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The
Clay People
Saratoga
Winners, Thursday
Wake
up! Wake Up! Time to di . . . wake up? Just go with it, because
mechanized Capital Region mainstays the Clay People are celebrating
their return and heralding the release of their new album
Waking the Dead. Lead singer Dan Neet’s savage, sometimes
operatic bellow has sustained the band through its bevy of
stylistic changes from early-’90s poofy-haired Cure wannabes
to mid-’90s Skinny Puppy-meets-sludge-rock innovators to their
last Edge Fest-dominating incarnation as aggro metal gods.
Want to know what will be the next chapter written in clay?
Then show up this Thursday. . . . You’ll leave with one of
Neet’s new nah, nah, nah, sing-along choruses stuck in your
mechanized mind. (Oct. 27, 7 PM, $10, Route 9, Latham,
783-1010)
Laurie
Anderson
The
Egg, Thursday
It’s
Laurie Anderson’s voice, disarming and deceptively plain,
that is the most striking thing about this renowned performance
artist-composer-poet-filmmaker-musician-ventriloquist. Proof?
She had William S. Burroughs guest on one of her early recordings,
and she more than held her own against that unforgettable
voice. (“The sun’s coming up like a big bald head,” indeed.)
Quizzical, intelligent and often bemused, Anderson’s vocal
instrument is the glue that holds her challenging and entertaining
multimedia works together. Her latest work, The End of
the Moon, combines “stories, songs and new music for violin
and electronics” in a contemplation of the relationships between
“war, aesthetics, spirituality and consumerism.” In other
words, it’s about America, and she’s bringing it to the Egg
tonight. (Oct. 27, 8 PM, $28, Empire State Plaza, Albany,
473-1845)
Gandalf
Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams
Caffe
Lena, Sunday
“We
want to go somewhere with the audience where we can all get
naturally high together, ask some questions, get some revelations,
see some new stuff, and hopefully come back as better people.”
This is what Gandalf Murphy lead singer Joziah Longo would
like to see as a result of the band’s shows. To facilitate
the trip, the Circus of Dreams provide music that is both
simple and unique, with many recognizable bits stolen freely
from music they love. Stories within the music weave in religious
and philosophical mythologies. Just don’t expect there to
be an actual Gandalf—or for them to have any idea where Slambovia
is. (Oct. 30, 7 PM, $16, 47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs,
583-0022)
Opeth
Saratoga
Winners, Wednesday
Testifying
to the grass roots of proverbial death-metal, yet exalting
the power of melody and vocal tunefulness, the Swedish death-metal
quartet Opeth once again are storming the shores of North
America. In the past decade, they have mapped out a unique
sound, taking metal down the warily traveled road of acoustics
and making pitstops at the corner of progressive rock and
folk. Their newest studio album, Ghost Reveries, although
a must for fans of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, is sure
to gratify the tastes of the conceptually thirsty fans of
Pink Floyd and Nine Inch Nails. Their live show is no different:
Years of pillaging venues in Europe, Canada, and the United
States have evolved front man Mikael Åkerfeldt’s voice into
an instrument that can howl, swoon, hum, or growl; oh yeah,
he can also shred the guitar. Ozzy, hide Sharon and the kids.
Ministers, toll the bell and lock up the church. The Vikings
are coming. (Nov. 11, 8 PM, $17, 1375 New Loudon Road,
Latham, 783-1010)
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koufax
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Koufax
Valentine’s,
Wednesday
Playing
a fusion of ’70s rock, ’80s new wave and ’90s emo, Koufax
might at first sound similar to a number of other bands currently
clogging the airwaves, but these guys are no opportunists;
they’re simply good at hanging in there. Their latest album,
Hard Times Are in Fashion, is the third for the Detroit
outfit; the band have been at it since Franz Ferdinand were
but a highlighted paragraph in a social-studies textbook.
So bring your dancing shoes and a good sense of irony when
Koufax headline Valentine’s this Wednesday, along with Bell
County Silence, Jets and Snakes, and a solo set by the Suggestions’
John Brodeur. (Nov. 2, 7 PM, $5, free with College of Saint
Rose ID, 17 New Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6472)
Wynton
Marsalis
Troy
Savings Bank Music Hall, Wednesday
As
modern-day jazz goes, few performers are as prolific and,
dare we say, important as Wynton Marsalis. The trumpeter,
composer and bandleader has earned countless accolades and
awards for his numerous recordings in both the jazz and classical
idioms, including an impressive nine Grammys, and the 1997
Pulitzer Prize for music (for his jazz oratorio Blood on
the Fields). For this week’s performance, Marsalis and
his group—bassist Carlos Henriquez, drummer Ali Jackson, Dan
Nimmer on piano, and Walter Blanding on saxophone—will present,
among other works, highlights from his recent eight-CD series
Swinging into the 21st. The collection features a number
of original compositions, plus standards and selections from
a wide variety of composers, from (Igor) Stravinsky to (Thelonious)
Monk—not to mention a generous helping of Dixieland swing
from his New Orleans home. (Nov. 2, 8 PM, $37-$42, Second
and State streets, Troy, 273-0038)
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Noted |
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Tonight
(Thursday), Jillian’s opens its new third-floor
clubroom—called Ski Bar, for reasons unbeknownst
to us—to the public, with a set by DJ Element;
the club promises to bring “New York chic” to
downtown Albany (10 PM, 432-1997). . . . Professional
younger-brother Livingston Taylor returns
to the area for a show at the WAMC Performing
Arts Studio this Saturday (8 PM, $30, 465-5233).
. . . Bring out your dead: The Rolling Stones
will get the tribute treatment at Valentine’s
this Saturday, with sets from the Black Fuel,
Bryan Thomas, Mitch Elrod, and others
(9 PM, $5, 432-6572). . . . Hardcore hooligans
Murphy’s Law headline an up-and-down bill
at Valentine’s on Sunday; the bill also features
the Tossers, To Hell and Back, Kill
Your Idols, and several others (7 PM, $12,
432-6572). . . . On Halloween night (Monday),
head down to Red Square and catch the Mathematicians,
who may or may not come in costume; the Genders,
Parwana and the New Black open (10
PM, $5-$8, 432-8584). . . . Also on Monday, chart-topping
hiphop star Kanye West brings his current
tour to the Mullins Center at UMass Amherst; Keyshia
Cole and American Idol third-season
champ Fantasia will open (8 PM, $31-$41,
413-733-2500). . . . You’ve heard their music
on television shows from Spin City to The
Sopranos to Scrubs: Power-pop aces
the Churchills roll into town for midday
shows at the Union College Bookstore on Monday
(noon, 388-6188) and RPI’s Rensselaer Union Bookstore
on Tuesday (noon, 276-6555).
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Columns
& Opinions
