Elizabeth and the Catapult

Elizabeth and the Catapult

Hudson Valley Community College, Friday

This trio, led by singer-pianist Elizabeth Ziman, sprang forth from the same Lower East Side club scene that spawned Norah Jones, and their blend of pop with jazzy overtones bears a certain pleasing familiarity. So some amount of comparison is admissible. But the Catapult are clearly not interested in belaboring the point, and on Taller Children, their Verve/Forecast debut, the trio go a long way toward disproving most of what was just written about them here. That is, for a piano trio they sure do use a lot of guitar. We’re confused. But ignore all of that; you won’t be making comparisons when Ziman begins to sing. Elizabeth and the Catapult play a free show, open to the public, tomorrow (Friday) afternoon in the Student Pavilion at HVCC. Take one of those late lunches that turns into a long weekend. (Sept. 25, 2 PM, free, 80 Vandenburgh Ave., Troy, 629-HVCC)

Loop 2.4.3

Emack & Bolio’s, Guilderland, Saturday

It might be flying under your radar, so it’s time to take note of the fact that Emack & Bolio’s downtown and uptown locations offer delicious musical performances along with their delicious ice cream. This Saturday night, the Guilderland shop will host the celebrated experimental percussion combo Loop 2.4.3. The Michigan duo have been praised in their home state (“a revelation,” wrote the Lansing State Journal) and nationally (they “reinvent percussion,” said a critic on NPR’s Fresh Air) for the wondrous sounds they make with a variety of instruments, including marimbas, steel drums, temple bowls, wood blocks, opera gongs and assorted electronic devices. So why not drop by for a frozen treat and be taken on what the Boston Phoenix wrote is a “transportive percussion odyssey.” (Sept. 26, 8:30 PM, free, 1704 Western Ave., Guilderland, 250-4196)

Natalie Merchant

1848 Shaker Meeting House, Sunday

Despite the fact that both shows are, unfortunately, sold out, it behooves us to mention that multi-platinum-selling singer Natalie Merchant will perform this Sunday to benefit the Shaker Heritage Society, in the Meeting House at the Watervliet Shaker historic site. It’s a rare thing to see a Merchant live performance these days, but she’s been busy on other fronts: She’s currently serving as an appointed member of the New York State Council on the Arts, and this May she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York at New Paltz. Merchant is currently working on her first studio record in eight years, a collection of songs adapted from favorite poets. If you’re a fan, and you can find your way into a ticket, these performances should be very unique. (Sept. 27, 1:30 and 5 PM, $50-$150, Watervliet Shaker Village, 875 Watervliet Shaker Road, Albany, 456-7890)

Robin Trower

The Egg, Sunday

With 1974’s Bridge Of Sighs, onetime Procul Harum guitarist Robin Trower crystallized the sound of ’70s rock. It sounds like what the kids today would call a “mashup” of Jimi Hendrix and a few different British blooze acts, and it’s the odd 35-year-old rock record that not only still sounds brilliant in its own right, but whose influence also turns up in other bands’ music (we’re guessing Super 400 have a copy in their rehearsal space). Also? Best guitar tone ever. Now Trower isn’t the type to rest on past laurels: He’s been consistently active on the recording and touring fronts. His latest record, What Lies Beneath, came this summer. But you can’t blame us for wanting to hear “Too Rolling Stoned” when Trower plays the Egg Sunday night. (Sept. 27, 8 PM, $30-$40, Empire State Plaza, Albany, 473-1845)

Faust

GE Theatre at Proctors, Wednesday

Up until only very recently, the term “krautrock” meant little to those who weren’t already geezer audiophiles. But now, it seems, every other band of 20-somethings with synthesizers and a “motorik” rhythm section will name German bands from the ’70s (Can, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk) as having at least as much influence over them as the genre’s more direct descendents (Radiohead, Tortoise, and Stereolab). Think of Wilco’s “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” and its fallout. This is the long way of saying that it comes as no surprise that krautrock legends Faust have decided to get back together. What is surprising is that their international tour comes through Schenectady, where founding member Jean-Hervé Péron briefly attended Mont Pleasant High School. Albany Sonic Arts Collective favorites Century Plants and Holland Hopson open. (Sept. 30, 7:30 PM, $29.50, 432 State St., Schenectady, 346-6204)

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