Henry Wagons Brings His Melbourne Menace to Joe’s Pub

Noir songwriter/bandleader Henry Wagons plays Joe’s Pub this Saturday night, March 2 at 9:30 PM. With his brooding baritone, Wagons’ fellow Australian Nick Cave is an obvious influence, but where Cave goes off into art-rock and Irish balladry, Wagons goes into vicious noir rock, like a more vengeful Mark Steiner. Wagons’ latest album Expecting Company? also has a similarly surreal, sardonic, irreverent gallows humor. As you might expect of a guy with a rakish persona, he likes to surround himself with women, in this case Patience Hodgson of the Grates and Sophia Brous representing for his musical hotbed of Melbourne along with Haligonian songstress Jenn Grant and the Dead Weather’s Alison Mosshart serving as sparring partner on several of these songs.

The opening track, Unwelcome Company sets the stage, a savage tango that explodes in a burst of drums and minor key guitar. Mosshart comes in for the uneasy mantra, “Everywhere I go they follow me;” as the song ends, there’s a nasty guitar solo half-buried in the mix that looks all the way back to Aussie garage-punk legends Radio Birdman.

The second cut, I’m In Love with Mary Magdalene begins as a ghostly faux madrigal over funeral organ and blends creepy vocal harmonies with macabre guitar twang while Wagons and Mosshart lament their unrequited lust. Give Me a Chance to Mend reminds of the country side of Jerry Teel, mixing warm pedal steel with wry honkytonk piano, while the rustically twisted family tale I Still Can’t Find Her evokes Tom Warnick & World’s Fair at their most surreal.

Wagons goes for an only slightly restrained Cramps-y menace on the ghoulabilly stomp A Hangman’s Work Is Never Done. He follows that with Give Me a Kiss, a country waltz so bizarre it’s irresistible, with its pinging Omnichord synth and coy, chirpy backing vocals. The album winds up with Marylou Two, Wagons reaching for a Willie Nelson ballad vibe and surprisingly hitting the target pretty head-on. But even in the quietest moments here, there’s a lingering unease: Wagons sounds like someone who’s always got a blunt instrument up his sleeve. The sedate confines of Joe’s Pub may be in for a rude shock when this guy hits the stage.

Live Music in New York City in March and April 2013

Daily updates, and a new calendar for April and May coming 4/1, no joke. You might want to bookmark this page and check back periodically to see what’s new. There’s a comprehensive list of places where these shows are happening at NY Music Daily’s sister blog Lucid Culture.

Showtimes listed here are set times, not the time doors open – if a listing says something like “9ish,” that means it’ll probably start later than advertised. Always best to check with the venue for the latest information on set times and door charges, since that information is often posted here weeks in advance. Weekly events first followed by the daily calendar.

Oldschool Chicago style blues guitarist Irving Louis Lattin gets a lot of gigs.  He’s at Terra Blues on 3/3, 3/22 and 3/26 at 7 and at Lucille’s on 3/29 at 8.

Eclectic oldtime blues multi-instrumentalist powerhouse Blind Boy Paxton has several March dates at Terra Blues coming up: 3/6, 3/11, 3/25, 3/28 and 3/31 at 7 PM.

Mondays in March, 7 PM the Grand Street Stompers play hot oldtimey swing and dixieland at Arthur’s Tavern on Grove St. just west of 7th Ave. South

Mondays starting a little after 7 PM Howard Williams leads his Jazz Orchestra from the piano at the Garage, 99 7th Ave. S at Grove St. There are also big bands here most every Tuesday at 7.

Mondays in March at Zirzamin starting around 9, savage, macabre,cinematic noir jazz band Beninghove’s Hangmen play their weekly residency. If you’re lucky they’ll move their mayhem into the front room where even the traffic outside can hear it.

Mondays at the Jazz Standard it’s all Mingus, whether with the Mingus Orchestra, Big Band or Mingus Dynasty: as jazz goes, it’s arguably the most exhilarating show of the week, every week. The first-rate players always rise to the level of the material. Sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $25 and worth it.

Mondays in March, 8/9:30 PM klezmer/jazz trumpet legend Frank London’s Shekhinah Big Band plays the Stone. A wild intense cast of downtown luminaries play dark jubilant stuff in minor keys, early arrival highly advised. Check out this lineup: Greg Wall, Marty Ehrlich, Matt Darriau, Zach Mayer, Paul Shapiro, Doug Wieselman, Jessica Lurie (saxophones) Justin Mullens, Steven Gluzband, Ronald Horton, Pam Fleming, Rob Henke (trumpets) Curtis Hasselbring, Jacob Garchik, Matt Haviland, Brian Drye (trombones) Yoshie Fruchter (guitar) Anthony Coleman (piano) Uri Sharlin (accordion) Brian Glassman (bass) Roberto Rodriguez (drums) Renato Thoms (percussion).

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).

Mondays at Tea Lounge in Park Slope at 9:30 PM trombonist/composer JC Sanford books big band jazz, an exciting, global mix of some of the edgiest large-ensemble sounds around. If you’re anybody in the world of big band jazz and you make it to New York, you end up playing here: what CBGB was to punk, this unlikely spot promises to be to the jazz world. No cover.

Mondays at the Vanguard the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra – composer Jim McNeely’s reliably good big band vehicle – plays 9/11 PM, $30 per set plus drink minimum.

Most Mondays in March (check the Barbes website for updates), 9:30ish Chicha Libre plays their home turf at Barbes. The world’s most vital, entertaining oldschool chicha band, they blend twangy, often noir Peruvian surf sounds with cumbia and other south-of-the-border styles along with swirling psychedelic jams and deep dub interludes. Show up early because they are insanely popular.

Also Mondays in March Rev. Vince Anderson and his band play Union Pool in Williamsburg, two sets starting around 11:30 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, sexy original songs and is one of the most charismatic, intense live performers of our time. It’s a crazy dance party til past three in the morning. Paula Henderson from Burnt Sugar is the lead soloist on baritone sax, with Dave Smith from Smoota on trombone, with frequent special guests. Vince also makes a rare West Village appearance at 55 Bar on 11/2 at 10.

The second and fourth Tuesday of the month there are free organ concerts featuring a global mix of first-rate talent at Central Synagogue, Lexington Ave. at 55th St., free

Tuesdays in March clever, fiery, eclectic Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party play Barbes at 9. Get there as soon as you can as they’re very popular. $10 cover.

Tuesdays at around 10 Julia Haltigan and her band play 11th St. Bar. A torchy, charismatic force of nature, equally at home with fiery southwestern gothic rock, oldschool soul and steamy retro jazz ballads, and her band is just as good as she is. Why she isn’t as popular as, say, Neko Case, is a mystery.

Wednesdays at 1 PM there are free organ concerts at St. Paul’s Chapel downtown, a mix of NYC-area and international talent.

Three Wednesdays in April (not March), 4/3, 4/10 and 4/24 at 8 PM, and also 4/19 at 10 PM jangly, smart rock/powerpop songwriter Rob Teter (formerly of gypsy rockers the Belleville Outfit) at Zirzamin

Wednesdays in March, 8:30/10:30 PM guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg – Dr. Lonnie Smith’s main man, who’s got a killer new solo guitar album out – leads a trio at the Bar Next Door, $12

Wednesdays at 9 PM Feral Foster’s Roots & Ruckus takes over the Jalopy, a reliably excellent weekly mix of oldtimey acts: blues, bluegrass, country and swing.

Wednesdays in March, 10 PM Matt Bauder and Hearing Things with Dave Smith on trombone: a “new Ethiogyptian surf soul band” at Manhattan Inn in Greenpoint.

Thursdays in March, 10 PM fearlessly political latin/gypsy metal cumbia band Outernational at Arlene’s, $5 ($8 for the first show of the month). One of NYC’s best bands, with a new ep out – they’re amazing live. If you wish you could afford Gogol Bordello tix, these guys are just as intense.

Thursdays and Fridays in March Bulgarian alto sax star Yuri Yunakov and band play Mehanata starting around 10. One of the most intense and gripping improvisers in gypsy music.

Thursdays in May (that’s May, not March) this era’s greatest and funnest Peruvian style psychedelic cumbia/surf band, Chicha Libre plays Nublu, probably late, midnight-ish

Fridays at 5 PM in March, adventurous indie classical string quartet Ethel (Ralph Farris, viola; Dorothy Lawson, cello; Kip Jones, violin; and Tema Watstein, violin) plays the balcony bar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, free w/museum adm. When they’re not there, they’ll have someone from from their wide circle of like-minded avant ensembles. Although the sound wafts across the balcony, you actually have to be in the bar itself in order to really appreciate what they’re doing.

Friday evenings at various times (check the site for the weekly schedule) fearless avant cellist/impresario Valerie Kuehne’s Super Coda – a global mix of strange and sometimes amazing sounds, from the way-out to the way-in, drawing on a vast, global talent base – happens at Spectrum, 121 Ludlow St., 2nd floor.

Fridays in March at 9 Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens play oldschool 1960s style gospel at the Fat Cat.

Saturdays in March at 3 PM at Bargemusic there are impromptu free classical concerts, usually solo piano or small chamber ensembles: if you get lucky, you’ll catch pyrotechnic violinist/music director Mark Peskanov and/or the many members of his circle. Early arrival advised.

Saturdays eclectic compelling Brazilian jazz chanteuse Marianni and her excellent band at Zinc Bar, three sets starting at 10 PM.

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

Sundays 1 PM-ish, bluegrass cats Freshly Baked (f.k.a. Graveyard Shift), featuring excellent, incisive fiddle player Diane Stockwell and an A-list of players play a brunch show at Southern Hospitality 645, 9th Ave at 45th St.

Weekly Sunday organ concerts continue (with holidays excepted) at St. Thomas Church, 53rd/5th Ave. at 5:15 PM, an international parade of A-list organists looking to give the mighty 1913 Skinner organ here a sendoff before it’s replaced.

Every Sunday at 5 PM, New York Music Daily present the Sunday Salon at Zirzamin (in the old Zinc Bar space on Houston at LaGuardia, downstairs).  An A-list of New York songwriters and instrumentalists work up new material and cross-pollinate in a comfortable, musician-friendly space. There’s no cover, and at the end of the salon, there’s a 45-minute set by a rotating cast of topnotch New York and international songwriters and composers. A special doublebill on 3/3 starts at 6 with haunting a-cappella Balkan vocal trio Black Sea Hotel followed by the always dangerous Lorraine Leckie & Her Demons playing her Canadian gothic rock. 3/10 we’ve got inscrutably intense, eclectic Americana rock siren Raquel Bell from Mesiko and Normal Love; 3/17 cellist/multi-instrumentalist Serena Jost plays her lush, poignant, richly tuneful chamber pop and art-rock; 3/24 cosmopolitan country siren Drina Seay and her brilliant band; 3/31 diverse, wry Americana songwriter and lead guitarist to the stars of the underground  Homeboy Steve Antonakos; 4/7 Charming Disaster featuring dark chamber pop maven Jeff Morris (from Kotorino) with Elia Bisker from Sweet Soubrette; 4/14 powerhouse soul/indie rock songwriter Katie Elevitch; 4/21 elegant, smart country-pop songwriter Sharon Goldman; 4/28 sharply lyrical, theatrical, intense, literate acoustic rocker Walter Ego and more TBA.

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.

Sundays in March , 8/11 PM the ferocious, intense Arturo O’Farrill Latin Jazz Orchestra plays Birdland, $30 seats avail.

Sundays 3/3 through 3/24, 8:30/10 PM purist guitarist Peter Mazza – who gets the thumbs up from bop-era legend Gene Bertoncini – leads a series of groups at the Bar Next Door.

Three Sundays in March, 3/10, 17 and 24, 9 PM a rare US residency at Barbes by French gypsy jazz guitar star Gael Rouillhac, whose repertoire also includes Monk and Messiaen

3/1, 5:30 PM intense, smart, purist Americana chanteuse Jan Bell at the American Folk Art Museum.

3/1, 7 PM the Greene Space’s non-exploitative battle of the bands continues with the Queens contingent: it’s probably going to come down to a duel between cosmopolitan siren Nicole Zuraitis and energetic acoustic Mexican folk-punk band Radio Jarocho , $15 incl. a glass of wine, $30 will get you open bar?!?

3/1, 7 PM torchy, eclectic North Carolina country chanteuse Jeanne Jolly and her band at the big room at the Rockwood. She sounds a little like Mary Lee Kortes.

3/1, 7 PM the Sad Bastards – Mo and Charlene from Spanking Charlene singing dark, sad songs by their Americana rock friends – at Zirzamin.

3/1, 7:30 PM Musica Mundana play an eclectic mix of nuevo tango classics at Drom, $10 tix avail.

3/1, 7:30 PM the MSM Jazz Orchestra with special guest Dave Liebman on alto sax play Miles Davis’ Miles Ahead in its entirety at Milowsky Hall at Manhattan School of Music, 120 Claremont Ave. uptown, $12/$7 stud/srs.

3/1, 8 PM high-energy 8-piece jug band Spuyten Duyvil at the Tribeca Performing Arts Ctr (the BMCC auditorium on Chambers west of West Broadway), $15

3/1, 8 PM eclectic Argentine bassist Pedro Giraudo leads his sextet at Barbes followed at 10 by slinky, moody, ethereally harmony-driven oldschool pan-Latin rockers Las Rubias Del Norte at Barbes.

3/1, 8 PM and continuing Don Cristóbal, Billy-Club Man: A Lorca-inspired musical puppet play with music from violinist extraordinaire Rima Fand with Avi Fox-Rosen, Quince Marcum, Kyle Sanna at the Abrons Arts Ctr on the LES. Don Cristobal is the Spanish equivalent of Punch (as in Punch and Judy) – this devious avant puppet show explores his subtler side. Additional performances are 3/2 at 3 and 8 PM and  3/3 at 5 PM, $20.

3/1, 8 PM a good drummerless doublebill: the Broken Reed Saxophone Quartet with the Uptown Brass Quintet at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 58 7th Ave at Lincoln Pl. (equivalent of DeGraw St), Park Slope

3/1, 8 PM a great party quadruplebill at Spike Hill: ska bands Bigger Thomas and the Rudie Crew open and close the night, respectively, with the heavy funk of Funkface and then the psychedelic MK Groove Orchestra in between, only $5.

3/1, 8 PM horn-fueled country jamband Yarn at Highline Ballroom, $12 adv tix rec.

3/1, 8 PM Mariel Roberts plays solo cello followed by bassist Lisa Dowling’s Concert Black and then Duo Orfeo with Joseph Ricker and Jamie Balmer at the Firehouse Space in Williamsburg

3/1, 9ish ferocoius, often hilarious oldtime blues/ragtime/punk rock powerhouse Molly Ruth at Brookyn Rod & Gun Club.

3/1, 9/10:30 PM bassist Petros Klampanis’ Contextual spans the best of Middle Eastern, classical and jazz with Lefteris Kordis, piano; John Hadfield, percussion; Maria Im, violin; Maria Manousaki, violin; Ljova Zhurbin, viola; Julia MacLaine, cello; Mavrothi Kontanis, oud; Hadar Noiberg,, flute at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink.

3/1, 9ish quirky, dark 90s indie legends (can an indie band be legendary?) the Eels at Webster Hall, $36.50 tix avail. at the Irving Plaza box ofc

3/1, 9 PM powerpop bandleader Mikal Evans plays the small room at the Rockwood.

3/1, 10 PM female-fronted garage punk gypsy music with Koshka at the Way Station in Ft. Greene.

3/1, 10 PM hilaroius, satirical Brooklyn stoner boogie rockers Mighty High at Hank’s

3/1, 10 PM eclectic, pensive, intense female-fronted Americana band the Sometime Boys at Branded Saloon in Ft. Greene

3/1, 10 PM Haley Bowery & the Manimals manhandle Blondie’s Parallell Lines all the way through at Grand Victory in Williamsburg, $8, should be a drunken good new wave time.

3/1, 10 PM wry country songsmith Alex Battles followed by the Four O’Clock Flowers with brilliant oldtimey blues guitarist Ernie Vega and Samoa Wilson from the Lonely Samoans at the Jalopy, $10. Battles is also at Hank’s on 3/13 at 9.

3/1, 10 PM Aima Moses plays roots reggae at Shrine.

3/1, 10:30 PM the Four O’Clock Flowers play blues, gospel, old folk tunes and more at the Postcrypt Coffeehouse.

3/2, 4:30 PM intense Eastern European jamband Raya Brass Band at Radegast Hall

3/2, 6 PM edgy literate Tom Waits-ish alt-country rockers Fist of Kindness followed by the video release show by Bollywood chanteuse Nishi at Drom, $10 adv tix rec; followed at 9:30 PM by ferocious violin-driven klezmer circus punks Golem at Drom, separate admission, $10

3/2, 6 PM violinist Tom Swafford with pianist Emile Blondel playing antique Americana and folk songs at Barbes followed at 8 by gypsy jazz guitarist Koran Agan and then at 10 by high-voltage Mexican polka crew Banda Sinaloense De Los Muertos.

3/2, 7 PM International Contemporary Ensemble (aka ICE) plays new works for percussion, tuba and trumpet by Martin Hiendl and Monica Duncan at the Kitchen, $15

3/2, 7:30 PM chamber-pop songwriter Matt Siffert plays with a string quartet. Don’t let the gentle voice fool you, he’s got bite and the arrangements are gorgeous. Similarly-inclined chanteuse Sasha Siem plays afterward.

3/2 ,7:30 PM popular Irish chamber-pop crooner Pierce Turner at Joe’s Pub, $23.

3/2, 7:30 PM fiery tenor saxophonist Lucas Pino’s No Net Nonet at Smalls

3/2, 8 PM intense, politically fueled, brilliant Americana rocker James McMurtry at City Winery, $25 standing room avail.

3/2 8 PM Jessica Pavone’s edgy third-stream indie classical/jazz/rock project Normal Love with Raquel Bell on vocals at the Stone

3/2, 8 PM Single Red Cent– who mix sharp, socially aware punk with a more atonal Gang of Four/Neighborhoods vibe – at Matchless, $10.

3/2, 8 PM, repeating 3/3 at 2 (two) PM, Mark Peskanov, violin; Evan Drachman, cello; Doris Stevenson, piano play Beethoven Sonata for violin and piano No. 4 in A minor, Op. 23; Schumann Fantasy Pieces for cello and piano, Op. 7; Kreisler Selections; Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud

3/2, 8:30/11 PM powerhouse percussionist Dende and band play the album release show for his new one Back to Bahia at SOB’s, email to get on the $10 list

3/2, 9 PM the original NYC metrobilly band, M Shanghai String Band at the Jalopy, $10. These guys (and girls) totally get it: “As machine-made, mistake-free music becomes the norm, the M Shanghai String Band creates music the way it used to be: heartfelt performances on the human scale, recorded live with a sense of dangerous abandon.” Amen.

