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Die Antwoord, Roberta Flack and Chris Isaak Play New York

By Daniel Jumpertz | October 31, 2012 3:32pm

Despite the unprecedented damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, leaving limited transportation options for gig-loving New Yorkers, there are still many places to enjoy live music this week and next. Ticket-holders should still check with the venues beforehand to make sure their show's are still on.

Wednesday, October 31

Glasslands Gallery's Monster Mash 7 Halloween Party with DJ Naughty Panther has been transformed into a benefit for the Red Cross in their post-Sandy rebuilding work. 8pm till late. 

Brooklyn Bowl is offering free entry to everyone before 7 p.m. tonight. Their super-fun hip-hop show by Big Freedia, The Queen Diva, begins at 9 p.m.

Indie-pop queen Aimee Mann will also be playing Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight, and tickets from her previously postponed Willimsburg and Bowery Ballroom shows will be honored. 

Thursday, November 1
Squarepusher, Holy F**k, Mount Kimbie and Bonobo (DJ set) round out an excellent lineup of electronic-influenced artists at Terminal 5. Squarepusher's (Tom Jenkinson) reputation as an in-your-face, high-volume, industrial-electronica producer and provocateur has been tempered by some of his recent releases, which have veered into more jazzy and ambient directions. He described his new album "Ufabulum" as "music which is generated purely from programming. There’s no live guitar or drums, there’s nothing in it which is live, really at all."

Also tonight: Tom Tom Club started in 1981 as a side project for husband-and-wife team Tina Weymouth (bass, vocals) and Chris Frantz (drums) of the Talking Heads. Tom Tom Club comprised a loose aggregation of musicians, sound engineers and artists including Tina Weymouth's sister Laura and guitarist Adrian Belew, who toured with Weymouth and Frantz in the expanded version of Talking Heads in 1980 and 1981. Tom Tom Club's first record in 12 years "Downtown Rockers" has just been released and name-checks many of New York's underground heroes from the late '70s. At Brooklyn Bowl.

Friday, November 2
Chris Isaak's latest album project "Beyond The Sun" salutes the epic voices of Memphis's Sun Records, covering Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. "I did this because I love this music — that's the entire reason," Isaak reportedly said. "You gotta listen to the original ones, they're classics, they're awesome but you can have fun with them. These guys discovered this music for us and we had to rediscover it. There's no way to do it exactly like they did it, so you've gotta give a little bit of your own take on it." At Beacon Theatre.

Sonar on Tour has packaged some of the cutting-edge artists who have starred at Barcelona's iconic annual electronic music festival Sonar and hit the road for a global tour with stops in Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, and of course New York City. At Roseland Ballroom featuring the extreme industrial rap of South Africa's Die Antwoord, Azari & III, Seth Troxler, Paul Kalkbrenner, Tiga and visuals by Pfadfinderei.

Saturday, November 3
Roberta Flack enjoyed a string of massive hit singles in the early '70s, winning a Grammy for Record of the Year in both 1972 and 1973 — the only solo artist to win the award in consecutive years. Flack was classically trained on the piano, and received a music scholarship at just 15. Discovered while singing at the D.C. nightclub Mr. Henry's by jazz musician Les McCann, she was promptly signed to Atlantic Records, but it was only after Clint Eastwood chose "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" from her debut album "First Take" for the soundtrack of his directorial debut "Play Misty for Me" that her career really took off. The song became the biggest hit of the year in 1972 — spending six consecutive weeks at No. 1 — earning Flack a a gold record for selling a million copies. Her most recent album is "Let It Be Roberta: Roberta Flack Sings the Beatles." At St. George Theatre, Staten Island.

Also tonight: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Ava Luna will be rocking out at The Bowery Ballroom.

Sunday, November 4
Texan bluesman Gary Clarke Jr. is often compared to guitar greats Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and with good reason. His playing (and singing) is soulful and inspired. At the Bowery Ballroom.

Monday, November 5
Adam Green and Binki Shapiro have teamed up for their first album together and will preview tracks from it tonight at (Le) Poisson Rouge. Since leaving his first band Moldy Peaches (with Kimya Dawson) in 2002, Green has built a cult following, especially in Europe, based on a comic folky-cabaret persona reminiscent of Serge Gainsbourg. He's released seven well-received solo albums, and last year put out his first film, "The Wrong Ferarri," which he shot on an iPhone while under the influence of ketamine. Binki Shapiro sings with The Little Joy alongside Fabrizio Moretti of The Strokes and Rodrigo Amarante of Brazilian band Los Hermanos. Little Joy's self-titled debut from 2008 made many of that year's best-of lists, with author Nick Hornby voting it his favorite album of the year.

Also tonight: A night for lovers of Scottish indie music with The Twilight Sad and Errors at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The Twilight Sad are at times reminiscent of Brooklyn heroes The National — beautifully structured songs with often darkly emotional lyrics.

Tuesday, November 6
Alt-rockers Motion City Soundtrack have put out five studio albums since 2003, with their most recent offering "Go" released in 2011 on respected indie and punk label Epitaph Records. At Irving Plaza.

For more Gigs of the Week, follow @bandupdate on Twitter.