The Ten Best Concerts in New York This Week, 4/1/13

Support live music: A HANDY GUIDE.

Mika
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Tuesday, 9pm, $35
“Why don’t you like me?” is a question Mika posed on his breakout hit “Grace Kelly,” and since the release of 2007’s Life in Cartoon Motion, there has been little doubt how much we love his modernized disco tunes. Since then, the British hit-maker has kept up momentum with his successful 2009 album The Boy Who Knew Too Much and the gorgeous 2012 release The Origin of Love. With his theoretically grandiose but artfully subdued sound, Mika will surely put a little sunshine in your life. — By Brittany Spanos

Ramesh Misra, Sanghamitra Chatterjee, & Samir Chatterjee
Chhandayan Centre for Indian Music
Friday, 7:30pm, $20
The inestimable legacy of the late sitarist Ravi Shankar is celebrated on the weekend of what would have been his 93rd birthday by one of his preeminent students, Ramesh Misra, along with singer Sanghamitra Chatterjee, and the fine local tabla virtuoso Samit Chatterjee. Misra performs on the notably challenging sarangi, a bowed fretless instrument consisting of three main strings and a few dozen sympathetic strings, all arranged on a single beautiful piece of carved-out wood. — By Richard Gehr

Ben Rimalower
The Duplex
Wednesday, 9:30pm, $15/$20
He calls this spoken memoir “Patti Issues,” and he delivers it with a spellbinding blend of confidence and uncertainty. The issues, should you be wondering, concern the performer’s infatuation with the famous LuPone and his eventual opportunity to work with the diva of his dreams. This, however, isn’t just a giddy fan’s notes: It’s also his recalling the difficulties of growing up with an often absent gay father. There’s no singing, by the way, but that hardly stops it from being one of the best (and now longest running) cabaret offerings of the year. — By David Finkle

Tarun Bhattacharya
Rubin Museum of Art
Friday, 6:30pm, $40-$50
Master of the santoor, a 100-string hammered dulcimer, Pandit Bhattacharya has studied under both Shivkumar Sharma, who introduced the instrument to Indian classical music, and Ravi Shankar. He also kicks of the first of several Rubin concerts during this rather amazing weekend festival billed as a tribute to the late sitar legend. Snehasish Mozumdar (mandolin), Kanika Pandey (vocals), Rajeev Taranth (sarod), and Shahid Parvez Khan (sitar), all accompanied by equally accomplished tabla virtuosi, will also perform during the weekend. — By Richard Gehr

Golden Grrrls + Sea Lions + What Next?
The Glasslands Gallery
Wednesday, 8:30pm, $10
Indie pop trio Golden Grrrls split their time between Glasgow and London; currently they are touring the country for their first US shows ever, in support of their self-titled debut full-length on the legendary Slumberland Records. Prior, Golden Grrrls spent years releasing a steady stream of small-run singles and tapes with UK underground label Night School, all drawing from classic American indie pop and the sounds of underground ’80s Kiwi label Flying Nun, gaining the band a well-deserved reputation in DIY punk and indie pop purist circles for their addictive songcraft. — By Liz Pelly

Mykki Blanco
Bowery Ballroom
Tuesday, 8pm, $15
Four out of five hip-hop publications agree: After a half-decade of neo-traditionalists and neo-neo-traditionalists, New York is back, baby, and producing more good raps than anytime since Dipset ran uptown and G-Unit owned Queens. But if you’re searching for one of this renaissance’s most creative artists, ditch XXL cover boys A$AP Rocky and French Montana (no shots, at least not at the latter) for Mykki Blanco, the California/North Carolina transplant who exclusively spits fire over beats from dance-leaning producers like Brenmar, Le1f, and Flosstradamus (Luger what? Harry who?). And unlike her more famous, always late, and barely there peers, Blanco’s performances are exactly that–filled with energy and dancing both onstage and off. Don’t miss it. — By Nick Murray

Waxahatchee
285 Kent Avenue
Wednesday, 7pm, $10
In P.S. Eliot, Alabama identical twins Allison and Katie Crutchfield had one of the best indie pop bands in recent memory, releasing two LPs and a 7-inch full of vulnerable lyrics and irresistible melodies. If you’ve yet to educate yourself on their superior sound, start with “We’d Never Agree” off Introverted Romance and–if you can take it off repeat–continue until you reach Waxahatchee, principle songwriter Katie’s post-P.S. Eliot solo project. Last year’s American Weekend set presumably autobiographical lyrics (“Alison’s only calling me when her life is falling apart”) over piano and acoustic guitar, and her new album, Cerulean Salt, incorporated a full band, which she’ll likely play with at tonight’s show. — By Nick Murray

Tobias + Efdemin + Marcel Fengle
Output
Friday, 10pm, $30
As the excesses of American EDM become a persistent presence crackling out the headphones of the subway rider to your left, German techno has retrenched, preferring oppressive angles and the kind of textural repetition anathema to most thrill-seeking American festival crowds. Berlin-based label Ostgut Ton has been at the forefront, the insular agenda still not immune to cult of personality. Blkmarket Membership will host their 4th Ostgut showcase in six months at new club Output, with the skeletal beats of Tobias, Efdemin’s jazzily melodic minimal, and Marcel Fengler’s walloping rhythmic contusions. — By Aaron Gonsher

Chelsea Light Moving + Prana-Bindu + Marco Fusinato
The Bowery Ballroom
Friday, 9pm, $20
The self-titled debut by Chelsea Light Moving, one of Sonic Youth vocalist-guitarist Thurston Moore’s new groups, ends with a vicious, bloodthirsty cover of the Germs’ “Communist Eyes.” And while that’s the most kinetic expression of Moore’s mania, in light of his other band’s indefinite hiatus, the rest of the album sounds a bit like a more aggro take on his alma mater: One song’s chorus goes “too fucking bad” and another is about a hippie massacre. And, judging from their New York debut last September, they hold none of that aggression back live. With Prana-Bindu and Marco Fusinato. — By Kory Grow

Clint Mansell
Church of St. Paul the Apostle
Wednesday & Thursday, 8pm, $30/$35
Abandoning his alt rock band Pop Will Eat Itself to start a life as a soundtrack composer, instrumental renaissance man Clint Mansell debuted with the score for Darren Aronofsky’s Pi in 1996 and continued on to produce ever Aronofsky score since, earning cult status thanks to the chillingly beautiful “Lux Aeterna” from Requiem for a Dream. With haunting violins, solemn synths, and droning bass lines, each Mansell composition is uniquely arresting, and meant to be experienced on the big screen or big stage. — By Sarah Madges

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