3/2, 9 PM intense Argentinian neoromantic/tango/indie classical pianist Fernando Otero and chamber ensemble play the album release show for his haunting, lush new one Romance at the 92YTribeca, $12 adv tix very highly rec.

3/2, 9 PM Kotorino’s Jeff Morris and Sweet Soubrette’s Elia Bisker’s twistedly torchy noir cabaret project Charming Disaster at Pete’s

3/2, 9 PM entertaining ghoulabilly/noir Americana rockers the Cannibal Ramblers at Red Hook Bait & Tackle

3/2, 9 PM the Delorean Sisters– who play oldtimey versions of 80s cheeseball pop songs – at Sidewalk

3/2, 9/10:30 PM pianist Luis Perdomo leads an intriguing quartet with Miguel Zenon on alto sax, Mimi Jones on bass and Rodney Green on drums at the Jazz Gallery, $20

3/2, 9/10:30 PM  bop alto sax legend Dave Liebman works out some new stuff with an enticing band: Matt Vashlishan, saxophones;  Bobby Avey, piano;  Tony Marino, bass;  Alex Ritz, drums at Cornelia St. Cafe, $15 + $10 min.

3/2, 9:30 PM Nick Cave-influenced Nashville gothic/noir cabaret crooner Henry Wagons and band at Joe’s Pub, $15 adv tix rec

3/2, 9:30 PM torchy Iranian noir chanteuse Rana Farhan – whose interpretations of Rumi poems are legendary – at Caffe Vivaldi

3/2 delightfully retro 60s psychedelic/chamber pop songwriter Jacco Gardner at Death by Audio.

3/2, 10 PM psychedelic funk band Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds at Bowery Ballroom, $15 adv tix rec.

3/2, 10ish Big Star-influenced janglerockers the Nu-Sonics followed by third-wave ska legends the Scofflaws at Freddy’s

3/2, 10 PM what’s left of the Skatalites at Brooklyn Bowl, $10.

3/2, 10 PM elegant country bandleader Megan Palmer at 68 Jay St. Bar

3/2, 11 PM CBGB era psychedelic punk legends Band of Outsiders celebrate the release of their new live 7″ single Gods of Happenstance b/w Shakin’ All Over at the Ding Dong Lounge, 105th/Columbus on the upper west. The night these were recorded on the LES last year was a good one and both songs kick ass.

3/2, 11 PM House of Waters plays psychedelic worldbeat dulcimer music at the small room at the Rockwood

3/3, 4 PM charismatic Chinese pipa virtuoso/composer/singer Min Xiao-Fen‘s Blue Pipa Trio at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza, free.

3/3, 4-11 PM the annual New Music Bake Sale at Roulette with performances by a whole slew of indie classical/avant garde luminaries: Timo Andres, Iktus Percussion, West Fourth New Music Collective, Cadillac Moon Ensemble, Ensemble et al., ICE flutist Claire Chase, Newspeak chanteuse Mellissa Hughes, Guardian Alien and ZS, plus food, $10 cover includes a raffle ticket!

3/3, 4 (four) PM oldschool soul belter Nisha Asnani at at the small room at the Rockwood

3/3, 6 PM a briliant doublebill at Zirzamin with haunting, otherworldly Balkan a-cappella trio Black Sea Hotel – who create their own arrangements of centuries-old Bulgarian folk songs – followed by Canadian gothic songstress Lorraine Leckie at 7.

3/3, 6 PM pianist William Sussman performs selections from Quiet Rhythms, his album of miniatures plus a live to picture performance of the film Native New Yorker – shot with a 1924 Kodak camera before, during and after 9/11 – with multi-wind instrumentalist Demetrius Spaneas at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink

3/3, 7 PM tromboniost Ryan Keberle & Catharsis at Barbes followed at 9 by gypsy guitar sensation Stephane Wrembel .

3/3, 8 PM multi-reedman Steven Lugerner with the always scary-good Myra Melford (piano) Stephanie Richards (trumpet) Matt Wilson (drums) at the Stone, $10

3/3, 8:30 PM third-stream pianist Julian Shore and his quartet at Caffe Vivaldi

3/3, 9ish the Bakersfield Breakers play surf and twangy rock instrumentals at Rodeo Bar

3/3, 9 PM Annabella Lwin’s legendary 80s new wave band Bow Wow Wow at Grand Victory in Williamsburg, $20, no joke.

3/3, 9:30 PM oldtimey music maven Bliss Blood’s torchy noir duo project Evanescent at Pete’s

3/3, 10 PM the Moonlighters’ Bliss Blood’s creepy, torchy noir duo Evanescent at Pete’s. 3/8 at 8 they’re at Indian Road Cafe, 600 W 218th St in Inwood.

3/3, 11:30ish creepy, Cramps-y retro garage rockers X-Ray Eyeballs at Glasslands, $10

3/4, 8:30/10:30 PM Deanna Witkowski on vocals and keys with Marco Panascia on bass and Scott Latsky on drums at the Bar Next Door, $12.

3/4, 8 PM guitarist Matt Davis’ Aerial Photograph chamber jazz project at Tea Lounge in Park Slope, free

3/4, 11ish intriguing dreampop/shoegaze band Ice Cream at Death by Audio, $7

3/5, 7 PM pensive, dark Americana/country blues songwriter Jeffrey Foucault followed by Peter Mulvey – whose new album sandwiches Ellington between Waits and Jolie Holland’s Old Time Morphine – at the big room at the Rockwood, $15

3/5, 7 PM the Enso String Quartet play a program TBA at Barbes followed at 9 by Slavic Soul Party

3/5-6, 7:30/9:30 PM longtime Buddy Montgomery collaborator and bandleader/drummer Killer Ray Appleton leads a hot postbop crew: Brian Lynch, trumpet; Peter Bernstein, guitar; Ian Hendrickson-Smith, alto sax; Todd Herbert, tenor sax; Rick Germanson, piano; Robert Sabin, bass; Little Johnny Rivero, congas at the Jazz Standard

3/5-6, 7:30/9:30 PM artsy, torchy jazz/oldtimey songbird/saxophonist Grace Kelly leads a quintet at Dizzy’s Club, $30 tix avail.

3/5, 7:30 PM klezmer jazz improv supergroup Leviticus: Michael Winograd, Daniel Blacksberg, Todd Nuefeld, Tyshawn Sorey at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, 30 W 68th St. (Columbus/CPW), $15

3/5, 8:30 PM saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, plays the album release show for her new one with a killer band: Mary Halvorson, guitar; Kris Davis:, piano; Sean Conly, bass; Tom Rainey, drums at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink

3/5, 8:30/10:30 PM Bria Skonberg on trumpet with Matt Munisteri on guitar and Sean Cronin on bass at the Bar Next Door, $12

3/6, 7 PM pyrotechnic, charismatic, amusing avant pianist Kathleen Supove performs works by Brooklyn contemporary composers Randall Woolf, Matt Marks, Missy Mazzoli and Lainie Fefferman at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.

3/6 9ish wry inspired microtonally-infused improvisation with Giacomo Merega and his band: Noah Kaplan, saxophones; Brian Drye, trombone; Mike Pride, drums at Korzo, $10

3/6, 9:30 PM torchy, dynamic retro soul/country/southwestern gothic chanteuse Julia Haltigan, at the big room at the Rockwood

3/6, 9:30 PM rustic oldtime upbeat swing/country blues bandleader Woody Pines at Hill Country, free. 3/15 he’s at the Rodeo at around 10:30.

3/6., 10 PM intense, torchy but rocking noir art-rock songwriter Daphne Lee Martin at the Way Station in Ft. Greene

3/6, 10 PM quirky, carnivalesque steampunk rock band Not Waving but Drowning at Pete’s

3/6, 10 PM the Cookers’ trumpeter David Weiss with his Point of Departure quintet at Drom, $15

3/7, 6 PM viola music by notable New York women composers, including Ursula Mamlok, Ruth Schoenthal, Marion Bauer, Rebecca Clarke, and Inessa Zaretsky played by Ann Roggen, viola; Nelson Padgett, piano; and guest artist Jo Ann Sternnerg, clarinet at the NYPL for the Performing Arts, Amsterdam Ave betw 65/66

3/7, 7:30 PM popular Irish rockers Lunasa at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, get there early.

3/7-10, 7:30/9:30 PM drummer Antonio Sanchez leads a dynamite group with David Binney – alto; Donny McCaslin – tenor; John Escreet – piano; Orlando le Fleming – b ass;Thana Alexa – Vocals at the Jazz Standard.

3/7, 8 PM dark, charismatic, deviously witty literate keyboardist/chanteuse Rachelle Garniez plays a birthday show at Barbes at 8 followed at 10 by the No Small Money Brass Band playing Ghanian Ewe dance music.

3/7, 8 PM French chanteuse and Pascal Parisot collaborator Fredda at Shrine – she’s at Barbes the following night 3/8, same time and then at Drom on 3/9 at 7 opening for desert blues sensations Terakaft for $15.

3/7, 8 PM pensive Americana songwriter Donna Susan at Otto’s. Raised on punk, inspired by country, more honest and haunting than any of the newbies recently relocated to Bushwick.

3/7, 8:30 PM melodic, sometimes cinematic trombonist John Yao and his quintet with Jon Irabagon, alto, soprano saxophone; Randy Ingram, piano; Leon Boykins, bass; Will Clark, drums at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink Followed at 10 (separate adm) by bassist William Brendler leading a first-class band with Rich Perry, tenor sax; Peter Evans, trumpet; Peter Brendler, bass, comp.; Vinnie Sperrazza, drums, same deal

3/7, 9ish irreverent oldschool Williamsburg vocal jazz crew the Old Rugged Sauce at Brooklyn Rod & Gun Club.

3/7, 9 PM Seth Kessel & the Two Cent Band play bustling, sometimes snidely amusing oldtimey-style swing and gypsy jazz at Radegast Hall.

3/7, 9/10:30 PM accordionist Gregorio Uribe’s Big Band at Zinc Bar

3/7, 11 PM haunting, intense Nashville gothic chanteuse Kerry Kennedy and band at Fontana’s, $7.

3/7, 111ish raucous Balkan horn band Bad Credit No Credit at the Cameo Gallery, $10.

3/8, 7 PM Argentinian surf/cumbia act Simja followed at 8 by French chanteuse Fredda and then at 10 by psychedelic funk band the People’s Champs at Barbes.

3/8, 7 PM bewitching, haunting all-female Balkan a-cappella trio Black Sea Hotel at Spectrum on Ludlow St.

3/8, 7 PM jazz chanteuse Alicia Olatuja – oh say can you see at Obama’s inauguration…- with Jaleel Shaw on saxophone, Samora Pinderhughes on piano, David Rosenthal on guitar and Otis Brown III on drums at Joe’s Pub. She’s also here on 3/22, $12 adv tix a must.

3/8, 7:30 PM the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra with pianist Hiromi Hanafusa play works by Ravel, Weill, Nishamura, Galante and the premiere of Gary S. Fagin’s Suite from Mahagonny at the Schimmel Center at Pace Univ., 3 Spruce St. downtown, $35.

3/8, 8 PM intense, lyrically brilliant , quirky two-keyboard 80s-style art-rock/new wave revivalists Changing Modes open the Armory Night art show at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Bedford Ave. at Broadway, J/M to Marcy Ave.

3/8, 8 PM Ensemble mise-en (whose name in Korean equates to “decorating beautifully”) play NY and world premieres including  Isang Yun: Distanzen for wind quintet and string quintet (NY premiere)Hans Abrahamsen: Walden for wind quintet; Karen Power: cold or hot bean slurper for chamber orchestra (world premiere); Eric Lyon: Noise Variations for chamber orchestra (world premiere) EunHye Park: The Morning Star for flute solo (US premiere) at the Tenri Cultural Ctr.,43A W 13th St, $15/$10srs./$5 stud.

3/8, 9 PM soaring, intense original Americana with Jan Bell & the Maybelles at Red Hook Bait & Tackle.

3/8, 9ish Irish drinking music with Shilelagh Law at Connolly’s.

3/8, 9ish Marc Ribot bassist Shahzad Ismaily, violinist Jessica Pavone, hazy psychedelic Americana rockers Mesiko and others at Sycamore Bar in Ditmas Park, $10.

3/8, 9/10:30 PM John McNeil and Jeremy Udden’s tuneful, Americana-inflected Hush Money – John McNeil, trumpet; Jeremy Udden, alto, c melody sax; Aryeh Kobrinski, bass; Vinnie Sperrazza, drums at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink.

3/8, 9:30 PM rustic Americana and darkly torchy punk/jazz-inspired songwriting with Ian Link and Cal Folger Day at the Postcrypt Coffeehouse.

3/8, 10 PM deviously charismatic, eclectic gypsy punk band Kagero at the Way Station in Ft. Greene. They’re at Radegast Hall the following afternoon at 3 – yikes

3/8, 10 PM impassioned yet wickedly subtle, politically conscious oldschool-style soul crooner Preachermann & the Revival – best known for his 2007 album Negroes Stay Crunchy in Milk – at Shrine. Sort of the missing link between late-period Marvin Gaye and Gil Scott-Heron.

3/8, 10:30 PM wild bluegrass trio Big Eyed Rabbit at the Jalopy, $10.

3/8, 11 PM Boston’s phenomenal, creepy horror surf crew Beware the Dangers of a Ghost Scorpion at Public Assembly, $8.

3/9, 2 (two) PM pyrotechnic ragtime/stride pianist-songwriter Jack Spann followed by sharp, satirical, catchy, sardonically funny powerpop Beatlesque/Costelloesque songwriter Walter Ego at the National Undergound

3/9, 4 PM an eclectic early-evening triplebill at Pete’s: psychedelic/powerpop guitar maven Pete Galub followed at 5 by veteran indie bandleader/curmudgeon Franklin Bruno and then at 6 by haunting jazz/atmospheric pianist Matt Kanelos at Pete’s

3/9, 7 PM eclectic Persian oud virtuoso Naseer Shamma and Al-Oyoun Ensemble preceded by the premiere of a new work performend by the brilliant NYC-based Alwan Ensemble at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Rogers Auditorium, $25. If you can’t make it to the show, it will be simulcast live here.

3/9, 7 PM Fremch chanteuse Fredda opens for desert blues sensations Terakaft – making their US debut – at Drom, $15 adv tix highly rec, door price is the same but this will probably sell out. The spectacular, funky, electric NY Gypsy All-Stars play for free afterward around 11, rsvp reqd

3/9, 7 PM up-and-coming baroque/early music ensemble Grand Harmonie plays Weber: Overture to Der Freischütz; Mozart: Divertimento in D, K131 and Symphonie Concertante for Four Winds, K297b; Schubert, Symphony no.8 “Unfinished” at Abigail Adams Auditroium, 417 E 61st St. (1st/York), $35/$20 std/srs

3/9, 8 PM theatrical Persian Jewish rock act Charming Hostess followed at 10ish by the increasingly dark, southwestern gothic-influenced Jack Grace Band at Barbes. Grace is also at the Ear Inn on 3/11 at midnight and at Rodeo Bar on 3/14 at 10:30ish.

3/9, 8 PM choral group Cantori New York plus violist Nadia Sirota, baritone David Kravitz, English horn player Setsuko Otake, alto flutist Karla Moe play premieres and works by Lisa Bielawa, Mohammed Fairouz, Shawn Crouch and Piotr Moss at the DiMenna Center, 450 W 37th St, , repeating 3/10 at 3 PM at Park Avenue Christian Church, 1010 Park Ave, $25/$20 srs/$5 stud.

3/10, 8:30 PM trippy sax loop music with Johnny Butler at Pete’s

3/9, 9 PM Peruvian chicha (amazing psychedelic surf rock) revivalists Bareto at Stage 48 in Hell’s Kitchen, $25 adv tix rec.

3/9, 9 PM dark Americana songwriter Jessie Kilguss at Red Hook Bait & Tackle.

3/9, 9 PM wry, tuneful, eclectic Nashville gothic band Maynard & the Musties at Hank’s. 3/25 they’re at Rodeo Bar

3/9, 9 PM eerie microtonal blues with Jane Lee Hooker at Arlene’s. They’re also at Shrine on 3/13 at 9 for free

3/9, 9:30ish dark metal cumbia/gypsy-punk dancefloor pandemonium with Escarioka at Mehanata.

3/9, 9:30 PM wickedly fun Staten Island oldtimey party band the Wahoo Skiffle Crazies at Union Hall, $8.

3/9., 9:30 PM sitarist Dawoud plays his hypnotic, enveloping ambient soundscapes at BAM Cafe, free.

3/9, 9:30 PM dark 80s style keyboardist/songwriter Kristin Hoffmann at Caffe Vivaldi.

3/9, 10:30 PM mini-sets by the John Sharples Band playing obscure brilliant covers, literate janglerock siren Paula Carino and crazy Beefheart cover band Admiral Porkbrain at Freddy’s.

3/9, 11ish moody, hypnotically jangly, female-fronted dreampop rockers Butter the Children at Big Snow Buffalo Lodge in Bushwick.

3/9, 11 PM Royal Khaoz play roots reggae at Otto’s

3/10, 2 (two) PM the Apollo Trio play Mozart Piano Trio in G Major, K. 564; Rachmaninoff Trio elégiaque in G minor; Schubert Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major, D. 929 at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud

3/10, 3 PM the Greenwich Village Orchestra with Pierre Vallet, guest conductor and David Heiss, cello play an all-Tchaikovsky program: the Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, Variations on a Rococo Theme and the Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique” at the Old Stuyvesant Campus, 345 E 15th St (between 1st/2nd Aves), $15 sugg don.

3/10, 3 PM Vladimir Jurowski conducts the London Philharmonic with Vadim Repin, violin performing Shostakovich/s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Beethoven’s 5th Symphony at Avery Fisher Hall, $35 tix avail.

3/10, 4 PM the Chiara Quartet and pianist Simone Dinnerstein perform Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major, Henri Dutilleux’s String Quartet ‘Ainsi La Nuit’ and Dvorák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Majorl children under the age of 6 will not be admitted, .at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.

3/10, 4 PM a choral performance of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vespers at First Presbyterian Church, 12th St/5th Ave.

3/10, 7 PM dark Americana/noir/punk chanteuse Raquel Bell – of  late great art-rockers Norden Bombsight, now with Normal Love and Mesiko – at Zirzamin after the Sunday Salon.

