this week in music

DEX ROMWEBER DUO

The Dex Romweber Duo will be at (le) poisson rouge on November 4 with the Meat Puppets (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

(le) poisson rouge
158 Bleecker St.
Friday, November 4, $15, 7:30
www.myspace.com/dexterromweberduo
www.lepoissonrouge.com

The Dex Romweber Duo open their latest album, Is That You in the Blue? (Bloodshot, July 2011), with the wild, furious “Jungle Drums,” Sara Romweber pounding away on her skins, guitarist Dex Romweber belting out, “Jungle drums are beating / right outside my door / rocking to the rhythm / one two three four!,” a wailing saxophone upping the ante. The brother-sister act keeps the spirit of Elvis, Roy, Johnny, and other late-1950s, early 1960s rockabilly heroes alive on the new album, fourteen killer tracks that range from the spy-noir surf punk instrumental “Gurdjieff Girl” to Django Haskins’s mystery ballad “The Death of Me,” from the bluesy howl of “Homicide” to the screaming vocals of Billy Boy Arnold’s “Wish You Would” (twice!). Dex and Sara visit “The House of the Rising Sun” territory on “Nowhere,” channel Orbison on the title track (“I hope you find loneliness with him / whatever dark night you’re in”) and Cash on the Man in Black’s “Redemption” (“My old friend Lucifer came / fought to keep me in chains / But I saw through the tricks / of six-sixty-six”) before concluding with the thrillingly sweet ballad “Think of Me,” in which Dex sings, “Dream of me / and talk to me / though we’re far apart / I will hear you, dear / hear you in my heart.” Is That You in the Blue? is a nonstop joyride that has Sara and Dex pulling into (le) poisson rouge on November 4, opening for the Meat Puppets, who are on tour with their latest, Lollipop (Megaforce, April 2011), but have their work cut out for them following this smoking hot pair.

THE “CHINDIA” DIALOGUES

The Amit Chaudhuri Band will be playing a special show at “The ‘Chindia’ Dialogues” at Asia Society

Asia Society
725 Park Ave. at 70th St.
November 3-6, free – $20
212-517-2742
www.asiasociety.org

In conjunction with its exhibit “Rabindranath Tagore: The Last Harvest,” Asia Society is hosting “The ‘Chindia’ Dialogues,” an impressive four-day symposium bringing together poets, novelists, musicians, critics, activists, scholars, journalists, and other experts from China and India as part of the inaugural Asian Arts & Ideas Forum. The cultural exchange of ideas begins on November 3 when Indian writer Amitav Ghosh sits down with Chinese scholar and Yale history professor Jonathan Spence to discuss Ghosh’s new historical novel, River of Smoke, introduced by Orville Schell ($12, 6:30). On Friday at 12:30 (free), Yu Hua, Zha Jianying, Siddhartha Deb, and Murong Xuecun will delve into “Underground & Undercover: Literary Reportage,” moderated by Schell. At 8:00 (free with advance RSVP), the innovative Shanghai Restoration Project will perform with singer Zhang Le. Saturday’s full slate ($15 for one day, $20 for Saturday and Sunday) of Sino-Indian cross-culture and social, political, and historical exploration, examination, and entertainment kicks off at 1:00 with “Literary Border Crossings: The Writer as Traveler,” with Tagore translator Sharmistha Mohanty, Shen Shuang, Allan Sealy, Christopher Lydon, and Ashis Nandy via digital link, followed at 2:15 by “Cyberwriters & Cybercoolies: China’s New Literary Space,” with Zha Jianying, Emily Parker, Yu Hua, and Murong Xuecun. At 3:30, Amitava Kumar, Meena Kandasamy, Suketu Mehta, and Su Tong gather together to discuss “Literature of Migration: Where Do the Birds Fly?” followed at 4:45 by a conversation between Amit Chaudhuri and Christopher Lydon. That night at 8:00 (free with advance RSVP), Chaudhuri will lead his diverse band in a concert with opera singer Qian Yi and the Du Yun Quartet, with Du Yun on piano and electronics, Li Liqun on yangqin, Brad Henkel on trumpet, and Theo Metz on drums, performing an excerpt from the traditional story “Slaying of the Tiger General.” On Sunday at 1:00, Ha Jin, Meena Kandasamy, Amitava Kumar, Sharmistha Mohanty, Allan Sealy, Yu Hua, Su Tong, and Xu Xiaobin will read from their work for “The ‘Chindia’ Readings,” hosted by Amitava Kumar, followed at 2:30 by “Defying the Cartographer: Shared Cultures vs. Nation-States,” which features Siddhartha Deb, Zha Jianying, Yu Hua, and Amitava Kumar talking about legacy and fate. At 3:45, Ha Jin, Su Tong, Xu Xiaobin, and Meena Kandasamy will read from their works and talk about “Seeing Double: The Persistence of the Past in Contemporary Chinese and Indian Culture,” with the closing event taking place at 5:00, “Tagore and the Artist as Citizen of the World,” with Christopher Lydon, Tan Chung, Amit Chaudhuri, and Sharmistha Mohanty.

