Music
Brazilian Gold w/ DJs Greg Caz and Sean | Sun., Feb. 6
Every Sunday, Greg Caz and Sean turn Black Betty into a sweaty Latin-American dancehall. This weekend, extending upon their theme of choice Brazilian cuts, the two jocks heighten the carnival with a gold party. Dancers, drinkers and revelers are asked to sport as much of the color gold as humanly possible. Prizes will be awarded to the most gold.
Don't worry if you don't have any of the bling mineral in your wardrobe. There will be plenty to look at: live go-go dancers will be shaking their ran-can-cans to live percussionists working alongside the DJs. With dance music looking back at its past for inspiration in the future, it would help to look at its most obvious foundation, Brazilian rhythms.
Greg Caz is one of the few DJs in the city that has a true grip on rare, new and old Latin music that keeps las chicas moving. His passion to represent all the colors, history, and texture of the music has cultivated a loyal following of listeners and dancers alike. Get there early, as the roof is certainly to be set en fuego.
Black Betty, 366 Metropolitan Ave. (Havemeyer St.), Bklyn; 718-599-0243; 10; free.
-Dan Martino
Jolie Holland | Sat., Feb. 5
One gets the feeling that even at the tender age of six, Jolie Holland had a young girl's heart and old woman's soul. By her early teens, she was already writing, singing and playing music on guitar, ukelele and fiddle. It didn't take long for her to realize that school and home-life were not inspiring her, so when the opportunity came to hit the road, she jumped.
Still in her teens, she traveled between Austin, Texas, and New Orleans, living a gypsy lifestyle in a traveling caravan of musicians and artists. (It's easy to hear the deep southern influences in her music today.) After her time with the roadshow, she helped form the Be Good Tanyas, an all-female group with echoes of Crosby Stills and Nash. After one record, Jolie again moved on, trying to close in on her own sound.
Jolie Holland's first soloÊrelease, Catalpa, was an accident, a lo-fi recording intended only for friends. Yet there was no hiding the haunting beauty of the music. After selling a few copies at shows, word spread quickly and the demand became so great that Jolie was forced to start selling them on her website, where sales poured in from new fans from across the globe. With Escondida (on Epitaph's great off-shoot label, Anti, the same folks who brought us Elliot Smith's great and tragic swan song, From A Basement On A Hill) Jolie Holland came full circle and put together one of the most moving records of 2004.
With a voice that combines shades of Billie Holiday and Anita O'Day, Jolie continues what she started with on Catalpa. Beginning with the opening line-"Tonight my heart is full of a sad song/my lonesome lover has taken off"-herÊwhispery, morphine-laced vocals take us through heartbreak and loss, with ukelele and violin perfectly placed atop of lavish piano blues. With the Akron/Family and Sean Hayes.
Mercury Lounge, 217 E. Houston St. (betw. Ludlow & Essex Sts.); 212-260-4700; 8:30; $14, $12 adv.
-Jimmy Ansourian
Arturo O' Farrill and Riza Negra
Tues., Feb. 8
A week ago, Arturo O' Farrill led Lincoln Center's Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra in front of hundreds, but tonight you can listen to (and maybe even jam with) the pianist and his band Riza Negra at Cornelia Street's 60-seat lounge. One Hamilton gets you an evening with these Latin jazz explorers before they resume their American tour. O'Farrill, son of Cuban musical great Chico O' Farrill and a self-named "New York mutt," doesn't do the "Latin-flavored" jazz thing (read: wishy-washy compositions concealed in catchy trumpeting and Afro-Latin percussion).
Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia St. (betw. Bleecker & W. 4th Sts.); 212-989-9319; 8:30; $10.
