It was at Small Beast, of course, the weekly Monday series booked by Botanica frontman Paul Wallfisch, who usually hosts. This past Monday he was in Germany with Little Annie, so fellow dark rocker Carol Lipnik ran the show and opened it with characteristic noir panache. Small Beast being simply New York’s most exciting weekly rock event, it gets so much press here that we’ve tagged all the shows we’ve seen there (if you go to Categories, to your right and scroll down to Small Beast, you’ll find an embarrassment of riches). So it was no surprise that the best New York concert of 2009, barring something even more off-the-chart intense happening in the next month, would take place here.

Lipnik has a franchise on dark carnivalesque rock, more so than Tom Waits or anyone. This time out it was just as much about her four-octave voice – which she ran through two separate mics, one with a bullhorn effect – as it was about the songwriting. Climbing to the top of her stratospheric range, she whispered, purred and wailed, through a bunch of originals from her most recent cd Cloud Girl as well as an original setting of a Rumi poem, the hypnotic, raptly tense Your Pure Sadness. She also brought out every bit of surreal macabre in the Michael Hurley cult classic Werewolf (which you may know from the cover versions by Cat Power or Sarah Mucho). This was just the start of the night.

Next up was the self-described “baroque folk-punk” cellist/songwriter Bonfire Madigan, playing solo with the help of a loop pedal that she’d use to lay down a nimble pizzicato bassline over which she’d layer stark sheets of ambience along with some absurdly catchy pop melodies.She opened with a number based on a seditious seventeenth-century British play and followed that with a savage, two-chord Rasputina-esque chamber rock number. Several of the later numbers hitched Siouxsie-style menace to a clever pop sensibility. She closed with the dramatic, tongue-in-cheek grand guignol of a song titled The Lady Saved the Dragon from the Evil Prince and encored – the crowd wouldn’t let her go – with a somewhat pensive number that evoked Cat Power without the affectations.

Sporting a new Pat Benatar bob, Rachelle Garniez took the intensity to redline in seconds flat, playing solo and switching between accordion and piano. Even in the quietest moments she’s a charismatic performer, but this time out there was no doubt that she had come to conquer - the evening’s lineup had quickly turned into a Murderesses’ Row and Garniez was swinging for the fences. Just as Lipnik had done, she had the the vocal pyrotechnics going even before her first song, the wistful country ballad January Wind, had begun. She likes to jam out her intros and this was a prime example: “So happy to be her as the winter descends upon our town…your heart is cold and I wish mine was too, but instead the snow falls on my heart and creates a hissing sound.” After a long and very funny digression on frogs and their psychedelic properties, she sweated and sighed her way through the orgasmic vocalese of the noir cabaret Medicine Man with a passion that would do Millie Jackson proud. “I wish I’d written this and it was me performing,” one luminary in the crowd whispered to another.

The metaphor-laden 6/8 outsider anthem Tourmaline got the benefit of a gorgeously chordal accordion solo, then Garniez launched into a quizzically fierce new one inspired by someone from her past who’d recently found her online and was no less enamored for all the days between. As angry and dismissive as the song was – “you could have been anyone,” she raged – it also radiated poignancy. Garniez clearly left a mark during her early punk rock years and she makes no secret that she misses at least the fun parts of the pre-Rudy Mussolini era. She wrapped up the too-brief set with a defiantly jaunty version of My House of Peace, the new single she just did with Jack White: “Nobody gets away with murder in the House of Peace.” She’s at Barbes on Dec 3 at 10 if you’re cursing yourself that you missed her here.

Vera Beren also swung for the fences, but with an icy, unforgiving cool. Backed by a one-guitar version of her aptly titled Gothic Chamber Blues Ensemble, she played more piano than she usually does, filling out the sound with a characteristically slashing, gypsyish chordal attack whie bassist Greg Garing swooped, dove and pummeled the crowd with chords when Beren’s crushing, goth-inflected anthems would rise to a fiery crescendo. She showed off her punk roots with a noir blues in 6/8 (it’s hard to think of another songwriter who writes so many great songs in that time signature), a “careless evil lullaby,” as she put it. Her big crowd-pleaser The Nod was a typically roaring, furious, hypnotic gypsy stomp, Beren’s contralto a black river of venom. Another number paired off fast Siousxie-esque rock against a stately, Blue Oyster Cult-inflected 6/8 art-rock sway. “I should have held you, not repelled you,” she lamented. She wrapped up her too-brief set with an old song from the 90s, Baby, an indelibly New York, Jim Carroll-style tale of the cab ride from and maybe also to hell, pelting the crowd with white roses as she roared to a finish.

After all the sirens, it might seem that McGinty and White would be anticlimactic, but they weren’t, which speaks volumes. Ward White has always been a good singer – that he could hold his own alongside the women before him, let alone continue the vocal intensity, testifies to how good he’s become (his version of Life on Mars was the high point of a recent Loser’s Lounge evening). Playing acoustic guitar and accompanied by  ex-Psychedelic Fur Joe McGinty on piano and Claudia Chopek on violin, he might have sung his best show ever. McGinty, by contrast, has all the vocal range of Lou Reed, but he’s all nuance anyway, on the keys and on the mic as well, contributing both his bubblegum pop satire Get a Guy and keeping the innumerable levels of the rest of the songs from ever going too far over the edge. Their playfully titled new album, McGinty and White Sing Selections from the McGinty and White Songbook is high on the Lucid Culture list of best albums of 2009. Unsurprisingly, the set list was full of these selections: the doomed romance of Everything is Fine; the sultry Big Baby, Chopek’s gently beautiful violin a study in contrast with McGinty’s jaunty piano; the ruthless kiss-off anthem Knees; the casual El Lay nightmare roadtrip ballad Stay In Love and the night’s closing number, Wichita Lineman, just White crooning over McGinty’s plaintive keys. By this point, it was almost two in the morning, most of the crowd had dissipated into the drizzle, but it was pure exhilaration for those who were sufficiently energized or unemployed to stick around. The next Small Beast will be December 7 featuring Wallfisch - back from Deutschland – along with the reliably charismatic Reid Paley and others.

Ansambl Mastika call themselves the “new Balkan uproar.” What they do is definitely new and different, they are indelibly Balkan (although they range a lot further, usually toward the east) and what they play could understatedly be called an uproar. They’re one of New York’s best bands in any style of music, and they reaffirmed that uptown on Saturday night.

Since the Europeans didn’t invent jazz, they took to fusion a lot more readily than Americans did, and unfortunately some of fusion’s most annoying attributes – cheesy settings, garish solos and a complete lack of communication between musicians – still haunt a lot of music coming out of the former Eastern Bloc. Ansambl Mastika are an antidote to that. While they use electric guitar and bass along with rhythms that veer from gypsy to jazz to rock, the chemistry between the band members was characteristically playful and gripping. Nobody stepped on anybody, there was all kinds of interplay and it was obvious that this crew has a blast playing together. Which they should. Bandleader/reedman Greg Squared (who also plays in seemingly half the good Balkan-inflected bands in town, notably Raya Brass Band) was in his usual high-intensity mode, firing off blistering clusters of chromatics on both clarinet and sax. Bassist Ruben Radding (also of Zagnut Cirkus Orkestar and several jazz projects) felt the room, holding down a fat groove with an understatement that made his infrequent chords and slides all the more intense. This time out the group were in a particularly Greek/Macedonian mood, their leader taking a vocal on a handful of numbers.

They opened as a lot of gypsy bands do with what was basically a one-chord jam that gave their trumpeter a chance to cut loose with an ominous, chromatically-charged abandon. Accordion took centerstage on the next number as its introductory Greek waltz took a bitter, Middle Eastern-infused riff down to the lower registers, clarinet fueling the fire. The next looked like it was going to go totally fusion a la what the NY Gypsy All-Stars fall prey to sometimes, but it didn’t when the guitar and accordion turned it over to the horns, and then the guitar kicked in using almost a Fender Rhodes tone. After flailing around with some tricky time changes the band brought it back with a snarling, 4/4 stomp. The other tunes included a stripped-down, rustic, Macedonian-flavored number with the drummer on a standup bass drum and a wildly slinky, chromatic ride to the depths of the Adriatic on the wings of a long, triumphant trumpet solo where the guitar took over and then proceeded to make dark, unexpected janglerock out of it. They wrapped up the set with another Greek tune with a Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood feel on the chorus, incisively bluesy guitar teleporting to the Sahara in a split second. And then it was over. If you wish you’d been at  this one, Ansambl Mastika play Drom at 9 on Dec 11 on an excellent doublebill with Ethiopian jazz group the Debo Band.

It’s a fine line in the music blogosphere – nobody wants to come off as a cheerleader for a particular artist or band, yet there are some acts who inarguably deserve a lot of attention. Jenifer Jackson is no stranger to regular readers here. But even by her rigorous standards, her show at the Rockwood on the nineteenth was transcendent, the best one she’s done – in New York at least – in a long time. And there have been some good ones in between, just to go the music index above and you will see plenty. Is this overkill? Not if you consider how the much ink the Village Voice gave the Ramones in the summer of 1977, or how much press Coltrane got back in the 50s. That’s not an overstatement. Jackson and her bandmates pianist Matt Kanelos  (who leads a fine Americana-rock band of his own) and drummer Billy Doughty gave a clinic in tersely, wrenchingly beautiful songcraft, Jackson’s vocals gentle but with the steely resolve that underscores the intensity of the emotion in everything she writes.