PERFORMA 11: NEW VISUAL ART PERFORMANCE BIENNIAL

Elmgreen & Dragset’s HAPPY DAYS IN THE ART WORLD kicks off the fourth edition of the Performa biennial, which runs November 1-21 all over the city

Multiple venues in all five boroughs
November 1-21, free – $75
www.11.performa-arts.org

More than a hundred venues will be hosting cutting-edge experimental productions at Performa 11, the fourth edition of the biennial multidisciplinary arts festival being held all over the city November 1-21. Featuring art, music, dance, theater, film, architecture, and more in exciting combinations, the three-week festival consists of long-term exhibitions, special one-night stands, and other limited engagements that push the envelope of contemporary performance. Elmgreen & Dragset revisit Beckett in Happy Days in the Art World at the Skirball Center, with Joseph Fiennes and Charles Edwards. L’Encyclopédie de la parole’s Chorale turns political speeches, text messages, and movie quotes into choral works at the Performa Hub on Mott St. Rashaad Newsome holds a medieval rap joust Tournament in conjunction with his new exhibit at Marlborough Chelsea. Anthology Film Archives screens rare footage of one of Lenny Bruce’s last performances, as well as routines by Richard Pryor, Albert Brooks, and Andy Kaufman. Innovative installation artists Mika Rottenberg and Jon Kessler team up to create the chakra sauna Seven at Nicole Klagsbrun Project Space. Matthew Stone journeys into shamanism at the Hole. Mai-Thu Perret’s Love Letters in Ancient Brick at the Joyce SoHo reimagines Krazy Kat as a love-triangle dance. Dripping paint drives Jonathan VanDyke’s storefront drama With One Hand Between Us at Scaramouche. Israeli collective Public Movement choreographs public demonstrations in various parks for Positions. Daido Moriyama restages his thirty-year-old Printing Show—TKY at the Aperture Foundation. Deaf artist Christine Sun Kim will go from audio to visual with Lukas Geronimas in Feedback at Recess. Liz Glynn’s Utopia or Oblivion: Parts I and II will take place in several outdoor venues, using Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome as inspiration. Raphael Zarka mixes skateboarding and sculpture in Free Ride at the Performa Hub. Gerard Byrne turns the Abrons Arts Center into an interactive theater for In Repertory. Varispeed’s Perfect Lives Manhattan is an all-day performance of Robert Ashley’s opera. Performa Ha! gathers comedians and musicians at the HA! comedy club. And that’s only the first week of this outstanding collection of diverse talent and unique performances, with many of the events free.

TAMMAR

Bloomington band Tammar makes rare NYC visit this weekend for three area shows

Bloomington, Indiana’s Tammar is making a rare visit to New York City this weekend, playing three shows in three nights in support of their debut full-length, Visits (Suicide Squeeze, September 20, 2011). The seven-track, forty-five-minute disc bristles with epic-sounding psychedelic rock that soars with lilting, heavenly melodies, courtesy of lead singer Dave Walter, percussionist Josephine McRobbie, guitarist Evan Whikehart, drummer Sarah Wyatt Swanson, and keyboardist Ben Swanson (who also runs the Secretly Canadian record label, which features Jens Lekman, Antony and the Johnsons, Here We Go Magic, Yeasayer, and others). Tammar will be at Cameo in Brooklyn for a record release party on October 28 ($10, 8:00) with Heaven’s Gate and Spindrift, followed by visits to the Lower East Side at Pianos on October 29 ($10, 10:00) with Gross Relations, Little Racer, and the Rotaries, and Bowery Ballroom on October 30 ($15, 9:00) with Moonface and Talkdemonic.

