this week in music

BLACKLIST

Brooklyn's Blacklist channels the '80s on new album (photo by Scott Irvine)

Thursday, November 19, Death by Audio, 49 South Second St. between Wythe & Kent, $7, 8:00
Monday, November 23, the Studio at Webster Hall, 125 East Eleventh St. between Third & Fourth Aves., free, 8:00
www.myspace.com/deathbyaudioshows
www.listofblack.com
www.websterhall.com

Listening to Brooklyn’s Blacklist, you might start looking around for Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Emilio Estevez, and the rest of the Brat Pack, thinking you’ve just stepped into a John Hughes movie. Lead singer and guitarist Josh Strawn, guitarist James Minor, bassist Ryan Rayhill, and drummer Glenn Maryansky, who cite Johnny Walker, Omar Khayyam, and Michelangelo Antonioni as influences in addition to Wire, Killing Joke, and My Bloody Valentine, have seemingly also been influenced by the Psychedelic Furs, Dead or Alive, the Cult, the Cure, and Simple Minds. On their debut album, MIDNIGHT OF THE CENTURY (Weird, May 2009), their big sound blasts through eleven tracks, kicking off with “Flight of the Demoiselles,” which features an Edge-like guitar line and, yes, the word “vainglorious” in the lyrics. “No regrets / no sad songs / every day / pure joy in my heart” Strawn sings. Other stand-outs include “Shock in the Hotel Falcon” and “The Believer.” Blacklist will be at Death by Audio on November 19 with Veil Veil Vanish, Phantasm, and Bella Noir, then play the Studio at Webster Hall as part of No Cover Mondays on November 23 with Atlantic Pacific and Dave Walsh (of the Loved Ones playing an acoustic set).

BLAKE IN POETRY AND SONG: AN EVENING WITH PATTI SMITH

Patti Smith will celebrate the legacy of William Blake at the Morgan Library (photo by Angelo Cricchi)

The Morgan Library & Museum
225 Madison Ave. at 36th St.
Thursday, November 19, $35, 7:30
212-685-0008
www.themorgan.org
www.pattismith.net

In 2004, Patti Smith wrote, “In my Blakean year / Such a woeful schism / The pain of our existence / Was not as I envisioned / Boots that trudged from track to track / Worn down to the sole / One road is paved in gold / One road is just a road.” On her Web site, the full lyrics to this song, “In My Blakean Year,” from her TRAMPIN’ album, link to William Blake’s poem “The Divine Image,” which includes the opening quatrain “To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love / All pray in their distress, / And to these virtues of delight / Return their lovingkindness.” The eclectic, iconic, iconoclastic Smith, joined by her daughter Jesse, will be celebrating the legacy of the British artist, writer, and anarchist in a special program of music and poetry at the Morgan Library on November 19, held in conjunction with the exhibit “William Blake’s World: ‘A New Heaven Is Begun’” (which continues through January 3).

William Blake, “Behemoth and Leviathan” (Book of Job, no. 15), pen and black and gray ink, gray wash, and watercolor, over faint indications in pencil, on paper, ca. 1805–10

More than 350 years after his birth, Blake remains a worshiped figure with a lasting influence, particularly on the Beat Generation and its descendants. Discussing “In My Blakean Year” with Rolling Stone in 2004, Smith said, “What I learned from William Blake is, don’t give up. And don’t expect anything. . . . I have a great life. I’ve seen dark times too and have had, in certain times of my life, nothing. No material things, not much prospects – except my own imagination. But if you perceive that you have a gift, you already have life.” Smith, recently named one of the 400 most influential New Yorkers by the Museum of the City of New York, has suffered great personal tragedy as well as critical and popular success throughout her career; she is not afraid to bare her soul in public, so the event at the Morgan promises to be moving and emotional in addition to celebratory. The performance begins at 7:30, with the exhibition open at 6:30 for ticket holders to get in the mood.

DESTINATION GUADELOUPE

King of Zouk Luc Leandry comes to NYC for Guadeloupe festival (photo by Saint-Prix)

Multiple venues
November 18-22
www.destination-guadeloupefestival.com/ushome.html

The French Caribbean archipelago of Guadeloupe, which was named by Christopher Columbus, brings its art and culture to the city for five days of special events in the second annual Destination Guadeloupe festival. On Friday, Gwo-ka drummer François Ladrezeau will perform at Zinc Bar and Jeff Joseph and Panik play S.O.B.’s; on Saturday, Kriyolio hits Zinc Bar; and on Sunday, all of those groups, along with King of Zouk Luc Leandry and the Divas of Zouk, Joëlle Ursull and Jocelyne Labylle, will come together for the festival’s main event at S.O.B.’s, with cuisine prepared by chef Georges Césarin and a special raffle. Throughout the five days, the art of Joel Nankin will be on view at Casa Frela Gallery. “The island pays a short visit with its unique music, art, and cuisine,” said one of the event’s producers, Alex Boicel, in a statement, “and we intend to make New Yorkers hungry for more.”

