NEW YORK — This week, Sting launches his new album with a string of intimate benefit concerts at The Public Theater, while Stevie Wonder plays Central Park's Great Lawn in an effort to reduce global poverty. Check out the music from these legends alongside dozens of other exciting artists in my Spotify playlist below.
Wednesday, Sept. 25
Sting launches his new album "The Last Ship" at the intimate Anspacher Theater in a series of 10 concerts beginning tonight to benefit The Public Theater. The concerts will reveal Sting’s influences behind the album through storytelling and visual projections, paying homage to his roots growing up in the shadow of shipyards in the industrial northeast of England. Through October 9. "The Last Ship" is also being spun into a Broadway production to debut in 2014.
Catch the New York launch for Grouplove's just-released second album "Spreading Rumours" tonight. Bluesy indie rock from The Rubens in support. At The Bowery Ballroom.
Thursday, Sept. 26
Singer songwriter Neko Case has just released her sixth studio album "The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You," and celebrates the album tonight with a special show at Radio City Music Hall supported by her New Pornographers co-conspirator A.C Newman.
Tickets are still available for the '60s influenced psych/surf rockers Allah-las' early show tonight at the Mercury Lounge.
Hard rocking guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani plays Beacon Theatre tonight following the release of his fourteenth studio album "Unstoppable Momentum," supported by an opening set by Deep Purple and Dixie Dregs guitarist Steve Morse.
Friday, Sept. 27
Atoms For Peace is a super-group of sorts starring Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich alongside Red Hot Chili Pepper's bassist Flea. The band was formed to play Yorke's 2006 solo album "The Eraser" when it toured in 2009 and has since recorded and released a debut Atoms for Peace album "Amok." Alexis Petridis of The Guardian said, "As a technical exercise, Amok is hugely impressive ... its sound is rich and deep, full of intriguing shifts and contrasts. But there are times when it feels the painstaking process used to create it may have assumed a greater importance than the business of actually writing songs ... Still, when Amok works, the results are spectacular." At Barclays Center.
The cryptically named Portugal. The Man formed during high school in Wasilla, Alaska, in 2004 (relocating to Portland, Ore. soon after) and the group has released seven albums. The most recent of these, "Evil Friends," is the band's first collaboration with producer Danger Mouse (Beck, The Black Keys). They bring their infectiously catchy Beatle-esque sounds to Terminal 5.
Saturday, Sept. 28
Massive Attack V Adam Curtis is a unique collaboration between documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis and the intense music and visual work of Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack. Co-commissioned by Manchester International Festival, the Ruhrtriennale and the Park Avenue Armory, the show has been described as an "imaginative experience that integrates music, film, politics and breathtaking moments of illusion in a hallucinatory ride through the dreams and hidden realities of our strange, anxious age." This site-specific event is the US premiere. At The Armory, 643 Park Avenue. Through Oct. 4.
THEESatisfaction (rapper Stasia "Stas" Iron and singer Catherine "Cat" Harris-White) produce some of the most refreshing sounds in hip hop today — cosmic beats and soulful vocals combining behind abstract loops and grooves. They're playing today at the Gender Amplified Music Festival a unique event that sees women and girls from around the United States coming together for a free, day-long convention on the Barnard College campus in New York City to discuss the state of women in music production, how to get involved in the technical side of the music industry and the relationship between music production and commerce. In addition to live performances by THEESatisfaction, Alluxe, aka Laura Escudé (Electronic Creatives), and Genesis Be, there will be industry panels and instructional workshops geared to high school youth to encourage them to pursue studies in music production and technology. At Barnard College, 3009 Broadway, Upper West Side.
Global Citizen Festival 2013 is an initiative of the Global Poverty Project, an international education and advocacy organization working to end extreme poverty. Today music superstars Kings of Leon, John Mayer, Alicia Keys and Stevie Wonder gather on the Great Lawn at Central Park to focus on celebrating success and accelerating progress to "a world without extreme poverty by 2030." Although the concert is free, you need to have pre-registered for your free ticket. Without a ticket? Register to see the live stream here.
All day today, The Metropolitan Museum of Art galleries will pulsate with John Zorn’s restless and electric sounds, as musicians perform in various galleries celebrating Zorn’s 60th birthday. Performances begin in the Great Hall, and continue in galleries including Ancient Near Eastern Art, the Vélez Blanco Patio, Medieval Sculpture Hall, The American Wing, the Egyptian Wing and The Temple of Dendur. Performers include Zorn, Mike Patton and Bill Frisell.
Sunday, Sept. 29
The Dodos play powerful rootsy music influenced by Bob Dylan and Neutral Milk Hotel. Their new album "Carrier" is described by music blog Consequence Of Sound as their "strongest effort since 2006’s freewheeling debut, "Beware of the Maniacs." By contrasting downer themes of death/agony/alienation against an experimental angle, The Dodos cull authenticity from the ashes of heartache." At Music Hall of Williamsburg.
Movie making duo Joel and Ethan Coen and their longtime music supervisor T Bone Burnett are producing this concert at the Town Hall inspired by "Inside Llewyn Davis," their upcoming film set in the 1960s Greenwich Village folk music scene. A great lineup has gathered; The Avett Brothers, Joan Baez, Rhiannon Giddens, Lake Street Dive, Colin Meloy, Milk Carton Kids, Marcus Mumford, Conor Oberst, Punch Brothers, Secret Sisters, Patti Smith, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Willie Watson and Jack White. Some of the proceeds from the "Inside Llewyn Davis" show will benefit the National Recording Preservation Foundation, a nonprofit that archives important historical recordings.
Monday, Sept. 30
Steely Dan kick off another Beacon Theatre residency tonight with a seven night romp through their classy, classic back catalogue. Tonight they're featuring their 1977 classic "Aja," the band's sixth studio album but first platinum seller.
Young New Zealand pop sensation Lorde (Ella Yelich-O'Connor) has already conquered the charts at home, now she's climbing the American music peaks with her sassy, slick pop that has drawn comparisons with Grimes and Lana Del Rey. At Webster Hall.
Tuesday, Oct. 1
Psychedelic themes are on the agenda tonight with Oklahoma City's famous sons The Flaming Lips teaming up with hard-rocking Aussies Tame Impala for an exciting double bill at Terminal 5. Also Wednesday Oct. 2.