3/10, 7 PM a homage to Turkish folk/classical music legend I.lhan Mimaroglu featuring Aysegül Durakoglu, Ilhan Ersahin, I.smail Lumanovski and special guests at Drom , free w/rsvp.

3/10, 8:30 PM guitarist Gerard Edery interprets the poetry and music of Argentinian folk music hero Atahualpa Yupanqui at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 incl. a drink

3/11, 7 PM the NYU Chamber Ensembles play Philip Glass, Iannis Xenakis and others at the NYU Loewe Theatre, 35 West 4th St, free Philip Glass cd to all audience members

3/11, 7:30/9:30 PM luminous, lyrical pianist Amina Figarova and her lush sextet at Dizzy’s Club, $30 seats avail.

3/11, 7:30 PM a 3/11 memorial concert violinist Erika Mitsui performing classical works on a violin made from tsunami debris plus the U.S. premiere of pianist and visual artist Tomoko Mukaiyama’s Nocturne; “samples of a children’s choir from the area of the tsunami singing school songs are threaded throughout, and the entire piece unfolds against striking video images captured from the devastated region.” Mukaiyama also plays works by Rzewski, Sciarrino, Ligeti, Somei Satoh, at the Japan Society, 333 E 47th St between 1st and 2nd Aves, $20.

3/11, 7:30 PM saxophonist Christoph Pepe Auer leads a trio with accordionist Christian Bakanic and pianist Tigran Himayasan playing originals inspired by Schubert at the Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 E 52nd St., free, res. req.

3/11, 8 PM oldschool soul/funk band Empire Beats fronted by sultry chanteuse Camille Atkinson at the Parkside. They’re also here on 3/25.

3/11, 8 PM excellent, dark lo-fi blues duo A Brief View of the Hudson at the Way Station in Ft. Greene.

3/11, 9ish klezmer group Psoy Korolenko followed by deviously smart, intensely tuneful contemporary klezmer rockers Daniel Kahn & the Painted Bird at the Gramercy Theatre, $29 tix avail. at the Irving Plaza box ofc.

3/11, 9 PM the 17-piece Neal Kirkwood Big Band playing theatrical, Ellington-inspired originals at Tea Lounge in Park Slope, free.

3/11, 9ish M Shanghai banjoist/songwriter Hilary Hawke & the Flipsides at St. Mazie’s (the old Rose Bar) in Williamsburg

3/11, 9ish the Wilson Daniel Band backing oldschool bachata legends Edilio Paredes and Leonardo Paniagua plus Andre Veloz at SOB’s, $12

3/12, half past noon Nashville organist Anthony Williams at Central Synagogue, 54th/Lex, free.

3/12, 5:30 PM Ensemble Signal plays Berio Sequenzas and other works at the Miller Theatre, free.

3/12, 6:30 PM haunting southwestern gothic rock from former Industrial Tepee frontman Tom Shaner and band at the Mercury, $10

3/12, 7 PM eclectic Balkan jazz trumpeter Ben Holmes leads a quartet witth Curtis Hasselbring (trombone), Vinnie Sperrazza (drums), and Matt Pavolka (bass) opening for Slavic Soul Party at Barbes.

3/12, 7 PM, hypnotic, gorgeous Turkish sufi improvisations with baglama lute and vocals from virtuoso Erdal Erzincan at Elebash Hall, 365 5th Ave (bet. 34th and 35th St), $25/$20 stud.

3/12, 7 PM, repeating 3/17, same time Opera Hispánica presents Astor Piazzolla’s tango operetta “Maria de Buenos Aires”, performers TBA at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix avail.

3/12, 7 PM the Chiara String Quartet play Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major, Dvorák’s Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 with pianist Simone Dinnerstein at PS321 | 180 7th Avenue | Brooklyn, $15

3/12, 7:30 PM a sizzling klezmer evening with violinist Alicia Svigals, accordionist Patrick Farrell, clarinetist Michael Winograd amd tuba virtuoso Don Godwin at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, 30 W. 68th St. (Columbus/CPW), $15.

3/12 AfroHORN: the 3rd Incarnation with Sam Newsome – soprano saxophone; Abraham Burton – tenor; Aruan Ortiz – piano; Rufus Reid – bass; Roman Diaz – percussion; Francisco Mora–Catlett – drums 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $20.

3/12-17, 8/10:30 PM oldschool Cuban salsa-jazz sensations Juan de Marcos and the Afro-Cuban All-Stars at the Blue Note, $30 standing room avail.

3/12, 8 PM smart. pensive, sometimes southwestern gothic-tinged songwriter Maya Caballero followed at 9 by creepy art-song deconstructors/improvisers Dollshot at Pete’s.

3/12, 8 PM edgy improviation with Travis Reuter (guitar, compositions) Peter Evans (trumpet) Miles Okazaki (guitar) Jeremy Viner (tenor sax) Danny Sher (drums) at the Stone, $10.

3/12, 11 PM the wild, intense, electric NY Gypsy All-Stars at the big room at the Rockwood.

3/13 7 PM the Joe Brent/Kyle Sanna duo open for the Caswell Sisters’ chamber jazz album release show at Shapeshifter Lab, $10

3/13-14, 7:30 PM, repeating 3/15-16, 8 PM Alan Gilbert conducts the NY Philharmonic and choir performing Bach’s B Minor Mass at Avery Fisher Hall, $33 tix avail.

3/13 A-list drummer Clarence Penn leads a quartet with Chris Potter on tenor sax plus Adam Rogers on guitar and Ben Street on bass, 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $20.

3/13, 7:30 the Damocles Trio’s Adam Kent plays an evening of Spanish piano music by Mompou, Albéniz, Granados, Montsalvatge, Tania León, and Benet Casablancas at le Poisson Rouge, $15

3/13, 8 PM roots reggae legends Israel Vibration, still going strong since 1977, at B.B. King’s.

3/13, 8 PM a show by Piscean performers featuring, among others, irrepressible classical punk cellist Valerie Kuehne and headliners the all-female Tiptons Sax Quartet at Panoply Performance Lab, 104 Meserole St., Bushwick, J/M to Lorimer St.

3/13, 8 PM the Curtis Chamber Orchestra with Jennifer Koh, violin; Jaime Laredo, violin/conductor play Bach, Glass, Clyne, Ludwig at the Miller Theatre, $35

3/13, 8 PM saxophone powerhouse Jason Robinson leads his Janus Quartet at Barbes, note $10 cover.

3/13, 8 PM Stone-style improvisation comes to Ft. Greene: Lotte Anker & Gerald Cleaver followed at 9:30 by Lotte Anker, Tim Berne, William Parker & Gerald Cleaver

at Jack, 505 1/2 Waverly Ave., between Fulton and Atlantic, C or G train to Clinton-Washington, $10 per set

3/13, 9 PMperennially fresh psychedelic punk/dreampop pioneers Band of Outsiders at Spike Hill.

3/13, 9:30ish tongue-in-cheek, period-perfect early 50s style country from Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. at Rodeo Bar.

3/13, 10 PM ferociously lyrical, punk/new wave flavored Hannah vs. the Many at Arlene’s, $8.

3/13, 10 PM psychedelic 60s-influenced latin soul with Damian Quinones and band at Freddy’s.

3/14, 7 PM hard-driving, eclectic tenor saxophonist Geoff Vidal leads a quartet with guitarist Nir Felder at Shapeshifter Lab, $10 followed at 9:30 by pianist Vadim Neselovskyi’s intriguing Agricultural Dreams vocal jazz project.

3/14, 7 PM indie classical ensemble Tempus Continuum plays Kyong Mee Choi’s elegy “For Those Who Left Us,” plus works by Jacob Ter Velduis, Messiaen and Tempus’s own Anne Goldberg, at Cornelia St. Cafe, $8 includes a drink.

3/14, 7:30 PM Turkish jazz chanteuse/pianist Ece Göksu at Drom, $10.

3/14, 7:30 PM cellist Michael Kannen and pianist Kyung Wha Chu play works by Fauré, Debussy, Schumann and Beethoven at WMP Concert Hall, $20/$10 stud

3/14, 8 PM the adventurous  Cassatt String Quartet continue their residency at Symphony Space, joined by Vermeer Quartet cellist Marc Johnson for the world premiere of a new Quintet by Daniel S. Godfrey, To Mourn, To Dance plus the Schubert Quintet, $30/$15 under 30

3/14, 8 PM powerpop cult favorite George Usher with chanteuse Lisa Burns at Zirzamin.

3/14, 8:30 PM smart, politically-fueled Irish rocker Niall Connolly at Hill Country, free.

3/14, 9 PM one of the year’s best doublebills: clarinet star Vasko Dukovski’s brilliant new gypsy/Balkan band TavChe GravChe with oud virtuoso Rachid Halihal followed by ten-piece Balkan brass jammers Veveritse Brass Band at the Jalopy, $10.

3/14, 9 PM oldtime hot swing jazz with Jason Prover & His Sneak Thievery Orchestra at Radegast Hall

3/14, 10 PM hypnotic psychedelic Americana rockers Mesiko at Bar 4 in Park Slope. They’re also at Brooklyn Rod & Gun Club on 3/22 at 9ish.

3/14, 10 PM a rare small club appearance by desert blues mavens Sway Machinery at Barbes.

3/14, 10 PM intense, noisy avant-punk percussionist/composer Eli Keszler at the Stone, $10.

3/15, 7 PM lush, hypnotic indie classical choir Roomful of Teeth at Spectrum

3/15 and 3/17, 7:30 PM Opera Hispánica presents “Maria de Buenos Aires”, the Piazzolla tango opera, players TBA, $15 standing room avail.

3/15, 7:30  PM the Attacca Quartet play Bartok’s String Quartet No. 6 at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, $15.

3/15, 7:30 PM violinist Miranda Cuckson, clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein, cellist Julia Bruskin and pianist Aaron Wunsch play music by Bach and Messiaen at WMP Concert Hall, $20

3/15, 7:30 PM the Rogério Boccato Quarteto plays bossa nova jazz at University Settlement, 184 Eldridge Street (at Rivington Street), free.

3/15, 8 PM smart, purist. lyrical acoustic pop songwriters Sharon Goldman and Carolann Solebello at Two Moon Art House & Café, 315 4th Avenue (between 2nd and 3rd Sts), Sunset Park, Brooklyn, $10

3/15, 8 PM Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble honors the first round of victims of 3/11 with music by Japanese composers Takemitsu, Sasaki, Kobayashi, Fukishima, Shimoyama plus Michael Schelle and Richard Auldon Clark at Symphony Space, $20.

3/15, 8 PM powerhouse jazz violist Mat Maneri’s Half Face with Lucian Ban (piano) and Diego Voglino (drums) followed at 10 by cumbia band Chia’s Dance Party.at Barbes.

3/15, 8 PM, repeating on 3/17 at 3 PM, Rob Schwimmer plays solo works for theremin, piano and continuo at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, $15/$10 stud/srs.

3/15, 8 PM guitarist Nels Cline and Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier play a duo set followed by a trio set with guitarist Mike Gamble at Shapeshifter Lab, $15

3/15, 8 PM irrepressible punk-classical cellist Valerie Kuehne at the Stone, $10

3/15, 8:30 PM the Chelsea Symphony plays Brody: Drones, the peaceful kind (World Premiere); Brahms: Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor, Op. 102 – Amanda Lo, Violin, Oliver Hsu, Cello; Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 “Classical” at St. Paul’s Church at 315 West 22nd Street. The program repeats at 7:30 PM on 3/16, switching out the Brahms for the Beethoven Concerto for Violin in D major, Op. 61, $25 sugg don.

3/15, 9 PM satirical all-female urban country trio Menage a Twang at Union Hall, $10

3/15, 9/10:30 PM powerhouse pianist Bobby Avey – who has a sensationally good new solo album out – with his quartet feat. Chris Speed, tenor sax; Thomson Kneeland, bass; Jordan Perlson, drums at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink.

3/15, 9 PM bluegrass bandleader Conor Mulroy at Desmond’s.

3/15, 9:30 PM trumpeter Gabriel Alegria and his Afro-Peruvian Sextet at Drom, $20 adv tix rec; followed afterward at midnight by Colombian punk rockers MAKU Soundsystem, $10 separate adm

3/15, 10 PM hypnotic Americana nocturnes with Hem at the Bell House, $20.

3/15, 10ish Louisville early 80s style noise-punk band Anwar Sadat at Death by Audio, $7.

3/15, 11 PM the crazy, tight, fun-as-hell, satirical Kill the Band at Sidewalk – catch them here before you have to pay the big bucks at the Bell House etc.

3/15, 11 PM a rootsy night with the Reggay Lords, the rocksteady Bluebeats and dark 90s ska favorites Mephiskapheles at the Mercury, $15 adv tix rec.

3/15, 11 PM acoustic folk-punk band the Drinkers Themselves at Matchless.

3/16 Connolly’s at 14 E. 47th celebrates St Patrick’s with acoustic Irish punks Box of Crayons in the AM & the Druids and Kellys Men later in the afternoon, you might just want to show up and see what’s happening.

3/16, 3 PM the East of the River Ensemble explores medieval music of the Mediterranean, Balkans, and Middle East at Flushing Town Hall, $25.

3/16, 4 and 8 PM Streams of Whiskey plays classic Pogues covers at Lucille’s, $15 adv tix rec

3/16, 4 PM oldschool-style vallenato punk legends Very Be Careful at El Museo Del Barrio,1230 Fifth Avenue (at 104th St, rsvp req at elmuseo.org 

3/16, 5 PM a rare acoustic show by smart, tuneful, lyrical female-fronted powerpop/janglerock band Delusions of Grand Street at Pete’s.

3/16, 6 PM torchy, deviously literate Americana songcharmer Robin Aigner & Parlour Game at Barbes

3/16, 7 PM intense, tuneful, eclectic trombonist Reut Regev plays the CD release show for her new one Exploring the Vibe with her band followed at 8:15 by tuneful, moody piano jazz with Julian Shore and his quintet at Shapeshifter Lab, $10

3/16, 7 PM the Big Road Blues Band play oldtime country blues and ragtime followed by delta blues guitarist Pork Chop Willie, Puerto Rican bomba/plena dance band Plena Sin Fronteras, and blues/barrelhouse pianist David Bennett Cohen (ex-Country Joe & the Fish) at Big Road in Chelsea, 235 W 23rd St, 2nd floor $10.

3/16, 7:15 PM hypnotic, intense, rustic minor-key blues/klezmer/reggae jam band Hazmat Modine at Terra Blues. They’re also here on 3/30.

3/16, 8 PM Persian classical crooner Hamid Al Saadi at the Church of St. John the Divine.

3/16, 8 PM 8/10 PM 60s all-girl bandleader turned 70s blue eyed soul legend Genya Ravan – who’s still got her powerful pipes – at Maxwell’s with her band, $15.

3/16, 8 PM bassist Adam Lane’s Blue Spirit Band with Roy Campbell: trumpet, Avram Fefer: sax, Michael Wimberly: drums play American spirituals, blues, and ballads at the Firehouse Space in Williamsburg

3/16 hot oldtime blues band the Fascinators feat. brilliant guitarist Lenny Molotov at the Way Station in Ft. Greene

3/16, 8 PM a one-of-a-kind pugilistic music event (no, not the kind you get at hardcore shows) 10 to 12-minute sets of 3-minute chamber music pieces played by guerrilla indie classical outfit International Street Cannibals alternating with 9-minute boxing bouts of 3 rounds each. “60-second thematic interludes that can involve music and/or movement will serve as transitions between the boxing rounds. Performances will take place in the three main rings of the gym, contributing to a theater-in-the-round effect.” A dance performance is also part of the deal. at Gleason’s Gym, 77 Front St in Dumbo,  $20/$15 for gym members

3/16, 8 PM high-energy oldtime-style string band the Down Hill Strugglers at 68 Jay St. Bar.

3/16, 8/10 PM John Zorn and members of his ever-expanding circle play a benefit on his home turf at the Stone, $25.

3/16, 9 PM the bilingual, bluesy Gotham Roots Orchestra play their “anti-stupid” Ameicana songs at Hill Country

3/16, 9 PM guerrilla funkstress/bassist Shelley Nicole’s Blakbushe at BAM Cafe, free.

3/16, 10:30 PM twisted carnivalesque gypsy rock with the Little Top Circus & Medicine Show feat. members of the Hot Sardines at Union Hall, $8.

3/16, 10:30 PM hellraising vallenato punk band Very Be Careful at Littlefield, $12

3/17, 11 AM (eleven in the morning) Alina Ibragimova, violin and Cédric Tiberghien, piano play Schubert: Sonata in A major, D.574 and Beethoven: Violin Sonata in A major, Op. 47 (“Kreutzer”) at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center, $22 tix avail.

3/17, 4 PM violinist Rolfe Schulte and pianist Judith Olson play Beethoven and Janacek sonatas at at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza, free.

3/17, 3/19 and 3/23, 5 (five) PM the Jerusalem Quartet play the Shostakovich Quartet cycle at March 17, 19 & 23 at Alice Tully Hall, $35 tix avail.

3/17, 5 PM Evelyne Luest, piano; Nurit Pacht, violin; David Bekamjian, cello; Dalia Sakas, piano, Benjamin Metrick, piano; Bill Anderson, guitar, Oren Fader, guitar; Virginia Kaykoff, viol; accompanied by choir and stage actors/actresses perform works by Bach, Georges Bizet, Frank Brickle, Bill Anderson, John Dowland, and Aaron Kernis  at the Lounge at Hudson View Gardens, 128 Pinehurst Ave at 183rd St., $12 sugg don, reception to follow.

3/17, 6 PM avant garde piano star Sarah Cahill plays minimalist works by William Duckworth and Ann Southam at Roulette, $15/$10 stud.

3/17, 6 PM the intriguing Bonnie Kane/Chris Welcome sax/guitar improv duo at
Downtown Music Gallery, free.’

3/17, 7 PM luminous, intense, inscrutable art-rock chanteuse/cellist/multi-instrumentalist Serena Jost at Zirzamin after the Sunday Salon.

3/17, 7 PM theatrical oldtimey songwriting from Poor Baby Bree and then the queen of Coney Island phantasmagoria, Carol Lipnik & Spookarama at Joe’s Pub, $15.

3/17, 7 PM acoustic punk/blues/oldtimey songwriter Painless Parker followed at 8 PM by the Waysties at the Way Station in Ft. Greene.

3/17, 8 PMpsychedelic country/blues/bluegrass band American String Conspiracy followed at 9 by noir NYC rock legend LJ Murphy and band at Hank’s.

3/17, 8 PM timeless, politically-fueled, catchy-as-hell Celtic punk/anthemic rock legends Black 47 at B.B. King’s.

