this week in music

COLIN STETSON / CALLERS

Colin Stetson will be at 92YTribeca on August 12 before going on the road with Bon Iver

92YTribeca
200 Hudson St. at Canal St.
Friday, August 12, $12, 9:00
212-415-5500
www.92y.org
www.myspace.com/colinstetsonmusic

Stellar sax sideman Colin Stetson has played with Arcade Fire, the Sway Machinery, Laurie Anderson, the Belle Orchestre, Tom Waits, Antibalas, TV on the Radio, and others, but for his second solo album and tour, he’s front and center, highlighting songs from his dazzling new album, New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (Constellation, February 2011). The Montreal-based musician brought his alto, tenor, and bass saxophones to Hotel2Tango in his hometown, where producer Shahzad Ismaily and engineer Efrim Menuck set up twenty-four microphones throughout the studio, each one capturing different elements of Stetson’s unique abilities. The recordings were then sent to Greenhouse Studios in Reykjavik, where master mixer Ben Frost transformed them into fourteen soundscapes that boggle the mind. Although it often feels like Stetson is playing with a full band, it’s just him and his saxes, with the only overdubs French horn on one song and Anderson and My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden contributing vocals to several tracks. The songs range from the spacey “Awake on Foreign Shores” and “The Stars in His Head (Dark Lights Remix)” to the beautifully cacophonous “From No Part of Me Could I Summon a Voice,” “Clothed in the Skin of the Dead,” and “The Righteous Wrath of an Honourable Man” to the mysterious finale, “In Love and in Justice.” Worden adds whispery vocals to Blind Willie Johnson’s “Lord I Just Can’t Keep from Crying Sometimes,” while Anderson does her trademark talk-singing on “All the Colors Bleached to White (ILAIJ II)” and “Judges,” with both women featured on “Fear of the Unknown and the Blazing Sun.” On “A Dream of Water,” Anderson intones, “There were those who knew the rules.” On New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges, the rules are thrown out, resulting in a hypnotic suite of electrifying songs that incorporate avant-jazz, classical, minimalism, folk, blues, and more into a whole new sonic experience. Stetson, whose two-track, single-take solo EP Those Who Didn’t Run is set for release on October 4, will be playing with Bon Iver on their upcoming tour, but first he’s making a stop at 92YTribeca on August 12 on a bill with the Brooklyn-based Callers, a trio featuring Ryan Seaton on guitar, Sara Lucas on vocals, and Don Godwin on drums.

DETROIT COBRAS / DES ROAR / THE BAXX SISI’S

The Detroit Cobras are headlining a raucous triple bill August 12 at the Bell House, with Des Roar and the Baxx Sisi’s (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The Bell House
149 Seventh St. between Second & Third Aves., Gowanus
Friday, August 12, $15, 8:00
718-643-6510
www.thebellhouseny.com
www.myspace.com/thedetroitcobras

When last we saw the Detroit Cobras (in August 2010), guitarist Mary Ramirez was doing her best not to get seasick aboard the Half Moon as the Rocks Off Concert Cruise ship teetered and tottered, making it difficult to stand up without holding on to something or someone. Meanwhile, lead singer Rachel Nagy wasn’t about to start the show until things calmed down at least a little bit. And of course, once the seas did calm ever so slightly, Nagy and Martinez, along with guitarist Joey Mazzola, bassist Jake Culkowski, and drummer Kenny Tudrick, ripped into a searing set of hard-driving old-fashioned garage rock that was anything but, well, calm. In their fifteen years together, the Cobras have released a mere four albums, the most recent being 2007’s Tied & True (Bloodshot); there’s been talk of a new album for quite a while now, and we’re hoping they’ll be featuring songs from it tonight at Maxwell’s (with the Booze) or at tomorrow’s hotly anticipated show at the Bell House, with New York City’s Des Roar, whose debut album, Mad Things (December 2009), was a potent combo of surfer rock and 1960s guitar pop and harmonies, and Brooklyn garage punk the Baxx Sisi’s (aka the Back C.C.’s), who might wear dress shirts, jackets, and ties but know how to cut it loose in two-minute bursts of raucous energy.

BROADWAY IN BRYANT PARK FINAL PERFORMANCE

The cast of PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT will pull into Bryant Park for free performance on August 11 at 12:30

Bryant Park Lawn
40th to 42nd Sts. at Sixth Ave.
Thursday, August 11, free, 12:30
www.bryantpark.org

The curtain closes on the annual Broadway in Bryan Park summer season this afternoon at 12:30 with live performances from the casts of Mamma Mia!, Mary Poppins, Avenue Q, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert, giving theater lovers a taste of some of the most popular musicals on the Great White Way. The show takes place on the lawn and runs about an hour, so don’t get there late.