Kanelos gave notice that he was in particularly bluesy, soulful mode right from the start, beginnining with the psychedelic ballad The War Is Done, from Jackson’s 2001 Birds cd. Good Times Roll (her original, not the B.B.King standard) was hypnotic, even mesmerizing, Kanelos playfully working a glockenspiel in tandem with his lefthand rhythm. The understated frustration anthem Words got a particularly propulsive treatment; by contrast, the hopeful ballad Spring (yet another unreleased gem) was lush and sultry, Doughty playing the lead line on melodica.

The angst-driven existentialist anthem Maybe, pondering the point at which it might make sense to let hope – of whatever kind – fall by the wayside was driven and insistent, part post-Carole King riffage, part sprightly post-Bacharach pop, part countrypolitan. Wherever the song led, the dark undercurrent beneath the catchy, glistening pop surface was always there.

Her most countrypolitan ballad, After the Fall (also from Birds) got the benefit of an absolutely psychedelic, hypnotic, percussive jam out. She wrapped up the set with two new ones – a chorus-driven, Mary Lee’s Corvette-style Americana pop hit, another that matched early 70s radio pop to a sweaty Philly soul groove, and a particularly wistful, gently lovely take on the unreleased 6/8 ballad The Beauty in the Emptying, whose title pretty much speaks for itself. Doughty again took the lead on melodica, enhancing its gentle resilience. Wow. What a show. You’ll see this on our Best NYC Concerts of 2009 list in about a month.

The Rockwood has been Jackson’s home for awhile but now that she’s back, who knows where she’ll be next – watch this space for upcoming dates.

On Saturday evening, Back Row Video traveled to Newark, NJ for the filming of a 3-Day Seminar for Elliottician.   It was a 3 camera shoot, so I brought along Derek and Michael to run the other 2 cameras.  It was 3 very long days, but yet enjoyable, and we made many new friends from around the world.

Bay area band Rupa & the April Fishes had just played a couple of other New York City gigs in the previous week, yet nevertheless managed to bring an impressively energized crowd out to pack the Bell House in remote Gowanus, Brooklyn. In a cold drizzle, even. Rupa Marya, the band’s frontwoman goes for breathy, sensual atmospherics on the band’s new album Este Mundo (very favorably reviewed here on November 9) but in concert she showed off a bright effervescence to go along with it and the band roared along. These folks really pulled out all the stops – they know that people don’t just want to hear the album note for note, they want a party, a jolt of energy and they got every bit they could have hoped for. And Rupa Marya is all too aware of her charisma and makes the most of it. The upright bassist didn’t get to step out a lot – it’s usually a good thing when the band keeps the bass locked up tight with the drums – but when he got a solo, he made it a soaring, terse jazz horn line. Drummer Aaron Kierbel was a dynamo full of surprises, completely schooling opening act Nation Beat (a hard thing to do, by the way) when it came to soloing, blasting through a cheery yet ominous surf passage, otherwise maneuvering expertly through the ska and gypsy-rock numbers bringing the beat down to reggae as the songs went halfspeed, then leaping into doubletime again with unabashed relish.

Accordionist Isabel Douglass alternated between lush ambience and a whirlwind attack that showed off her blistering chops while the cellist would frequently carry the songs’ hooks, getting a surprising warmth out of his characteristically austere instrument. Marcus Cohen on trumpet contributed soulful blues, sly ska and full-throttle Balkan riffs over his frontwoman’s incisive rhythm (she started on acoustic before moving to a beautiful hollowbody electric).

Most of the songs were from the new cd, notably the shapeshifting Elephant, part stomping Parisian waltz, part Balkan reel steaming along on the pulse of the bass (well up in the mix, a pleasant change for a bull fiddle in a loud band). The gypsy inflections took center stage, but the band put their own indelible spin on them, twisting them into just about every dance beat you can find south of the border (including cumbia on one particularly soulful, swaying number, and their portentous tango they used to open the show on a note that was as mysterious as it was sensual). But the single best song of the night might have been a track from their first album, its ridiculously catchy, upbeat chorus pulling in several in the audience, then bursting into flame on the sparks flying from Cohen’s trumpet. As many other amazing concerts as New York has seen this year, this had to be one of the best: you’ll see it on our 20 Best Shows of the Year list when we put it up in December.

Nation Beat may have realized that they were never going to beat the headliner at the minor-key game, so they stuck to their happiest, most blissfully upbeat Brazilian songs along with a break for several innovatively rearranged covers of classic country numbers delivered with a cool yet heartfelt understatement by crooner Jesse Lenat. It wasn’t a bad set. Violinist Skye Steele – whose own stylistically uncategorizable quintet is 180 degrees from what he plays in this band, and is sensationally good - led the charge with a barrage of lightning-fast climbs and charges. But they didn’t deliver the transcendence they’re capable of (see our review of their show last summer on Roosevelt Island, featuring Brazilian singer Liliana Araujo - absent from this gig - leading the band through a much more stylistically diverse mix of ska, reggae and even a New Orleans-style march along with the Brazilian stuff). This wound up with a long, well-intentioned but ultimately pointless percussion jam where the band went down into the crowd in front of the stage – fun if you felt like joining in, but for those who didn’t it was more Tompkins Square than Rio.

Já tinha falado na Rádio Shitan e sobre a sua 1ª emissão em simultâneo para SL, acontecida na casa do Fred. Sobre o que ainda não havia notícia aqui é que a Rádio Shitan em SL é a DJ Gringa Mixmaster. Giríssima!

No dia 19 de Novembro, a DJ Gringa passou a sua emissão das 5ªfª – Lusitânia Expresso – em directo no Bar da Academia. Foi uma noite de excelente música portuguesa numa playlist e comentários da Rádio Shitan do melhor. É que a Rádio Shitan não se limita a passar música… faz o historial das peças, conta detalhes sobre os grupos, etc.

Apareceu muita gente, uns pela 1ª vez em Portucalis, outros nem tanto A conversa esteve sempre animadíssima e a música puxava! O nosso amigo After também não resistiu a largar os seus foguetes que ficaram espectaculares no escuro da noite.

O Manager do BA – Freddyx Menges – já me confidenciou para nos prepararmos para mais noites assim! Óptimo!

Parabéns DJ Gringa, Rádio Shitan!

During college I was an RA. For three years. I was involved in a lot of different activities and programs on campus that lots of people pretty much avoided like a disease. And I pretty much enjoyed every single second of it. I was a huge residence life nerd, so what. I’m also an orange belt in karate, so there (I’m unsure about the relevance, as well…).

Anyways, one program that the university put on was something that my friend Tiffany and I couldn’t get over. It was called “The Wall of Hate”. Basically, it entailed people writing down oppressive terms on cinder blocks so that a wall could be made with them. That wall would then be torn down. You know, to symbolize the end of hate and stuff. So I guess, theoretically, we were trying to save the world.

(It’s ideas like this, you guys, that can solve the issues we’re finding ourselves in now. If only people would just realize…)

So Tiff and I decided to film the end of hate. It’s probably 10x better than you could even dream. I hope you enjoy it and feel less oppressed!

Stephin Merritt and gang will be returning to London in March next year as part of a US and European tour and to promote their upcoming album ‘Realism‘ (due out on 26th Jan on nonesuch). Hopefully it will make up for the very disappointing round of gigs at Cadogan Hall last year.

They’re in London on the 22nd March and you can buy advance tickets from here.

Check the full dates here.

从日本回来快两个月了，终于挤出这点时间继续写日本旅游的记事了。这次终于轮到在富士急Highland 举行的Lantis 祭的记事了！！如果你不知道上面那张照片到底是什么东西，这里来为你解答。照片中就是Lantis祭物贩之一的Lantis便当(这样叫应该没有什么问题吧？)。。。没错，就是便当，领完便当自然就要去天堂报道啦~~~~~

It’s been almost 2 months since arkAile is back from Japan and thanks god I managed to find time to continue my travel memo blogposts… Finally, I’ll be talking bout Lantis 10th Anniversary Live in Fujikyu Highland. In case you are wondering what’s in the picture above, it’s one of the live goods for Lantis 10th Anniversary Concert, the Lantis Sandwich(?), oh well, I don’t really know what you call that…but it’s really something like sandwich…duh…

如果你不知道Lantis祭这个最大型的户外Anisong演唱会到底有多大，我只能说。。。就这样大咯~ ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ 根据官方数据是大约15000人。

If you are wondering exactly how big is this so called “Biggest outdoor Anisong live concert” is… I can only tell you it’s ↑↑↑↑↑↑ this big!! According to official press release, it’s around 15000 spectators.

接下来依照曲目来写感想，因为长度问题，只写比较有感想的~ 再来就是因为我只去了第二天的live，所以也只有第二天的感想啦~

I’ll be writing comments according to the set list. Due to length problem, I will only write on those songs that left me great impressions. Also, I’ll be only writing on the 2nd day because I only attended the 2nd day live~~

１．茅原実里　Paradise Lost
一首Paradise Lost作为演唱会开场效果还不错。这次能够和万人一起call 的感觉真的是太棒了！！有时候在想Lantis祭以Minorin 打头阵到底是好事还是坏事？好事嘛，是因为以Minorin 的空场能力和表演技巧，要把气氛炒热应该肯定问题；坏事嘛，才下午3点钟你要我怎样在户外爆UO啊？？？！！！

Paradise Lost as the opening of the concert definitely is a great choice. Having a chance to do concert calls with more than ten thousand people is definitely one of the best thing you can ask for in life. Even until today I’m still wondering whether Minorin as the headstart of the concert is a good choice or bad choice. Good thing, because Minorin have the skills and charisma to bring up the atmosphere for a big concert like this; Bad thing is… whats the use of breaking ultra bright lightsticks at the sunny weather of 3pm???!!!!!