3/17, 8 PM Turkish folk music maven Brenna MacCrimmon leads a trio playing ancient classics with Phaedon Sinis – kemenche, kanun; Adam Good – oud, tambura at Barbes.

3/17, 8 PM King Tappa plays roots reggae at Shrine.

3/17, 8:30 PM intense New England Conservatory-schooled third-stream improvisation with Tanya Kalmanovitch, violin, viola; Ted Reichman, accordion; Anthony Coleman, piano at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink.

3/17, 8:30/10:30 PM this year’s 40th anniversary of the New England Conservatory’s improvisation program opens auspiciously with the Tanya Kalmanovitch/Anthony Coleman/Ted Reichman Trio at the Cornelia Street Café, $10 plus $10 min.

3/17, 9 PM brilliant lead guitarist Keith Otten – from Nashville gothic rockers Ninth House and others – plays a RARE solo show at 2A upstairs

3/17, 9ish Irish/Indian dancefloor band Delhi 2 Dublin and ecstatic Eastern European dance mashups with Balkan Beat Box at Webster Hall, $28.50 tix avail. at the Irving Plaza box ofc

3/17, 9:30 PM multi-reedman Jon de Lucia’s Luce Trio with guitarist Ryan Ferreira and bassist Chris Tordini at Shapeshifter Lab

3/17-18, 10 PM the perennially relevant Talib Kweli and band at Brooklyn Bowl, $15.

3/18, 6:30 PM Angela Davis (the young one) on alto sax with Linda Oh on bass and Jeremy Noller on drums at the Bar Next Door, free.

3/18, 7 PM the Orion String Quartet play music of Mozart, Schubert, and Ravel to accompany a Bill T. Jones dance performance at the Greene Space, $25.

3/18, 7:30 PM the East Coat Chamber Orchestra (ECCO) plays Mozart: Divertimento for Strings in F Major, K. 138; Britten: Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10; Purcell : Selected Fantasias; Bartók: Divertimento for String Orchestra, Sz. 113, BB 118 at Music Mondays at Advent/ Broadway Church, 2504 Broadway at 93rd St., free

3/18, 8 PM popular fado chanteuse Ana Moura at City Winery, $25 standing room avail.

3/18, 9 PM postpunk guitar legends Band of Outsiders at Spike Hill.

3/18, 9 PM the eclectic Delphian Jazz Orchestra explore sounds inspired by Ellington and Monk as well as Zappa and Stravinsky at Tea Lounge in Park Slope, free

3/18, 9 PM intense Turkish/klezmer/gypsy rockers Raquy & the Cavemen at the Cameo Gallery, $10.

3/18, 11:30ish brooding, jangling southwestern gothic rock with And the Wiremen at the Delancey upstairs.

3/19, 7 PM tenor saxophonist Stan Killian leads a quartet with Ben Monder, guitar; the Aardvarks’ Bryan Copeland, bass; Darrell Green, drums at 55 Bar, free

3/19, 7:30 PM tuneful, intense Dave Brubeck-influenced third-stream piano jazz with Matt Herskowitz at Drom, $TBA.

3/19 drummer Johnathan Blake leads his Eleventh Hour band with Jaleel Shaw – alto saxophone; Mark Turner – tenor saxophone; Luis Perdomo – piano; Ben Street – bass 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $20

3/19, 7:30 PM a klezmer party with Tantshoyz at at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, 30 W. 68th St. (Columbus/CPW), $15.

3/19, 8 PM the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensembe with special guest Joe Bowie play Bowie’s big band funk at Shapeshifter Lab

3/19, 8 PM Ensemble Sospeso plays Simon Bainbridge’s Bosch-inspired Garden of Earthly Delights and Lewis Nielson’s prophetic, theatrical, Orwellian Those Who Do Not Move at Roulette, $15/$10 stud.

3/19, 10ish dark, tuneful, Americana/soul-inspired piano jazz band Hee Hawk at Two Moon Art House & Cafe, 315 4th Ave. Sunset Park, Brooklyn; 3/20 they’re at the Parkside at 9

3/20, time/price TBA, cutting-edge chamber ensemble ACME and haunting Americana/indie/slowcore band Low share a bill at the NY Society for Ethical Culture

3/20, 7 PM wild Portland, Oregon bluegrass crew Foghorn Stringband at Zirzamin.

3/20, 7:30 PM volinist Natasha Lipkina and pianist Margrit Zimmermann play fantastical works by Couperin, Messiaen, Satie, Pärt, Schoenberg and Schubert at WMP Concert Hall, $20/$10 stud.

3/20 Chilean jazz chanteuse/guitarist Camila Meza leads a quartet with Aaron Goldberg – piano; Ben Williams – bass; Clarence Penn – drums 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $20.

3/20, 8ish dark sweeping female-fronted art-rockers Bee & Flower at Grand Victory in Williamsburg, $8

3/20, 8 PM this year’s New England Conservatory celebration continues with a powerhouse concert of Jewish and klezmer-fueled jazz feat. Frank London, Hankus Netsky, Greg Wall, Lily Henley, Marty Ehrlich, Matt Darriau, Anthony Coleman  at Symphony Space, $22 adv tix higly rec.

3/20 one of the world’s most exhilarating electric blues guitarists, Debbie Davies at Lucille’s, 8 PM, $10.

3/20, 10:30ish the NYCity Slickers play high-energy harmony-driven bluegrass at Rodeo Bar.

3/20, midnight tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger leads a high-energy postbop quartet with Glenn Zaleski – piano , Matt Pavolka – bass , Rob Garcia – drums at Smallls

3/21, 7 PM New England Conservatory alumns Matt Darriau, Frank London, Ashley Paul, Mat Maneri, Andrew Hock, Judith Berkson and special guests join forces for a night of improv at Barbes, note $10 cover.

3/21, two sets at 7/9 PM, “Bach Lounge” at the Greene Space with pianist Alessio Bax, guitarist Andrew McKenna Lee, a string section and more

3/21, 7 PM cellist Séverine Ballon plays works by Iannis Xenakis, Rebecca Saunders, Andrea Sarto and Kristian Ireland. at the Tank, $12

3/21, 7:30 PM mesmerizing Syrian chanteuse Gaida with her great band: oudist Zafer Tawil, pianist George Dulin, bassist Jennifer Vincent, and percussionist Tony DeVivo at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

3/21, 7:30 PM dark alt-country chanteuse Tift Merritt and classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein play songs from their reputedly amazing forthcoming art-rock album at Merkin Concert Hall, $25 adv tix a must, this will sell out.

3/21, 7:30 PM violinist Virgil Boutellis and pianist Larissa Sokoloff play works by Corelli, Paganini, Brahms, Bartók and Hersant at WMP Concert Hall, $20/$10 stud.

3/21, 8 PM surviving members of legendary 70s latin soul band the Ghetto Brothers reunite to celebrate the reissue of their obscure South Bronx classic album Power-Fuerza at the Bronx Heritage Center, 1303 Louis Niñé Blvd, Bronx, 2/3 to Freeman St., free

3/21, 8 PM pyrotechnic, colorful avant garde pianist Kathy Supove in Earth to Kathy, performing Flaming Pairs (premiere) by Eric Lyon; Dr. Gradus vs. Rev. Powell by Matt Marks; What Remains of a Rembrandt by Randall Woolf and Barnacles by Lainie Fefferman at Roulette $15/$10 stud.

3/21, 8 PM the Houston Astors – gotta love that name – play funk at Shrine followed by the diverse Middle Eastern worldbeat sounds of Khaled at 9.

3/21, 8:30/10:30 PM Jacam Manricks on alto saxophone with Des White on bass and Ross Pederson on srums at the Bar Next Door, $12.

3/21, 9 PM the Byzan-Tones’ George Sempepos, Quince Marcum and Wade Ripka play haunting old Greek acoustic blues and rembetiko at Espresso 77, 35-57 77th Street, Jackson Hts., free

3/21, 10 PM charismatic, lyrically brilliant oldtimey banjo songwriter Curtis Eller at Pete’s

3/21, 10 PM ferocious all-female noiserock trio Out of Order – whose new album, produced by powerpopmeister John Sharples, is off the hook – at Hank’s.

3/21, 10ish the weird, psychedelically fun Toys & Tiny Instruments play the album release show for their new one at Death by Audio followed eventually around midnight by loud Balkan-flavored horn band Bad Credit No Credit.

3/22-23, 5 PM Nicholas Canellakis (cello) and Michael Brown (piano) play works by Barber, Beethoven, Brown, Shostakovich, and Bulgarian folk music at the Metropolitan Museum of Art balcony bar, free w/museum adm

3/22, 7 PM pianist Nnaenna Ogwo, violinist Naho Tsutsui and cellist Maria Bella play music of Haydn, Rachmaninoff and Bartk at Third. St. Music School Settlement, free.

3/22, 7 PM the Barone-Keene Duo play classical guitar and piano music followed at 8 by alto saxophonist Pat Carroll leading a quartet with Glenn Zaleski – piano; Joe Sanders – bass; Colin Stranahan – drums and then by trumpeter John Raymond with his quartet: Shai Maestro – piano; Joe Martin – bass; Austin Walker – drums at Shapeshifter Lab

3/22, 8 PM dazzlingly eclectic virtuoso string ensemble Trio Tritticali play originals, Latin, Middle Eastern, jazz and clever pop/rock arrangements at Caffe at Freddys.

3/22, 9 PM noir cabaret sounds from Charming Disaster with Jeff Morris from Kotorino and Elia Bisker from Sweet Soubrette at Bar 4 in Park Slope

3/22, 8 PM pianist Jeremy Denk plays Bartók: Piano Sonata, Sz. 80; four diverse works by Liszt; Bach: Prelude and Fugue in B minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, BWV 869; and Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 at Carnegie Hall, peanut gallery seats $15.50 and up.

3/22, 8 PM intriguing dark indie folk group Colorform – who combine live painting with live music – at Arlene’s.

3/22, 9 PM haunting intense Balkan chanteuse Eva Salina Primack, who has a killer new solo album out, plays solo, then she sings with psychedelic Balkan rockers Choban Elektrik at Cool Pony, 733 Franklin Ave btw Sterling and Park Place, Ft. Greene,. $5/10 sugg don, BYOB.

3/22, 9/10:30 PM luminously intense jazz composer/chanteuse Sara Serpa leads her quintet with André Matos , guitar; Jacob Sacks, piano; Tommy Crane, drums; Eivand Ospvik, bass at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink

3/22, 9 PM dark retro Link Wray-influenced surf/soul rockers Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside at Bowery Ballroom; 3/25 they’re at the Bell House at around 8:30 for $15.

3/22, 9 PM French-African/samba-influenced reggae chanteuse Dahlia Dumont at Tea Lounge in Park Slope, free

3/22. 9:30 PM SisterMonk’s intense worldbeat jam funk/punk at Caffe Vivaldi.

3/22, 10 PM groovalicious latin soul revivalists Spanglish Fly with Erica Ramos on vocals at Barbes.

3/22, 10 PM metal/art-rock cello monster Helen Money (ex-Verbow) at St. Vitus in Greenpoint; 3/24 she’s at the Acheron in Bushwick.

3/22, 10:30ish eerie bluespunk rockers the Five Points Band at Rodeo Bar.

3/22, 11 PM noir and lurid Americana: powerhouse lyricist/banjoist Curtis Eller at Branded Saloon in Ft. Greene.

3/22, midnight, deviously brilliant Dimestore Dance Band – Erik Satie meets Django Reinhardt in a back alley on the LES circa 1996 – at Zirzamin, special guests may be involved.

3/23, 6 PM cumbia specialists Chia’s Dance Party, eclectic accordionist Victor Prieto and band and  Puerto Rican bassist Ricardo Rodriquez’s Quintet at Fkushing Town Hall, $20.

3/23, 7 PM irrepressible blue-eyed soul siren/songwriter Meg Braun at the Path Cafe

3/23, 7 PM torchy oldtime bandleader Jessy Carolina & the Hot Mess at Terra Blues

3/23, 7:30 PM the New England Conservatory winds up the celebration of the 40th anniversary of their improvisation program with a spectacular, intense lineup including iconic noir pianist Ran Blake,  chanteuse/songwriter Dominique Eade, John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet, Christine Correa, Sarah Jarosz, Anthony Coleman and Eden MacAdam-Somer among others at Symphony Space, $28 adv tix very higly rec.

3/23, 7:30 PM brilliant, haunting banrdurist Julian Kytasty collaborates with animator and video artist Mikhail Shraga, dancer/choreographer Inka Juslin, jazz composer and saxophonist Charlie Waters, and guitarist Ugene Romashov at the Ukrainian Museum, 222 E 6th St(btw 2nd & 3rd Aves), $15/$5 stud

3/23, 7:30 PM Los Colombian Roots feat. members of bands as diverse as M.A.K.U SoundSystem, Rebolu, Dilema Astronauta, and La Cumbiamba Eneye playing the Colombian acoustic music that got them started, at Symphony Space, $33 adv tix req.

3/23, 8 PM the Erik Satie Quartet – with Ron Hay (trombone), Max Seigel (bass trombone), Ben Holmes (trumpet) and Andrew Hadro (bari sax) – play new wind arrangements of Satie classics at Barbes.

3/23, 8 PM ZS and the Mivos Quartet play an exciting evening of new chamber music and collaboration. Mivos tackle Mario Diaz de Leon’s spectral/noise piece Moonblood and Tristan Perich’s Salt, a commission with Perich’s 1-bit electronics, plus a new arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Contrapunctus XIX by ZS guitarist and composer Patrick Higgins. ZS’ program includes their ferocious 30-minute work Xe in a new collaborative arrangement featuring Mivos at Issue Project Room, 22 Boerum Pl., downtown Brooklyn, $15

3/23, 8 PM the Western Wind vocal ensemble with guest actors performs a program including Shaker hymns, early African-American spirituals, as well as works by noted American composers William Billings (1746 – 1800), Abraham Wood (1752 – 1804), Stephen Jenks (1772 – 1856), and M. Durham, the first known (?) American female composer at the Fraunces Tavern Museum, 54 Pearl St., $35

3/23, 8 PM Judah Tribe play roots reggae at Shrine.

3/23, 8:30 PM tenor saxophonist Michael Webster’s Momentus with Ingrid Jensen, trumpet; Chris Dingman, vibraphone; Jesse Lewis, guitar; Ike Sturm, bass; Greg Ritchie, drums at Shapeshifter Lab, $15

3/23, 9 PM timeless, satirical faux-French garage rockers les Sans Culottes at Spike Hill. They’re also at Freddy’s on 3/29 at 11ish.

3/23 Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles – great band doing a sort of gypsyish take on Neko Case – at Rock Shop in Gowanus. They’re at the Mercury on 3/24

3/23, 9/10:30 PM bassist Joe Sanders’ three-bass “chamber bass” group with piano, sax and drums at the Jazz Gallery, $20

3/23 percussionist Alessandra Belloni‘s intense Tarantata Italian gypsy band at Mehanata, 9:30ish.

3/23, 10ish dark oldschool country band Karen & the Sorrows at Branded Saloon in Ft. Greene.

3/23, 10 PM some of the most arresting improvisers of the Brooklyn loft jazz scene: Nate Wooley’s Quintet Omega, the Will Mason Sextet’s edgy chamber jazz and the Rafiq Bhatia Trio featuring Tyshawn Sorey on drums at Freddy’s, note $10 cover charge,

3/23, 11 PM intense, tuneful southwestern gothic rock with the Downward Dogs at Sidewalk

3/23, 11ish longtime NYC Americana standout Mick Hargreaves & the King Guys play rockabilly at Rodeo Bar.

3/24, 2 PM have you ever wanted to learn to sing oldtime Ukraininan harmony? Bandurist/singer Julian Kytasty and the Ukrainian Village Voices lead a workshop in early 20th century kanty and psalmy – banned under the Soviets for their religious content – at All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 206 E 11th St, $15/$10 stud.srs, rsvp highly rec.

3/24, 5 PM subtly intense, smart, eclectic art-rock pianist/songwriter Lee Feldman with his trio at Something Jazz Club., $12

3/24, 5 PM tuneful pianist Falkner Evans with tenor saxophonist Marc Mommaas (from Amina Figarova’s band), trumpeter Ron Horton, bassist Belden Bullock and drummer Matt Wilson at Smalls

3/24, 7 PM Drina Seay – torchy Americana/soul/jazz siren who is to NYC now what Neko Case was to Portland in 1999 – at Zirzamin after the Sunday Salon.

3/24, 7 PM rustic, catchay, oldtimey “steamboat soul” band Roosevelt Dime and Portland Maine’s outlaw fiddle/violin duo North of Nashville at the big room at the Rockwood

3/24, 7:30 PM Czech avant violinist/composer Iva Bittová also sings and plays kalimba at the Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec

3/24, 8 PM the Curtis MacDonald Quartet featuring: Curtis MacDonald, Bobby Avey, Chris Tordini and Tommy Crane followed at 9 by Ideal Bread with low-register reedman Josh Sinton, Kirk Knuffke, Adam Hopkins and special guest Chad Taylor and then at 10 Towering Poppies incl. Jasmine Lovell-Smith, Russell Moore, Cat Toren, Patrick Reid & Kate Pittman at Douglass St. Music Collective, $10 sugg don.

3/24, 8 PM  the Nick Finzer Sextet and the Lucas Pino No Net Nonet at Shapeshifter Lab, $10

3/24-31, 8/11 PM bassist Kyle Eastwood and his impressively excellent postbop band at the Blue Note.

3/25, 7:30 PM the Webern Wind Quintet make their US debut with music by Haydn, Reicha, Ligeti and Pavel Haas, and the Summer Music by American composer Samuel Barber.at the Austrian Cultural Center, 11 E 52nd St., free, res req.

3/25 8 PM Adam Rudolph’s massive improvisationally inclined Go Organic jazz Orchestra at Shapeshifter Lab, $15

3/25, 8 PM the Vital Vox Festival (rescheduled from just after the hurricane) kicks off with the theatrical vocalscapes of Philip Hamilton, socially aware global chanteuse Sabrina Lastman’s Lorca-inspired Encounter with ‘El Duende’ and edgy violinist/singer Sarah Bernstein’s Unearthish with percussionist Satoshi Takeishi at Roulette, $15.

3/25, 8 PM titans of free improvisation: Paul Flaherty, Steve Swell and Nate Wooley with a rare guest appearance by Tamio Shiraishi at Jack, 505 1/2 Waverly Ave., between Fulton and Atlantic, C or G train to Clinton-Washington, $10.