THE RAMBLIN’ KIND

The Ramblin’ Kind play classic country, pure and true

Hill Country
30 West 26th St. between Broadway & Sixth Ave.
Wednesday, November 18, free, 9:00 pm – 12 midnight
212-255-4544
www.myspace.com/theramblinkind
www.hillcountryny.com

Don’t try to pigeonhole Brooklyn’s the Ramblin’ Kind into some kind of alt-country, country-folk, country-rock subgenre; they are proud be called a country band, pure and simple. Jim “Duckie” Allen, Oliver “Twist” Sharpe, Matt “Scrappy” Applebaum, Nate “Abel” Knaebel, and Steve “the Charmer” Goulding will be lassoing fans on November 18 at Hill Country, whooping it up with such songs as “You May Already Be a Loser,” “Have You Ever Been Lonely,” and “Black Rose,” mixing up originals with classics by “hardcore country cats.” There’s no cover at Hill Country, which “honors the barbecue and live music capital of Texas” with a menu that includes Kreuz sausage, beer can game hen, white shoepeg corn pudding, sweet potato bourbon mash, and original PB&J cupcakes and a music lineup featuring such groups as Sean Kershaw and the New Jack Ramblers, Stringbean and the Stalkers, Citigrass, and, of course, the Ramblin’ Kind.

RAY DAVIES

Town Hall
123 West 43rd St. between Broadway & Sixth Ave.
November 18-19, $54-$74, 8:00
212-840-2824

www.raydavies.info
www.the-townhall-nyc.org

Ray Davies is on a very different kind of tour this time around, alternating between regular band shows and joining with local choirs to play the Kinks Choral Collection, ornate versions of such Kinks classics as “Waterloo Sunset,” “You Really Got Me,” “Celluloid Heroes,” “Village Green Preservation Society,” and “All Day and All of the Night.” Although the accompanying album, released in the United States last week, was recorded with North London’s Crouch End Festival Chorus, Davies and his band will be joined November 18-19 at Town Hall by the New York City-based Dessoff Chamber Choir, conducted by David Temple. Davies is always an entertaining sort of chap, in any guise, and it should be quite fascinating to see such familiar songs given a new life through these orchestrations. If you’re a purist, you can certainly wait for November 24, when Davies will be playing with his band at the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, but these two orchestral shows should be something to remember.

STUART SHERMAN: NOTHING UP MY SLEEVE

Andy Kaufman alter ego Tony Clifton should put on a smoking show at anniversary tribute

Santos Party House
96 Lafayette St.
Monday, November 16, $20, 9:00
212-714-4646
www.santospartyhouse.com
www.tonyclifton.net

In conjunction with Performa 09, Participant Inc. honors the twenty-fifth anniversary of the death of Andy Kaufman with an evening of entertainment featuring performance artist Vaginal Davis with PME in “Advanced Capitalism Reunion: Reparations and Retardations,” followed by Tony Clifton, the Cliftonettes, and the seventeen-piece Katrina Kiss My Ass Orchestra. DJs Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys, Kathleen Hannah of Le Tigre, and Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers will be spinning tunes throughout the night. The show is named in honor of the late performance artist Stuart Sherman, who died in 2001. But the main draw here is Clifton, one of the most abrasive, annoying, insulting, and downright nasty performers ever. So basically, be prepared for a nice, quiet evening celebrating the genius that was Andy Kaufman.

KAP BAMBINO / SLEIGH BELLS

Kap Bambino will be raving with Sleigh Bells at Webster Hall (photo by Kyle Ross)

The Studio at Webster Hall
125 East Eleventh St. between Second Ave. & Bowery
Saturday, November 14, $10-$12, 10:00
212-353-1600
www.myspace.com/kapbambino
www.websterhall.com/thestudio
www.myspace.com/sleighbellsmusic

“I will explode if you do not change,” Kap Bambino sings in “Breath.” Things threaten to explode tonight at the Studio at Webster Hall, where the French techno/death-metal/grunge duo of Bouvier Orion and Martial Caroline, better known as Kap Bambino, will be celebrating the upcoming release of their BATCAVES EP. You can get an idea just what you’ll be in for merely by some of the song titles on their latest full-length CD, this year’s BLACKLIST, which includes “Dead Lazers,” “Human Piles,” “Plague,” “Blood Roses,” and “Acid Eyes.” And even though the opening act is named Sleigh Bells, don’t let that lull you into thinking that there might be a mellow start to the evening. Techno heads Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss, who make up Sleigh Bells, will not be playing any Christmas hymns. Instead, they’ll be blasting their massive electronica, like the pulsating “Crown on the Ground” and “Infinity Guitars,” as well as the mesmerizing, acoustic-based “Ring Ring,” kicking off what should be a crazy late-night rave in the East Village.