２．茅原実里　Tomorrow’s chance
第2次听到Tomorrow’s chance的Live 版了，真的是感动到不行啊！！

Having the chance to listen to the live version of Tomorrow’s chance for the 2nd time is great!!

３．茅原実里　純白サンクチュアリィ
怨念啊！我的UW就是为了这一天准备的啊。。。结果直接被下午3点的晴朗天气给搞砸了。。。人家就是想要感受一下在Minorin 唱纯白的时候全场一片白色的光海的感觉啦。。。。(谜之音: 去多一次不是可以了咯。。。

Here come’s one of the sad part of my trip… I always wanted to become part of the Sea of White Lightsticks when Minorin sings Junpaku Sanctuary. I’ve prepared a few white lightsticks just for this day to arrive…but it’s still a SUNNY weather of 3pm ya………..sadded……

４．美郷あき　BLOOD QUEEN

５．美郷あき　少女迷路でつかまえて
…In memories of Inakiken…
…In memories of Inakiken…
…In memories of Inakiken…
…In memories of Inakiken…

６．■コラボ：美郷あき×橋本みゆき　微熱S.O.S!!
７．橋本みゆき　秋色
８．橋本みゆき　Glossy:MMM
９．影山ヒロノブ　Welcom Toto
１０．影山ヒロノブ　30years3ounce
这是影山为了纪念出道30年而作的歌。自弹吉他，自吹口风琴，自唱的表演真的让我震撼了！

A song specially wrote to celebrate Kageyama’s 30 years singing career. Singing + Playing Guitar + Playing Harmonica all by himself left me a very very great impression!!

１１．■コラボ：影山ヒロノブ×飛蘭 I’m in you
看起来有点微妙的组合。先说一下，这是Lantis10年前制作的第一张专辑，影山的I’m in you里面的同名主打，这次邀来飛蘭来合唱一开始我有点惊讶。一开始影山独唱的时候感觉还很普通，一直到飛蘭开口合唱之后我整个人突然好感动。也许是因为这首慢歌很适合男女合唱，再加上影山很有男子气概的声音和飛蘭那个非常清澈的声线的关系，让我整个人都差点哭了。。。

A very interesting combination indeed. For your info, this song is featured in the first album Lantis produced 10 years ago, I’m in you by Kageyama. I must admit I was quite surprised that Faylan was invited to duet with Kageyama. Everything sounds normal when Kageyama was doing solo and until Faylan start singing, I suddenly felt very emotionally touched. I guess it’s because this is a song very suitable for a male female duet plus both Kageyama and Faylan have wonderful voices that makes me almost cried…

１２．飛蘭　泡沫の小鳥達
１３．飛蘭　mind as jugement
１４．eufonius　Idea
１５．eufonius リフレクティア
１６．結城アイラ　colorless wind
１７．結城アイラ　Blus sky,True sky
１８．伊藤真澄　透明な祈り
１９．伊藤真澄　空耳ケーキ

到了这里，演唱会气氛似乎有点冷了下来。。。一直到接下来的表演。。。。。。

At this point, the atmosphere seems to became cold….. until the next performance………

２０．スフィア　Future Stream
我等这一天到底等了多久啊！！终于有机会看スフィア的Live 了啊！！(泪流满面。。。) 想到Future Stream 的PV是一片白色的，就毫不犹豫地把之前纯白没有用到的两支白色荧光棒给爆了。。。哪里知道看到前面都是一片UO。。。突然整个人貌似着火了，也毫不犹豫地爆了两支UO。。。整首歌的时间我貌似做了半个月分量的运动啊，几乎都是用跳的来call，不是因为我发疯了，是因为离舞台有点远加上前面某位老兄长得有点高，直接把我的视线给遮住了。。。不过这点高度是阻止不了我看みなちゃん的！！！顺带一提，スフィア这首歌似乎把冷冷的观众都给唤醒了。。。

The day has finally arrived for me to see Sphere’s live performance T.T… Thinking that the theme colour for Future Stream is white, I break 2 white lightsticks that I wasn’t able to use earlier without hesitating…however, it was seconds before I discover the crowd in front is covered with UOs… I don’t know what went into me but I breaked another 2 UOs I had without thinking too much… Anyway, calling for Future Stream is somehow equal to half a month of amount of my exercise. It’s not becuase I’m crazy or lazy, but the distance from the stage to where I was is quite far and some guy in front of me happens to be taller than me… but nothing is gonna stop me from seeing Mina-chan!! By the way, Sphere seems to wake up everyone who was getting colder and colder….

２１．スフィア　Super Noisy Nova
全力全开的call 仍然继续着。到了Sphere 的第二首歌我貌似又call 得更凶了，详细的情况我也不记得多少了，只记得我拼命地跳，拼命地喊，拼命地想看みなちゃん多几眼就是了。。。到了这里，スフィア的表演似乎推动了我做了几个月的运动量了。。。

The full-burst style of concert call continues and it seems like I gave even more when it reaches the 2nd song by Sphere. Actually, I can’t remember much details. All I can remember is I jumped as high as I could, shouted as loud as I could and tried all my best just to get to see more of Mina-chan in live action… It seems like calling 2 songs for Sphere has successfully motivated me to do exercise equivalent to a few months of exercise….

２２．後藤邑子　キラリデイズ

２３．後藤邑子　恋のミクル伝説
正当大家以为可以稍微喘口气的时候，突然从 ゴトウーザ様口中冒出一首大家意想不到的歌。。。竟然是恋のミクル伝説啊！！我还以为我这一生就这样没有听过这一首歌的Live 就这样结束了啊。。。全场瞬间充满UO，观众call 的反应肯定远远胜过スフィア啊。。。哦不，全场貌似都疯掉了。。。全场陷入一片ミミミラクル、ミクルル的热潮中！！！！

Just when everyone thought they can have a few minutes rest, Gotoza-sama seems to announced that she will be singing a song which everyone is very familiar of…YES! IT’S KOI NO MIKURU DENSETSU!!!!! I always thought my life will ended without ever hearing the live version of this song. In just seconds, everyone lighted their UOs, everyone went even more high than when Sphere was performing, erm… I think everyone just simply went mad… everyone was crazily shouting Mi Mi Mi Ra Ku Ru, Mi Ku Ru Ru…….

２４．Little Non ハナマル☆センセイション
２５．Litton Non bloooomin’
呜啊啊！！タコスパワー！！！之后一股冲动就跑去外面买了優希オリジナルタコス来吃了。。。

UWAAA!! Tacos Power!!! Me and Nakamas bought Yuuhi original Tacos from the stall outside after listening to this song….

２６．新谷良子　CANDY☆POP☆SWEET☆HEART
２７．新谷良子　MARCHING MONSTER
嗯，我承认我不熟悉新谷良子的歌，可是MARCHING MONSTER倒是听过了好几遍也很喜欢，我也不知道为什么。就这样又为了一首歌做了半个月份的运动量。。。

I admit that I’m not very familiar with Shintani Ryouko’s song, however I somehow has listened to MARCHING MONSTER quite a few times before and liked this song… And so, I did another half a month worth of exercise…..

２８．速水奨　Brightness～愛なら君だけに
速水：次のは、私から最後の歌です。　接下来是我要演唱的最后一首歌曲了。 Next, will be the last song from me…
みんな： えええええええええええええええええええ！
速水：いい反応だ！
みんな：wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww！

２９．速水奨　sirius
３０．緒方恵美　silver rain ～piano version～
３１．緒方恵美　Silent decide
必须要承认的是速水奨和緒方恵美都是实力派唱将呢。。。

I must admit the fact that Hayami Sho and Ogata Megumi are both very professional singers….

３２．椎名へきる　I don’t care
第一次看へきる的表演，几秒钟内就被震撼了。へきる的控场，台风，唱功真的不是普通的强啊！也难怪她是第一个踏入武道馆的声优歌手了。

First time watching Hekiru’s performance and it only takes seconds to be stunned by her performances. The way she sings, brings up atmosphere is more than awesome. I guess this is the reason why she is the first seiyuu singer to have her own concert in Budokan.

３３．椎名へきる　Over Drive
３４．妖精帝国　鮮血の誓い
３５．妖精帝国　Patriot Anthem

３６．栗林みな実　Rumbling hearts
演唱会的高潮就从这里开始了。坐在我后排，之前都很安静的观众貌似全都觉醒了一样，みな実的魅力真的是不简单啊。。。

Here is where the climax of the concert begins. All those audience whom I thought was sleeping has ALL suddenly woke up and are all shouting as loud as they can. Minami sure has lots of fans ya!!

