The 10 Best Concerts in New York This Weekend, 9/5/14

For more shows throughout the weekend, check out our New York Concert Calendar, which we update daily.

Friday, 9/5:

DJ Shadow
Irving Plaza
8:00 p.m., $35
DJ, producer, and master record collector DJ Shadow is an instrumental-hip-hop legend. The Bay Area native released his first full-length album in the mid-’90s and continued to thrive by producing beats and crafting sample-based music. This summer, nearly two decades since that debut, DJ Shadow launched his new record label, Liquid Amber, with The Liquid Amber EP available for streaming. He has mentioned that his 2014 tour will be much different from his previous performances and showcase his adaptation to the contemporary DJ set. Not one for following the trends of DJs or electronic-based music, DJ Shadow is known and respected for his commitment to his style. His future bass sound once got him booted from the decks of a fancy Miami nightclub, so arrive ready to hear and trust his selections. — By Lina Abascal

‘Dollypalooza: An Epic Fan Tribute to Dolly Parton’
Littlefield
11:00 p.m., $12-$20
It’s no surprise that Dolly Rebecca Parton has received 46 Grammy nominations, tying her with Beyoncé for most nominations ever for a woman. But for tonight, at least, B. will have to take a seat, because it’s time to bust out the big hair and cake on the makeup. Dollypalooza: An Epic Fan Tribute to Dolly Parton presents an epic lineup of drag, burlesque, cover bands, and performance art pieces — any way to celebrate the high glitz and glamor of our “Backwoods Barbie.” MILK, of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6, reprises her genderbending Dolly act, while Nath Ann Carrera takes a darker turn, presenting “I Don’t Want To Throw Rice, I Want To Throw Rocks: The Early Southern Gothicism of Dolly Parton!” Enter the raffle for a handmade Dolly Parton quilt, as well as Dolly prayer candles, jewelry, and books to benefit the Imagination Library, Parton’s literacy program. All you hubby-stealing Jolenes better come dressed to the nines, because there’s a cash prize for best Dolly getup. — By Heather Baysa

Social Distortion
The Paramount
8:00 p.m., $35-$75
Mike Ness might just be the most punk-rock out of all his peers. As the only remaining original member of punk rockers and rockabilly heroes Social Distortion, Ness has clocked more than three decades as frontman of the group, refusing to back down after years of loss, abuse, legal troubles and too many lineup changes to count. But fuck the Man; he’s still going. And classics like “Story of My Life,” “Ball and Chain,” and “Reach for the Sky” will still kick ass for generations to come. — By Jill Menze

Saturday, 9/6:

Kid ‘n’ Play + Full Force
B.B. King Blues Club & Grill
7:30 p.m., $37.50/$45
The halcyon pop-rap of Kid ‘n’ Play — that’s Christopher Reid and Christopher Martin to their mothers, and maybe yours, too — hearkens back to a gentler, more innocent period in hip-hop history, when balling meant macking on girls, getting fly, or one-upping your homies with boasts the whole crew knew were bullshit but laughed good-naturedly at anyway. Like much of that era, Kid ‘n’ Play were accessible, clean, corny, and laced with irresistible funk/jazz beats. This dynamic duo had the urban middle class eating out of its hand during the Bush I era, parlaying this exposure into feature films (some featuring compatriots Full Force, who also perform tonight) most will remember more immediately than its actual music. Now they’re back, in this era to make nostalgia waves and some bank. Get your tickets quick, as this will probably sell out in a heartbeat. — By Raymond Cummings

Fucked Up + Speedy Ortiz
Irving Plaza
8:00 p.m., $25
About as audacious as their name, Fucked Up maintain media appearances with the occasional outspoken fit when they’re not busy creating lyrically dense songs propelled by lead singer Damian Abraham’s throaty scream and metronomic but metallic guitar chugs. While some “experimental” gimmicks remain on their newest album, they’ve conceded their days of five-minute bouts of whistling to streamlined hardcore-inspired rock. Speedy Ortiz joins them onstage with sludgy, semi-confessional songs carried by Sadie Dupuis’s knife-sharp voice. Honest and raw, Ortiz is a throwback to what the alt kids listened to in the ’90s in lieu of the polished pop-rock sounds of college radio. — By Sarah Madges