3/26, 6 PM pianist Karine Poghosyan plays an all-Rachmaninoff program: six Musical Moments, Lilacs and Piano Sonata #2, a bill that fits her powerful, emotionally vivid style perfectly at St. Paul’s Chapel uptown, 117th/Amsterdam Ave., free

3/26, 7:30 PM the Attacca Quartet plays John Adams’ John’s Book of Alleged Dances for string quartet (1994) and his 2008 String Quartet at le Poisson Rouge, $20 adv tix rec.

3/26-27 drummer Kendrick Scott leads his Oracle project with John Ellis – saxophone; Mike Moreno – guitar; Taylor Eigsti – piano; Joe Sanders – bass 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $20.

3/26, 8 PM a benefit for the 9/11 Memorial: the University of Kansas Wind Ensemble conducted by Paul Popiel premieres Mohammed Fairouz’s In The Shadow of No Towers (Symphony No. 4, inspired by Art Spiegelman’s book of the same name)), at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall $25 – the work “begins with the disasters of September 11, 2001, and explores the unfolding of a post-9/11 reality,” Fairouz’ caustic musical satire often reaches Shastakovian levels – a show not to miss.

3/26, 8/11 PM haunting third-stream pianist Yelena Eckemoff leads a trio with bassist Arild Andersen & drummer Billy Hart (it’ll be a trip to see him play her glacial tempos) at Birdland, $30.

3/26, 8 PM pensive, smartly lyrical Americana roots band Field Report at City Winery.

3/26, 8 PM a surprisingly tuneful avant garde percussion triplebill: Concert Black – flutist Domenica Fossati, bassist Lisa Dowling and percussionist Owen Weaver – plus Ensemble Et Al and Iktus Percussion at Galapagos, $15 adv tix rec

3/26, 8 PM day two of the Vital Vox Festival features multimedia artist Lisa Karrer, Sasha Bodanowitsch with Loom Ensemble playing “original wind instruments, such as the syrinx, fujara, and koncovka and entertaining bicoastal avant vet Pamela Z at Roulettte, $15.

3/26, 8 PM bluegrass bandleader Sara Watkins- ex-Nickel Creek – at City Winery, $18 standing room avail.

3/26, 8 PM brilliantly lyrical jazz pianist Kenny Werner at Shapeshifter Lab.

3/26-31, 8/10:30 PM a doublebill with the Larry Coryell three-guitar group and bassist Kyle Eastwood’s group with Alex Norris, trumpet; Jason Rigby, saxophone; Richard Germanson, piano; Joe Strasser, drums at the Blue Note, $20 standing room avail.

3/26, 8 PM sick Dolly Parton cover band Doll Parts– who mix straight-up rock versions of her schlockiest 80s crap with acoustic covers of her country classics – at the Way Station in Ft. Greene.

3/26, 9 PM Tony De Vivo’s Winds of Wood big band explores big band jazz, Carribbean and classical sounds at Tea Lounge in Park Slope, free

3/26, 9:30 PM phenomenally fun, intense, noir-tinged oldschool soul siren Clairy Browne & the Bangin’ Rackettes at the Mercury, $12 adv tix very highly rec. They killed in their NYC debut at Webster Hall last year; their forthcoming album (still being mixed) is insanely good.

3/26, 10 PM eclectic, paradigm-shifting B3 jazz organist Brian Charette with Rez Abbasi and Clifford Barbaro at 55 Bar

3/27, 7:30 PM eclectic, pensive, smart pan-latin jazz chanteuse Claudia Acuna and band at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue (between 133rd and 135th streets, free, rsvp req.

3/27, 9ish brilliant atmospherically-inclined saxophonist/percussionist composer Terry Dame and one of her many ensembles TBA at Branded Saloon in Ft. Greene.

3/27, 9/10:30 PM powerhouse pianist Orrin Evans’ bday bash feat. JD Walters at Zinc Bar

3/27, 10:30 PM dark southwestern gothic/noir garage rockers Spindrift at the Knitting Factory $12

3/27, 10:3ish suave baritone western swing crooner Sean Kershaw & the New Jack City Ramblers at Rodeo Bar.

3/28 pianist Simone Dinnerstein plays Bach at noon at the Greene Space, free tix avail. at www.thegreenespace.org. Part of WQXR’s Bach marathon, broadcasting/streaming his complete works starting 3/21 to possibly wretched excess (Bach yoga playlists – who knew Bach was into yoga?):

3/28-31 trumpeter Dave Douglas plays a birthday stand with a killer band – Jon Irabagon – tenor saxophone; Matt Mitchell – piano; Linda Oh – bass; Rudy Royston – drums 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $25/$30 Fri-Sat

3/28, 8 PM the LA Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel play Vivier:  Zipangu; Debussy: La mer; Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite at Avery Fisher Hall, $35 tix avail.

3/28-29, 8 PM avant string quartet ETHEL, Speak Percussion and the Kaj Ensemble play premieres from Kevin James’ Vanishing Languages project at Roulette, $15/$10 stud.

3/28, 8 PM eclectic, tuneful baritone saxophonist Claire Daly leads a quartet at Birdland.

3/28, 8 PM trombone quartet Guidonian Hand play new works by Eve Beglarian, Rob Deemer, Chris Goddard and Alex Weiser at the Gershwin Hotel, $15/$10 stud

3/28, 8 PM the Nat Osborn Band – whose New Orleans sounds come across somewhere in between Dr. John and Brother Joscephus – at le Poisson Rouge

3/28, 8 PM the Bushwick Book Club “presents new songs inspired by Sherlock Holmes. All four novels and 56 stories are fair game for new songs by the Adventures of Kaila and The Kid, Casey Holford, Dan and Rachel, Natti Vogel, Phoebe Kreutz, Phil Andrews and the Debutante Hour’s Susan Hwang” at Culturefix. “Violin playing, pipe smoking [mainlining cocaine?], impeccable sleuthing are all encouraged, but not mandatory.”

3/28, 8:30 PM gypsy chanteuse and Berthold Brecht descendant Sanda Weigl with an amazing band Gael Rouilhac, guitar; Jake Shulman-Ment, violin; Pablo Aslan, bass; Nick Anderson, drums at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink.

3/28, 8:30 PM pensive, misty, nonchalantly smart Australian jazz/soul chanteuse/pianist Shameem at Billie’s Black, 271 W 119th St, free.

3/28, 8:30/10:30 PM Sharel Cassity on saxophone with Dezron Douglas on bass and EJ Strickland on drums at the Bar Next Door, $12.

3/28, 9 PM theatrical oldtime jug band music with the Salt Cracker Crazies at the Way Station in Ft. Greene

3/28, 9:30 PM Balkan brass monsters Slavic Soul Party plays Ellington’s Far East Suite at Joe’s Pub, $16, this is gonna be awesome!

3/28, 10 PM jazz piano tunesmith JP Schlegelmilch plays a solo album release show for his new one at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink.

3/28 11ish ambient soundscape guitarist Grey McMurray followed by sly boudoir soul group Smoota at the  new Living Theatre space in the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural center, 107 Suffolk St on the LES, $10

3/28, 11 PM Quiet Lights play their pensive ethereal shoegaze/atmospheric/slowcore stuff at Union Hall, $8.

3/29-30, 5 PM Katie Kresek, violin and Betsy DiFelice, piano play works by Bartók, Dvorak, Mozart, Ravel, Shostakovich, and Talbot at the Metropolitan Museum of Art balcony bar, free w/museum adm

3/29, 7ish (early), wildly funky bhangra brass band Red Baraat play a Diwali celebration at Webster Hall, $26.50 adv tix avail. at the Irving Plaza box ofc

3/29, 7 PM Hyunah Yu, soprano; Jeewon Park, piano; Colin Jacobsen, violin; Nicholas Cords, viola; and Edward Arron, cello, perform Schnittke’s Musica Nostalgica for Cello and Piano (1992); the world premiere of a Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert commission, a work for string trio by Dmitry Yanov-Yanovsky; Shostakovich’s Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok for Soprano and Piano Trio, Op. 127; and Beethoven’s Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 16. at the Rogers Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, $35.

3/29-30, 7:30 PM the recently reconfigured Bush Tetras – whose legendary late 90s comeback album has finally been rescued from major label hell and is out now – at the Slipper Room strip club, Orchard St. at Ludlow, $15.

3/29, 8 PM a kick-ass oldschool/newschool bill with Adam Rudolph doing a duo show with trumpeter Joesph Bowie followed by Bowie’s Defunkt Millennium at Shapeshifter Lab, $12. 3/30, same time, the duo open for Rudolph’s Moving Pictures octet.

3/29, 8 PM eclectic original female-fronted Afro-latin funk band Dawn Drake & Zapote feat. Terry Dame on sax at Groove, free.

3/29 the Breeders at the Bell House are sold out

3/29, 8 PM psychedelic Afrobeat with Emefe at le Poisson Rouge, $10.

3/29, 9 PM dark doublebill straight out of the late 90s: cello rockers Rasputina and one of the original gypsy punk bands, World Inferno at Irving Plaza, $33.50.

3/29, 9 PM sizzling oldtimey/Balkan/bluegrass violinist Sarah Alden & the Red Hot Rubies followed at 10:30 by brilliant, sometimes hilarious Tipsy Oxcart, who play acoustic versions of current day Eastern European pop hits. Meaning that Tipsy Oxcart probably sound like the oldtime bands that the new groups are ripping off. Talk about coming full circle…

3/29, 9 PM honkytonk guitar powerhouse Wayne the Train Hancock at the Knitting Factory, $15.

3/29, 9/10:30 PM drummer Jeff Davis records a live album with Russ Lossing, piano; Eivind Opsvik, bass; Jeff Davis, drums; Oscar Noriega, alto sax, bass clarinet; Kirk Knuffke, cornet at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink.

3/29, 10 PM the Delorean Sisters– who play oldtimey versions of 80s cheeseball pop songs – at Hank’s.

3/29, 10 PM the self-explanatory Cumbiagra at Barbes.

3/29, 10 PM smart, terse oldtime blues/country guitarist/songwriter Jon LaDeau at the Way Station in Ft. Greene.

3/29, 10:30 PM haunting intense Balkan chanteuse Eva Salina Primack, who has a killer new solo album out, plays solo at Jimmy’s 43, 43 E. 7th St,

3/30, 2 PM Alessandra Belloni’s bewitching, hypnotic Daughters of Cybele percussion project at the  Flushing Main Library, 41-17 Main Street (at 41st Avenue, free.

3/30, 6 PM a Nawrooz celebration with a diverse Persian-influenced triplebill: Rana Farhan’s unique blend of classic Persian poetry with contemporary jazz and blues, Vatan’s Persian-meets-country-rock sounds and a blast into the past with Mitra Sumara’s NYC supergroup playing now-illegal 60s/70s pre-revolution spimds. dunno who’s first but they’re all good, $17 adv tix very highly rec

3/30, 8 PM a bewitching evening of Indian melodies and beats with santoor virtuoso Shivkumar Sharma and tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussein at the Town Hall, $35 adv tix going fast.

3/30, 8 PM accordionist Uri Sharlin’s Dogcat gypsy/klezmer jazz project at Barbes.

3/30, 8 PM Mark Peskanov, violin; Nina Kotova, cello; Nina Kogan, piano play Beethoven: Sonata for violin and piano No. 8 in G Major, Op. 30; Sonata for cello and piano No. 4 in C Major, Op. 102; Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67 at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud.

3/30, 8 PM pianist Inna Faliks plays works by 20th/21st centuryJewish composers Arnold Schoenberg George Gershwin and Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin at the Baruch College auditorium, 55 Lexington Ave. at 25th St., $25

3/30, 9 PM good party band doublebill: the eclectic Balkan/latin/hip-hop Underground Horns and the equally diverse ska/reggae/Filipino Brown Rice Family at the 92YTribeca, $10 adv tix rec.

3/30, 9/10:30 PM melodic intense brilliant jazz pianist Kris Davis solo at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink.

3/30, 8 PM Doug Van Nort, pianist David Arner and ageless new music icon Pauline Oliveros play an electroacoustic evening at Roulette, $15/$10 stud.

3/30, 10 PM Junior Lewis & the Inity Band play roots reggae at Shrine.

3/30, 10:30 PM intriguing, original, tunefully genre-defying psychedelic/art-rock band Steady Sun at the downstairs studio space at Webster Hall, $10 gen adm.

3/31, 8 PM Palestinian Arabic-language rap sensations DAM – whose hit Who’s the Terrorist became a worldwide sensation after 9/11 – at Drom, $12 adv tix a must, this may sell out.

4/1, 7 PM dark, pensive, sometimes funky acoustic Americana band the Sometime Boys followed at 8 by deviously fun cabaret/chamber pop chanteuse Grace McLean & Them Apples at the big room at the Rockwood

4/1, 7:30 PM not a joke – the Pulse Chamber Ensemble and Manhattan Choral Ensemble play US premieres by Charles Mason, Thomas Sleeper, Jesse Jones, Chris Reza and Victoria Bond’s James Joyce-inspired Cyclops at Symphony Space, $30/$15 stud/srs.

4/1, 8/10:30 PM eclectic soul/funk/worldbeat chanteuse Imani Uzuri at the Blue Note for $10, not an April Fool joke!

4/1, 8:30 PM Andrew Raffo Dewar’s Interactions Quartet East (Andrew Raffo Dewar, Mary Halvorson, Jessica Pavone, and Aaron Siegel) “perform works for very, very alternate scoring as well as his Piece for Four, which uses “invented spatial notation that explores group dynamics and destabilizes conventional approaches to foreground and background sound,”.at Roulette, $15/$10 stud. Not an April fool joke.

4/1, 11ish art-rock legend Paul Wallfisch – the Botanica keyboardist/frontman – and others at Small Beast upstairs at the Delancey. Not an April fool joke.

4/2, 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard: the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble play lush vocal tunes from their new album Songs I Like A Lot featuring Kate McGarry & Theo Bleckmann, $20

4/2, 7:30 PM American String Quartet violinist Laurie Carney and pianist David Friend premiere Robert Sirota’s Violin Sonta #2 at Greenfield Hall at Manhattan School of Music, 120 Claremont Ave uptown, free, 1 to 125th St and walk uphill

4/2, 8 PM Bad Buka and their gypsy punk meltdown at Radegast Hall.

4/2, 8 PM Tracy Island – a catchy, quirky, psychedelic spinoff of Liza & the Wonderwheels – upstairs at Bowery Electric, free; long-running, groovalicious reggae-funk band Faith plays downstairs at 9

4/2, 8 PM pianist Eri Yamamoto leads her tuneful Trio followed by edgy violin jazz with the Sarah Bernstein Quartet with Kris Davis, Stuart Popejoy and Ches Smith at Roulette, $15/$10 stud

4/2, 8:30 PM up-and-coming jazz chanteuse Charenne Wade opens fellow singer Sara Serpa’s new Voice Box series devoted to rising vocal jazz talent at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink. the second show features Christine Correa, voice; Jeremy Udden, alto sax; Frank Carlberg, piano, separate adm.

4/3-4 film composer and Philip Glass collaborator Clint Mansell and nine-piece band  play two shows celebrating the release of his soundtrack to the new film Stoker in NY at the Church of Saint Paul the Apostle.

4/3, 7 PM the king of the downtown NYC literate rock anthem, Willie Nile at Joe’s Pub, $25.

4/3, 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard pianist Aaron Diehl leads a quartet with vibraphonist Warren Wolf, $20.

4/3, 10:30 PM wildly guitar-driven psychedelic female-fronted power trio Devi at Maxwell’s, $10

4/4 rockabilly/surf monster Rev. Horton Heat plays the Rocks Off Cruise aboard the Princess, boarding at 7, leaving at 8 from 41st St. and the Hudson, $35 adv tix avail. at the Highline Ballroom box ofc.

4/4-7  percussionists Levy Lorenzo and Dennis Sullivan plus Cadillac Moon Ensemble perform in the dark cabaret show Doctor and Mister’s Time Capsule at Jack, 505 1/2 Waverly Ave., Ft. Greene.

4/4-6  Opera on Tap presents the world premiere of Smashed: The Carrie Nation Story with new music ensemble Hotel Elefant playing as the house band at Here, 145 6th Ave. south of Spring, west side of the street past the park, $15/$10 stud.srs

4/4, 7:30 PM Ross Daly, Omer Erdogdular, Yurdal Tokcan and Ahmet Erdogdula play a cross-cultural program of haunting, hypnotic Turkish, Greek and Sufi music at Symphony Space, $30.

4/4-7, 7:30/9:30 PM the Randy Weston African Rhythms Quintet at the Jazz Standard $30

4/4, 7:30 PM Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana play fiery Andalucian sounds at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised.

4/4, 8 PM the Sylvie Courvoisier Mark Feldman Quartet w/ Scott Colley and Billy Mintz followed by Vinnie Golia’s chamber jazz improv project at Roulette, $15/$10 stud

4/4, 8 PM indie classical ensemble Either/Or perform a full program of U.S. premieres by Rebecca Saunders at the Miller Theatre, $25 adv tix rec

4/4, 8:30 PM ther lush, haunting Karl Berger’s Improvisers Orchestra at El Taller Latinoamericano uptown

4/4, 9:30 PM high-energy oldtime C&W and bluegrass with the Giving Tree Band at Rock Shop in Gowanus, $12.

4/5, 2 (two) PM the Pannonia Quartet and Face the Music Quartet play music of  Mackey, Mehdi Hosseini and Steve Reich.at the Lounge at Hudson View Gardens, 128 Pinehurst Ave at W 183rd St., $12, reception to follow.

4/5, 7 PM a NY Philharmonic ensemble conducted by Alan Gilbert plays recent European works. Principal Oboe Liang Wang is featured in the U.S. premiere of Poul Ruders’s Oboe Concerto; US premieres include Unsuk Chin’s Gougalon and Yann Robin’s Backdraft, with a NY premiere of Anders Hillborg’s Vaporized Tivoli at the Rogers Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, $20, reception to follow. The program repeats the following night, 4/6 at 8 PM at Symphony Space for the same price.

4/5, 7 PM the Greene Space’s non-exploitative battle of the bands continues with the Bronx contingent. This blog’s pick: trombonist Kevin Batchelor’s Grand Concourse ska band, $15 incl. a glass of wine, $30 will get you open bar?!?

4/5, 8 PM a night of eclectic, sometimes austere, sometimes lush “upstart-instrumental-art-music by violinist/composers”: Dana Lyn’s Yeti Camp followed at 9 by Skye Steele’s Railroad Rodia at Zirzamin.

4/5, 8 PM lush gorgeous Middle Eastern jazz:  Hassan Isakkut & Friends followed by sax legend legend Husnu Senlendirici & Alaturk – who’s sort of the Turkish equivalent of Miles Davis – at Drom, $30 standing room avail., adv tix rec,., this may sell out. At midnight, Senlendirici is joined by Ilhan Ersahin– or the other way around.

