5 Shows Not To Miss This Week
Forget the Monday blues — let’s have the Monday Garage Rock instead. And, while we’re at it, the Tuesday Punk, the Wednesday Guitar Solo, and the Thursday electro-smash. Just because it’s the work week, doesn’t mean there’s not time to play. After the jump, five shows not to miss, one for every day of this week.
MONDAY: The Courtneys @ Rough Trade, Free
The Courtneys make music that sounds the way summer feels: loose and reckless. Also fast. And loud. We love them year-round, but there’s something particularly woozy-sunny-happy about getting to see them in peak heat, for free, at the relatively new Rough Trade outpost in Williamsburg. We don’t predict that there will be crowd-surfing (things start early), but we’ll be spiritually cruising, picturing the thousands of suburban garages that have been producing this kind of feel-good-mess music for generation after generation.
TUESDAY: John Doe @ City Winery, Free
If you’re a specific kind of music fan (wore black, went to punk shows) from a specific kind of decade (the 70s), chances are you wore out the grooves on a little record called Los Angeles by the (aptly) LA-based band X. Throughout the 80s, the group released seven albums of highly influential, slightly off-kilter music veering from punk to folk rock and back again, before breaking up and eventually reuniting. (It was the 90s by then. Phew.) Enigmatic frontman and co-founder John Doe is the one we’re interested in tonight, though. He’s playing a series of free shows at City Winery to celebrate the release of his new solo record. We’ll be front row, lighters aloft. For old times sake.
WEDNESDAY: White Lung, Pop. 1280 @ Saint Vitus, $10
White Lung takes no prisoners with their brash-and-thrash personal brand of punk rock. If we hadn’t made sure to secure a ticket to this bound-to-be-amazing show, we’d probably be able to hear it just as clearly from three blocks away. Can’t wait.
THURSDAY: The Juan MacLean (DJ set) @ Verboten, $20
The Juan MacLean have been making music and spinning records for as long as we’ve been in New York City, and we can still count on them to bring us to the cutting edge of — well — everything. Leaving no stone unturned and no vinyl unspun, this show is sure to bring down the house. See you there.
FRIDAY: Crystal Stilts, Baby’s All Right, $10
Brooklyn mainstays Crystal Stilts are still making the rounds, getting moodier and more compelling with every release. They basically invented a certain brand of fuzzy, somber lo-fi pop that took the boroughs by storm less than a decade ago (it peaked with the success of Vivian Girls, Blank Dogs, and the like), but while the rest have since faded away, the Stilts remain strong. The space is small, so show up early and be prepared to snuggle/reminisce about “the good ol’ days” with your neighbor.