-Monika Fabian
King Missile III
Mon., Feb. 7
Most people remember the first time they heard "Detachable Penis" and "Jesus Was Way Cool." The local college radio jock was probably playing the Lemonheads or something, and out of nowhere comes John S. Hall's taunting monotone, the seminal voice of NYC's electric poetry movement, dropping some of the funniest shit you'd heard in a rock 'n' roll song since you were baby- sat by Ween. Tonight Hall fronts the band's third incarnation-a typically impressive line-up-and will regale the faithful with metaphysical poesy from the new album, Royal Launch. Expect to ponder, and ponder deeply, everything from vegetables to the occasional skull-fuck. With art-punks God Is My Co-Pilot.
Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard St. (betw. B'way & Church St.); 212-219-3132; 7; $10.
-Alexander Zaitchik
M.I.A. | Sat., Feb. 5
Born in London to Sri Lankan refugees, Maya Arulpragasam was a visual artist until her album-cover work took her on tour with Elastica and Peaches. Following the tour, she decided to set aside her spraypaint, purchase a sequencing machine and make a demo.
In February she debuts as M.I.A. with Arular on XL Recordings, the home of Dizzee Rascal, Basement Jaxx and the White Stripes. A cursory listen might place her as just another unclassifiable artist mixing electronica and hiphop with dashes of world music. But on second or third listen, you'll find yourself rewinding to catch certain lines and place the origins of the samples.
Maya's inspiration isn't a hard-knocks tale of childhood in some East End estate. The album is titled after the nickname of her father, a guerilla with the Tamil separatist movement in Sri Lanka. Airy vocals over heavy beats describe the war she grew up around as her father faded in and out of their nomadic life. They also describe events closer to home. While it's nearly impossible to understand every word, her message is obvious. On the self-titled track, she rhymes, "You can watch tv, watch the media, President Bush doing take over? Cherokee Indian, Japanese American, Caribbean African, Laotian lifer-who the fuck's your president?"
Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard St. (betw. B'way & Church St.); 212-219-3132; 10:30; sold out.
-Andrea Toochin
Like Jimmy Webb and Herb Alpert, the coolly complex Tin Pan chords and windy harmonics of Brazilian composer/pianist Sergio Mendes define a moment in modern AM radio pop whose likes we'll never hear again. One where sprightly jazz met subtle sambas and Beatle-ish pop on Broadway with a transfer readied for Harlem.
At a time when most of America was tuning out, Mendes was turning on bright ears to a sound that seemed faddish by the 50s, bossa nova. Rather than play upon his scholastic talents as an egghead classicist, Mendes at the dawn of the 60s took on a swinging sound, one whose samba jazz leanings caught not only the attention of Antonio Carlos Jobim (with whom Mendes would record) but also Cannonball Adderly.
When he stopped taking numbers for his Brasil outfit, Mendes made jazzy solo albums, produced and composed for others (his grandest was Sarah Vaughn's Brazilian Romance of 1987) and finally found his way back to Bahian hip-hop, reviving in him another year-bearing band, Brasil '05. I can't promise they'll be as good as '66 or '67-those were very good vintages-but the wine that is Sergio is always quite good.
Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St. (betw. MacDougal St. & 6th Ave.); 212-475-8592; 8 &10:30; $30 & $40.
-A.D. Amorosi
Thurs., Feb. 3
Ex-members of Northampton's infamous Unband have failed to drop dead or disappear, as was no doubt suspected, and probably hoped for, by many. In fact, former bassist Mike Ruffino just came out with a book, Gentlemanly Repose, which if not worthy of instant initiation into the mainstream Western canon, at least contains instantly classic one-liners like, "Even jail wouldn't be so bad if you could drink beer." Drummer Eugene Ferrari is backing up Old Money (presumably having his underwear thrown in your face during shows is still gratis), and frontman Matt Pierce is rolling into town tonight with trio Fistah, whose songs include "Drugs, Drinkin' & Drugs" (and yes, that's all one title).
Even more noteworthy, however, is the bill's second act, Dealbreaker, helmed by one-time Northampton resident Jesse Gordon. Keep your tv eye on this young rock band. They might be considered the Unband's baby brother act. But then again, that's what the Stooges were to the MC5 at one point, too.