３７．栗林みな実 Crystal Energy
３８．栗林みな実 翼はPleasure Line
３９．LAZY　Burn
Lantis社长 + 影山 + 超级帅气的吉他手–高崎晃登场。LAZY另外两个成员似乎已经过世了，没有办法参与这次表演，实在是可惜呀。。。无论如何，社长的键盘加上影山的歌声再加上那个神级的吉他表演，真的是被震撼到不行了。吉他手真的是太神了。。。

President of Lantis + Kageyama + Godly Guitarist– Takasaki Akira arrives!! The other 2 members of LAZY has passed away few years ago. Unable to witness the full LAZY in action is sure a very pity thing. Anyway, President Inoue’s Keyboard plus Kageyama’s vocal plus Takasaki’s guitar is GODLIKE BEYOND GODLIKE!!! I am totally stunned by Takasaki’s guitar skills, he’s THE MAN!!!!

４０．LAZY　感じてKnight
Mazinger 的OP。这次表演不只是影山一个人演唱，而是JAM Project全员演唱。仔细想一下，LAZY的Band 加上JAM Project 的演唱这样的组合，应该是超越一切的存在的组合了！！也难怪奥井还没开始唱歌就哭了。。。 果然，这个表演真的是神到我已经想不出形容词了。。。

OP for Mazinger. This time, not only Kageyama will be doing vocal, it’s all members of JAM Project doing the vocal. Come to think of it, the Band of LAZY + vocal by JAM Project is one of the combination that nothing can surpass in AniSong industry ya… Anyway, I lost my words to describe this godly, heavenly performance…

４１．GRANRODEO　modern strange cowboy
４２．GRANRODEO　Once & Forever
４３．GRANRODEO　Darlin’

４４．JAM Project　GONG
是JAM Project呀！！！全场燃烧了！！！

It’s JAM Project!!! Everyone’s burning already!!

４５．JAM Project　牙狼～SAVIOR IN THE DARK～
还不够啊！！还想再燃烧多一点啊！！もっと！もっと！！

No amount of concert calls is too much for JAM Project! Keep burning!! Motto! Motto!!

４６．JAM Project　レスキュー・ファイアー
这样才有燃烧的感觉嘛！！真的喷火啦！！！明明歌名叫rescue fire啊，怎么真的喷火了。。。まあ、いいか！もっと！もっと！！もっと！！！到了这里开始下了一点小雨，可是这一点雨根本没有办法阻止得了热血的15000人啊！

This is what we call BURNING!! Real fire in action!! By the way, since the song name is Rescue Fire, why did they bring in real fire…anyway, who cares?? Motto! Motto!! Motto!!! It started to rain slightly at this point, but this amount of rain is nothing compared to 15000 burning souls!!

４７．JAM Project　SKILL
神曲来啦！神曲啊！！一万五千人合唱就是这样的感觉啊！！最后四连”I can fly！ You can fly！ We can fly！もっと！もっと！！”之后，由きただにひろし带领大家做了10多分钟的奇怪的call。有多奇怪？连”Lantis水” 都变成了call口号，够奇怪了吧？为了这一首歌到底留了多少汗？到底用了多少力气去跳？用了多少力气去喊？真的是没有办法计算的啊。。。我只知道，那样流着汗呐喊，真的确确实实让我感觉到我还活着啊！もっと！もっと！！

The ultimate epic song has arrived!! Please imagine the scene where 15000 people sings together, then you will know how epic it is. After the 4 x “I can fly！ You can fly！ We can fly！Motto！Motto！！”, Kitadani Hiroshi leads everyone into more than 10 minutes of hilarious concert calls. What do I mean hilarious? Please imagine 15000 people shouting “Lantis sui”~ I don’t know how much I sweated, how much I jumped, how much I shouted. The only thing I can remember is that this feeling makes me feel so ALIVE!!

47首歌，大概5个小时左右的Live就这样结束了。最后时刻Lantis还放了烟花，真是太厚道了，祭典果然要有烟花才算是祭典啊！

47 songs, lasting around 5 hours of concert ends in a very high mood. There were Hanabi at the end of the concert and YES! This is how a Matsuri should look like, Hanabi!!

这样就结束了所有的旅行记事，谢谢各位长久以来的支持。接下来请继续支持toteshinse呀！

This ends all of my memo for my 12 days long Japan trip, thanks for all your support till now. Please continue to support toteshinse in the future!!

Having already tested the water with an issue using e-Ink technology, it’s interesting to see Esquire extending the user experience of their paper based magazine with online media, I see this as a terrific medium for marketeers & advertisers, but also educational titles or children’s books where the story or information can be brought to life in a way that cannot be achieved using print media alone.

At Vision360 we created numerous projects for live events using Augmented Reality that allowed delegates to control screens and access further information, plus additional languages, but it’s an interesting development to see AR being utilised in mainstream magazine publishing, hopefully it won’t be long before we see more of this type of thing.

more info about the Esquire project here here

Here’s a couple more examples of AR, the first is a simple 3D flash file, the second is an iPhone App.

Live music is one of the best forms of entertainment, and this Cartel show on October 29 far exceeded entertaining.  Cartel always shows up and has the entire crowd smiling, but I don’t think anyone was prepared for the treat they were about to get.  After a migraine making, eardrum piercing first opener (and that is being courteous…there are no words to describe the awfulness of their song “you’re a slut”) and a second opener that I thought was never going to get off the stage, the crowd was really due for a pick-me-up.  As soon as the openers finally shut down and the sound checks were wrapping up, the fans crawled out of the various nooks in the venue and the lights went down.  What’s next, roaring fans?  That would typically be the response, but there was nothing typical about this show.  All of the sudden “Hail to the Chief” comes through the speaker and the fans crowd looks around and exchanges confused looks.  The band finally walks out and each member is sporting a different presidential mask.  Now the crowd roars, and as soon as the guys were plugged in, they went straight into “Let’s Go,” the first single from the band’s newest album, Cycles.  The show couldn’t have started with a better track to boost the high energy atmosphere they’re known for creating, and it was even better since the band performed the entire song with the masks on…Epic!  Happy Halloween Atlanta!!  As a last-minute, smaller scale show, the experience was a lot different from their summer shows.  The personal nature of the show was felt through the call-outs to various people in the crowd, answering comments, and even one last impromptu surprise that even Will, the band’s lead singer, wasn’t expecting.  Since it was marketed as a Halloween show, a lot of people came in costume.  Little did the band know, they would be changing costumes also.  One raving fan launched a child sized banana suit on stage and begged Will to put it on.  Most musicians would laugh it off, cast it aside, or kick it back.  Not this night, not this band, not this singer.  Although there were many failed attempts of putting it on, the banana suit made its wy over the skinny tie.  It doesn’t end there folks.  Will decided he was going to finish the entire set in the far too short costume.  In his own words, “Now that is commitment.”  Entertaining, yes, but not nearly as much as all the innuendos and side jokes that were driven by the placement of the end of the fruit suit.  For anybody who didn’t attend, you missed out, but be sure to catch them on their current tour.

Now, as for the music, all of the tracks from Cycles translate so well from album to concert.  The energy was high, the crowd was smiling and singing along, and it was a great kickoff to the tour.  With a few inclusions of older fan favorite songs, Cartel really showed up, performed, and made a great Friday night for everyone that fronted the minimal cost for the show.  Good job guys.  I can’t wait to catch the nest show after Thanksgiving.  Thanks for the Cartel commitment.

On another note: Props to The Loft in Atlanta.  I’m really digging it as a small show venue with its easy access, close parking, and a chill atmosphere.  There are multiple bars and an ATM for those who don’t want to start a tab or carry a lot of cash while walking around downtown.  There are a few lounges with generous seating.  One of them is behind the side bar, and the other lounge is  opposite of the stage and is enclosed with glass doors.  I only have a few suggestions that would really make the place a hot spot.  1) Utilize your space!  The stages needs to be centered so half of the band isn’t against a wall in the corner and the crowds don’t have to be standing at an awkward angle in a narrow space.  2) Expand your stage.  The bands seemed to be crammed together and their movements were obviously restricted.  It was too visible with a high energy band like Cartel, who is known for jumping around on stage.

Thank you to everyone for coming out and supporting the show!!!

Rho

Great news for Afrobeat fans – to coincide with the new musical FELA! opening on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on November 23, Knitting Factory Records will not only be reissuing the entire Fela catalog on cd in digipacks with reduced images of the original artwork, they’ll also be reissuing the albums on vinyl as well over the next eighteen months. What’s more, they’ll also be reissuing the entire extant catalog of Koola Lobitos, Fela’s 1960s high-life band.

The first of the releases is the greatest-hits compilation The Best of the Black President, originally compiled in 1999 (you can hear the whole thing on last.fm). While it makes a fine introduction to the iconic Nigerian freedom fighter/bandleader, it’s necessarily flawed by the constraints of trying to cram as much essential Fela as possible into one package. It simply isn’t possible. Fela Kuti’s genius was to package revolution as sexually charged thirty-minute dance vamps – for Fela, a short song clocked in at about eight or nine minutes, so the concept of editing these frequently album-long jams down to something approximating their essence is simply a lost cause. While The Best of the Black President does contain full-length versions of the iconic Zombie and Sorrow Tears and Blood, the edited or truncated segments from most of the other revolutionary anthems here – including his signature song Coffin for Head of State - work as dance grooves and little more. To resonate at full power, these numbers need to be heard – and under ideal circumstances – danced to in their entirety. Which makes the pending reissue of the full Fela catalog something to salivate over: fans will be able to pick and choose from the original releases.