4/5, 8 PM cello metal band Break of Reality at Stage 48 in Hell’s Kitchen, $25 adv tix req.

4/5-6, 8 PM the Klopotic/Pierce/Zoernig Trio play Schubert piano trios at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, $15/$10 stud/srs.

4/5, 8 PM clarinetist Carol Robinson and cellist Frances-Marie Uitti play US premieres by Robinson/Uitti, Eliane Radigue, Giacinto Scelsi, and Annie Gosfield plus a solo cello piece by Jonathan Harvey at Issue Project Room, 22 Boerum Pl., downtown Brooklyn, $15.

4/5, 8 PM indie classical and performance art shenanigans: Ensemble Pamplemousse and Panoply Performance Lab perform a program TBA at the Firehouse Space in Williamsburg.

4/5, 8:30 PM bassist Mimi Jones leads her purist jazz trio at the bar at Symphony Space (enter on 95th St. west of Broadway), free

4/5, 9/10:30 PM irrepressible jazz satirists Mostly Other People Do the Killing massacre 1920s hot jazz with an expanded lineup including Dave Taylor, bass trombone; Brandon Seabrook, banjo; Ron Stabinsky, piano at Cornelia St. Cafe, $20 includes a drink.

4/5, 9 PM dark art-rock pianist/songwriter Eve Lesov at Sidewalk.

4/5, 9:30 PM oldtimey swing/blues/hillbilly fun with the Hot Sardines at Joe’s Pub, $15.

4/5, 9:30 PM New Orleans’ eclectic, funky stoner brass band the Dirty Bourbon River Show at Hill Country, free.

4/6, 7:30 PM eclectic new Scottish acts: pensive acoustic songwriter Rachel Sermanni, twin-bagpipe neo-folk band Breabach and rapidfire politically aware hip-hop MC Stanley Odd at the downstairs studio space at Webster Hall, $10

4/6, 8 PM Cleveland ensemble Les Delices play rarely heard 18th century French salon music by Rameau, Dauvergne, Mondonville, and Philidor at the Miller Theatre, $35 tix avail.

4/6, 8 PM nonagenarian hall of fame bassist Yusuf Lateef’s first NYC live set in over 10 years feat. the Momenta Quartet, Adam Rudolph, Marty Ehrlich, JD Parran, Alan Won and Taka Kigawa.at Roulette, $15/$10 stud

4/6, 11 AM (eleven in the morning), Vlada Tomova and band play haunting Bulgarian folk tunes at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival (yawn) not a bad idea

4/6, 2 PM the Toomai String Quintet plays works by Ponce, Chavez, Lecuona and others at the Flushing Main Library, 41-17 Main Street (at 41st Avenue, free Flushing Main Library, 41-17 Main Street (at 41st Avenue, free.

4/6, 7:30 PM Cambodian music with flute virtuoso/Khmer Rouge survivor Arn Chorn-Pond, plus Master Mek, and the Waterek Ensemble at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised.

4/6, 8 PM ferocious Chicago Balkan brass band Black Bear Combo and their arguably even more intense Brooklyn counterparts Raya Brass Band at Littlefield, $10

4/6, 8 PM eclectic blues/hip-hop songwriter Chris Thomas King – co-star of O Brother Where Art Thou – at Lucille’s.

4/6, 9 PM grasscore with Sprit Family Reunion at Bowery Ballroom, $15.

4/6, 9:30 PM torchy, lurid gothic art-rockers Elysian Fields at Joe’s Pub, $15.

4/6, 10 PM dark, devious noir rocker Tom Warnick & World’s Fair followed eventually at midnight by Plastic Beef spinoff the Good Yeggs at Freddy’s.

4/6, 11 PM catchy intense noir/gothic rockers the Devil’s Broadcast at the Gutter bowling alley in Williamsburg.

4/7, 1:30 PM pianist Peter Mintun plays a live soundtrack to the hilarious 1928 King Vidor film Show People at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza, free

4/7, 2 PM intense jam-oriented klezmer twinbill: Isle of Klezbos and the full Metropolitan Klezmer octet at the Walt Whitman Theatre, 2900 Campus Road, Midwood, Brooklyn, B/Q to Ave. M and walk through the Brooklyn College campus.

4/7, 2:30 PM the Antara Ensemble play music by by Enescu, Handel-Halvorsen, Mozart, Demersseman and Bolling at Saint Andrew’s Church, 2065 5th Ave at 127th St., $25/$20 stud/srs

4/7, 8:30 PM the Stradivari Quartet play music of Bartók, Brahms, Turina, and Schubert on their medieval instruments at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec.

4/8-9 the American Composers Orchestra perform their annual new music readings series; working rehearsal 4/8, 10 AM (in the morning), run-through the following night at 7:30 PM at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 W. 37th St., free but res req,

4/8, 7:30 PM subversive new classical sounds: new music ensemble Loadbang performs Hannah Lash’s Eight Songs for a Stoned Prince, a caricature of British playboy Prince Harry that unfolds via a series of drunken phone calls. The program also includes Doug Gibson’s Fanfare for the Common Audience – incorporating the entire text of a letter from an irate concertgoer to the New York Philharmonic imploring them to stop programming music that “makes no sense” – plusVictoria Bond’s The Page Turner played by pyrotechnic pianist Kathleen Supove – who takes the role of a page turner who just can’t seem to get it right. -plus Love Lost Lust Lone by Andy Akiho, Gutteral I and II by Alexandre Lunsqui, and Land of Silence by Reiko Futing, at Symphony Space, $20/$15 stud/srs

4/8 popular Austin drone-psych rockers the Black Angels at Webster Hall

4/9, 7 PM Budapest Bar play Hungarian gypsy cabaret music at Elebash Hall, 365 5th Ave. (34/35), $25/$20 stud.

4/9, 7:30 PM the Minetti Quartet play Haydn: String Quartet in C, Hob.III:77, Op.76, No.3 (‘Emperor’); Olga Neuwirth: settori for string quartet (1999); Beethoven: String Quartet No.9 in C, Op.59, No.3 (‘Razumovsky’) at the Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 E 52nd St., free, res. req.

4/9, 8:30 PM dark lyrical Americana rocker Jeffrey Foucault with Cold Satellite (his collaboration with poet Lisa Olstein) playing the album release show for their new one at the Bell House $14

4/9, 9:30 PM luminous, wickedly catchy cellist/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Serena Jost plays the album release show for her new one A Bird Will Sing at Joe’s Pub, $15.

4/10, 8 PM dark hypnotic psychedelic rock triplebill: Elephant Stone, the Allah-Las and Black Angels at the Bell House, $25, adv tix rec., this may sell out

4/10, 9 PM dark garage rock twinbill: the Allah-Lahs followed by the Black Angels at the Bell House, $25.

4/11, 1 (one) PM the Minetti Quartett play a program TBA at Trinity Church, free.

4/11, 6 PM brilliant, haunting Finnish jazz guitarist/oud playerJussi Reijonen with the group from his amazing new album: pianist Utar Artun, acoustic bassist Bruno Råberg and percussionists Tareq Rantisi and Sergio Martínez at Shrine; 5/4 they’re at Something Jazz Club at 7, $10.

4/11, 7 PM purist oldschool postbop jazz: pianist Lafayette Harris with Antoine Drye, bassist Lonnie Plaxico, singers Jazzmeia Horn and Noël Simone Wippler, and drummer Will Terrill at PS 321, 180 7th Ave, Park Slope, $15, all proceeds to benefit the school.

4/11, 7:30 PM pyrotechnic, paradigm-shifting saxophonist/composer Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Gamak with Dave Fiuczynski on guitar at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec.

4/11, 7:30 PM the Harlem Quartet play Wynton Marsalis’ String Quartet No. 1 plus string quartet versions of Strayhorn (Take the A Train) Chick Corea (The Adventures of Hippocrates), and more at Symphony Space, $30/$15 under 30

4/11, 7:30 PM oldschool western swing and gypsy jazz with the Hot Club of Cowtown at Joe’s Pub, $20; psychedelic Peruvian-style chicha surf rockers Chicha Libre plays the second show (separate $15 admission) at 9:30, which is an album release celebration for their new ep Quatro Tigres.

4/11, 7:30 PM Bukharan-Israeli multi-instrumentalist/chanteuse Hadar Maoz sings ancient Central Asian songs at Drom, $10 adv tix rec.

4/11, 7:30 PM the Spring String Quartet and saxophonist jam out a new arrangement of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 at the Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 E 52nd St., free, res. req.

4/11-14, 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard drummer Eric Harlan leads a quintet with Taylor Eigsti on piano and Julian Lage on guitar, $25/$30 Sat-Sun

4/11-2, 8 PM wild, theatrical gypsy brass rockers MarchFourth Marching Band at Brooklyn Bowl, $10.

4/11-12, 8:30 PM rising star trumpeter Adam O’Farrill leads his group at Symphony Space, free.

4/11, 9ish doo-wop punk with the King Khan & BBQ Show at Santos Party House, $15

4/12, 7 PM the Salome Chamber Orchestra play Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola, and String Orchestra, K. 364; Lera Auerbach’s Sogno di Stabat Mater for Violin, Viola, Vibraphone, and Orchestra (2008); and and Paganini’s Sonata per la Grand Viola et Orchestra Op. 35 on rare period instruments from the Met’s collection at the Rogers Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, $35

4/12, 7 PM pianist Daniela Bracchi plays music of Barber, Beethoven and Chopin at Third St. Music School Settlement, free.

4/12, 8 PM “in a concert of world premieres, Cadillac Moon Ensemble explores the dark and creepy side of circuses & clowns—come see what happens when the ensemble unleashes its circus act with four world premieres by composers Rick Burkhardt, Daniel Felsenfeld, Nicholas Deyoe, and Tim Hansen” at the DiMenna Center, 450 W 37th St.,

4/12, 7:30 PM lush sweeping largescale music for strings: Yale music alums led by violinist Ani Kafavian play a world premiere requiem piece for 23 solo strings by Matthew Barnson plus Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen for the same forces plus Tschaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, $15 tix avail.

4/12, 8 PM charismatic, pyrotechnic pianist/deadpin wit Kathleen Supove in SINGLED OUT: Debussy on Wagner (premiere) for pianist with Debussy mask and soundtrack by Marita Bolles;La Plus Que Plus Que Lent (premiere) for pianist and MAX/MSP by Jacob Cooper; Layerings 3 (premiere) for pianist and soundtrack by Eric km Clark; Cakewalks (premiere) for piano, based on Golliwog’s Cakewalk, by Daniel Felsenfeld, and For Piano With Balloons (premiere) for pianist and balloons by Judy Dunaway at Roulette, $15/$10 stud/srs.

4/12, 8 PM Ovidiu Marinescu, cello and Dmitry Rachmanov, piano play samizdat Russian cello music: Nikolai Miaskovsky – Sonata No. 2 in A minor for cello and piano, Op. 81; Mieczyslaw Weinberg – Sonata No. 2 in G minor for cello and piano, Op. 63; Marina Tchistova – Suite “Echelle” for Cello and Piano; Sergei Prokofiev – Sonata for cello and piano in C Major, Op. 119 at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud

4/12, 8 PM hilarious pottymouth corporate rock satirists the Dan Band at Highline Ballroom, $25 standing room avail.

4/12, 8:30 PM Translatlantic Ensemble with Imani Winds clarinetist, Mariam Adam and pianist Evelyn Ulex share the stage with the Winds’ flutist Valerie Coleman and pyrotechnic bandoneon player JP Jofre in a reprise of their exilarating program earlier this year at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec

4/12 the long-awaited debut of recently reconfigured noir guitar soundtrack instrumental legends Big Lazy at Barbes.

4/12, 10:30 PM ferocious all-female powerpop./punk-pop band Hunter Valentine at the Mercury, $10.

4/13, 6 PM haunting intense Balkan chanteuse Eva Salina Primack, who has a killer new solo album out, at Barbes, broadcasting live on WFMU

4/13, 8 PM deliciously twangy, jangly twin-guitar paisley underground/psychedelic Americana rockers Mud Blood & Beer play the album release show for their killer new one The Sweet Life at the Bitter End.

4/13, 8 PM the oldschool, elegant but sly “Duke of Bachata,” guitarist Joan Soriano and his excellent acoustic band at Roulette, $25 INCLUDES OPEN RUM BAR 7-8 PM w/admission

4/13, 8 PM singer Antoinette Montague and her Quintet with cello and concert harp salute women in jazz including Etta Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone and others at Flushing Town Hall, $15.

4/13, 8:30 PM trippy, surreal Cambodian psychedelic rockers Dengue Fever at le Poisson Rouge, $17 adv tix rec.

4/13 9 PM theatrical, carnivalesque, legendary Dutch big band jazz with ICP Orchestra at Littlefield $18

4/13, 9:30ish charismatic gypsy punk/metal cumbia band Escarioka at Mehanata.

4/13, 10 PM intense, tuneful southwestern gothic rock with the Downward Dogs at the National Underground

4/13, 10ish what’s left of 60s psych-punk legends the Sonics plays a benefit for hurricane-swamped Norton Records at the Bell House, $25 adv tix rec.

4/14, 2 (two) PM “recorder virtuosi Daphna Mor and Nina Stern collaborate with the NY Gypsy All-Stars’ kanun virtuoso Tamer Pinarbasi, Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble percussionist Shane Shanahan and guest artist Jesse Kotansky on violin and oud, with a program exploring medieval music of the Mediterranean” at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud

4/14, 5 PM Ensemble ACJW play works by Harbison, Ravel and Dvorak at Our Saviour’s Atonement Lutheran Church, 178 Bennett Avenue (at 189th St) , free.

4/14, 9 PM torchy eclectic country/Americana chanteuse Drina Seay upstairs at 2A

4/14 plaintive, eclectic, intense Americana chanteuse Jan Bell hosts a Loretta Lynn bday party show at the Jalopy, $10.

4/15, 10 PM Joe Pug – who’s quickly building a vast catalog of smartly lyrical, fearlessly political Americana/blues songs – at Union Hall, $15.

4/16, 7 PM eclectic Balkan jazz trumpeter Ben Holmes leads a quartet at Barbes

4/16, 7:30 PM Argentinian antique 1920s tango revivalists 34 Puñaladas at Drom, $12 adv tix rec.

4/16, 7:30/9:30 PM powerhouse tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery leads a quintet with Rachel Z – keyboards; Orrin Evans – piano; Hans Glawischnig – bass.; Jason Brown – drums at the Jazz Standard.

4/18, 7:30 PM ACME plays chamber works by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, his contemporary and friend Shostakovich and Henryk Gorecki at the Morgan Library,225 Madison Ave, $35

4/17, 7:30 PM haunting, intense Persian chanteuse Bahar Movahed and her band play rarely heard Kurdish classical songs at Symphony Space, $30 adv tix req.

4/18-21 saxophonist Steve Wilson plays a bday weekend stand with a killer band: Alex Sipiagin – trumpet; George Cables – piano; Larry Grenadier – bass; Ulysses Owens Jr. – drums 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $25/$30 Sat-Sun

4/18, 8 PM Voices of Ascension sing works by Mendelssohn, Weber, Vaughan Williams and the world premiere of Eve Beglarian’s commissioned work for choir and organ, Building the Bird Mound, inspired by the spectacular Poverty Point paleo-American bird mound in northeastern Louisiana, at the Church of the Ascension, 5th Ave/10th St., $10 seats avail. but going fast.

4/18 hilarious, high-energy grasscore/oldtimey band the Devil Makes Three at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

4/18 amusing cowpunk/honkytonk bandTrailer Radio with special guest Drina Seay at Zirzamin

4/19 the Cannabis Cup Reggae Band plays the Rocks Off Cruise aboard the Harbor Lights, boarding at 7, leaving at 8 from behind the heliport at 23rd St. & the FDR, $25 adv tix avail. at the Highline Ballroom box ofc They’re also playing two 4/20 cruises, one in the afternoon for the wake-and-bake crowd and the other at night, same deal.

4/19, 8 PM haunting female-fronted Nashvile gothic/janglerock band the Whispering Tree at Sidewalk

4/19, 8 PM pianist Alexander Peskanov plays his own works plus preludes and etudes-tableaux by Rachmaninoff and excerpts from Stravinsky’s Petrouschka at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud.

4/19, 8 PM Von Ku Pak Drum & Dance Troupe perform Korean music & dance dressed in traditional regalia followed by Yanni Papastefanou and his ensemble in an evening of traditional music & dance from the Greek Isles at Flushing Town Hall, $15

4/19-21 the Brooklyn Folk Festival – meaning “folk” as in oldtimey roots music, not cheesy singer-songwriters – kicks off at the Bell House at 8:30 with Kristin Andreassen, Cherven Traktor, the Cactus Blossoms, Alex Battles & the Whisky Rebellion and Lichtman’s Brain Cloud wrapping up the night with western swing, $20

4/19, 9 PM Hungarian pan-Balkan folk-rock star Meszecsinka and her band at Drom, $15 adv tix rec.

4/19, 9 PM second-wave dub reggae stars John Brown’s Body at Brooklyn Bowl, $15. They’re in Pittsboro, North Carolina on 4/20 in case anybody’s wondering – and then they’re taking almost a week off to recover. Hmmm…

4/20, day two of the Brooklyn Folk Festival is an all-day affair starting around 4:30 with Great Smoky Mountain Bluegrass Band, the Roulette Sisters’ Mamie Minch duetting with Brain Cloud’s Tamar Korn, the Canebrake Rattlers and Peter Stampfel and the Ether Frolic Mob at 7:30, $15. There’s also a late show with separate $20 admission (you can get an all-day pass from the Jalopy for $35) starting at 8:30 with the Down Hill Strugglers, Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens at 9:15, Radio Jarocho at 10 and Jessy Carolina and the Hot Mess headlining around 10:45.

4/22 Canadian gothic chanteuse Lorraine Leckie at the big room at the Rockwood

4/20, 9 PM clever, darkly literate chamber pop/noir cabaret songwriter Dawn Oberg at Bar East

4/20, 8 PM a killer bill at Spike Hill with eerie, haunting soundtrack composer Thomas Simon followed at 10 by moody, hypnotic punk-era legends Band of Outsiders and eventually at around midnight by intense, psychedelic art-rock band Of Earth playing the album release show for their reputedly excellent new one The Monarch.