Evian Christ + Sophie + Nguzunguzu
88 Palace
11:00 p.m., $15-$25
If you’re looking for some peaceful beats after a weekend of maximalism at Electric Zoo, stay away from Dark Disco. The three headliners here operate in distinct fields, but a lack of subtlety is one of their shared characteristics. Evian Christ graduated from uploading YouTube videos in 2011 to collaborating with Kanye West last year, and the distorted aggression of Yeezus clearly rubbed off on Christ’s latest solo productions for Tri Angle. Initially appearing on the Glasgow-based Numbers and now signed to XL, Sophie makes music that’s considerably cheerier but no less blinding in its effervescence, though the enigmatic producer’s live show has drawn considerable scrutiny. The hydra is completed with Nguzunguzu, whose searing and eclectic DJ sets have taken them everywhere from scoring fashion shows to joining up with Fatima Al Qadiri and J-Cush as part of the burgeoning “DJ supergroup” Future Brown. — By Aaron Gonsher

‘Astoria Music Now!: Between 2 Bridges’
Astoria Park
12:00 p.m., free
Astoria Music & Arts, a nonprofit that promotes the activities of the Queens nabe’s thriving artistic community, hosts Astoria Music Now!: Between 2 Bridges, its sixth annual outdoor festival. The two bridges are the Triborough and the Hell Gate, which frame a green stretch of Astoria Park alongside the East River, a scenic setting for the afternoon’s schedule. The five stages showcase performances from local theater and dance groups, a lineup of genre-spanning bands, acoustic and solo artists, and stand-up comedy and improv. While you’re at it, browse the “art island” of visual and interactive works by locals, swing by the short-film fest, and plug in at the Bill Murray Silent Disco (so named to entice the actor to visit; you never know). Fuel your hours of culture with rice balls from Arborio King, empanadas from Pao Cha Cha, and more. — By Alanna Schubach

Sir Richard Bishop + Tashi Dorji
Issue Project Room
8:00 p.m., $15
Bishop released his first solo-guitar album on John Fahey’s Revenant label in 1998, and the ’60s legacy of experimental traditionalists like Fahey, Robbie Basho, and Peter Walker flows through his veins. He’s also a wanton internationalist, as befits a former Sun City Girl and co-founder of the rabidly global Sublime Frequencies label. The more purely instinctive Dorji, meanwhile, released his first solo-guitar album last month on Ben Chasny’s Hermit Hut label. — By Richard Gehr

Sunday, 9/7:

CocoRosie
Webster Hall
8:00 p.m., $30-$40
Sisters Bianca and Sierra Casady — aka CocoRosie — mesh folky guitar, piano and harp with electronic instruments, and even tease music out of children’s toys. Their basic premise of “freak folk” has been in place since the 2004 debut La maison de mon rêve, but despite its strangeness, CocoRosie’s music remains engaging and catchy. Though their aesthetic leans toward the surreal, their subject material is the stuff of nursery rhymes and spirituals, reinterpreted through the lens of the spooky harmony between the two near-identical sopranos. The effect sways between sad, gorgeous, and ambiguously nightmarish, and sometimes manages to be all three at once. — By Carena Liptak

‘John Zorn’s Masada – Angels’
Village Vanguard
Friday through Sunday, 8:00 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. daily, $25-$30
If saxophonist and composer John Zorn is the kabbalistic sage of the downtown scene, his mystical masterpiece, Masada, the foundation of his Radical Jewish Culture aesthetic, is its Zohar. This week-long festival presents Zorn alongside 11 ensembles in the orbit of his Tzadik label. Groups led by virtuosic violinist Mark Feldman and pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, avant-garde violist Eyvind Kang, multi-instrumentalist Jamie Saft, pianist Uri Caine, cellist Erik Friedlander, Afrobeat-klezmer hybrid Zion80, percussionist Cyro Baptista’s Banquet of the Spirits, and saxophonist Uri Gurvich join Octeto Masada, the Masada Quartet, and the Masada String Trio in a rapturous exploration of the harmonic minor. — By Aidan Levy

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