It may also come as a shock to discover that the Fela musical actually seems as if it might be worth seeing: a listen to some of the original cast recordings reveals that the musicians (that’s right, a real Afrobeat band, not just a synthesizer and a cd with live vocals) and the actors seem up to the challenge: they’ve actually taken their subject seriously. This isn’t the same guys who played in the pit (or on the soundtrack) for the Abba musical shifting gears and trying their hand at psychedelic Nigerian funk. It looks like they’re trying to be the real deal.

TYRAN CAMERON !!! Congratulations, from ToneNRhone

An aptly timed post-Halloween solo show by the raven-haired master of outsider anthems. After spending the better part of the decade as the leader of a careening, somewhat shapeshifting electric band who toward the end were going deep into psychedelia, Randi Russo has in recent months been playing stripped-down solo shows. By the standard that that if something sounds good acoustic, it ought to sound great fleshed out by an electric band, her gig Monday night at Botanica frontman Paul Wallfisch’s weekly Small Beast extravaganza was full of good omens. Resolute with her guitar in the corner of the small upstairs stage in flickering candlelight, Russo ran through a mix of crowd favorites and intriguing newer material.

She started with a newly rearranged version of Invisible, a ridiculously catchy backbeat-driven outsider anthem that’s seen some revisions lately – a new intro, this time around. She followed that with the casually excoriating Venus on Saturn, a savage dismissal of a drama queen:

The cornerstones of her addictions are stored up in her own mind…

Without it she’d be boring and no one would listen

Now she’s just annoying, and she’s getting all the attention…

Now Freud and Picasso can hone in on your womanly being

And render you two-dimensional in an essay or a canvas painting

The rest of the set ranged between catchy consonance and the eerie overtones that resonate as she plays some of the more unorthodox voicings in her repertoire (she’s a lefty and plays upside down a la Hendrix). The big 6/8 ballad Push-Pull had a gentleness and warmth that a louder electric version might have burnt away; the Zeppelin-inflected, psychedelic Head High While You Lie Low got a surprisingly and very effectively sultry treatment, as did a hushed yet insistent take on the hypnotic Hurt Me Now and another resolute anthem, the defiantly feminist Shout Like a Lady (the title track to her most recent full-length cd). By contrast, the tongue-in-cheek, tricky Parasitic People scurried along like the parasites in the lyric.

By the time she got to the hypnotic escape anthem Ceiling Fire, the drape over Wallfisch’s piano (the Small Beast) started to slip and seconds after she reached the lyric, “any cloud that comes casts a shadow on the seat next to mine,” it fell off completely: another omen? She also debuted a memorably bluesy yet indie-flavored number, yet another anthem for someone trying to keep their bearings in a surreal world. Wallfisch followed, solo on piano, maintaining the warm, soulful vibe, playing with particular warmth and conviviality in a quasi-gospel vein. Turns out that Tuesday would be his wedding anniversary, so he played to his wife (an equally admired cult artist, painter Pat Arnao), who looked on with equal parts appreciation and amusement. It would have been nice to have been able to stay for more than just the obscure Dylan cover and the absolutely exhalted love song – “You gotta trade it all in for love” – that will soon serve as the title track from the forthcoming Botanica album. But there was another victorious event going on, in Philadelphia, to watch with bated breath.

Next week’s Small Beast is a particularly good one, featuring Wallfisch plus haunting, anthemic art-rockers Norden Bombsight.

Saw The Phantom Band at Green Man and bought the album Checkmate Savage (which the Green Man programme described as ‘where Beefheart meets Bonnie Prince Billy, where Neu! meets Nick Cave’) on the strength of their excellently mind-bending performance. Psychedelic-ish, mathrock-ish, pop-ish, dark-ish – they bring a bunch of styles together very nicely indeed.

Check the myspace page for tickets and to hear a bit of the band.

http://www.kennedysbaryork.co.uk/

Live Jazz Every Sunday Lunchtime:

Rob Lavers Jazz Quartet 1pm-4pm

1^st Nov/ 8^th Nov/ 15^th Nov/ 22^nd Nov/ 29^th Nov

Live Music:

Wed 4^th Nov: Daisy B 8.30pm

Fri 6^th Nov: people: in airports + support Andy Stones 8pm

Wed 11^th Nov: Nic Fowler & Mark Bates 8.30pm

Wed 18^th Nov: Jonathon Kalb 8.30pm

Wed 25^th Nov: Chris Johnson 8.30pm

DJ’s Every Fri & Sat:

Resident Dj’s: Every Friday and Saturday night 8pm-.

Get Funked:  Fri 6^th Nov / Fri 20^th Nov 9pm-

http://www.kennedysbaryork.co.uk/

Ooo, love a bit of Errors I do. They were ace at both Field Day and Green Man this year and if you know owt about them – they have been called a British Battles – a poppier version of the mathrock masters.
More info and buy your tickets here

It was a dark and stormy night. Actually, it wasn’t exactly that -  instead, a brutally humid afternoon with the occasional sputter of raindrops sprinkling  the revelers whose numbers gathered as the sun went down. Gathered in the beautiful Gilded Age interior of St. Paul’s German Church in Chelsea, an enthusiastic audience was treated to an imaginative, innovative, skillful performance of both old chestnuts (or old jack-o’-lanterns, maybe?) and new compositions by a couple of members of the Chelsea Symphony, one of New York’s newest and most adventurous orchestras.

With maestro Mark Seto on the podium, they opened with a shockingly subtle version of Moussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain. Other orchestras treat this as classical heavy metal, barrelling through it with a gleeful abandon. In this ensemble’s hands, it was a joyous, festive romp through a series of Balkan-inflected dances, more delight than menace. Up close, the stereo effects of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s arrangement were nothing short of psychedelic, and the dynamics were striking, notably the beautiful flute solo at the end as the sun rises and the spirits have all gone back to wherever they linger when they’re not dancing up a storm.

Next on the program were two richly and compellingly performed world premieres. The droning introduction to Benjamin Brody’s Prelude seemed at first like it would remain static, in a Steve Reich vein, but quietly and methodically built to a starkly beautiful minimalism, long crescendos leading into a memorable two-bar theme where the percussionist’s tubular bells grew more insistent, finally to the point where they introduced each phrase as they recurred. And then suddenly it was over. Bassist Tim Kiah’s Rise From the Ashes built in a circular fashion, something akin to Meredith Monk, its second movement swaying along on the slinky pulse of a modified bossa nova bassline into a cinematic waltz. At the end, bells added an eerie ninth interval to its deliberate, stately beat.

The second half of the program began with an idiosyncratic yet rewarding take on Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre. Like the Moussorgsky before it, it’s a staple of the horror classical canon. Under the direction of the second of the afternoon’s two conductors, Miguel Campos Neto, it became a careful, even stately, courtly dance, albeit a totally twisted one. Those who know this from innumerable recorded versions will recall how right before the final crescendo, the brass rises, goosebumps and all, against the strings’ macabre main theme and this was as lushly memorable as it was ghoulish. They closed with several selections from Mozart’s Don Giovanni: to their credit, orchestra, conductor, singers and choir did their best to emphasize every conceivably interesting turn in the melody or the arrangement, but ultimately these were exercises in futility. Only at the end, where Don Giovanni defiantly refuses to repudiate his misdeeds and is sent off to hell on the wings of some bitter minor-key swells, does the material rise above the level of schlock and that doesn’t make what comes before worth waiting through. Maybe you have to be a serious opera fan to “get it” – otherwise, it seemed completely buffo, a strange and ultimately unwanted contrast with the rich emotionality and sensitivity of the rest of the bill.

Because of ongoing renovations at Lucid Culture HQ, our current live music calendar, though full of fun stuff, is vastly less comprehensive than the exhaustive one we would have put together if we’d had the time – hopefully we will be back up to full steam by the time 2010 rolls around. In the meantime if you’re ambitious you can try our NYC clubs and venues page where you can find your favorite batcave and search their schedules yourself, just like we’d be doing if we weren’t so busy with other stuff. There are also plenty of other sites who do live music calendars for NYC: ohmyrockness for indie rock, NYC Bluegrass for country, etc., scroll down a little and look to your right for the blogroll which has all the links. You can also try finding your way around Time Out NY if you’re really, really ambitious. If you’re in a band, it’s time to get wiki: add a comment below and let the world know where/when you’re playing.

Here’s what we have so far – as always, weekly events first followed by some daily listings:

Starting 10/29 Taylor Mac’s epic extravaganza The Lily’s Revenge – a lily goes on a quest to wed a human bride and destroy the God of Nostalgia, approximate duration 5 hours!!! – with music by the incomparable Rachelle Garniez runs through November 22nd at Here Arts Center, 145 6th Ave. at Dominick (across the park, downstairs, west side of the street).

If you can’t make it to this year’s Womex in Copenhagen, you can stream the 2009 Womex album with all kinds of killer world music acts: Kayhan Kalhor and Brooklyn Rider, Watcha Clan and more.

Sundays there’s a klezmer brunch at City Winery, show starts round 11:30 AM – 2 PM, $10 cover, no minimum, lots of good bands.

Sundays from half past noon to 3:30 PM, bluegrass cats Freshly Baked (f.k.a. Graveyard Shift), featuring excellent, incisive fiddle player Diane Stockwell play Nolita House (upstairs over Botanica at 47 E Houston). Free drink with your entree.

