this week in music

MUSIC FROM JAPAN

Reigakushu Gagaku Ensemble will perform music of Sukeyasu Shiba at Merkin Concert Hall

FESTIVAL 2010
Merkin Concert Hall, Kaufman Center, Goodman House
129 West 67th St.
February 20-21, $20/night, $35/both nights
212-501-3330
www.musicfromjapan.org

Music from Japan celebrates its thirty-fifth anniversary of bringing traditional and new Japanese music to the rest of the world with two special programs at Merkin Concert Hall. On February 20 at 7:00, composer, teacher, researcher, and performer Sukeyasu Shiba will give a lecture on reconstructing lost gagaku music, the elegant, classical court music of ancient Japan, followed at 8:00 by “Sukeyasu Shiba’s Gagaku Universe,” featuring a new gagaku commission called “Mai FuJin 35,” dance pieces choreographed by Stephen Pier, and live music from the Reigakushu Gagaku Ensemble, with three American premieres and one world premiere. “Highlights of MFH Commissions II” on February 21 will include compositions by Hikaru Hayashi (“Lament”), Shin-ichiro Ikebe (“Bi-valance”), Sunao Isaji (“a lovleg day for mirrages on the sea”), and world premieres by Hitomi Kaneko (“Almost Dusk”) and Yasuko Yamaguchi (“Wurzeln”).

ARMORY SHOW

Brennan Girard and Ryan Kelly examine the military and social history of the Seventh Regiment Armory in site-specific two-night engagement

Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Ave. at 67th St.
February 20-21, $25, 8:00
347-463-5143
www.movingtheater.org
www.armoryonpark.org

Brennan Girard and Ryan Kelly, cofounders of the nonprofit, experimental Moving Theater, complete their stay as the first company-in-residence at the Park Avenue Armory with a multimedia performance in the historic building, designed by Charles Clinton in 1880 to house the Seventh Regiment of the National Guard, volunteer troops known as the Silk Stocking Regiment because of their ritzy members. The site-specific installation, which will take place in the armory’s fascinating period rooms, includes original music by Nathan Davis, Mario Diaz de León, and Du Yun and will be performed by Jonathan Drillet, Davon Rainey, Marlène Saldana, Jose Tena, Anthony Whitehurst, and ICE | International Contemporary Ensemble, incorporating dance, text, and video while commenting on the social and military history of the location and examining various aspects of the male identity. “This work maps our sense of loss at leaving a space we’ve worked in for such an extended period of time,” Gerard and Kelly explained in a statement. “Our attempts at capturing its complex history bring forth our own experience in this incredible building.”

SAVOIR ADORE FEBRUARY RESIDENCY

Savoir Adore will anchor Thursday night lineups at Cake Shop

Cake Shop
152 Ludlow St. between Stanton & Rivington Sts.
Thursdays in February through February 18, $8, 8:00
212-253-0036
www.cake-shop.com
www.myspace.com/savoiradore

Deidre Muro and Paul Hammer claim that they started a band as an “accident,” that they were fooling around with some songs, shared them with friends, and eventually became a little more serious about it. Briefly known as Les Frogs, Muro and Hammer renamed themselves Savoir Adore and are currently on tour supporting their debut full-length, the lush, adventurous IN THE WOODED FOREST (Cantora, September 2009), joined by David Perlick-Molinari (who, with Hammer, is part of YouTooCanWoo Prod.), bassist Sasha Brown, and drummer Tim McCoy (who leads the Papercuts). A mix of pure pop delights and sweet instrumental-heavy tunes that walk the fine line between nature and technology, the infectious album features two of the best-titled songs of last year, “The Scientific Findings of Dr. Rousseau” and “Transylvanian Candy Patrol,” but Savoir Adore is about a lot more than just unusual names (even though their first EP was called THE ADVENTURES OF MR. PUMPERNICKEL AND THE GIRL WITH ANIMALS IN HER THROAT). “We Talk Like Machines” has a hook most bands would kill for, with the chorus of “Early Bird” right behind it. “The fires burning bright, everyone’s out tonight! 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, the starry night’s our disco ball!” Muro declares on MERP, which is a good description of Savoir Adore itself. “Creatures of every kind, they all have lost their minds! Colors flying everywhere, a kaleidoscope in the air!” Savoir Adore is making the Lower East Side club Cake Shop its home this month with a February residency beginning on February 4 with Pocketknife, Magic Magic, and buzz band French Horn Rebellion. On February 11, SA will be joined by We Are Country Mice, North Highlands, and twi-ny fave Uninhabitable Mansions, followed by February 18 with Red Wire Black Wire, Ennui, and the Bloodsugars.