4/20, 9 PM tuneful, aggressive postpunk favorites Clinic at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec – this may sell out

4/21, 2:30 PM day three of the Brooklyn Folk Festival begins at 2:45 at the Bell House with Hunter Holmes, Brotherhood of the Jug Band Blues at 3:30, Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton at 4:15, at 5 Jalopy house band the Whiskey Spitters, 5:45 Elijah Wald , 6:30 Feral Foster and at 7:15 New England noir folk crooner Tim Eriksen. There’s also a late shows with separate $20 admission (you can get an all-day pass for $30 from the Jalopy) with the Four o’Clock Flowers at 9:45 and Ian Link at 10:30.

4/21, 6 PM the Four Nations Ensemble joins forces with Music from China for a mix of French baroque and classical Chinese compositions at Abigail Adams Smith Auditorium, 417 E 61st St., $35

4/21, 6 PM tenor saxophonit Stan Killian plays the album release show for his new one with Mike Moreno, guitar; Benito Gonzales, Fender Rhodes; Corcoran Holt, bass; McClenty Hunter, drums at 55 Bar, free

4/21, 8 PM  legendary Texas Americana guitar god/crooner Junior Brown at City Winery, $22 standing room avail.

4/21, 9:30 PM noir jazz band Silencio plays classic David Lynch soundtrack music from Twin Peaks, Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Mulholland Drive, and Lost Highway at le Poisson Rouge, $20 adv tix highly rec.

4/21, 10ish hip-hop brass grooves and an all-female Brazilian percussion bacchanalia: PitchBlak Brass Band plus BatalaNYC at Littlefield.

4/22, 8 PM the Oratorio Society of NY conducted by Kent Tritle perform Britten’s War Requiem at Carnegie Hall, $22 tix avail

4/23, 5:30 PM  new music by Laura Kaminsky played by Ensemble Pi and the Cassatt Quartet at the Miller Theatre, free.

4/23, 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, Dominican jazz pianist Osmany Paredes plays a rare solo show, $20.

4/23, 7:30 PM pianist Herbert Schuch plays Thomas Larcher: Naunz; Schumann: Theme and Variations in E-flat major; Mozart: Piano Sonata No.18 in D Major, K.576; Schubert: Sonata for Piano No.21 in B-flat Major, D.960  at the Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd St, free, res. req

4/23 recently unearthed Hughes settings by unheralded Harlem Renaissance composer Margaret Bonds performed by vocalists from Harlem Opera Theatre at the Studio Museum, 144 W 125th St, take the A train

4/23 eclectic Americana bandleader/singer Alana Amram & the Rough Gems at Brooklyn Bowl; 4/25 they’re at Rock Shop opening for New Hampshire’s Mail the Horse

4/23, 9 PM carnivalesque gypsy punks Amour Obscur, Balkan-flavored brass crew Hungry March Band and acoustic Nashville goths O’Death at le Poisson Rouge, $12 adv. tix req.

4/24, 7:30 PM eclectic string ensemble Catch-Pop String-Strong play originals plus Balkan Folk music, classical tunes and improvisations based on the music of Kurt Weil and Bertoldt Brecht at the Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 E 52nd St., free, res. req.

4/24 10 PM raucous oldtimey blues/bluegrass/acoustic jamband the Howlin’ Brothers at Hill Country, $15

4/25, 1 PM pianists from the recent APA competition – Sean Chen, Sara Daneshpour, Claire Huangci, Andrew Staupe and Eric Zuber –  play New York premieres of APA-commissioned works by Lisa Bielawa, Margaret Brouwer, Gabriela Lena Frank, Missy Mazzoli and Sarah Kirkland Snider at Trinity Church, free.

4/25-27, 7 PM charismatic, pyrotechnic pianist/deadpin wit Kathleen Supové in DIGITAL DEBUSSY playing Storefront Diva: A Dreamscape (premiere) by Joan La Barbara; The Triumph of Innocence (premiere) by Nick Didkovsky; and What the West Wind Saw (premiere) by Annie Gosfield at the Flea Theatre, 41 White St., Tribeca, $20. There’s also a Saturday matinee at 3 PM on 4/27 for $10.

4/25, 7 PM Valerie Coleman – flute; Michiyo Suzuki – clarinet; Lynn Bechtold, Mioi Takeda, and Yibin Li – violin; Michael Midlarsky – cello; Dimitri Dover – piano play new works by Gene Pritsker, Leo Kraft, Dave Soldier, ‘Dan Cooper, Frank J. Oteri andRaul Quines at urtle Bay Music School’s Richmond Room, 244 E 52nd St, free

4/25-26, 8 PM plus 4/27 at 2 and 8 PM the JALC Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis plays Ellington at the Rose Theatre at Jazz at Lincoln Center, $30 tix avail but going quickly. There’s a kickoff show for free at 6:30 PM on the 25th at the Lincoln Center Atrium, early arrival a must. If you can’t make it, check out the live webcast.

4/25, 7:30 PM twangy, tuneful original alt-country siren Alana Amram & the Rough Gems at Rock Shop in Gowanus, $8

4/25, 8 PM weirdest segues of the year, but a good show: M Shanghai String Band play oldtimey Americana followed by the garage/psychedelic rock of the Morning Glories at 9 and eventually tuneful slowcore band Ida at around 11 at the Bell House, $10

4/25, 8 PM haunting, intense pan-Middle Eastern trio Niyaz at the Cutting Room, $22 standing room avail.

4/25-28, 8/10:30 PM torchy jazz chanteuse Catherine Russell at Dizzy’s Club

4/25, 9:30 PM Slavic Soul Party plays Boban Marcovic’s iconic Hani Rumba at Joe’s Pub, $16.

4/26 oud virtuoso Mavrothi Kontanis’ Mild Mannered Rebel with Megan Gould on violin, Shane Shanahan on drums and Brian Holtz on bass play the album release show for their reputedly amazing new one at Drom, $10

4/26, 8 PM the Jasper String Quartet play the Little Theatre, 31-10 Thomson Ave, Queens, alternate entrance at Building E on 47th Avenue and Van Dam St., RSVP required.

4/26, 8 PM the Trinity Choir and Youth Choir plus Novus NY perform sacred works by Stravinsky: The Flood, Abraham and Isaac, Threni and Introitus at Trinity Church, free, early arrival advised. The three-day festival continues on 4/27 with a benefit concert for music education at 8 PM and a 3 PM free concert on 4/28.

4/27, noon, the Queens Jazz Overground Festival at Flushing Town Hall, performers TBA, free.

4/27. 6:30 PM a wild Balkan brass doublebill – NYC’s very own Sazet Band followed by iconic Macedonian gypsy band Kocani Orkestar at le Poisson Rouge, $20 adv tix absolutely necessary, this will sell out.

4/27, 8:30 PM Haley Bowery & the Manimals play their sardonic, hard-hitting nuevo-glamrock followed eventually at 10:30 by the fiery, hyperliterate punk/powerpop alienation anthems of Hannah vs. the Many at Rock Shop, $8.

4/27, 9ish powerpop/psychedelic guitar god Pete Galub plays the album release show for his ferociously tuneful new one Candy Tears at Littlefield

4/27, 11 PM the Lyres – no idea how much the second-wave garage rock legends have left in the tank if at all – at Grand Victory in Williamsgburg, $12.

4/29, 7:30 PM Cygnus Ensemble plays new works by Frank Brickle and Laura Kaminsky at Symphony Space, $20/$15 stud/srs.

4/29, 9 PM the lush, intense, swirling Asuka Kakitani Jazz Orchestra at Tea Lounge in Park Slope

4/30, 7 PM Senegalese-flavored oldschool conscious roots reggae with Meta & the Cornerstones at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec.

4/30, 7 PM an evening of new vocal music in English, Arabic and other languages by Mohammed Fairouz, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Huang Ro, Paola Prestini and others with sting quartet and piano at the DiMenna Center, 450 W 37th St., $10 includes free refreshments, res req.

4/30-5/1 pianist Edward Simon revisists his recording of his killer new trio album with Scott Colley & Brian Blade, 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $20

4/30-5/5, 8/10:30 PM lyrical Dominican jazz pianist Michel Camilo at the Blue Note, $20 standing room avail.

5/1-3, 8 PM trumpeter/ composer/musical innovator Wadada Leo Smith presents the NYC premiere of his epic civil rights opus Ten Freedom Summers (rated best album of 2013 at NYMD’s sister blog Lucid Culture) at Roulette.

5/1, 8 PM avant string band and string quartet intensity: Ljova & the Kontraband followed by Brooklyn Rider at Littlefield $15

5/3, 5:30 PM haunting intense Balkan chanteuse Eva Salina Primack, who has a killer new solo album out, plays solo at the American Folk Art Museum

5/3-4, 8 PM visionary pianist/bandleader Arturo O’Farrill‘s spectacular, intense Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra beefs up Mexican banda music and other lesser-known latin subgenres along with newly commissioned works at Symphony Space, $20/$15 stud/srs.

5/3, 8 PM gguitarist Jason Vieaux plays music by Mauro Giuliani, J.S. Bach, Benjamin Britten, John Dowland, Dan Visconti, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Pat Metheny, and José Luis Merlín at Baruch College Auditorium, 55 Lexington Ave,  $25/$20 stud/srs. 5/5 at 3 PM he’s at  Ingalls Recital Hall, 2039 Kennedy Blvd in Jersey City for free

5/3 9ish legendary rocksteady/reggae crooner Ken Boothe (the Man with the Gold Tooth!) at Littlefield $20 adv tix rec

5/4, 8 PM, repeating on 5/5 at 3 PM the world-class Park Avenue Chamber Symphony plays Leo Kraft – Variations for Orchestra (New York Premiere); Mozart – Piano Concerto No. 23 in A with Kariné Poghosyan, piano; Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 at All Saints Church, 230 E 60th St between 2nd and 3rd Aves

5/4, 8 PM ageless torchy accordionist/chanteuse/personality Phoebe Legere at the Cutting Room, $25

5/4, 8:30 PM Mimesis Ensemble are at Merkin Concert Hall playing a Lynchian elegy by Caleb Burhans, a cruelly sarcastic take on eco-disaster by David T. Little, powerful and historically aware chamber pieces by Fairouz as well as other works, adv tix $10 (students $5).

5/5, 7 PM sitar virtuoso Krishna Bhatt with tabla player Anindo Chatterjee at Symphony Space, $30/$20 stud/srs

5/4-5, 9 PM Arabic disco music from San Francisco with Beats Antique at Brooklyn Bowl, $15

5/5, 3 PM adventurous string quartet Brooklyn Rider at the Abrons Arts Ctr, 466 Grand Street (at Pitt St), free, early arrival advised.

5/5, 8 PM the original oldtimey crooner, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks at City Winery, $28 standing room avail.

5/5, 10:30 PM intense, lyrically brilliant , quirky two-keyboard 80s-style art-rock/new wave revivalists Changing Modes at the National Underground

5/7, 5:30 PM the Tobias Picker Ensemble plays a program of the composers’s new works at the Miller Theatre, free.

5/8, 8 PM dark smart jazz twinbill: drummer Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom and Sex Mob who have a reputedly amazing Nino Rota album just out – at the 92YTribeca, $12 adv tix very highly rec.

5/8, 8 PM Colin Stetson – who blew the doors off the Bitter End, solo on bass trombone when he played there at Winter Jazzfest – at le Poisson Rouge, $13 adv tix rec.

5/9, 7:30 PM psychedelic art-rock, worldbeat and reggae: Deoro’s Manila Project with special guests Nyko Maca, Waway Saway, Daniel Darwin, and Jonan Aguilar at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

5/10-11 cellist Jeffrey Ziegler’s last performances with the Kronos Quartet features Laurie Anderson joining them for their collaboration Landfall,  at the Kasser Theatre at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Tix $TBA; $10 roundtrip transportation from NYC is available via charter bus which leaves at 6 PM from 41st St. betw. 8th/9th Aves., res. highly suggested to 973-655-5112 or http://www.peakperfs.org

5/10, 8 PM sly alt-country songwriters Warren Hood & the Goods and Hayes Carll at City Winery, $20 standing room avail.

5/11, 11 AM the latest “wall to wall” free all-day extravaganza at Symphony Space explores the Harlem Renaissance, lineup TBA.

5/11 9 PM dark Americana/noir jangleband Balthrop Alabama at Littlefield

5/13 a Gil Evans birthday celebration with members of the Gil Evans Orchestra plus special guests at Highline Ballroom.

5/16, 7:30/9:30 PM guitarist/conductor Greg Tate and pianist Marc Cary’s The Upper Anacostia–Lower Gold Coast Symphonic plays a tribute to DC go-go music at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised.

5/17, 8 PM opening night of this year’s Look & Listen new music festival featuring the Jack Quartet performing new work by Lewis Nielsen plus a New York-centric multimedia  piece for piano, cello and video by Michael Brown and Nick Canellakis and a-cappella group M6 performing early Meredith Monk compositions at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, 144 W 14th St., 2nd Fl., $15 or 3-day festival pass available for $35

5/18, 3 PM indie classical group Cadillac Moon Ensemble outdoors on the High Line between 10th/11th Aves.

5/18 Tempus Continuum Ensemble plays new works by up-and-coming composers Alex Burtzos, Anne Goldberg and Kevin Baldwin at the Cell Theatre in Chelsea.

5/18, 8 PM the second night of this year’s Look & Listen new music festival explores the Orpheus myth with music by Monteverdi and Birtwistle’s Orpheus Elegies for harp, oboe and voice. The lineup includes harpist Bridget Kibbey, oboist James Austin Smith and other performers TBA at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, 144 W 14th St., 2nd Fl., $15 or 3-day festival pass available for $35.

5/19, 4 PM the final installment of this year’s Look & Listen new music festival features flutist Claire Chase and percussionist Svet Stoyanov playing works by Balter and Xenakis; composer/toy pianist Phyllis Chen teaming with chamber-pop group Cuddle Magic for pieces from their new collaboration, plus new works premiered by string quintet Sybarite5 and the Momenta Quartet at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, 144 W 14th St., 2nd Fl., $15 or 3-day festival pass available for $35

5/20, 7:30 PM horn & piano duo Radovan Vlatkovic & Ieva Jokubaviciute play rare repertoire for the instruments at the Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 E 52nd St., free, res. req.

5/23, 7:30 PM intense gypsy band A Hawk & a Hacksaw (ex-Neutral Milk Hotel) play their new album You Have Already Gone to Another World all the way through to accompany Russian filmmaker Sergey Paradjanov’s 1964 film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival a must, this will sell out fast.

6/11, 6-9 PM the Museum Mile Festival – 5th Ave. closed off to traffic, free admission at El Museo del Barrio; the Museum of the City of New York; the Jewish Museum; the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; National Academy Museum & School; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Neue Galerie New York; New York/German Cultural Center; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

6/12 wild mostly remale klezmer jamband Isle of Klezbos at El Sol Brillante Garden on the Lower East: (rain location JCC Manhattan); 6/26 they’re at Spectrum

7/6 the Byzan-tones play wild psychedelic Greek surf music at Otto’s.

Jeanne Jolly: Eclectic Vocals, Intriguing Stories, Great Band

Raleigh, North Carolina country singer Jeanne Jolly’s latest album Angels has a lot of great tunes and great stories. Jolly is conservatory trained, with a jazz background: she had a money gig singing in a well-known pop-jazz band for awhile. In the last couple of years, she’s honed her chops on her home turf, embracing the country styles she grew up with there. Much as the album blends oldschool country with rock, it’s a million miles from New Nashville. Although Jolly’s voice can give you goosebumps, she saves the pyrotechnics for when she really wants to nail a lyric or drive a chorus home. Her songs usually follow a narrative: she’s got an eye for detail, likes to work the suspense for all it’s worth, and her band is sensational. She’s at the big room at the Rockwood on March 1 at 7 PM with eight-string guitarist Chris Boerner and drummer/keyboardist Nick Baglio.

Angels on Hayworth Street, the album’s opening track, sets the tone. Over Boerner’s tersely bluesy electric guitar and Allyn Love’s deliciously keening pedal steel, Jolly sings about a woman who “Found out on a Sunday with a pale face and racing heart” who knew she had to leave. As the narrative goes on and she finds unexpected comfort, it’s not clear if she’s actually escaped, or died and gone off to a better place. Likewise, the propulsive, crescendoing Happy Days Cafe, lit up with James Wallace’ jaunty, rippling piano, could be about a heartwaming encounter with a stranger…or a chance meeting with a ghost who can’t let go of what haunts him.

The rest of the album is impressively eclectic. Sweet Love, a balmy, shuffling bossa-tinged acoustic trip-hop number, reminds of Bob Marley. The Hard Way is a honkytonk song done as backbeat rock with a wild, snarling Boerner guitar solo, while the bitter, aphoristic Tear Soup is the most traditional C&W number here, complete with a spine-tingling blue yodel or three and more than a hint of operatics in the vocals as it winds out.

The anxious road song Long Way Home evokes another first-class Americana chanteuse, Mary Lee Kortes, right down to the catchy chorus and the crystalline vocals. The album’s strongest and hardest-hitting song, Round and Round Again, begins as a gentle waltz, a fond look back at young love and then explodes: “I’ll walk by you, as the sky splits in two,” Jolly wails in anguish on the chorus. The album ends with The Kiss, which sounds like Bjork doing Betty Carter, Jolly’s torchy vocals over an ambient drone and Mat Caughan’s muffled percussion, followed by the country waltz Good Man. This is an ambitious album: Jolly covers an awful lot of ground here, keeps her bearings and when she pulls out all the stops, it can be breathtaking.

Dead Leaf Echo’s Debut Album: A Rainy Day Treat

Dead Leaf Echo plays the release show for their debut album Thought & Language on Feb 27 at 10:30 at the Mercury Lounge for $10. If this had come out on 4AD in 1989, it would be regarded as a classic of its kind today. The band name is well-chosen: their music has a vividly chilly autumnal feel as well as a reverberating, hypnotic ambience.  Wet, shimmery, frequently icy layers of guitar mist swirl and echo through simple, catchy hooks that often bring to mind bands like My Bloody Valentine and Lush in their early years. Call it shoegaze, or dreampop, or goth, it’s a mix of all three.

The album’s opening track, Conception, sets the tone, a rain-drenched soundscape morphing into an insistent, cyclical hook, riffs echoing dubwise throughout the mix. The second cut, Kingmaker opens bright and ringing like mid-80s Cure, echoey guitar screams fading into white noise a la the Church. That band is echoed even more vividly on Featherform, a mix of elegant jangle and nebulous shoegaze, its clangy lines rising insistently and then blending into a lushback drop for a baroque-tinged outro. It segues into Internal with its dreaminess juxtaposed against steady bass chords, once again building into an intricate, majestically enveloping web of sound.

