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Cradle
of Filth, Moonspell, Held Under
Saratoga
Winners, thursday
Their
band bio reads like a particularly brutal Lovecraft tale,
full of darkness, death and demon resurrection. They claim
to be “spawned from the loins of Lords of Darkness,” and their
most recent album, Damnation and a Day (their first
under the Red Ink/Epic Records label and fifth overall), claims
to be a description of the impending end to humanity, as related
to the five-person Cradle of Filth cadre by Hell’s own head-honcho,
Lucifer. In order to tell the tale properly, the band enlisted
the aid of a 40-piece orchestra and a 32-person choir, as
well as some major-label funding (all of whom, according to
their bio, were summarily slaughtered after recording was
complete). Cradle of Filth’s live performances have a reputation
for being similarly excessive, with gruesome theatrics in
the vein of Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson. Death-metal cohorts
Moonspell and Held Under will open the gates of the musical
netherworld for this all-ages show. (Nov. 13, 7 PM, $22.50
advance, $25 door, 783-1010)
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Blackloud,
Hot Cousin
Valentine’s,
Thursday
The
man known casually as Jimbo Axe, the former four-string slinger
for the justly lauded headcrushers Small Axe, has since formally
ventured out on his own under the moniker Blackloud, and on
Thursday he’ll be offering a sampling of what he’s up to.
It’s been a while since Jimbo’s touched down on a local stage
(this’ll be the first gig since last January), and he promises
to come packing a whole set list full of new, unrecorded material.
He will, however, have both his sixth and seventh releases
available for sale at the gig, and based on our own spins
of those discs, Thursday is going to be an evening of high
weirdness: The Blackloud sound mashes dark Zappaesque musical
wit, half-frightening Meat Puppety desert poetry and evil
Sabbath riffs with worried skittering digital rhythms for
a combination that’d have Marilyn Manson twitching with DT
nerves. Blackloud will be joined by Hot Cousin. (Nov. 13,
9 PM, $5, 432-6572)
Talib
Kweli
Skidmore
College Sports Center, Friday
Talib
Kweli emerged in the ’90s dispensing socially conscious, cerebral
rhymes, and got a lot of attention for his collaboration with
Mos Def under the name Black Star. His latest album, Quality,
came out in 2002 and found his work in strong form, and—unlike
so many of his more commercial contemporaries—contemplative
and honest. He comes from the De La Soul and Tribe Called
Quest school of hiphop that’s not so bling bling, but is smart
and positive. He uses his notoriety to propheteer instead
of profiteer, and puts the money he does have where his mouth
is: He and Mos Def bought Brooklyn’s oldest African-American
bookstore when it was in financial trouble and turned it into
a nonprofit literacy and multicultural awareness group. (Nov.
14, 8pm, $18, 476-1000)
The
New Deal
Revolution
Hall, Friday
Eventually,
we’re just going to have to abandon all our stock jam-band
punchlines; and at the rate the genre’s changing, it’ll be
sooner rather than later. The post-Phish scene is so eclectic,
so inclusive, that we’re . . . well, we’re starting to like
it. Any musical form that will accommodate a version of the
disco staple “I Feel Love” informed equally by jazz, New Order
and Ms. Pac-Man is all right by us. And if it’s all right
by you, you can get a sample when the New Deal play Revolution
Hall on Friday. The three members of the New Deal hail from
Toronto’s jazz scene originally, but they really built their
following in the hotspots of the Northeastern jam circuit.
In venues like NYC’s hippie-friendly Wetlands, the New Deal
kicked out their free-ranging improv jams to the pleasure
of steadily growing crowds, who greedily soak up the band’s
house rhythms, the thick dancey pulses and the looney synth
melodies. (Nov. 14, 9 PM, $12, 273-2337)
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 Hiromi
Club
Helsinki, Great Barrington, Mass., Saturday
Hiromi,
a young piano phenom, has had quite the year: Her debut album,
Another Mind, was released in late April, then just
a few short weeks later she graduated from the Berklee School
of Music. Hiromi is now out hitting the road with her band
and her own brand of jazz-rock with a classical twist. She’s
come a long way from writing catchy advertising jingles for
Nissan. Now she’s bringing her fiery fingers to the area along
with bassist Mitch Cohn and drummer Dave DiCenso. Hiromi has
turned some heads already in our region with performances
at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival in Lenox and the Freihofer’s
Jazz Festival at SPAC. (Nov. 15, 9 PM, $18 advance, $22
door, 413 528-3394)
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| also
noted |
 If
you miss, or just plain missed, the heyday of the
slow dance, DJ Jay Williams is trying to
rekindle that closeness with his Thursday sets at
Yours Nightclub in Schenectady. Using mellower music
than many DJs—think easy jazz, R&B and easy
listening—Williams spins the tunes that make you
want get grooving, slowly (7 PM, $3, 370-9865).
. . . Melissa Ferrick, “the energetic lesbian
pop star,” is making one of her semi-regular visits
to the area tonight (Thursday), this time at Revolution
Hall along with local vocal powerhouse Erin Harkes
(8 PM, $14, 273-2337). . . . Tomorrow (Friday),
you can revisit the early days of rap when founding
father KRS-One kicks it at Nick’s Sneaky
Pete’s, along with local macks Sev Static and
DJ Money Mike (10 PM, 489-0000). . . . There’s
a local-polooza at Valentine’s on Friday, featuring
Lifted in their last show of the year, the
Humbugs, Seed and the only representatives
of the Albany-Iceland exchange program, 5 Alpha
Beatdown (8PM, 432-6572). . . . The Van Dyck
hosts singer-songwriter team Lowen & Novarro
on Friday (7 PM and 9:30 PM, $15, 381-1111).
. . . The Capital Pride Singers break in
their new musical director, Dr. Joseph Eppink, with
two performances of Show Tunes: From Broadway to
Hollywood, first on Friday at the Emmanuel Friedens
Church in Schenectady and again on Saturday at Page
Hall (7:30 PM, $12, 435-4636). . . . You’ll also
have two chances to catch the heavy melodies of
Nikilee & Mass Chaos this weekend: On
Friday at Valentine’s with Catch Fire and
the Highsocks; then on Saturday at All Sports
in Troy, with the blues demonology of Lowthief
(Fri: 9 PM, 432-6572; Sat: 9:30 PM, 687-0064).
. . . On Saturday, you can get your fill
of big aggro-rock when Trapt, along with
the Bruise Bros. and District 21,
play Northern Lights (7:30 PM, $12, 371-0012).
. . . Saturday brings edgy chanteuse Phoebe Legere
to the Van Dyck (7 PM and 9:30 PM, $15, 381-1111).
. . . You can wrap up your week by spending a rootsy
Sunday with the troubadour rasp of Steve Forbert
at Caffe Lena (7 PM, $15, 583-0022). |
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