The 2009-10 series of organ concerts at St. Thomas Church continues most every Sunday (holidays excepted) at 5:15 sharp, featuring an allstar cast of performers. Concerts continue through the end of May 2010.

Stephane Wrembel plays Sundays at Barbes at 9. The guitarist has few if any equals as an interpreter of Django Reinhardt, but it’s where he takes the gypsy jazz influence in his own remarkably original, psychedelic writing – and what he brings to the Django stuff – that makes all the difference. One of the most interesting players in any style of music, anywhere in the world.

Every Sunday the Ear-Regulars, led by trumpeter Jon Kellso and (frequently) guitarist Matt Munisteri play NYC’s only weekly hot jazz session starting around 8 PM at the Ear Inn on Spring St.  Hard to believe, in the city that springboarded the careers of thousands of jazz legends, but true. This is by far the best value in town for marquee-caliber jazz: for the price of a drink and a tip for the band, you can see world-famous players (and brilliant obscure ones) you’d usually have to drop $100 for at some big-ticket room. The material is mostly old-time stuff from the 30s and 40s, but the players (especially Kellso and Munisteri, who have a chemistry that goes back several years) push it into some deliciously unexpected places.

Every Sunday, hip-hop MC Big Zoo hosts the long-running End of the Weak rap showcase at the Pyramid, 9 PM, admission $5 before 10, $7 afterward. This is one of the best places to discover some of the hottest under-the-radar hip-hop talent, both short cameos as well as longer sets from both newcomers and established vets.

Mondays at the Fat Cat the Heun Choi String Quartet play a wide repertoire of chamber music from Bach to Shostakovich starting at 7

Mondays at the Jazz Standard it’s all Mingus, whether with the Mingus Orchestra, Big Band or Mingus Dynasty: you know the material and the players are all first rate. Sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $25 and worth it.

Mondays at the Delancey on the main floor, 9 PMish Botanica frontman and master of menace Paul Wallfisch presents the edgiest weekly music series in town, playfully called Small Beast, an international mix of some of the most intelligent (and frequently darkest) performers passing through town. It’s free and there’s always some kind of drink special or freebee. If you wish Tonic was still open, Wallfisch is keeping the flame alive. He typically opens the night solo on piano, reason enough to put this on your calendar. November artists include Randi Russo, Rachelle Garniez, McGinty & White, Carol Lipnik, Norden Bombsight, And the Wiremen, Bee & Flower and more.

Also Monday nights Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, a boisterous horn-driven 11-piece 1920s/early 30’s band play Sofia’s Restaurant, downstairs at the Edison Hotel, 221 West 46th Street between Broadway & 8th Ave., 3 sets from 8 to 11, surprisingly cheap $15 cover plus $15 minimum considering what you’re getting. Even before the Flying Neutrinos or the Moonlighters, multi-instrumentalist Giordano was pioneering the oldtimey sound in New York; his long-running residency at the old Cajun on lower 8th Ave. is legendary. He also gets a ton of film work (Giordano wrote the satirical number that Willie Nelson famously sang in Wag the Dog).

Also Mondays the free reggae show that used to be held at Rehab has gravitated to SOB’s, 9ish, free w/rsvp to rsvp@jamrockmagazine.com, 21 and over.

Also Mondays in November the Barbes house band, Chicha Libre plays there starting around 9:30. They’ve singlehandedly resurrected an amazing subgenre, chicha, which was popular in the Peruvian Amazon in the late 60s and early 70s. With electric accordion, cuatro, surf guitar and a boisterous rhythm section, their mix of obscure classics and originals is one of the funnest, most danceable things you’ll witness this year. Perhaps not so strangely, they sound a lot like Finnish surf rockers Laika and the Cosmonauts in their most imaginative moments.

Also Mondays in November Rev. Vince Anderson and his band play Union Pool in Williamsburg, two sets starting around 11 PM. The Rev. is one of the great keyboardists around, equally thrilling on organ or electric piano, an expert at Billy Preston style funk, honkytonk, gospel and blues. He writes very funny, very politically astute, frequently salacious original gospel songs and is one of the great live performers of our time. Moist Paula from the late, great Moisturizer is the lead soloist on baritone sax.

Mondays at 7 PM in November Pierre de Gaillande, frontman of estimable art-rockers Melomane and the Snow plays the music of Georges Brassens in his own English translations at Barbes. Brassens was a member of the French Resistance, an anarchist, a furiously lyrical, lecherous, somewhat louche presence and one hell of a songwriter. Here’s a way to get to know a French icon who deserves to better known outside his native land. Gaillande will be releasing an album of Brassens songs on Barbes records in 2010.

The second and fourth Tuesday of the month there are free organ recitals at half past noon at Central Synagogue, Lexington Ave. at 55th., an exciting list of first-class performers in a sonically gorgeous space, a great way to spend your lunch break if you work in the neighborhood.

Tuesdays the boisterous and very popular brass-heavy gypsy jazz band Slavic Soul Party plays Barbes at 9. Get here as soon as you can as the opening act is usually popular as well.

Tuesdays inNovember the Dred Scott Trio play astonishingly smart, dark piano jazz at the Rockwood at midnight.

Every Wednesday, Michael Arenella & the Dreamland Dance Band play sly yet boisterous oldtimey hot jazz at the Clover Club, 210 Smith St. (Butler/Baltic) in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, 8:30 -10:30 PM.

Every Wednesday in November, Will Scott and drummer Wylie Wirth play mesmerizing, hypnotic, completely authentic Mississippi hill country blues along with Scott’s own melodic, tuneful blues originals at 68 Jay St. Bar in Dumbo, starting around 8:30 PM. Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside and Asie Payton are sadly gone but Scott continues their tradition of music that is as danceable as it is trance-inducing, and does his influences justice.

Sonia’s Party, who blend a bewitching oldschool Motown sound with a vintage Memphis groove play a free show every Wednesday in November at 11 PM at Shrine uptown

Fridays there’s live Mediterranean music – Greek- Arabic, Turkish Armenian, Israeli fusion with Mike Stoupakis, Christos Zavolas, Sofia on on vocals, Elias Sarkar-oud/vocals, Kostas Konstantinou – drums,  plus bellydancers at Lafayette Grill & Bar, 54 Franklin St., downtown,$20 cover, 10ish, free after 1 AM.

11/2 noir outsider anthem genius Randi Russo followed by Botanica frontman Paul Wallfisch at Small Beast at the Delancey 8:30 PM

11/4 Gil Scott-Heron at BB King’s 8 PM $30 adv tix rec.

11/4 the increasingly Tom Waitsish, smartly literate, funny Maynard & the Musties at Lakeside 9 PM

11/5, 8 PM the International Pop Overthrow at Kenny’s Castaways, a killer lineup:

8:00 Edward Rogers & Pete Kennedy (with Ward White)

8:30 Maura Kennedy

9:00 George Usher

9:30 The Doughboys

10:00 Mission 5

10:30 Wendy lp

11:00 The Pretty Faces

11/5 Americana chanteuse Rebecca Turner at Banjo Jim’s 7 PM

11/5 jazz guitar legend Gene Bertoncini at the Jazz Standard, $25, sets 7:30/9:30, reservations highly recommended.

11/5 new wave legend Ellen Foley at Lakeside 9 PM.

11/5 lush, atmospheric art-rockers the Quavers at Barbes at 8 followed by the inscrutable, unpredictably, virtuosic, hilarious, charismatic keyboardist/chanteuse/dramatist Rachelle Garniez at 10 PM.

11/6, 7 PM at Banjo Jim’s Charlene and Mo of Spanking Charlene play acoustic

11/6-8 the haunting Vijay Iyer Piano Trio at the Jazz Standard, sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $30 ($25 Sunday), adv tix. highly recommended.

11/6 smart female-fronted psychedelic rock trio Devi at their new private space in Jersey City, details TK, free

11/6 Simon & the Bar Sinisters at Lakeside 10:15ish

11/6, 7 PM a rare chance at le Poisson Rouge to see dissident rockers from behind the former Iron Curtain: Psí Vojáci (from the Czech Republic), Bez Ladu a Skladu from Slovakia, Timpuri Noi (from Romania). The 11/7 show, starting at 11 pm, will feature Kontroll Csoport (from Hungary) and legendary Polish punks Dezerter. $15 dirt cheap cover for each night.

11/7 2:30 (two thirty) PM the catchy Wilco-meets-the-Clash Brixton Riot at Kenny’s Castaways

11/7, 7 PM at Banjo Jim’s dark garage rocker Lorraine Leckie and Her Demons followed at 9 by alt-country legend Zane Campbell

11/7, 8 PM menacing, tuneful noir rockers Darren Gaines & the Key Party and deliriously fun Japanese gypsy band Kagero at the Gershwin Hotel, 7 East 27th Street (5th/Madison), all ages, $10, free wine bar (21+)

11/7, 8 PM Cudzoo & the Faggettes at Ars Nova Theatre, 54th & 10th Ave., perfect venue for these filthy theatrical rock sirens-slash-retro 60s pop satirists. They promise can’t-miss new video footage at this one…hmmm…! They’re also at Bar Matchless in Williamsburg on Dec 3.

