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Jounce
La
Cocina, Friday
To “jounce” is to “move or cause to move with bumps and jolts.”
The band Jounce incorporate some funky jazz and rock
with modern-beat music into their sound, hoping to prompt
the aforementioned standards of movement in audiences. In
addition to jamming out tunes, Jounce are known for integrating
lyrical storytelling into their sets—which we hear can last
as long as six hours(!). Although they are local to New York
City—with no major label backing them—they’ve managed to achieve
some status by opening for bands like Particle and playing
at well-attended festivals such as the Great Bamboozle in
New Jersey. They’ll be doing their thing at La Cocina in Pittsfield
this weekend. (May 19, 9 PM, $5, 140 Wahconah St., Pittsfield,
Mass., 413-499-6363)
DJ
Toast Retirement Party
Northern
Lights, Saturday
For 17 years, RPI’s DJ Toast has intro duced the Capital Region
to the finest hiphop any DJ could find, and he plans to do
the same thing during his retirement party Saturday night.
Except the hiphop he’s bringing is going to be a bit more
up-close and personal than usual. Tip your hat to Toast while
Guru of old-school gangsters Gang Starr brings the noise;
Smif N Wessun and DJ Eclipse also will pay tribute to DJ Toast.
(May 20, 8 PM, $20, 1208 Route 146, Clifton Park)
Concert
for Clean Energy
Saratoga
Winners, Saturday
Musicians often make great activists, and here’s another:
New York City-based, philanthropic and environmentally friendly
pop-rock band Mike Sandwich. They’ve worked with (or played
to benefit) Boston’s Walk for Hunger, the Capital District’s
Regional Food Bank, and New York City’s City Harvest. Their
new cause? Renewable energy. To help spread the word about
the concept, Mike Sandwich will headline a local show, all
the proceeds from which will be donated to the Environmental
Advocates of New York. The concert will also be the launch
for a project called AMP, a touring music festival and awareness
campaign for renewable energy. Also on the bill: Broadcast
Live, Melodrome and Lost on Lift Off. For more information
about AMP, e-mail info@radiony.org. (May 20, 7 PM, $10,
1375 New Loudon Road, Latham, 783-1010)
Michael
Hurley, Tara Jane O’Neil, Samara Lubelski
Sanctuary
for Independent Media, Saturday
Troy’s Sanctuary for Independent Media has presented some
excellent events this year, but this weekend’s concert may
set a high-water mark for the relatively new venue, as nomadic
singer-songwriter Michael Hurley performs a rare area show
along with equally notable indie-folkstresses Tara Jane O’Neil
and Samara Lubelski. Hurley is the kind of troubadour we could
blah blah blah about all day—from his aspirin-smoking days
in late-’60s Greenwich Village to his infrequent but heralded
solo releases, he’s something of an underground folk guru.
We’re not sure what O’Neil (whose three solo records have
provided us with some of the best music to zone-out to ever)
will bring to the table—her last record was 2004’s You
Sound, Reflect—but it’s that very unpredictability that
makes her live performances captivating. Lubelski likely will
mine that spontaneous vibe for all it’s worth, as her music
is largely born of improvisation. (May 20, 8:30 PM, $10,
3361 6th Ave., Troy, 272-2390)
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Loudon
Wainwright III
The
Egg, Sunday
Loudon Wainwright III, the patri-arch of a very musical (and
very dysfunctional) family, once again will bring his satirical
songs about love, life and politics to the Egg’s stage on
Sunday. It’s been just over a year since Wainwright released
Here Come the Choppers, a four-day-long recording project
that mostly drew from four or five years of writing. He wrote
some of the songs while on sets of movies in which he was
acting (like Big Fish and Elizabethtown). You
can expect to hear songs off this album, as well as songs
from the scores of other albums in his catalog, during this
weekend’s appearance. It looks like the Egg will be the last
tour stop Wainwright will make before heading off to UCLA
to participate in Leftover Stories to Tell: A Tribute to Spalding
Gray in June. Michael Clem of Eddie from Ohio will open the
show with selections from his new solo album 1st &
40. (May 21, 7 PM, $24, Empire State Plaza, Albany,
473-1845)
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THE
UPWELLING
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The
Upwelling, Crystal Lake
Valentine’s,
Monday
The Upwelling call themselves a “New York City-based rock
trio influenced by Pink Floyd and the Police.” We’d guess
that 75 percent or more of today’s rock acts would list both
those bands as influences, so the question is, how does it
translate in the band’s music? Answer: Judging by the sound
of their self-titled debut release, the two references blend
rather nicely, creating an ethereal mix of rhythm and melody,
similar to modern-rock acts like Muse and the Killers. A finalist
in the Underground bracket of Spin’s Band of the Year
contest (you can still vote, by the way), the band will roll
into town with special guests Crystal Lake. Our vast search
for information on Crystal Lake turned up practically zilch,
with the exception of a Japanese hardcore-punk band, and we’re
pretty sure that ain’t them. Stop by Valentine’s on Monday
and watch the mystery unfold. (May 22, 8 PM, $4, 17 New
Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)
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Noted |
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STANTON
MOORE
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“Powerhouse
drummer” Stanton Moore—you may know him
from Galactic and Garage A’Trois—hits the skins
tonight (Thursday) at Red Square (9 PM, $12, 432-8584).
. . . Michael Eck brings his “maximum solo
acoustic” show to Caffe Lena tomorrow (Friday);
Brooklyn-based songwriter Milton opens
(8 PM, $12, 583-0022). . . . Also on Friday, the
downstairs stage at Valentine’s will be alight
with three of the best and brightest pop-rock
bands our area has to offer: Scientific Maps,
Kitty Little, and the Luxury Flats
(9 PM, $5, 432-6572). . . . A slew of artists,
including Betty and the Baby Boomers, John
Flynn, Kim and Reggie Harris, Magpie, and
Greg Greenway, will pay tribute to protest-folk
legend Phil Ochs at the WAMC Performing Arts Studio
on Saturday (8 PM, $15, 465-5233). . . . The Clay
People headline an all-ages benefit show at
Saratoga Winners on Sunday; Torn Asunder,
End Time Illusion, and several others also
will perform (3 PM, $10, 783-1010). . . . The
show scheduled for this Monday at Northern
Lights, featuring Blue October and People
in Planes, has been postponed; the show has
been rescheduled for July 21 (371-0012). . . .
On the road again, and again, and again: Willie
Nelson—who, as rumor would have it, has a
SPAC date with John Fogerty on the horizon—plays
at the Glens Falls Civic Center on Wednesday (8
PM, $29.50-$44.50, 798-0366).
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Classifieds
