November 20th, 2009
This Weekend In Shows
Tonight:
The Watson Twins
7pm, $16-$18. Troc.
Once flanking Jenny Lewis on her solo debut, the ever-fetching Watson Twins proved their knack for coy pop and breezy soul on 2006’s Southern Manners and last year’s Fire Songs. Signing to Vanguard should give a sense of their old-soul sound, and Chandra and Leigh will return in early February with Talking To You, Talking To Me, their third album since leaving Lewis’ wing. Really, it’s probably just a matter of time before they re-team with Lewis and a few other friends in a female version of Monsters of Folk. Then the two supergroups can tour together and clamber on stage as one big family-band-style revue. (Doug Wallen)
Hamiet Bluiett & Kahil El’Zabar
8pm, $12. Philadelphia Art Alliance.
When he gets going, baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett could probably take down a house with his gutsy, barrel-chested sound. A cofounder of the World Saxophone Quartet and the St. Louis-based Black Artists Group, he’s played a major role in avant-garde jazz from the ’60s on, working with everyone from Mingus to Marvin Gaye and exploring African-American music in all its connectedness. Percussionist Kahil El’Zabar, a bit younger, chaired the influential Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in the early ’70s. He continues to front the Ritual Trio, Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and Infinity Orchestra, and it’s his very adaptability that should make this duo parley with Bluiett come alive. (David R. Adler)Also, Ani DiFranco headlines Electric Factory [8:30pm/$34]; Hoots & Hellmouth drop by Johnny Brenda’s along with the Great Unknown [9pm/$15]; and Cave In, Narrows, and Trap Them team up for a show at First Unitarian Church [7:30pm/$12].
Saturday:
Grant-Lee Phillips
7:30pm, $22-$34. World Cafe Live.
Once the frontman of raucous ’90s roots-rock combo Grant Lee Buffalo, singer-guitarist Grant-Lee Phillips has quietly forged a solid and occasionally pretty thrilling solo career over the past decade in which he’s refined his love of Neil Young and classic country music into a more elegant and evocative folk-pop sound. Now in his mid-’40s and having recently become a father for the first time, Phillips has certainly mellowed, but fortunately he hasn’t gotten boring (like Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, to whom Phillips is often compared). The strings-kissed ballads and brisker tunes on Phillips’ lush, upbeat new Little Moon range from tender (but not cloying) to urgent (but not desperate), and his smoky croon only gets better with age. (Michael Alan Goldberg)
DJ Too Tuff Benefit
10pm, $10. Tacony Billiards.
When word of incarcerated local gangsta rapper DJ Too Tuff’s battle with thyroid cancer hit the streets in September, the hip-hop community reached out to help. Beat Garden Entertainment’s Octavius “Big O” Mitchell hosts a benefit concert in his honor to help him with his rising legal and medical bills. Local acts show some love for Too Tuff and the Tuff Crew with performances from B. Kane, Clean Guns, L. Allen, Sick Six, Rockie Reyes, Triple Nickels, Poynt Blank and many more, as well as special appearances from H3O and Too Tuff’s childhood friend MC Mechanism. In the meantime, the troubled star is standing trial for aggravated assault charges. Hopefully, the judge will show some love too. (Sherri Hospedales)
Also, They Might Be Giants plays a special afternoon “Family Show” at the TLA [3:30pm/$25]; Flyleaf headlines a sold-out show at the TLA at night [9pm]; the North Star welcomes Rubblebucket, the Mean, and the Leslie Carey Band [9pm/$12]; Hezekiah Jones throws an EP release party at Johnny Brenda’s along with Sisters 3 and Perkasie [9pm/$10]; and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra plays two shows at the Wachovia Center [3pm and 8pm/$25-$60.50].
Sunday:
Melt-Banana
7:30pm, $12. First Unitarian Church.
Melt-Banana have been known to cram as many as a dozen songs into a minute or two, their explosions of pick-blurring, chipmunk-singing punk frenzy measured in seconds and punctuated by polite “thank yous” at every break. One of Japan’s best noise punk outfits, Melt-Banana have been shrieking and spazzing since the early 1990s, layering abstract guitar sound over speed-freaked, subversively melodic punk choruses. If you’re not paying attention, you may not even recognize their crazy covers—a cartoon-voiced jitter over Toots & the Maytals “Monkey Man,” a super-fast romp through Queen’s “We Will Rock You”—but there’s no mistaking the electro-shock energy in this trio’s live set. (Jennifer Kelly)Also, the Tommy Castro Band and Coco Montoya play the Keswick Theater [7pm/$27.50-$33.50]; and A’s Rage. BM Linx, and Qi Command play the Khyber [8pm/$8].
[Watson Twins photo by Michael Alan Goldberg.]
