this week in music

PENELOPE / TELEVISION LANDSCAPE

Sarah Kirkland Snider and Sasha Worden will team up for special New Amsterdam Records sneak peek at the Bell House on April 3

The Bell House
149 Seventh St. between Second & Third Aves.
Saturday, April 3, $15, 7:30
718-643-6510
www.thebellhouseny.com
www.newamsterdamrecords.com

New Amsterdam Records will be celebrating the upcoming release of concept albums by two of its founders with a very special one-time-only show April 3 at the Bell House. Princeton-based composer Sarah Kirkland Snider will present her debut album, PENELOPE, an electronic chamber piece inspired by Homer’s ODYSSEY and featuring Signal (conducted by Brad Lubman) and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond. William Brittelle’s second disc, TELEVISION LANDSCAPE, a multigenre apocalyptic tale, will feature an eclectic lineup of guest performers from Alarm Will Sound, NOW Ensemble, the Long Count, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, So Percussion, and other groups. These live premieres will begin at 7:30; tickets are only $15 at the door. For a preview, free downloads of songs from each project (Snider’s “This Is What You’re Like” and Brittelle’s “Dunes of Vermillion”) are available here.

FIRST SATURDAYS: TO LIVE FOREVER

“Anthropoid Coffin of the Servant of the Great Place, Teti,” Egypt, from Thebes, circa 1339-1307 BCE, wood, painted box with lid in place

“Anthropoid Coffin of the Servant of the Great Place, Teti,” Egypt, from Thebes, wood, painted box with lid in place, circa 1339-1307 BCE

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Saturday, April 3, free, 5:00 – 11:00 (some events require free tickets distributed at the Visitor Center)
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

In conjunction with the exhibition “To Live Forever: Art and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt,” the Brooklyn Museum’s free monthly First Saturdays program on April 6 will feature such special events as a discussion with curators Edward Bleiberg and Lisa Bruno, live music by Arab group Zikrayat, a Hands-On Art workshop in which you can create an Egyptian-style amulet, a book talk with Joshua Cohen about his novel A HEAVEN OF OTHERS, a dance party hosted by DJ Nickodemus and the Spy from Cairo, and a screening of the Oscar-winning Japanese film DEPARTURES. In addition, all of the museum’s exhibitions will be open late, including “Kiki Smith: Sojourn,” “Healing the Wounds of War: The Brooklyn Sanitary Fair of 1864,” “Body Parts: Ancient Egyptian Fragments and Amulets,” and the aforementioned “To Live Forever.”

Japanese Oscar winner takes unusual look at death

DEPARTURES (Yojiro Takita, 2008)
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Saturday, April 3, free, 6:30 (free tickets distributed at the Visitor Center at 5:00)
212-864-5400
www.departures-themovie.com

After the orchestra in which he plays cello is dissolved, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) and his wife, Mika (Ryoko Hirosue) leave Tokyo and head back to his hometown in Yamagata. Seeing a classified ad in the local paper listing a job in “departures,” Daigo schedules an interview, thinking it is a travel agent position. But as it turns out, the boss, Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki), claims it was a typo — it should have read “the departed” — and immediately hires Daigo as his assistant encoffinor. Daigo quickly learns that he and Sasaki attend to the newly dead, picking them up for funeral directors and then preparing the bodies, in front of grieving friends and family, for the coffins and cremation through an elaborate, detailed ceremony. Daigo takes the job out of financial desperation — Sasaki throws money at him to come on board — but doesn’t tell anyone, including Mika, what he is doing, since people who work in businesses involving corpses are shunned in Japan, considered dirty. But as Daigo grows to appreciate the importance of what Sasaki does, everything he has built threatens to fall apart when his secret starts getting out. Winner of the 2008 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (As well as ten Japan Academy Prizes), DEPARTURES is a moving portrait of life and death, told beautifully by director Yojiro Takita (WHENT THE LAST SWORD IS DRAWN, ONMYOJI) and screenwriter Kundo Koyama. Motoki, who had the original idea for the film, gives a wonderfully subtle performance as a Daigo, while Yamazaki is a riot as the stern boss with a sly sense of humor. Despite an embarrassingly unnecessary montage scene and sappy music by Joe Hisaishi (who’s never met an emotion he couldn’t overexploit), DEPARTURES is a moving portrait of a man searching for his place in the world — and meeting personal and professional obstacles when he thinks he might have found it.