Language of the Waves blends the catchy, chiming bounce of late 80s bands like the Mighty Lemon Drops with more ornate sonics. Memorytraces (a free download) is the album’s best and loudest song, a swaying, catchy anthem with a terse, incisive flange guitar solo and a lush, distantly jangling outro with biting harmonic flourishes. Like many of the tracks here, it segues into the next one, Birth, with it simple, direct bass pulse, pensive anthemicness and insistently crescendoing guy/girl vocals.

Child rises out of a hazy tone poem of sorts to a breathless pace, followed by the rising and receding waves of Thought, distantly majestic slide guitar moving through the mix. Dream of the Soft is sort of a gentler take on the blend of folk and new wave that the Railway Children began their career with, a New Order-ish bass hook rising and eventually pushing everything to the side.

The bouncy Heavensent is sort ofa  hybrid of the Cure, Lush and the Coctean Twins, period-perfect wthout being cheesy or a ripoff. By contrast, the slowly atmospheric Gesture reverts to early 90s Church sonics and dramatic heft. She Breathes goes for more of a late 80s pop feel amidst the grey-sky ambience, while Birthright brings in a marching goth vibe.

Flowerspeak, with its bass hook anchoring the spacious, minimalist melody, could be the Police if they’d stuck around after Synchronicity. The album ends with Language and its contrasting high/low, light/dark textures and echoey raindroplet guitar awash in banks of reverb. It’s music to get lost in, a treat for fans of dark, pensive, rainy-day music. One thing on this album that would be good to hear more of is guitarist Ana B.’s voice: she nails the moody uncertainty of the era the band has embraced. It’s tempting to say that they’ve coldly embraced it, but that be an extreme for a band whose sense of the understated and the enigmatic is their greatest asset.

Elegantly Pensive, Purist Americana Songwriting from Susan James

Concept album about a breakup: what springs to mind? Cliche after cliche from some self-absorbed singer-songwriter? Cheesy, weepy lyrics and wimpy acoustic guitars? Something you’d most likely click off in a nanosecond? In that case, it might be dangerous to let you know that Susan James‘ new album Driving Toward the Sun is a concept album about a nasty breakup. Then again, an element of danger, emotional or otherwise, is a frequent presence in James’ music. If depth and intensity and a lush mix of both oldschool and alt-country and elegant chamber pop are your thing, there’s plenty of all that here. The whole album is streaming at James’ Bandcamp page.

The title pretty much says it all: it cuts any way you might imagine, and it gives you a clear indication of how smartly James writes and sings. Her imagery is plainspoken but potent, her clear, uncluttered, direct voice unselfconsciously affecting. James hails from Los Angeles, and there are a ton of musicians backing her. Notable among them are brilliant, ubiquitous pedal steel player Eric Heywood, purist drummer and Amy Allison collaborator Don Heffington and guitarist Neal Casal, whose terse, bitingly incisive leads cut through the lush bed of acoustic rhythm and soaring steel lines, usually over a steady, resolute backbeat. James’ songs evoke both the pensive Americana purism of Tift Merrritt as well as the clarity and edgy, confrontational directness of Penelope Houston. Tom Petty producer Ryan Ulyate deserves a shout-out as well for fleshing out these songs with a rich mix of textures without falling back on any easy 70s pop or 21st century corporate cliches: it sounds like the record he always wanted to make if left to his own devices.

The pensive title track has a Merritt-like determination in the face of adversity: the way Heywood’s floating steel contrasts with Jason Chesney’s anxious bass solo as it kicks off the final chorus is a characteristically smart, subtle touch. Wandering, a brisk, bluegrass-tinged shuffle is more optimistic: James’ protagonist has a “compass for a heart and a pickaxe mind” and isn’t about to let anybody get in the way.

Aqua Dulce Tears is sort of a schlock-free take on what Linda Ronstadt was doing in the 70s, Casal’s terse, echoey leads foreshadowing James’ chronicle of disappointment and dissolution. Just from the title, you know where U-Haul in the Driveway is going, but it’s bittersweet rather than maudlin, gorgeously flavored with Heywood’s low, moody swells, mandolin and a clave backbeat.

Despite all the pain, all the miscommunication, James is not ready to pack it in: “Any fool can see, I’ll be here come next anniversary,” she intones quietly on the next track: “I wanna scream and shout…quiet, the kids are in the room.” The slow, jangly ballad House of Love has both the tersely poetic sensibility and catchiness of Mary Lee Kortes‘ recent work, not to mention James’ nonchalantly chilling vocals. John McDuffie’s neat twelve-string guitar break toward the end sheds a little light that you just know is going to disappear, and it does.

The closest thing here to Penelepe Houston is Tule Fog, especially as the wickedly catchy, metaphorically-charged chorus kicks in: “When the the Tule fog comes rolling in, it’s a dangerous road my friend, when you can’t see around you…”  The album ends with Mission Bells, up with a spash of cymbals, twin acoustic guitars, a wash of pedal steel in the background. It’s both a requiem for lost hopes as well as a tentative stab in an opposite direction: the Eagles only wish they had material like this to use to connect with a current-day audience. This is the rare album that will resonate with people who are looking for substance and depth as well as listeners who will never hear this as anything more than something pleasant in the background.

Jacco Gardner’s Period-Perfect Psychedelia Comes to NYC

Psychedelic songwriter Jacco Gardner’s new album Cabinet of Curiosities so perfectly recreates the surrealistically vaudevillian sound of 60s British psychedelic pop that it could be a parody. Consider: the central instrument here is the electric harpsichord. If you’ve ever killed time with “classic rock” radio, you know the sound: Ray Manzarek plays one on the Doors’ People Are Strange. Gardner delivers his paradoxical, sometimes befuddled lyrics in in perfect deadpan English, his purist second-generation Beatles melodies mingling with the baroque via an endless series of vintage and neo-vintage keyboard patches. Does he realize how completely absurd, and completely ridiculous a lot of this sounds? Consider: Gardner is Dutch, and while it seems everybody in Holland speaks English, it’s not everyone’s first language. Whatever the case, ultimately it doesn’t matter. Whether or not this is a homage, a sendup, a serious (hmmm) attempt to take the psych-pop pantheon to new places, or all of the above, it’s impossible to listen to this and not smile. The whole thing (along with other miscellaneous treats) is streaming at his Bandcamp page.

What’s most spectacular about this is that Gardner not only writes this stuff, he plays all of it, manning all the keys as well as guitars, bass and drums, all of them period-perfect! If Elliott Smith had been born thirty years earlier and had followed his muse into mushrooms rather than opiates, he might have sounded something like this. The Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle is an obvious influence, as are the Pretty Things, the Move and the Kinks in their airiest and artsiest mid-to-late-60s moments. Among current-day acts, the Smiles and Frowns and Jeremy Messersmith come to mind.

The opening track Clear the Air sets the tone, both swooshy and rippling all at once: the guitar doesn’t come in til the second chorus, and then it’s just an acoustic. The One Eyed King works a more classically-tinged minor-key vibe: “Open up the window to your mind so I can look inside,” Gardner teases as the mellotron pans the mix. Puppets Dangling continues in the same vein, a mix of oldschool chamber pop and fifth-wave psychedelia. Where Will You Go teleports the idea of Oasis’ Wonderwall 25 years back in time and improves on it immensely, sort of a carnivalesque take on the Moody Blues.

The most anthemic track here is Watching the Moon, making its way from a sureal waltz into more ornate territory. Gardner is brave enough to make the title track an instrumental, and a good one, with its ghost-girl vocalese and unexpected chord changes: with tunes this good, who needs lyrics, anyway?

The Riddle, with its wry Good Vibrations references, rocks harder than anything here: it reminds of Brooklyn art-rockers Aunt Ange. Gardner goes back to weird waltz mode with the aptly titled Lullaby, its Nektar-ish broken chords and long, dreamy fade, then raises the angst level and the epic sweep with Help Me Out: “I need another curtain just to make me feel all right…let the sunlight find me just before I turn into stone,” he intones with an eerie matter-of-factness.

With its warm harmonies and wistful catchiness, Summer’s Gone reminds of Love Camp 7. Chameleons contrasts nimbly fingerpicked guitar and resonant electric piano; the album winds up with The Ballad of Little Jane, a wry and strangely pretty ELO-tinged piano ballad. Gardner is at Death by Audio on Mar 3 and then back in New York on Mar 23 at the Mercury; it’s not known if he’s doing these shows solo or with a band. Either way, it should be a lot of fun.

The Rich Past and Edgy Future of Jewish Music Live at Lincoln Center

Last night at Lincoln Center, singer/accordionist Olga Mieleszczuk’s Polesye Project and the Shofar Trio made their American debuts in an often riveting program that spanned some of the best of Jewish music from the 19th century to the present, both melodically and lyrically. With a nuanced, expressive voice that ranged from plaintive and haunting to coyly whimsical, Mieleszczuk led her band – Ittai Binnun on multi-reeds and guitar and Uri Sharlin on accordion and piano, with the Klezmatics’ Lisa Gutkin guesting on violin – through an eclectic set of material from the repertoire of 1930s-era Polish-Canadian chanteuse Mariam Nirenberg. Nirenberg hailed from Polesye (now encompassing adjacent parts of Poland, Belarus, the Ukraine and Russia), “one of the wildest and most mysterious regions,” as Mieleszczuk put it, managing to make an escape just as Hitler’s reign of terror was getting underway. The songs she brought with her spanned much of the Jewish diaspora in Europe, as well as a similar range of emotional terrain rich with irony and dark humor.

The band opened with a sad brooding, klezmer waltz and closed with a lushly glimmering art-rock version of a Yiddish pop hit from the era that Nirenberg had recast as a lullaby. In between, they romped through a couple of dance numbers livened with Gutkin’s alternately wry and biting lines, a bitter deathbed ballad from Russia, a jauntily sardonic number about a guy who can’t seem to hook up with any of the girls at the party despite his fancy shoes, and a swooping and then sweepingly triumphant take of the old Ukrainian folk song Akh Odessa, done as more of an adventurous immigrant’s tale than nostalgic look back.

Another intriguing Polish group, the Shofar Trio headlined. Tenor saxophonist/bass clarinetist Mikolaj Trzaska, guitarist Raphael Roginski and drummer Macio Moretti worked suspenseful, dynamically-charged, frequently explosive vamps on ancient Jewish ngunim themes that evoked the work of John Zorn and especially Sex Mob: imagine that group, but with sax and guitar in place of the trumpet and bass. Trzaska held long, rapturous pedal notes via circular breathing, squalled and whispered and then brought the tunes back to the center with his austere Middle Eastern-tinged lines. Roginski alternated between carefully plucked, overtone-tinged staccato, frenetically noisy Velvet Underground scales, resonant jangle and even an interlude where he played spot-on Mississippi hill country blues: it was as if Junior Kimbrough had been transported to some remote shtetl on the Russian border. At the top of the music’s swells, the drums going full bore and the guitar throwing off layers of natural reverb, the trio reached for a snarling postrock feel similar to Mogwai. Moretti’s work behind the kit was masterful and amped up the suspense factor several notches as he played with his hands, often muting his beats and cymbals to add a surreal element of distance while the rhythms echoed throughout the atrium space. As the songs rose and fell, the melodies spanned from doomed ominousness, to stately apprehension and even unabashed delight, on a rhythmically tricky, Madedonian-tinged theme early in the set. It was something akin to watching a band jam out the legendary Darkcho album that came out several years ago. Fans of the Tzadik catalog as well as anyone who gravitates toward emotionally vivid music won’t be disappointed by either group.

Lily Frost Brings Her Catchy, Edgy, Eclectic Chamber Pop to NYC

Canadian art-rock/chamber pop songwriter Lily Frost comes to Zirzamin for an early show at 7 PM on Feb 27, which promises to be a treat in that club’s intimate, sonically immaculate Blue Velvet space. She’s got a new album out, Do What You Love, which blends her eclectic purist pop intelligence with nonchalantly alluring vocals and the lyrical wit that flows through her work. Frost got her start in the oldtimey movement in the 90s – her band the Colorifics were sort of the Canadian Squirrel Nut Zuppers. After that she took a turn into retro Americana and has since branched out into darker, more ornate sounds with both jazz and classical tinges. An excellent career retrospective of sorts, with songs from most of her albums, is streaming at her Soundcloud page.

Frost has a disarming directness and bite that often contrasts with her tunes’ lively charm, in full effect on the album’s opening track, Background Radio, with its quirky surrealism, tricky tempo and upbeat ba-ba chamber-pop hooks. The second track, I’m on Fire, reaches back pensively toward oldtimey swing, sort of a cross between Jodi Shaw and Rachelle Garniez. The bouncy, mandolin-spiced title track reminds of another first-class Canadienne, Michal the Girl. Frost follows that with the understatedly snarling Grenade, a terse, noir cabaret-flavored kiss-off note.

Poetry – as in “you used to write me poetry” – sounds like ELO doing Sam Cooke over a trip-hop beat. Frost then takes a brightly pulsing turn toward early 60s Nashville pop with No Promises and its twangy Chris Isaak guitar, then follows it with the catchy but restless Long Sweet Ride and its coy Phil Spector allusions.

Opening with just a steady electric guitar strum and vocals, It Shines is the most nebulous of the tracks here and works a distant ominousness that rises even higher with the creepy gothic trip-hop of Stand. Frost reverts to jaunty mode to close the album with a cover of Pink Floyd’s St. Tropez that’s so breezy it’s funny: she absolutely nails Roger Waters’ brightly beachy sarcasm with an irrepressible grin that he only could have dreamed of. That Frost would have both the chops and the wit to do something like this speaks volumes about where she’s been, where she’s capable of going and how much fun she has doing it.

Kiwi’s On the Move with Good Original Reggae

Jersey City reggae band Kiwi’s new album On the Move manages to be purist without being a ripoff. Frontman/guitarist Alex Tea’s songs draw a straight line back to Bob Marley and Burning Spear at their late 70s peak, while adding original touches including elements of jazz and Brazilian music. The arrangements are everything that’s good about roots reggae: they’re slinky and hypnotic yet constantly change shape, with light dub tinges that enhance the psychedelic factor. Much as the album’s sonics are crisply digital, the production values are strictly oldschool. What’s interesting about this band is that everybody seems to come from either a rock or jazz background, yet they get what reggae is all about better than some of the Jamaican posse does these days. Drummer Ramsey Norman is a harder hitter than most of his reggae counterparts, and like the great Sly Dynbar he does a lot more than just the one-drop beat, teaming up with percussionist Ben Guadalupe. Likewise, bassist Matt Quinones basically functions as a second lead guitarist, a couple of octaves lower. Keyboardist Dave Stolarz varies his textures from swoopy Wailers-style organ to various piano and synth voicings: he’s their secret dubwise edge.  The horn section of tenor saxophonist Barami Waspe, trumpeter Curtis Taylor and trombonist Rob Edwards make the most of a bunch of juicy charts, adding to the richly tuneful, retro 70s vibe.

The opening track, Aprendiz, blends tropicalia and anthemic rock over a rootsy groove, like a Brazilian John Brown’s Body. The second track, Burden, is a killer singalong, the first of several rocksteady-style numbers that remind of vintage early 70s Toots & the Maytals. They go for a pensive Marley feel with Change and then add spaghetti western touches and Augustus Pablo-ish melodica on the apprehensively jungly Dead Man, which segues into an unexpectedly weird, trippy atmospheric interlude.

Edwards’ balmy trombone lines pair off with the jaunty bounce of Fine and Mellow, while Give a Little goes back to the rocksteady before raising to a gorgeously soaring chorus. I Can Fall nicks the riff from the Burning Spear classic Man in the Hills and takes it more upbeat on the wings of the horns; the band hits a dub passage and segues from there into Lady Lady, the poppiest thing here, which has the feel of a carefree early 70s Johnny Clarke hit.

The most intense and original track here is Pirambu, an unexpectedly ominous, lushly anthemic tune with intricate jazz-tinged guitar, ethereal horns and another hypnotic dub interlude. Pema mixes up samba and reggae, while Sun Never Set is sort of Marley’s Dem Belly Full crossed with Henry Mancini. The album winds up with the easygoing Tell You Once, spiced with a sweet trombone solo and the best outro of any of the songs here. Kiwi play the album release show tonight, Feb 21 at Joe’s Pub at 11 PM.

Great New Psychedelic Rock from the Blackfeet Braves

In a lot of respects, the Blackfeeet Braves are basically a first-class surf band with vocals and psychedelic overtones. These Los Angelenos really know what they’re doing, setting a surreal mood and maintaiing it all the way through their new album, which is streaming at Bandcamp, with a free download.  Their songs are catchy, their twangy, reverbtoned vintage guitar sonics deliciously echoey, their solos interesting , their use of effects imaginative. The bass is trebly and cuts through the mix; the drums push the beat a little and keep things uptempo. Their songwriting draws as much on early 60s Orbison-style noir pop as it does the Ventures, Dick Dale and trippier bands like the Electric Prunes. They sound like they’d be great fun live. Reputedly, this album was recorded on the site of an old Indian burying ground – whether or not that contributed to the lingering menace of many of the songs is open to interpretation.

Mystic Rabbit kicks things off with a jangly minor-key surf gallop. The first thing it brings to mind is the Ventures’ version of Runaway, but slower. Nice hollowbody bass tone cutting through the mix, too. The bouncy surf-pop of Trippin’ Like I Do reminds of Milwaukee’s Exotics, while the distantly latin-tinged Open Your Heart introduces one of the guitars running through what sounds like a repeater box (analog forerunner of the delay pedal), an effect they use frequently from this point on.

Misery Loves Company, with the repeater box set to strobe, reminds of great second-wave Rhode Island psych band Plan 9 crossed with the Ventures in propulsive outer-space mode  Please Let Me Know sets a nonchalantly swaying soul strut verse up against an apprehensively jangly chorus  and then segues into Dockweiler, an allusively menacing, vamping garage-rock tune. They follow that with the chiming, organ-fueled stoner-pop song Oh So Fine.

Cloud 9 sets warbling funeral organ over a garage rock tune with aggressive vocal harmonies, a tasty, ringing guitar solo and a scampering doublespeed interlude. Strange Lovers features a theremin keening over catchy staccato guitar; it’s one of the most memorable tracks on the album. Hanging ‘Round is the slowest and darkest track here. Vicious Cycle, a free download, follows the same arc as Cloud 9: biting chorus and then another scurrying romp where the guitarist fires off some agile tremolo-picking instead of using the repeater box. The album ends with the short, catchy, syncopated minor-key bounce of High ‘n Dry.

As with a lot of psychedelic bands, their lyrics tend to be the neither-here-nor-there kind, when they’re not going for a surreal menace – somebody “spills the blood on the victim’s hands,” “I put a spell on you, you pur a curse on me.” So it doesn’t hurt that there’s so much reverb on the vocals that it’s sometimes hard to figure them out.