J.VIEWZ

J.Viewz will play its hypnotic jazzy electronica at late-night gig at Joe’s Pub

Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette St. by Astor Pl.
Thursday, February 18, $12-$15, 11:30 pm
212-539-8778
www.jviewz.com
www.joespub.com

The J.Viewz project, brainchild of Israeli musician Jonathan Dagan, makes hypnotic sounds that are both lush and luscious. Working with a changing roster of talent, Dagan, who is also part of Violet Vision with Shay Raviv, melds a variety of genres into his experimental collages and remixes, usually featuring the vocal wizardry of Noa Lembersky. On such songs as “Under the Sun” and “Worth Light” from 2005’s MUSE BREAKS and Nina Simone’s “See-Line Woman” and “Move Change” — which is sung in a Stephen Hawking-like computerized voice — from 2008’s THE BESIDES EP, Dagan creates mesmerizing music that floats through the air on a cloud of mystery. The band’s version of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” is the best Jacko cover ever produced, turning it inside out and upside down, reimagining it as a Tin Pan Alley standard. J.Viewz will be playing their eclectic brand of jazzy hip-hop electronica on February 18 at Joe’s Pub, with Dagan on programming, turntables, and guitar, Lembersky on vocals, Eran Asias on drums, Alon Leventon on keyboards, special guest Glen Velez on percussion, and Urijah on trumpet.

1/2 LIFE

The BodyCartography Project will go nuclear at P.S. 122

THE BODYCARTOGRAPHY PROJECT
Performance Space 122
150 First Ave. at Ninth St.
February 10-14, $20
www.ps122.org

Codirectors Otto Ramstad and Olive Bieringa examine the effects of nuclear power on the state of the human body in the New York premiere of 1/2 LIFE. Their BodyCartography Project, which “questions the space between the real materials of the body, the architecture, and the hyper real designed materials of video, light, sound and new technologies,” is joined by electronic music artist Zeena Parkins, artist and physicist Bryce Beverlin II, guest dancer Takemi Kitamura, and installation artist / performer / writer / set designer / costumer Emmett Ramstad in a multimedia look at survival through scientific research, data, and physics via dance, video, and music.

With a bumpy sheet of graying plastic “clouds” hanging from the ceiling, three survivors walk Butoh-slow across the stage, representing nuclear superpower America (Otto Ramstad), atomic bomb victim Japan (Kitamura), and nuclear-free New Zealand (Bieringa), showing that nobody is safe from nuclear winter. Twelve door-shaped light pieces of wood in the back soon come to life, erecting barriers for the three performers, welcoming them and shutting them out. After they put the boards away, the dancers behind them, representing critical mass, emerge and one by one circle each of the protagonists, as if infecting them with radiation. Ultimately, the trio find themselves in a Joseph Cornell-like box, erecting different poses as they are spun around and, in the end, one of them might have found a way out. The seventy-minute program ranges from the boring and mundane to the captivating and exciting; the beginning sequence goes on too long, and some of the solos, especially when Ramstad, Kitamura, and Bieringa keep falling to the floor, are repetitive and difficult to decipher. But the final third, involving the moving box and possible survival, is simply thrilling. The February 11 performance will include a Thursday Night Social, while the February 12 show will be followed by a Talkback with Clarinda Mac Low. Because of the snowstorm, tickets for opening night, February 10, were reduced to $10 and came with free beer for those intrepid folks who made their way despite the weather conditions.