MEGAFAUN

Megafaun will gallop into Mercury Lounge and Union Pool this weekend (photo by DL Anderson)

Friday, April 2, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston St., $12, 10:30
Saturday, April 3, Union Pool, 484 Union Ave. at Meeker, 9:00
www.myspace.com/megafaun
www.mercuryloungenyc.com
www.myspace.com/unionpool

Headlining in the United States for the first time, North Carolina’s Megafaun is touring behind last summer’s highly praised GATHER, FORM & FLY (Hometapes, July 2009) while debuting songs from their upcoming EP, this summer’s HERETOFORE. Hailing from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, brothers Brad and Phil Cook and Joe Westerlund walk that fine line between refreshing, engaging Americana and annoying, droning pseudo-roots rock. “Come on, ease your mind,” they repeat over and over on “Worried Mind,” offering respite to “the charade of our feud and emotions we went through.” CSNY-like harmonies lift “Kaufman’s Ballad,” while the Tender Fruit’s Christy Smith delivers gorgeous vocals on the triumphant “The Longest Day.” GATHER, FORM & FLY also features bluesy harmonica on “Solid Ground,” subtle, jangly guitars on “The Process,” and, perhaps most interestingly, interludes of outdoor nature sounds and electronic noise on “Darkest Hour” and “Columns.” The jury is still out on “Guns” and “Tides,” which made us want to go all John Belushi on the band the first few times we listened to the disc. Megafaun will be at the Mercury Lounge on April 2 with War on Drugs and at Union Pool on April 3 with Sharon Van Etten.

KILLOLA

Killola fans will be seeing double as the band comes to town March 30 for two gigs, one acoustic, one electric

Tuesday, March 30, Sigerson Morrison, 28 Prince St., rsvp effie@sigersonmorrison.com, free, 6:30
Tuesday, March 30, the Studio at Webster Hall, 125 East Eleventh St. between Second & Third Aves., $10-$12, 8:00
www.myspace.com/killola
www.sigersonmorrison.com
www.websterhall.com

LA garage rockers Killola, who kicked off their Buy the Milk Tour earlier this month, will be bringing their DIY attitude and head-bopping dance pop to the Big Apple for two hotly anticipated shows. On March 30 at 6:30, they’ll be at SoHo’s Sigerson Morrison store, performing a rare (and free w/rsvp) acoustic set before cutting loose later that night at the Studio at Webster Hall with Sick of Sarah. Guitarist Mike Ball, bassist Johnny Dunn, drummer Dan Grody, and singer Lisa Rieffel will be featuring songs from their upcoming release, the swirling LET’S GET ASSOCIATED, which opens with the killer single “Cracks in the Armor.” Killola likes to do things their way; the band is still offering a live DVD for free as well as a free download of their 2008 record I AM THE MESSER. Rieffel is also one of the stars of the web series GIRLTRASH! which is being adapted for the big screen with the band serving as producers and composers.

A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW

A Sunny Day in Glasgow will get rid of those gray skies on Monday night at the Bell House

The Bell House
149 Seventh St. between Second & Third Aves., Brooklyn
Monday, March 29, $10-$12, 7:30
718-643-6510
www.thebellhousenyc.com
www.myspace.com/sunnydayinglasgow

After an exhausting SXSW that included nine appearances over four days, Philly’s a Sunny Day in Glasgow will float into Brooklyn on March 29 on the ethereal sounds of their last two releases, the twenty-two-track ASHES GRAMMAR (Carrot Top, September 2009) and the vinyl/digital-only EP NITETIME RAINBOWS (Mis Ojos Discos, March 2010). From the successful rush of “Failure” to the subtle grooves of “Shy,” from the soft mood of “Loudly” to the heavenly lilt of “Ashes Grammar,” and from the grandiosity of “Daytime Rainbows” to the rhythmic electronica of “Piano Lessons,” ASDIG creates engaging music that lifts you up and takes you away on a rainbow of sounds; don’t get thrown off by such titles as “Slaughter Killing Carnage,” “Curse Words,” and “Evil, with Evil, Against Evil.” Led by founder Ben Daniels and drummer Josh Meakim, ASDIG’s ever-changing lineup, which often includes Daniels’s twin sisters, Robin and Lauren, currently features Annie Fredrickson, Jen Goma, Ryan Newmyer, and Adam Herndon. ASDIG will be playing their dreamy pop at the Bell House on March 29 with international outfit Mahogany and local shoegazers Pacific Theater. Meanwhile, DJs Russ, Mister Disco, Dana “Shaking Like Trombles-o” Trombley, and Moodgadget’s Jakub will be spinning similar sounds in the lounge as part of the Rage Against the Dying of the Light series, beginning at 6:00; admission is free.

