New York Music Blog

​Verily, the great Pixies Dolittle run begins tonight at Hammerstein Ballroom and runs through Wednesday. "Tame" is gonna be awesome. Stubhub is your only friend for the first three shows, but the fourth -- that 1 a.m. Wednesday night/Thursday morning deal, is still attainable. And even if that one sells out, "going to see the Pixies at 1 a.m. Thanksgiving morning" is one of those things that sounded way radder two months ago than it sounds right now, if you get my drift. The Stubhub rates figure to be (more) reasonable. "La La Love You" will also be awesome.

Elsewhere, it's a "pick your niche Bowery Presents fete" kind of night: Norwegian electronic doggs Royksopp at Webster Hall, screamy Japanese noise-rockers Melt Banana at Bowery Ballroom, and native-of-whatever-planet-he's-from warbler Devendra Banhart at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Hearing tell of this on the Internet, I was braced for some theatrical pratfall, but frankly she handles this pretty well. Skip to 2:55 when you get tired of the song, which you will, incidentally, real quick.

Example of tUnE-YaRdS' wanton radness

Dirty Projectors/tUnE-YaRdS
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Thursday, November 19

Look, the Projectors are doing fine, just fine. Just a wee bit overexposed at the moment, maybe. "All I know is this part of the city is the creative capital of the entire world," deadpans Dave Longstreth at one point. (Soon thereafter he's rambling about the unpleasantness of irony.) They play a lovely set that inspires maybe half the awe and exuberance whipped up by tUnE-YaRdS in an opening-act fiesta so absurdly enjoyable I'm actually going to indulge this weird capital-letters thing.

​So even Devo now is into this play-a-classic-album-in-its-entirety thing: They're at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza Friday (Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!) and Saturday (Freedom of Choice). Have the courtesy to let that part of the setlist run out at least before you start hootin' and hollerin' for "Whip It."

Mr. Chilton, still serenading those September gurls. Pic by Lindsey Budjinski

​Big Star
Brooklyn Masonic Temple
Wednesday, November 18

This show seems half-assed in a way that everyone is frankly really pleased with, most of all Alex Chilton, of course, a blithely nonchalant power-pop deity loping amiably through a clutch of '70s hits with the aid of a couple '90s alt-rockish power-pop dudes who deified him (Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, they of the Posies) at a late 2009 show at a Masonic Temple in Brooklyn, ostensibly to promote a box set. And why the hell not. "We love you Alex!" some dude yells, after a raucous, ragged-guitar-solo-besotted "Don't Lie to Me." "Welcome to New York!" someone else yells. "It's not New York--it's Brooklyn!" some lady corrects. "You too, Jody!" a fourth dude adds, making sure Mr. Stephens, behind the drums as always, also feels welcome. And then it's off to "When My Baby's Beside Me," and everybody's suddenly feeling super good about themselves.

​Massachusetts metalheads Cave In have had quite a varied career, vacillating from screamy hardcore to what Spin once dubbed "emo-metal Radiohead" (2000's Jupiter is indeed pretty righteous to not-quite-ascendant major-label hopefuls to... whatever they are now. They'll be it, whatever it is, tonight at the Knitting Factory. They do a pretty bitchin' "Dazed and Confused." Not joking.

​28,000 sold, or 5K less than Blueprint 3 last week, and, as a clearly broken up about it Byron Crawford notes, less than half of what Asher Roth managed his first week. Wale has a few theories about this.

So here we have Rhode Island electro-rap duo Javelin, regaling MOMA patrons alongside some sort of anarchist dance collective with an 8-bit-sounding jam titled "Soda Popinski," named of course after one of the trickier adversaries in Mike Tyson's Punch Out; such a reference is all that's really required to get my attention. They bring their stacks of multicolored boomboxes (a/k/a "boombaatas") to the Monster Island Basement tonight at Todd P's behest.

​The video for "Must Be Santa," off Bob Dylan's deranged new Christmas album, features ol' Bob gallivanting around in a Santa hat, and as such is required viewing. He's at United Palace Theatre tonight for the first of a three-night stand. Man this is gonna be bizarre. You better watch out.

​Attention sports fans: Universally beloved baseball announcer Tim McCarver has a new album of standards. Which he sings. Tim McCarver. Seriously. So the distinguished gentlemen over at Deadspin commissioned North Carolina DJ A-Styles to remix a track. Behold the results here. Have a nice day.