RIVERROCKS: DEER TICK WITH DOM AND TRANSLATIONS

Deer Tick will join Dom and Translations for final RiverRocks show at Piier 54 on August 11

Hudson River Park, Pier 54
West 14th St. & the Hudson River
Thursday, August 11, free, doors at 6:00, concert at 6:30
212-627-2121
www.riverrocksnyc.com

RiverRocks concludes its too-brief summer season on August 11 with another excellent trio of indie bands at Pier 54 in Hudson River Park. Kicking things off is Brooklyn new wave rockers Translations, who play fresh originals like “Pigeon Suit,” “Tarantella,” and “The Wanderer” and a sweet cover of Dylan’s “I’ll Keep It with Mine.” Next up is five-piece glam band Dom, who has earned quite a local name for themselves via groovy shows at the Siren Festival and CMJ, among other appearances. Dom is touring behind their new EP, Family of Love, which features such fun and fanciful tracks as “Telephone,” “Damn,” and “Some Boys,” the last an awesome collaboration with Emma. Headlining is psychedelic folk rock quintet Deer Tick, highlighted by the scratchy vocals of songwriter and guitarist John McCauley. Citing such diverse influences as Dr. Dre, Tom Petty, and Sammy Davis Jr. and keeping a wide range of cover tunes in their arsenal (ranging from the Beatles and Hank Williams to Nirvana and Warren Zevon), the Providence band, which got its name when McCauley found a tick on his scalp, prides itself on its live shows, so expect the unexpected. For a free sampler of bands playing RiverRocks, Beach Party, and Sound Bites, click here.

CONEY ISLAND BREWING COMPANY OPENING DAY

Coney Island Brewing Company
3008 West 12th St. at Surf Ave.
Wednesday, August 10, free with RSVP, 5:30 – 8:30
www.coneyisland.com

While some are trying to turn Coney Island into a kind of hipster Disneyland, there are still those out there fighting to preserve its low-budget charm and uniqueness as one of the last bastions of good old-fashioned fun, albeit with many a strange twist. So on Wednesday, August 10, Coney Island Sideshow founder Dick Zigun, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce president Carl Hum, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! head Michael Hirsch, and ubiquitous Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz will be on hand for what is being billed as “the World’s Smallest Ribbon Cutting Ceremony” for “the World’s Smallest Brewery,” the brand-new Coney Island Brewing Company. The opening celebration, which is free and open to the public with advance RSVP, will include live performance by Justin Mullins and the Neptunes, appearances by various sideshow freaks, samplings of food and drink courtesy of the brewery (cheesecake ale!), specially priced commemorative T-shirts, a small gift bag, and more.

BOY & BEAR

Boy & Bear will celebrate release of debut album with two area shows

Tuesday, August 9, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston St., $12, 6:30
Wednesday, August 10, Knitting Factory Brooklyn, 361 Metropolitan Ave., $10-$12, 8:30
www.myspace.com/boyandbearmusic

Let’s face it: A lot of the indie folk roots rock movement is overrated and boring. There, we said it. Both on record and onstage, many of these acts are about as thrilling as watching paint dry, only less colorful. So hyping Sydney five-piece Boy & Bear by linking them with the Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Laura Marling, and even CSNY didn’t exactly sell us on them, nor did their overpraised cover of Crowded House’s “Fall at Your Feet.” (However, the Mumford & Sons comparison helped.) What sold us on them was listening to their stellar debut album, Moonfire. Produced with Joe Chiccarelli (My Morning Jacket, the Strokes) at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, the eleven-track disc has a big, epic feel and a sharp, pristine sound. From the opening drums of “Lord May” through the propulsive “Feeding Line,” the rollicking “Golden Jubilee,” and the downright Springsteen-esque “Big Man” (no, it’s not a tribute to the late Clarence Clemons), Moonfire blasts out of the speakers, occasionally getting caught up in twee harmonies but primarily thriving on high-quality songwriting by lead vocalist Dave Hosking and inventive instrumentation courtesy of Jon Hart on keyboards and mandolin. (The band also features Tim Hart on drums, Jake Tarasenko on bass, and Killian Gavin on guitar.) Formed in 2009, Boy & Bear quickly gained a following in Australia based on their exciting live shows, which brought them to SXSW earlier this year and now to New York City, where they’ll be celebrating the release of Moonfire on August 9 with Country Mice at Mercury Lounge and on August 10 with Yellowbirds and Dear Lions at Knitting Factory Brooklyn.

THE KILLS / THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART / A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS

The Kills lead excellent indie triple bill at Terminal 5

Terminal 5
610 West 56th St. between 11th & 12th Aves.
Monday, August 8, and Tuesday, August 9, $36.20, 7:00
www.terminal5nyc.com

There aren’t many shows that can lure us into the cavernous Terminal 5, but this week’s triple play is sure doing a good job of it. Today and tomorrow, the Kills duo of Alison Mosshart and Mr. Kate Moss — er, Jamie Hince, who recently got hitched to the British supermodel — will be highlighting tunes from their latest, Blood Pressures (Domino, April 2011), which features such diverse tracks as “Satellite,” “Baby Says,” and “The Last Goodbye.” The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have proved themselves one of the most consistent indie bands of the last handful of years in their live shows and on their first two discs, 2009’s eponymously titled debut and March’s follow-up, Belong (Slumberland), which continues their dreamy, well-crafted indie pop. Kicking things off is the loud, feedback-crazed a Place to Bury Strangers, who have been making an impact on such records as 2009’s Exploding Head and their sizzling live performances. Like we said, great lineup, less-than-ideal club, but this one promises a whole lot of heart.