With her downright haunting voice and death-driven lyrics, Cate Le Bon has often been accused of Thanatos. That’s fair, but rather than wallowing in her misery, this singer-songwriter from Wales manages to make death—and everything else—seem quite lovely. Singing in Welsh and... More >>

In a multi-generational career bridging the swing-era stylings of Sarah Vaughan, the hard bop of Dexter Gordon, the electric incarnation of the Miles Davis Quintet, the free jazz of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and years of avant-garde fusion with Herbie Hancock, Buster Williams is an axis mundi of the... More >>

The power of this band's concentrated sweep can be fierce: The two reeds up front spend plenty of time bobbing and weaving, but when bassist Lightcap gives 'em a contoured melody to grab hold of, it's liftoff city. Their 2012 lineup features Chris Cheek and Jeff Lederer on horns. More >>

This diverse Queens-based collective of mostly Colombian musicians mixes African-based styles like champeta and porro brass band music with postpunk jazz reminiscent of '80s British groups like Pigbag and Rip Rig + Panic. The octet's deep, sometimes dubby sound tears through the fabric of... More >>

Alison “VV” Mosshart and Jamie “Hotel” Hince of the Kills were doomed White Stripes comparisons the minute this boy/girl garage rock duo started churning out lo-fi blues in the early aughts. This is understandable, but upon closer inspection, the Kills emergel a... More >>

The alto saxophonist addresses melodies in two ways: He either flits around them or digs into them. His latest live disc finds him making hay with both approaches, a tack he'll likely try tonight as he introduces a new group featuring Vijay Iyer. Be on the lookout for a highly charged... More >>

Kieran Hebden’s turn-of-the-century Four Tet albums—the jazz-blissed bedroom hip-hop thesis that is Dialogue and the folktronica-founding Pause and Rounds—established him as a towering talent, if maybe an ivory-towering talent. His studious grooves came across more as witty... More >>

Music Institute veterans Chez Damier and Kai Alcé were in Detroit for techno’s birth, but they both explore a broader house sound than most of the locals that that seminal club hosted. Damier has spent much of his career back in Chicago, where he has collaborated with Ron Trent and... More >>

Mexican folk isn't nearly the same as New England folk—the intersection of that Venn diagram might just say "into fringe"—but for this border-crossing Americana duo, the culture clash produces a subtle flavor, like pesto pasta with a dash of picante. It's a fruitful mix, with... More >>

Tibet House’s annual benefit concert at Carnegie Hall can be depended upon as an opportunity to catch performances by the arty New York crew that revolves around Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, and Philip Glass, the last of whom curates the event. But intriguing outliers usually find a way in,... More >>

Tonight, tireless impresario Scott Siegel begins his 12th season by looking back fondly at Broadway’s past. This time, he’s set his sights on the period when Annie Get Your Gun, Call Me Mister, St. Louis Woman, and Park Avenue were all on view. Better yet, Kerry O’Malley,... More >>

The industrial revolution collides with the information age when the Doctor makes a housecall. A heavy-metal calculus informs hammer-fingered guitarist Nick Didovsky's computer-enhanced compositions, and this is just the sextet to ram those compositions into your head. On Nerve's latest album,... More >>

Kirk Degiorgio—a/k/a Offworld, a/k/a As One—has been one of the U.K.’s leading proponents of soulful, jazz-loving techno for almost 30 years. While his label, ART, and his club night with Ben Sims, Machine, take an ultra-purist approach, his night in resident Francois... More >>

Stumped for a Valentine's Day sacrifice to the god of luv? You could do a lot worse than mediate the Hallmark holiday through this clever crooner-songwriter. Vasandani, a former investment banker, has concocted a cool modern style that denies facile comparisons to Sinatra and Bennett. While he... More >>

Ultra Naté is best known as the voice of ‘90s club anthems like “It’s Over Now”, “Is It Love?,” and—most spectacularly—“Free.” But, as she’s proved at her Baltimore club night, Deep Sugar, this diva can also DJ a more than... More >>

You can have your candlelit dinners, your Hugh Grant movies, your red roses, and your boxes of chocolate. This February 14, the only show that matters starts at 10 and will keep you dancing well into the next morning, at which point curfew laws, a few single women looking to make the most out... More >>

Sprechstimme, a speaking-singing hybrid that gained credence with Arnold Schoenberg's premiere of Pierrot Lunaire in 1912, was employed by Alban Berg in Wozzeck and Lulu in the '20s and '30s, reinterpreted by William Shatner in the '70s, and appropriated last year by Lou Reed and Metallica in... More >>

Close to a quarter of a century ago, when Webster Hall was still called the Ritz, four rabble-rousers and their redhead ringleader Axl came to the venue to recorded for what became a legendary concert once aired on MTV. At the time, Guns N’ Roses were just beginning to turn heads: Their... More >>

Since releasing their first major record (Pezcore in 1995), Gainesville hit-makers Less Than Jake have perfected the third-wave ska of brassy brashness, distorted guitar, and fast tempos. Fusing the music with punk to craft wry, upbeat anthems, the band joined the “skanking” scene... More >>

Suckers for shattered, celestial wavelength slosh could do much worse than to dip a toe into Dada Trash Collage's burgeoning, flickering discography. This Minneapolis/Detroit trio pens thrumming songs full of busted glowsticks, chipped rhythms, and unmoored vocalisms, delightfully spastic... More >>

Albany DJ Knomad drops downstate to share his love of 2-step and juke and more at his newish bass-heavy, genre-hopping monthly, On the Sly. This time he hosts Turrbotax’s garage and funky connoisseur Contakt, plus DJ Sliink, the Mad Decent artist bent on forming New Jersey’s booty... More >>

The Kneebody saxophonist has proven his chops in myriad local gigs during the past few years. And while hearing him play in a trio setting is a joy, the midsize ensemble from the new Frame really gives you insight into his artistic innards. Architecture is key; the keyboard-centric tunes have... More >>

This offshoot of the regular Bunker parties has a more intimate mission: One guest delivers an eight-hour set to a crowd of just 150. Peter Van Hoesen draws on the rough sounds of Belgian new beat and EDM to create a visceral and irresistible pure techno that has won him multiple visits not... More >>

Keepers of goth rock's ice-cold flame will find plenty they recognize throughout Conatus, the last year's Zola Jesus full-length: As on 2009's The Spoils and a string of subsequent EPs, frontwoman Nika Roza Danilova favors doomy chord progressions and vocal melodies that show off her voice's... More >>

If anything is going to take you back to your high school rasta phase, it’s going to be this show with famed Jamaica outfit the Skatalites. Instrumental in forming the rude-boy sound by collaborating with iconic artists including Prince Buster, much of the band’s original lineup... More >>