Jason Martin
Schenectady Museum and Planetarium, Thursday

Jason Martin has been keeping a low profile of late. He’s been focusing on in-studio and/or recording-related work with a variety of noted artists, from Suzanne Thorpe to Struction. (He mastered Struction’s new EP.) However, Martin will present his own work-in-progress tonight (Thursday) at the Schenectady Museum. Dorp Warp—The Secret History of Schenectady NY is a multimedia look at the Electric City. Martin will be “presenting beats and field recordings made in downtown Schenectady on his General Electric reel-to-reel machines, and performing abstract folk songs related to Schenectady.” Audience input, we are assured, is encouraged. This “vaudevillian modern folk opera utilizing outmoded technology” is being presented as part of the museum’s exhibit From Factory Bands to Funk. (Aug. 26, 7 PM, free, Nott Terrace Heights, Schenectady, 382-7890)

Early Day Miners
Valentine’s, Friday

Early Day Miners from Bloomington, Ind., play a brand of spacious, sleepy rock (think Low, some Pedro the Lion, or the first half of Tortoise’s “Djed”) that at one point might have been dubbed “slowcore,” but we’re not entirely sure whether or not that term is still in commission. The slow burn with little-or-no climax that’s created in the music, occasionally dappled with whispery harmonies, paints the ennui- inducing bleakness of their home state in a way that Bloomington-area native John (Cougar) Mellencamp never could conjure. The band currently are working on their fourth full-length for Secretly Canadian Records, titled All Harm Ends Here; they’ll come through Albany tomorrow (Friday) night. Filling out the bill are the Lincoln Money Shot Dorkestra (don’t ask us, we just work here), plus Chris Blackwell (presumably with his band, Hogtown), and Complicated Shirt bassist K Sonin, who will perform a solo set. (Aug. 27, 8 PM, $8, 17 New Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)

Struction CD- release party
Valentine’s, Saturday

Those prickly kids in Struction return to us covered in glory, having just completed a successful cross-country tour. They performed for all the crowned (meth-) heads of the Middle West, and even got their picture in the Kansas City Star. As if that weren’t enough, they’ve followed up their eponymous debut disc with an EP titled 13 Minutes of Love and Doom. And that’s just what it is: a compact package of violent, beautifully ugly soundscapes. Each song is pleasingly concise, too, with the longest tune clocking in at an epic three minutes long. (Instead of a beheading, think of this mini-album as a series of short, sharp but equally fatal jabs.) You can pick up this nifty EP at the celebratory release show at Valentine’s Saturday, where Struction will share the bill with the Kamikaze Hearts, Pattern Is Movement and Black Forest Black Sea. Note to Hearts groupies: Bring your earplugs, as Struction will bring the noise. (Aug. 28, 7:30 PM, $7, 17 New Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)

Hamiet Bluiett
Club Helsinki, Saturday

It’s the tenor and alto sax guys who traditionally get the glory, but Hamiet Bluiett’s work on the baritone may inspire you to construct a more inclusive pantheon of legendary hornmen. The instrument’s low register had historically earned it a mild form of banishment holding down the bottom end in big bands, but in the ’70s Bluiett brought the whopping baritone out front. Inspired by the likes of Charlie Parker (famed as an alto man, Parker began on the baritone himself), Bluiett adopted an aggressive approach to his instrument, advancing it as a powerful melodic lead—and he’s penned more than 100 compositions of his own specifically to highlight the underknown versatility of the baritone. (Aug. 28, 9 PM, $25, 284 Main St., Great Barrington, Mass., 413-528-3394)

Travis Tritt
Palace Theater, Tuesday

Tritt first made his mark in the early ’90s as a new-Nashville pop- country artist, although the infiltration of Southern-fried guitar rock into his music instantly set him apart from his big-white-hat-wearing peers. He’s turned out an enviable string of hit albums and Top 10 country singles, including “T-R-O-U-B-L-E,” and the recent “The Girl’s Gone Wild” from his latest album, My Honky Tonk History. The Georgia native has also shown his appreciation for his bluegrass roots over the years, having taken his banjo-picking skills all the way to the Grand Ole Opry. His latest single, “What Say You,” finds the conservative Tritt engaging the liberal John Mellencamp in a quasi-political musical discussion of sorts. It’s worlds away from the dismissively right-wing fare that some of his contemporaries are producing (Toby Keith, anyone?). Although he most likely will not be joined onstage by TAFKAC (that’s “The Artist Formerly Known as Cougar”), Travis Tritt will bring his current tour to the Palace on Tuesday. (Aug. 31, 7:30 PM, $39.50-$49.50, 19 Clinton Ave., Albany, 465-3334)

Action Action
Saratoga Winners, Tuesday

Mark Thomas Kleupfel of the Reunion Show originally drafted ex-Count the Stars members Clarke Foley and Adam Manning to beef up his band’s emo-pop sound in the studio, but when all three gathered, they found the new material moving in a very different direction from either former band. With the addition of drummer Dan Leo, Action Action were born. On their debut CD for Victory Records, Don’t Cut Your Fabric to This Year’s Fashion (which hits stores the same day), Action Action actually cut their fabric to 1985’s fashion, capitalizing on the synth-heavy ’80s-gloom-pop throwback sound that’s all the rage right now (see: the Rapture, the Killers, even Franz Ferdinand to a point). For Tuesday’s show, Action Action will be joined by Bayside and Punchline. Opener Horse in a Box also will be releasing their new CD, and they’ll give ’em up for free to the first 50 paying concertgoers. (Aug. 31, 7 PM, $10, Route 9, Latham, 783-1010)

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