By Coleman Bentley of My Social List
While this week, with the last-minute cancellation of Googa Mooga on Sunday, stumbled out of the gate like a long-shot Preakness pony, the live music gods are unsurprisingly smiling upon their holy land again, offering great concerts everywhere from Jersey to the J train. Featuring shows from hip hop hot-shots and hardcore heroes alike, all the powers-that-be ask in return is that you get out there and make a pilgrimage. Which, considering you're already here, blowing off emails to read this, isn't asking much at all.
With both Downtown Music Festival and Googa Mooga commanding the majority of live music attention over the past two weeks, it's almost easy to forget the Red Bull Music Academy is still in town. One of the most anticipated shows of the month-long electronic extravaganza, this 12 year anniversary celebration of DFA records boasts an appearance by NYC legend James Murphy, as well as performances from members of the band for which he is now famous, LCD Soundsystem. If you're a Murphy acolyte, you already know all this. For those of you who aren't or have been subletting under a rock for the past few months, make friends with Red Bull brass and make them quick.
Gone are the days of the east vs. west coast rap feud that indirectly (or directly, depending on who you listen to) lead to deaths of icons like Tupac and Biggie. Hip hop is a global entity now, as evidenced by our MOST BUZZED show of the week runner up, a Best Buy Theater-hosted option featuring sets from LA's Schoolboy Q, Atlanta by-way-of Trinidad & Tobago's Trinidad James, and New York City's very own Joey Bada$$. If you can handle a trip into Times Square's neon-lit chamber of horrors, then don't miss it.
While this one is surely not for everyone, this Sacred Bones-backed meeting of the minds is nonetheless one of the most exciting shows of week. Featuring Vår, the synth-driven side project of Danish punk outfits Iceage and Lower, and Pharmakon, a Rockaway-bred, Bushwick-honed noise act, this one is sure to be sonically indispensable. Throw in multimedia accompaniments, an obscure Greenpoint space, and glowing Pitchfork reviews, and this Friday night set basically becomes Brooklyn DIY 101. Deride it all you want, just make sure you experience it first.
With his debut album, Impersonator, dropping this week , and a second consecutive week spent on our MOST BUZZED show of the week honor roll, it seems needless to say that Montreal duo Majical Cloudz are blowing up. Which is good, because those Hooked On Phonics bills don't pay themselves. Fund the grammar fight and pick up tickets to this album release show at Williamsburg's Glasslands Gallery. Not only will you get a great concert out of it but maybe someday your children will be able to grow up in a world where happiness grows on trees and bands spell their names correctly.
What do you get when you pack a bunch of scumbag Aussie garage rockers into 285 Kent on a Thursday night? Well besides a pretty legendary hangover, a MOST BUZZED show of the week headlined by Australian semi-supergroup Total Control. With summer Fridays seemingly kicking in everywhere but the barren, joy desert I call an office, you have no choice but to be in the pit for this one.
Afrika Bambaataa is The Godfather, parts I-III, wrapped in a King Tut costume and strapped behind a DJ table. Widely recognized as a pioneer of both break beat and modern hip hop culture, Bambaataa is at Santos Party House for a must-see spectacle on Thursday that is sure to contain, at the very least, a little bit of everything. If you (like me) have been wanting for a good story to tell, this one is bound to provide a novel's worth. Don't miss it.
Hot on the black-booted heels of their most recent album, Sister Faith, Kentucky fried hardcore punk outfit Coliseum are at The Knitting Factory tonight for what is sure to be the loudest show on this week's list. We've computed the big band/small venue formula in installments past, but don't underestimate the loud band/small venue blend either, as it is equally (and bone-shakingly) potent.
Another week, another MOST BUZZED show from an across the pond producer who long ago learned there is a lot of money to be made on the universal human need to un-fucking-wind. Crashing downtown Brooklyn hotspot SRB for this ass-shaking, molly-taking catharsis, Skream is sure to help exercise those 9 to whenever-the-hell-your-boss-leaves demons. Seriously go ahead, I'm not judging. Despite the stigma, just the right dose of dubstep can be good for psyche and soul alike.
With the current masters of nostalgia rock, The Hold Steady and Gaslight Anthem, set to hit the legendary Stone Pony on Saturday, it almost goes without saying that there will be even more Springsteen than usual blaring in Jersey on Saturday night. I've seen each band a few times and can safely say that if you're looking for a classic rock speedball, this -- not $85 Madison Square Garden nosebleeds for a second Monaco villa funding farewell tour -- is the way to get it.
ALSO BUZZING: Dead Confederate, Roadkill Ghost Choir at Knitting Factory (Thursday); Lemuria at Maxwell's (Friday); Laura Stevenson, Field Mouse, Owen at Bowery Ballroom (Friday); Converge, Meek is Murder, Trenchfoot, Dead Serious at Saint Vitus (Saturday); The Shins, Man Man at Williamsburg Park (Sunday);