HELL AT THE HALL

Webster Hall
125 East 11th St. between Second & Third Aves.
Saturday, October 29, $20, 6:00
www.websterhall.com
www.vice.com

One of the craziest live bands of the twenty-first century, Atlanta’s Black Lips have earned their reputation by putting on shows powered by great songs and plenty of mass destruction. From tearing up boats to taking part in fierce toilet paper wars to dancing with fans onstage who broke down security barricades, you never quite know what you’re gonna get at a Black Lips show, but you can always count on its being memorable. On October 29, the bad boys will be headlining Hell at the Hall, an evening of insane partying at Webster Hall, with Cole, Jared, Ian, and Joe being joined by appropriately named Puerto Rican punk rockers Davila 666, who kicked ass at this summer’s 4Knots Festival with a raucous set that included a Spanish-language cover of the Nerves’ / Blondie’s “Hanging on the Telephone,” and Brooklyn psychedelic goths Xray Eyeballs, who are afraid of nothing. Vice, who is throwing this wild shindig, strongly encourages costumes and plenty of TP; in addition, if you want to win a pair of free tickets, e-mail the best / worst / strangest / sickest / weirdest Halloween trick you ever pulled to Vice, who advise, “If you send us a story about actually beating up a child for candy, you will not win these tickets, and we hope you don’t win anything. Ever. Stories about egging people who give out walnuts are totally fine though. Fuck those people.”

ELECTRIC SIX: HELLO, DESTRUCTOR!!!!

Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St. between Bowery & Chrystie St.
Friday, October 28, $18-$20, 8:00
212-533-2111
www.boweryballroom.com
www.electricsix.com

Leaning more on the synth-heavy dance rock that has long made them a party-band favorite— who doesn’t love “Gay Bar”? — genre-melting Detroit funk-pop rockers Electric Six are back with an explosive new disc, Heartbeats and Brainwaves! (Metropolis, October 11, 2011). Their eighth studio album oozes hot sex, rife with single and double entendres while channeling Nick Cave, Prince, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Ozzy Osbourne, and even Phil Collins. “Bodies bouncing on the floor / Everybody getting’ wild / Gonna show my dirty style / You better show me what that body’s for / You’re born to beguile / Hit the volume on your dial / Yeah, the dime is dropping on ya,” bandleader Dick Valentine sings on “It Gets Hot,” while on “Interchangeable Knife” he proclaims, “I’m gonna make you howl like a trailer-park wife / on the first day of her new life.” On “The Intergalactic Version” he might repeat “We write the same song over and over again,” but that is far from the case, with all six band members — vocalist Dick Valentine, drummer Percussion World, guitarists Johnny Na$hinal and the Colonel, bassist Smorgasbord, and synth master Tait Nucleus? — contributing to the songwriting process, which ranges from demonic goth rock and raucous heavy metal to ’80s MTV power pop and bootie-shaking funk. Electric Six brings its high-energy Hello, Destructor!!!! tour, named for a line in “Hello! I See You!” (“Hello, destructor! I’m yours for the destroying”), to Bowery Ballroom on Friday night, with Kitten and New York Rivals also on the bill. Perhaps Valentine says it best in this piece of promo copy about Heartbeats and Brainwaves!: “It manages to be so entertaining that you completely forget that your limits of time/space comprehension render you completely unable to answer why you are really here.”

OVAL

Markus Popp will be back in Brooklyn on October 25 at Public Assembly

Public Assembly
70 North Sixth St.
Tuesday, October 25, $10-$12, 8:30
718-384-4586
www.myspace.com/markuspopp
www.publicassemblynyc.com

Berlin-based electronic music pioneer Markus Popp is back recording as Oval, the seminal noise band he formed in 1991 with Sebastian Oschatz and Frank Metzger, who have both long gone on to other projects. But Popp has returned to reinvent the electronic music genre yet again, first releasing a limited-edition EP, Oh (Thrill Jockey, June 2010), consisting of fifteen tracks totaling twenty-five minutes that reveal Popp to be just as much a musician as a technician, incorporating guitars and drums into the sonic language he creates using a four-year-old stock PC with standard software and plug-ins. The glitch master has followed Oh with a double CD, simply titled O (Thrill Jockey, September 7, 2010), comprising another seventy songs, with twenty on disc one, fifty on disc two, ranging from thirty-two seconds (“Lonely”) to 4:42 (“Dolo”), mostly with one-word titles, such as “Ah!” “Shhh,” “Sky,” “Cry,” “Cinematic,” “Dyamo,” “Pomp,” “Blinky,” “Emocor,” “Voilà,” and “Goodbye.” Popp works inside and out of structure and melody, emitting engaging sounds that are as experimental as they are intoxicating. While O’s second disc has more going on sonically, both offer respite for music fans with ADD as well as those who are tired of the same old thing. Popp, who made a rare local appearance last year at ISSUE Project Room, will be playing the back room at Public Assembly in Williamsburg on October 25 with Oneohtrix Point Never and Burning Star Core, giving adventurous audiophiles another rare opportunity to see a legendary figure in the world of electronic music.