11/7 9 PM slinky, haunting, amazing Egyptian film music revivalists Zikrayat at Alwan for the Arts, $15 and worth it

11/7, 9 PM the dark haunting hypnotic powerhouse Katie Elevitch (back from another triumphant European tour) downstairs at her M’Sonic Sessions series at the The Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 317 Clermont Avenue, 3rd Floor, Fort Greene

11/7 the ferociously good, intense, Radio Birdman-esque punk/garage rockers the Mess Around 9 PM at Don Pedro’s

11/7 the amusing, laid-back Americana duo Two Man Gentlemen Band at the Jalopy, 9ish

11/8 a killer Americana afternoon starting at 3 PM at Spikehill with smart, catchy bluegrass innovators Frankenpine, the oldschool honkytonking Newton Gang, the soaring Alana Amram & the Rough Gems and the funniest man in country music, Uncle Leon & the Alibis headlining around 5. And then Nashville gothic monsters Ninth House at 8!

11/8, 7 PM at Barbes classical violist Jennifer Stumm playing rare and obscure pieces by the first viola virtuoso Alessandro Rolla

11/8 powerpop powerhouse Patti Rothberg at Otto’s, 11 PM with her excellent band.

11/9, 8:30 PM at Banjo Jim’s lead guitarist to the stars of the underground, Homeboy Steve Antonakos.

11/9 Botanica frontman Paul Wallfisch followed by haunting, anthemic art-rockers Norden Bombsight at Small Beast at the Delancey 9 PM

11/10, 8 PM at BB King’s Capleton, Cocoa Tea and Anthony B $30 adv tic rec.

11/10 smoove oldschool hip-hop with Ice Cube’s little bro Warren G at Bowery Ballroom, 9ish, $20 gen adm

11/11 southwestern gothic rocker Tom Shaner at Lakeside 9 PM.

11/12 deviously virtuosic, exuberant mostly-female klezmer rockers Isle of Klezbos at 7PM at Holy Apostles Church, 296 Ninth Ave at 28th St, $10

11/12-15 the Claudia Acuna Quintet at the Jazz Standard, sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $25 ($30 Fri-Sat). Soulful, worldly wise, socially aware Chilean-American jazz chanteuse with an astonishingly powerful band behind her – guitarist Juancho Herrera is a ferocious, intense player but the rest of the band is inspired as well.

11/12 Linda Draper, soulful ex-choirgirl and literate lyricist par excellence whose new cd Bridge & Tunnel is one of the year’s best – plays the National Underground, 8 PM.

11/12, 10 PM Spanglish Fly mixes up mambo and Motown to make Latin soul in the Joe Cuba boogaloo tradition at Camaradas El Barrio, 2241 1st Ave (115th St.) dirt cheap, $5 – free boogaloo lessons for neophytes.

11/12, 10 PM the Bay Area’s best gypsy band, Gaucho plays a rare NYC date at Barbes.

11/13, 8 PM at Barbes amazing oud player/educator/scholar Mavrothi Kontanis plays with his band (who just backed another amazing musician, Iranian-American singer Monika Jalili, on her new cd), followed at 10 by Bill Carney’s Jug Addicts.

11/13, 8 PM at the Bell House, Brooklyn’s own forro/ska/reggae/funk baccchanal Nation Beat open the show followed by the genre-bending, gypsyish latin hellraisers Rupa & The April Fishes

11/13 “Brooklyn’s #1 regressive rock act”, hilarious metal parody band Mighty High’s 7″ release show at Hank’s, 9ish.

11/13, 9 PM smart, metaphorical Kentucky expat/Americana chanteuse Kirsten Williams‘ full-band cd release show for her new one Yesterday’s Waves at Kenny’s Castaways.

11/13, 10 PM fiery, guitar-driven, Steve Earle-ish highway rockers the Sloe Guns at the National Underground

11/13, midnight, powerhouse dark lyrical rocker Daniel Bernstein and the Everybody Knows‘ cd release show (everybody gets a freebee) at the Brooklyn Tea Party, 175 Stockholm Street, Buzzer 303, Bushwick, Brooklyn (btw. Wilson/Knickerbocker, M to Central Ave). Brand new band from the past features Scott Loving on electric guitar, Strictly Beats on drums, Scott Fragala on bass and Erin Regan on vocals.

11/14, 7:30 PM a doublebill by arguably the two best Americana chanteuses in the business, Amy Allison and Laura Cantrell at the 92Y Tribeca, $15

11/14 an amazing doublebill at Barbes starting at 8 with the devious and lushly romantic French chanson stylings of les Chauds Lapins and continuing with the careening 1920s hot jazz juggernaut Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra at 10ish.

11/14 Greek party hellraisers Magges – who do a killer version of the original Misirlou – at Mehanata, 10 PM free before 10:30

11/14, 10ish at Teneleven ornate, upbeat cello rockers Snazz Mammoth play one of those powdered wiggie Rubulad-ish parties  $5 cover

11/14 Shonen Knife at Maxwell’s, 10ish, $12 adv tix very highly recommended; 11/17 they’re at the Brooklyn Bowl.

11/14 the Brooklyn What at Bar Matchless in Williamsburg 9ish

11/14 sly baritone crooner and country hellraiser (and ferociously good lead guitarist) Jack Grace at Rodeo Bar, 11:30 PM

11/15, 3 (three) PM the Antara Ensemble plays at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 2065 Fifth Avenue at 127th Street: Leos Janácek’s Idyll for String Orchestra, W. A. Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major, K. 299, Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Violins & Cello in D minor, and the World Premiere of Richard Spencer’s Fantasie on a Hymn for Flute & String Orchestra. Tix $25/$20 stud/srs.

11/15, 7:30 PM fiery original rockabilly/surf trio Catspaw – whose signature song Southbound Line ranks high on our list of the 666 best songs of alltime – play Otto’s, free.

11/15, 9ish at SOB’s Zulu Nation presents the 35th Anniversary of Hip-Hop Culture: Afrika Bambaataa, Naughty By Nature, Positive K, Melle Mel, Large Professor, Craig G, Shaheim, Dana Dane, $25 adv tix

11/16 the queen of phantasmagoria, Carol Lipnik and Spookarama at Small Beast at the Delancey, 9 PM.

11/18 harmony-driven, rousingly retro country crew the Sweetback Sisters at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM

11/19 the incomparable, inscrutable, multistylistic Jenifer Jackson at the Rockwood at 8.

11/19, 10 PM multistylistic jazz/gypsy/Americana guitar genius Matt Munisteri at Barbes.

11/19 the ferocious Balkan brass juggernaut Raya Brass Band play Local 268 (the old Meow Mix space) on Houston at Suffolk, 10ish, free.

11/20, 7 PM the comedic but equally virtuosic Erin & Her Cello at the Rockwood. She’s also there a week later, 11/27 also at 7.

11/20, 8 PM jangly Boston rockers Aloud and then moody, haunting groove/downtempo slinks El Jezel at Spikehill

11/20 surf music classics and obscurities with the Boss Guitars at Lakeside 11 PM

11/20 the Brooklyn What – whose ferocious and funny debut cd is our pick for best album of 2009 – at Trash Bar 11 PM

11/21  fiery Irish American rock legends Black 47 at Connolly’s, also 11/28, 12/5, 12/12, and New Years Eve

11/21, 8 PM Portuguese fado legend Mariza at Carnegie Hall with special guests Afro-Peruvian vocalist Eva Ayllón and Afro-Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba $25 tix available.

11/21 janglepop-meister Richard Barone of the Bongos with his band at Drom, 8:30 PM, adv tix rec.

11/21, 8 PM The New York Chamber Players’ fundraiser at Bechstein Concert Hall, 207 West 58th St., music by Mozart, feat. piano virtuoso Karine Poghosyan

11/21 ferociously haunting, danceable pan-Balkan rockers Ansambl Mastika at Shrine uptown, 8 PM

11/21 Lights and Alana Amram & the Rough Gems (watch Alana on bass and then guitar – or vice versa) at Union Pool

11/21 Spanking Charlene – NYC’s answer t0 X - plays their own birthday party show at Lakeside 11 PM

11/22, 3 (three) PM the world-class Greenwich Village Orchestra plays Dvorak’s New World Symphony at Washington Irving Auditorium, cattycorner from Irving Plaza, $20 for a show that would probably cost you a hundred bucks at Carnegie Hall.

11/22, 9 PM rousing oldschool harmony-driven bluegrass behemoth the NYCity Slickers play Banjo Jim’s.

11/23 three of the most powerful sirens in any style of music: grand guignol powerhouse Vera Beren, retro keyboard/vocal genius Rachelle Garniez – whose previous two albums are the #2 and #3 cd’s of the decade according to our Best Songs of the Zeros list – and the phantasmagorical Carol Lipnik at Small Beast at the Delancey. Show starts at 9 with Lipnik followed by Garniez, then the dazzlingly lyrical retro 60s psychedelic pop band McGinty & White at 10:30, and then Beren headlining.

11/24 Americana guitar genius Robbie Fulks in one of his frequent, sparkling duo shows with another first-class player, violinist Jenny Scheinman at Barbes at 7.

11/24-25 and 11/27-29 the Maria Schneider Orchestra makes a welcome appearance at the Jazz Standard, sets 7:30/9:30, tix $35 but no minimum, adv tix very highly recommended.