IRISH WAKE? VIKING FUNERAL? SWEDISH WHOREHOUSE? BRING YOUR OWN METAPHOR!

Paula Carino will be participating in what might be one of the last hootenannies at Freddy’s Backroom

Freddy’s Bar & Backroom
485 Dean St. at Sixth Ave.
Saturday, February 13, free, 8:00 pm – 1:00 am
718-622-7035
www.freddysbackroom.com

Brooklyn institution Freddy’s, one of the city’s best places to hear free live music, keeps on battling for its survival, caught literally right in the middle of Bruce Ratner’s controversial Atlantic Yards Project, but the bar is continuing to hold events every night of the week and fighting the good fight. On Saturday, February 13, five great local acts will be supporting the club, beginning at 8:00 with Solar Punch, followed by Paula Carino and the Better Business Bureau at 9:00, the John Sharples Band at 10:00, Love Camp 7 at 11:00, and Tom Warnick and the World’s Fair at midnight. Carino will be featuring songs from her brand-new disc, OPEN ON SUNDAY, which she creatively financed through Facebook fan donations. “Could it be you just wanted a greener space to wander unharassed?” she sings on “Foxhound.” “Could it be that we remind you of some terror in your past?” Carino reveals her existential side on “Sir You Have No Bucket,” explaining, “Been banging my head on a locked metal door that isn’t even there anymore.” In addition to the new tunes, we hope the ridiculously catchy “Coming to My Senses” makes the setlist as well. Meanwhile, Love Camp 7, named after Lee Frost’s 1969 Nazi prison camp thriller, will be highlighting songs from their latest, UNION GARAGE, which we called “another infectious collection of hyperintelligent flower-power psychedelia featuring lilting harmonies, wry lyrics, and jangling guitars.” If you’ve never been to Freddy’s, you might not have many more chances, so this should be one helluva cool way to say both hello and goodbye.

SILENCE AND NOISE PART 1

Radian will team up with labelmates Mountains for Unsound Festival show

UNSOUND FESTIVAL
le poisson rouge
158 Bleecker St.
Wednesday, February 10, $15, 7:00
212-228-4854
www.unsound.pl
www.myspace.com/lepoissonrougenyc

Poland’s Unsound Festival is currently under way in New York City for the first time, featuring 11 days of modern music from all over the world through February 14, at such venues as Lincoln Center, Public Assembly, the Goethe-Institut Wyoming Building, Harvestworks, and Issue Project Room. The series includes electronic music workshops for children, an art show, a tribute to Andy Warhol, panel discussions, and plenty of cool concerts, with performances by Finland’s Vladislav Delay, England’s Untold, Germany’s Jan Jelinek, Switzerland’s Kadebostan, Ukraine’s Zavoloka, Poland’s Zenial, Holland’s Legowelt, New York’s Alexander Kaline, and dozens more. One of the best lineups of the fest occurs on February 10 at le poisson rouge, when “Silence and Noise Part 1” features Kids Electronic Music Band, America’s Mountains, Sweden’s Tape, Austria’s Radian, and Canada’s Tim Hecker. Friends since middle school, Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp founded the music label Apestaartje in 1999 and shortly after that formed the group Mountains. Working and living in Brooklyn, the duo released two albums last year on Thrill Jockey, CHORAL and ETCHING, featuring monumentally minimalist electronic soundscapes mixing guitar, binaural field recordings, live sampling, and other subtle instrumentation primarily recorded live in their Brooklyn studio. The duo’s beautiful, hypnotic compositions take listeners on intriguing musical journeys that range from about two minutes to more than twelve, welcoming all comers into a mesmerizing, meditative, masterfully melodic experience. Labelmates Radian recently released their first album in five years, CHIMERIC, with Martin Brandlmayr, Stefan Nemeth, and John Norman displaying a somewhat calmer side to their electronic music on such songs as “Git Cut Noise” and “Feedback Mikro / City Lights,” with more bass, guitar, and drums added to the computerized samples and sequencing.