GOREVETTE

Gorevette will drive into the Highline Ballroom with its lustful garage punk

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Wednesday, March 24, $20, 7:00
212-414-5994
www.highlineballroom.com
www.myspace.com/gorevette

“I wanna be like Nikki Corvette,” the Donnas declared on their 1998 song “Gimmie My Radio.” A dozen years later, the Donnas find themselves on the same inspired bill as the Detroit rock-and-roller, who has teamed up with Amy Gore of the Gore Gore Girls to form Gorevette. Along with GGG bassist Lianna Castillo and Powertrane drummer Al King, Gorevette melds 1970s punk with 1990s garage rock on their debut EP, LUSTFULLY YOURS (Strange Girl, January 2010), consisting of seven songs that would make the Runaways jealous. The tunes fly by on a smooth sonic wave, from the Ramones-like “Baby Let’s Rock,” the shortest song on the album at 1:59, to the cool title track, the longest number at a mere 2:39. Radio Birdman’s Deniz Tek adds a stirring guitar solo to album opener “Nothings Gonna Stop Me,” a 1960s girl-group sound drives “Honey Don’t You Know?,” pretty background vocals lift “Fake It,” and harder-edged guitars power “Brand New Lover” and “Candy Man.” Gorevette will pull into the Highline Ballroom on March 24, playing with the Donnas and New York City indie band Russian Vogue.

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Also this week, the Black Lips and Box Elders are at the Bowery Ballroom on March 24, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, Witch Hunt, and Disaster Strikes are at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on March 25, the Ruby Suns and Toro y Moi are at Brooklyn Bowl on March 26, Love Is All is at Maxwell’s on March 27 with Crystal Stilts and Beachniks and at the Knitting Factory on March 28 with Beach Fossils and the Beets, and Vivian Girls and German Measles are at Brooklyn Bowl on March 28.

MONEYBROTHER / RHETT MILLER

Moneybrother will open up terrific double bill with Rhett Miller at City Winery

City Winery
155 Varick St.
Saturday, March 20, $22-$28, 7:00 & 10:00
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com
www.myspace.com/moneybrother

Although the late show is sold out, there are still seats available for the early show of this great double bill at City Winery. Opening up is Moneybrother, the creation of former Monster Anders Wendin. A soulful mix of pop, punk, reggae, classic rock, and disco, Moneybrother’s latest album, REAL CONTROL (April 2010), is a musical tour de force, from the funky opener, “Born Under a Bad Sign,” to the rollicking gem “Get Some Tonight,” from the infectious choruses of “We Die Only Once” and “Just Another Part of Me That Breaks Down” to the power ballad “6 AM” and the lovely closer, “Showdown,” a song that would make Ian Hunter proud. At times, Wendin’s voice is a little Mick Jones and a lot Joe Strummer, turning REAL CONTROL into a Clash-like foray into love and heartbreak, with horns and strings and other accoutrements. Headliner Rhett Miller is best known as singer and guitarist of the Old 97’s, but he’s also released several solo albums, from 1989’s MYTHOLOGIES and 2002’s THE INSTIGATOR to 2006’s THE BELIEVER and last summer’s RHETT MILLER, which includes such songs as “Nobody Says I Love You Anymore” and “If It’s Not Love.” On “like Love,” Miller sings, “She was gone before I woke up / Now I’m downtown, putting on a show.” As we said above, you can still catch the early performance downtown at City Winery, but be sure not to miss Moneybrother opening up.