Friday

• X, Steve Soto & the Twisted Hearts. 9:30 club. $25. All ages.
• Alex Rhoads, Midnight Ride. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.
• Dean & Britta, Cheval Sombre. Black Cat. $15. All ages.
• Viva Voce, Cut Off Your Hands. IOTA Club & Cafe. $15. +21.
• The Kennedys. Jammin’ Java. $18.
• Threat Signal w/ The Agonist, Flatline, Thy Will Be Done, Cab Ride Home, Kysmet, Murder the Element. Jaxx. $12–$14. All ages.
• Capital Jazz Fest 2009: Alonzo Bodden, Natalie Cole, Fourplay. Merriweather Post Pavilion. $39.50–$100.
• Rock Solid: The Champions Production Hip-Hop and RNB showcase w/ Crimestoppers, City Limits, and the Ian Walters Project with Angel B. The Red & The Black. $8. +21.
• A Place To Bury Strangers, Caverns, True Womanhood. Rock and Roll Hotel. $12. All ages.
• Like Bells, Kadman, Stella Schindler. Velvet Lounge. $8. +21.
• PJ Harvey and John Parish. Warner Theatre. $45.
• Sunsets with a Soundtrack: The U.S. Army Concert Band. West Steps U.S. Capitol. Free.
• John Prine, Steve Earle. Wolf Trap. $25–$42.
• Liberation Dance Party w/ Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head. DC9. $8. +18.
• Subatomic Sound System, Dubblestandart, Jahdan Blakkamoore, Paul Zasky. Comet Ping Pong. $10. All ages.

Read More “Weekend Music Round-Up” »

David Byrne’s had his hands in many a cookie jar. The ex-Talking Head and Luaka Bop label founder played a building (literally), designed cheeky bike racks, and released one of 2008’s best records with fellow ’70s-era musical-genius-who-just-won’t-quit Brian Eno. Now Byrne’s got a new concept album in the works (via Stereogum via BBC).

Inspired by Imelda Marcos, the high heels-happy wife of ex-dictator of the Phillipines Ferdinand Marcos, Byrne penned the album with Fatboy Slim. Together they’re recruiting different vocalists for each track. So far, Santigold is on board as well. Byrne told BBC’s 6 Music:

There is a different singer on every song including Sharon Jones from Amy Winehouse’s backing band The Dap Tones, Alice Russell and Tori Amos. There’s a lot of singers, it goes on and on.

“On and on”? How many tracks are on this album? Here’s hoping Byrne doesn’t jump the shark with this one.

With the new year comes not-so-new traditions: purging your closet of heinous holiday sweaters, resolving to dissolve your waistline and, if you’re Rolling Stone , looking to Top 40 lists and tired-and-true troubadours to compile your list of the 50 “Best” Albums of the Year.

Read More “Rolling Stone reaches new lows with ‘Top 50 Albums’” »

What is David Byrne interested in as a musician? What does he like, and what makes him cranky? There’s probably no multiplatinum-selling rock frontman who’s more deliberately Sphinx-like—he’s usually had some complaint or other to make about consumerism, but he’s more likely to soak those messages in abstraction (”Heaven”) or irony (”[Nothing But] Flowers”) than in anything resembling outrage. Saying that he’s a tough guy to figure out, though, is not the same thing as saying he’s disinterested. For an hour and 45 minutes at the Warner Theatre last night, he played an energetic set that was drawn largely from his collaborations with Brian Eno, from their new album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today back to their work with “other musicians,” as he said at the start of the show. Maybe saying the words “Talking Heads” is what makes him cranky.

Read More “David Byrne @ the Warner Theatre 11/9″ »

Seriously, it’s been on repeat in the office all morning and doesn’t appear to be losing steam. “Strange Overtones,” they call it, and it rocks—in the offbeat, bouncily bittersweet way that you’d probably expect. It’s tight but expansive, rhythmically impeccable and certainly not—whatever Byrne may sing in the chorus—”slightly out of fashion.”

Download it here (free and legal!), or watch the, er, video below.

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is available for digital download on August 18.