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Bruce Springsteen, Kraftwerk and The Magnetic Fields Play New York

By DNAinfo Staff on April 4, 2012 7:52am

By Daniel Jumpertz

Special to DNAinfo

Wednesday, April 4

The Magnetic Fields' front man, Stephen Merritt, began recording his own music in his early teens, but didn't get around to releasing anything until well into his 20s. Of his many recording projects (The Gothic Archies, The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes) The Magnetic Fields is probably the best known. Merritt's songwriting on his just-released, 11th Magnetic Fields album "Love At The Bottom Of The Sea" tends towards wry and cheekily observed pop songs à la Belle & Sebastian or Elvis Costello. After releasing three albums relatively free of synthesizers as part of a "no-synth trilogy" (2004's "i," 2008's "Distortion," and 2010's "Realism"), "Love at the Bottom of the Sea" features the blend of acoustic and synthesized instruments for which the band was known in the 1990s. At the Beacon Theatre

Thursday, April 5

This strong double-bill featuring Perfume Genius and Parenthetical Girls is hard to pass up at Brooklyn's cozy Glasslands Gallery. Portland-based Parenthetical Girls play clever, upbeat indie-pop, influenced by the productions of Brian Eno and Phil Spector and the genre of British post-punk. Soaring, soulful anthems seem to come naturally to Mike Hadreas (a.k.a Perfume Genius). His latest album is "Put Your Back N 2 It".

Friday, April 6

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band's Wrecking Ball Tour rolls in to Madison Square Garden tonight after a couple of New Jersey shows earlier in the week. Although The Boss played Harlem's Apollo Theater in March, this performance will be the first time many New Yorkers will have a chance to hear his latest, highly acclaimed album "Wrecking Ball" in the live domain. Springsteen recently delivered the South By Southwest keynote address in Austin, Texas, saying of pop music: "Treat it like it's all that we have, and then remember: It's only rock 'n' roll." Check out Bruce the public speaker here at NPR.  

Also tonight: Pitbull at Radio City Music Hall (also Saturday).

Saturday, April 7

New Orleans veteran Dr. John and the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach have joined forces on a new studio album, "Locked Down." Out this week, the album is already attracting rave reviews. Feel like sampling one of the album's cuts? Check out the bluesy "Big Shot" here. It should sound brilliant on stage at the Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM (also Thursday and Friday). 

NY-based genre-hoppers The Rapture also play Saturday night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (Friday night at the Bowery Ballroom).

Sunday, April 8

A trippy double-bill is on offer at The Bowery Ballroom. Psychedelic rockers Sleepy Sun released their debut album "Embrace" on ATP Recordings in 2009, following it up with "Fever" a year later. The band formed in Santa Cruz, Calif., though now resides in San Francisco. War On Drugs released their second album "Slave Ambient" in 2011 to rave reviews and have recently completed a European tour. Both bands have been in fine form of late.

Monday, April 9

English band The Horrors is back in town for a couple of shows at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (also Tuesday). Their 2011 album "Skying" is both dark and melodic, recalling other bands who were able straddle noir-ish pop — The Cure and My Bloody Valentine come to mind. The band formed in the early 2000s, sharing an interest in sounds and styles of '60s garage rock, New Wave and post punk. 

Tuesday, April 10

German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk begin their sold-out run of eight shows at the Museum of Modern Art's Marron Atrium. Each evening consists of a live performance and 3D visualization of one of their studio albums — "Autobahn" (1974), "Radio-Activity" (1975), "Trans-Europe Express" (1977), "The Man-Machine" (1978), "Computer World" (1981), "Techno Pop" (1986), "The Mix" (1991), and "Tour de France" (2003) — in the order of their release. Tuesday's feature album is their 1974 masterpiece "Autobahn."  MoMA and ticket seller ShowClix received much criticism for the method chosen to sell the tickets for the shows, which left legions of Kraftwerk fans frustrated, watching their computers for hours, while the ticket website crashed. ShowClix's lengthy apology is reproduced in this Gothamist story

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