Continental, 25 3rd Ave. (betw. St. Marks Pl. & 9th St.); 212-529-6924; 9; free.
-Tanya Richardson
Karen Jacobsen
Tues., Feb. 8
Join sultry Aussie songbird Karen Jacobsen for a celebration of her new CD, Here In My Heart. Jacobsen's voice soars all the way through "Here in My Heart," "Strong Woman," "Your Body Over Mine" and the other anthems she composed for this, her third CD, which she also produced on her own label, Kurly Queen. If sports fans recognize Jacobsen's voice, it's from her distinctive delivery of the Star Spangled Banner at Dodger Stadium, Fenway Park, Madison Square Garden and Giants Stadium.
Come spring, Karen will be touring the U.S., as well as London and Sydney. For this concert, she's backed by Josh Dodes on keyboards, Richard Hammond on bass and Ethan Eubanks on drums. Singer Jenny Bruce opens. February 8 is the Tuesday before Valentine's Day, so expect some prizes and surprises, and be prepared to lose your heart to Jacobsen or, at the very least, leave Fez singing her lovely, melody-driven songs.
Fez/Time Café, 380 Lafayette St. (Great Jones St.); 212-533-7000; 7; $12.
-Jennifer Merin
The Arcade Fire | Weds., Feb. 2
The Arcade Fire is back in NYC tonight, burning like a newborn comet through the hype. Critics have worn out their thesauruses trying to find synonyms for "Oh, my god" ever since the Montreal indie phenoms blew up the stage at Mercury Lounge during CMJ last fall, running around in helmets while teetering on the edge of stardom.
Equally evocative of David Bowie, the Magnetic Fields and the Talking Heads, Arcade Fire's music is difficult to categorize. It's true that they put the "emotion" back into emo, but they also blow it up. Check the power flowing through the band's recently released Funeral. Having come through a fog of personal and family challenges themselves, the band pushes emotions like grief and fear to their absolute limit, transmuting emo angst into ecstatic joy.
Lead singer and guitarist Win Butler brings a roots-oriented sensibility from Texas, with a beautifully ragged voice that grabs the listener by the heart. Butler is complimented by classically trained singer and multi-instrumentalist Regine Chassagne. Tonight's show is sold out, but you can still find tickets on Craigslist.
Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Pl. (15th St.); 212-777-6800; 8; sold out.
-Simon Cohn
Cyro Baptista & Brazilian Carnaval Universal
In the fingers, palms and elbows of Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista, everything takes on the weight of his world. Nothing weary, mind you, though Baptista's soft strokes have found their way across the most slowly aching of works from the gloomiest of jazz chanteuses like Cassandra Wilson and Holly Cole, as well as classicists such as opera diva Kathleen Battle and cellist Yo Yo Ma.
Whether playing with the avant garde A-to-Z (literally, from Laurie Anderson to John Zorn with stops at Eno in between) to his native soil's soul-fullest, Baptista has become dance itself. The groove is supple and alluring. His rhythm is that of a dancer-often a really weird dancer. In accordance with Zorn's labels, Avant and Tzadik, Baptista has released the manic Viva Loucos (his interpretations of Brazilian classical composer Heitor Villa Lobos) and the stranger, Beat the Donkey. Live, Beat the Donkey is a surround-sound-and-vision blur, a freaky mix of percussionists, singers, drummers, DJs, singer and dancers. OK, not just one form of dance and dancer, but a mix of samba, tap and Capoeira-a top-spinning martial attack plan that's concise and dangerous to the touch-all exotically costumed when costumed at all. Rather than be as obvious and vile as Stomp, it is graceful and cagey.
Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Frederick P. Rose Hall, 33 W. 60th St. (Broadway), 5th floor; 212-258-9595; Tues.-Sun., 7:30-9:30, Fri.-Sat., 11; $30, $5 drink min.
-A.D. Amorosi