead of us because a lot of people wanted us to play at their showcases or parties. We are doing so many we had to turn some down. So it’s going to be pretty crazy.

twi-ny: Valentina is a phenomenal-sounding album. With the digital revolution, have you changed your approach to songwriting and recording?

David Gedge: Well, recording’s definitely a bit easier now with portable recording devices in the rehearsal room and sending files from studio to studio and stuff, but most of our music is still recorded on old-fashioned analogue tape, anyway. And it definitely hasn’t changed the songwriting process. That’s still just me with a pen, paper, guitar, and solitude. Oh, and a rhyming dictionary.

VIDEO OF THE DAY — HEY ROSETTA! “NEW SUM (NOUS SOMMES)”

On Valentine’s Day, Newfoundland band Hey Rosetta! released the four-track EP Sing Sing Sessions, acoustic versions of “Young Glass,” “Welcome,” “Seventeen,” and the title song from last year’s delightful Canadian release, Seeds, which arrives on these shores on May 1. Featuring Tim Baker on vocals, piano, and guitar, Adam Hogan on guitar, John Ward on bass, Phil Maloney on drums, Kinley Dowling on violin, and Romesh Thavanathan on cello, Hey Rosetta! play melodic tales of love, birth, vegetables, the changing seasons, and the fleetingness of life. “Oh man, I hate this part / when the car sails off the bridge / Am I the knuckles white inside? / Or am I the water rushing in?” Baker asks on “Yer Spring.” “But we don’t look back, cause we don’t need that / And we’re going too fast, and we don’t want to, don’t want to crash,” he adds on “Seeds.” But they’re ready to look potential disaster straight in the face, as “Bandages” reveals: “Take these bandages off / Let me stand, let me walk / Leave these towels apart / Let me up, let me out, into the sun.” Out on the road as part of Gomez’s Quinceañera Tour, which played Bowery Ballroom on March 11, you can still catch Hey Rosetta! and Gomez on March 20 at Brooklyn Bowl.