11/25, 7 PM, moody and sultry (and hilarious) Americana ukulele chanteuse Kelli Rae Powell – whose new album is one of the year’s four or five best – plays at the Rockwood; Sonia’s Party follows eventually at 11 with their ecstatic original take on classic soul and Motown.

11/27, 7 PM Johnny Vignault and frontman Michael Chandler of the Lost Crusaders are joined by Dale Beavers of the Compulsive Gamblers for a happy hour show at Lakeside.

11/27 for those who stayed in town, a killer Balkan brass show with Raya Brass Band at Barbes, 10 PM.

11/27 a rare live show by legendary mod punk Dog Show frontman Jerome O’Brien at Lakeside 11 PM

11/28, 7 (seven) PM sophisticated, multistylistic Americana chanteuse Julia Haltigan plays the Rockwood.

11/28 rustic harmony-driven country band Reckon So at Banjo Jim’s, 8 PM.

11/28 southwestern gothic rocker Tom Shaner at Lakeside 11 PM

11/29 haunting Balkan-tinged tunes with trumpeter Ben Holmes and his trio at Barbes, 7ish.

11/30 a killer jazz night at Spikehill in Williamsburg starting at 8 with the Adam Larson Project  featuring supersonic, fiery alto cat Jaleel Shaw, then the innovative, psychedelic, dubwise Justin Rothberg Trio, then ska jazz sax legend Dave Hillyard in one of his occasional trio shows.

11/30, starting 8:30ish the artsy Pharmacy & Gardens, then the master of menace, Botanica frontman Paul Wallfisch at the keys, the twangy southwestern gothic of And the Wiremen and then atmospheric noir soundtrack songs with Bee & Flower at 11ish at Small Beast at the Delancey.

12/1-2 trumpet powerhouse Ingrid Jensen with a quintet and then quartet at Jazz Standard, $20, sets 7:30/9:30 PM

12/3-6 the Chano Domínguez Flamenco Quintet including vox and dancer at the Jazz Standard, $30, sets 7:30/9:30 PM. At the Spanish jazz festival here last spring the pianist was haunting, even transcendent – this is something you shouldn’t miss.

12/3, 8 PM, a very rare worthwhile evening of songwriters in the round: soulful, metaphorical Kentucky expat Kirsten Williams, genius bassist Carolann Solebello (of Red Molly), powerful and incorrigibly extroverted white soul sister Meg Braun and the irrepressible, deviously funny, brilliantly tuneful Sharon Goldman (half of the excellent Sweet Bitters) at St John’s Lutheran Church, 81 Christopher St (just west of 7th Ave), free w/sugg. don.

12/4, 8 PM the NY Chamber Players play Beethloven’s 6th Symphony and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 2 with pianist Luigi Fracasso at Christ & St.Stephen Church, 122 W 69th St.

12/4 dark, somewhat Waits-ish alt-country rockers Maynard & the Musties at Sidewalk 9 PM

12/4 secular gospel hellraisers the Lost Crusaders at Lakeside 7:30ish

12/6, 8 PM  otherworldly Italian percussionist/choreographer Alessandra Belloni leads her group in a performance of her piece Voyage of the Black Madonna at St. Mary’s Church, 126th St. just west of Amsterdam, take any train to 125th St., $10 sugg. don.

12/6, 8ish alto sax player/composer Jacam Manricks leads a smaller contingent of the massive big band he assembled for his excellent latest cd and plays songs from it at Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark’s Place, free. A great way to get to know an exciting jazz talent for next to nothing.

12/7 smartly lyrical noir rocker Darren Gaines, ex-Thalia Zedek keyboardist MG Lederman, ferociously charismatic ghoulabilly/LES noir glam songwriter Reid Paley and Botanica’s Paul Wallfisch at Small Beast at the Delancey, 8:30ish.

12/8, 7:30/9:30 PM, legendary jazz percussionist/bandleader Chico Hamilton at the Jazz Gallery where he’ll be performing tracks off of his latest album Twelve Tones of Love (recently reviewed here, very favorably) with his quintet Euphoria.

12/9 a repeat of the transcendent trifecta recently at Small Beast at the Delancey, this time around moved to Galapagos in Dumbo: Strange Girls Sing featuring the phantasmagorical Carol Lipnik (whose ongoing collaboration with John Kelly just gets more and more intense), another equally otherworldly water nymph, Rachelle Garniez (whose two most recent albums are on the top ten in our Best Albums of the Decade list) and the “white Eartha Kitt” AKA noir cabaret legend Little Annie Bandez, show starts at 8:30 sharp.

12/10–12/13 the Tango Meets Jazz Festival with the Pablo Ziegler Quartet with special guests Miguel Zenon (12/10 & 12/11) and David Sanchez (12/12 & 12/13) at the Jazz Standard, $30, sets 7:30/9:30 PM

12/11 Debo Band play Ethiopian jazz followed by the ecstatically powerful pan-Balkan rockers Ansambl Mastika and their “New Balkan Uproar” at Drom, 8 PM, adv tix $10 very highly rec.

12/11 surf music classics and obscurities with the Boss Guitars at Lakeside 11 PM

12/12 a real blast from the past, 80s new wave rockers That Petrol Emotion at the Bell House, 7:30 PM, $17 adv tix rec.

12/12 David “Solid” Gould & the Temple Rockers (feat. ex-John’s Brown Body members) play hypnotic dub and Balkan-inflected roots reggae at Drom, $15. 10 PM

12/12 NYC’s answer to X, Spanking Charlene at Lakeside 11 PM.

12/13 fiery, multistylistic Canadian gypsy/klezmer rockers Beyond the Pale play klezmer brunch at City Winery, 11:30ish. They’re also at the World Financial Center plaza at half past noon on 12/14 in case you work in the neighborhood.

12/16 catchy, lush, anthemic janglerockers the Somebodies at Lakeside 9:30ish

12/17 janglemeister guitarist Chris Erikson & the Wayward Puritans at Lakeside 9:30ish

12/18 punk/new wave legends Band of Outsiders at Lakeside 10 PM

12/19 virtuoso punk/rockabilly/surf guitarist Simon & the Bar Sinisters at Lakeside 10:15ish.

12/21, 9:30 PM subtly haunting, wickedly lyrical, amusing pianist/songwriter Lee Feldman plays Joe’s Pub on something of a collaborative doublebill with jazzcat and Elvis Costello fave Deidre Rodman and others.

12/22–12/23 the Edmar Castaneda Trio plus Special Guest Joe Locke at the Jazz Standard. You want eclectic and innovative? Can’t miss with this crew: Colombian harp, trombone, drums and vibes, $20 sets 7:30/9:30 PM

12/31 Tammy Faye Starlite’s sick Stones cover band the Mike Hunt Band at Lakeside 11 PM

by Heather M. Raphael

Halloween is by far my favorite holiday.  I don’t create wonderful and elaborate costumes myself, but I love to look at other peoples’ creative intoxications.  I was not let down by the Pretty Babies (insurgent comedienne/chanteuse Tammy Faye Starlite’s latest project) as Blondie, presenting the Parallel Lines album at Lakeside Lounge in the East Village on Halloween night.  We even had attendance by the current age Debbie Harry herself!  Was it really her or just a fabulous costume?  Unless she’s able to be in two places at once, the real Debbie Harry’s doppelganger had front row seats at our venue, while the real Blondie was playing Halifax, Nova Scotia.

My best laid plans for Halloween this year came crumbling down as the hours ticked away and my escape out of the city to a friend’s Halloween party was foiled by my love/hate relationship with technology.  Luckily my friend, singer/songwriter Carolyn AlRoy came to my rescue, inviting me into her plans where we met up with some friends at the Lakeside.  It was empty and we scored a table right by the stage.  That’s when I learned about Tammy Fay Starlite and Linda Wynn, aka Linda Pitmon, one of the great female drummers (and also one of the great drummers, end of story).  We got to chat with Linda – very down-to-earth, instantly likeable – during set-up from our strategically placed table.

The Lakeside Lounge quickly packed in a crowd, some costumed, some not, as showtime was upon us.  Tammy…I mean, Debbie…I mean Blondie…oh whatever, gave several shout-outs to Steve Wynn, well known musician since the 1980’s for alternative and classic rock, who was there to see his lovely wife rock the drums.  And she kicked some butt up on that stage!  Not even an uncooperative snare could slow her down.  I’ve never been so mesmerized.  But let’s not forget the rest of the band that pulled this show together.  On bass was Sit n’ Spin’s Mony Falcone; on electric guitars were her bandmate Heidi Lieb and Jill Richmond of the Aquanettas; on keyboards was Bibi Farber; all dressed in black pants, white suit shirts and black skinny ties to boot.

The spot we had was perfect for viewing and listening.  Although Tammy’s mic could have been balanced louder, it did fit with how I always remember Blondie songs – missing half of the Debbie Harry vocals, whenever she sang in her lower, alto range.  At least it was authentic and a great ride down memory lane.  I don’t how the acoustics were for those on the side and and back to the bar: I can’t imagine they could see anything and since the visual aspects were as important as the music, those bcak there may not have gotten as much out of it.  Tammy Faye Starlite put on a fabulous performance, even getting up on a chair to reach out to her audience in back.  From what I hear, she is a crowd-pleaser, and was no less of one this night.

Going out for Halloween? Check out some of these live performances if you can…

SAN FRANCISCO:

NEW YORK:

CHICAGO: