ROKIA TRAORÉ | SOMERVILLE THEATRE, 2.13
It's difficult to imagine what Rokia Traorû's soprano will sound like ringing through the space of the Somerville Theatre. At times, her voice quivers with patience, simmers with its own potential; then it rises and soars across her songs like a long cloud across an empty sky. Her newest album, Tchamantche (Nonesuch), will be out in mid-January; but these aren't songs you can afford to miss live if you like having your heart ripped out and gently returned.
MASS MOVEMENTSCD RELEASE, FEATURING SPECIAL TEAMZ, DRE ROBINSON, THE GREATER GOOD, BLACK MADEEN, AND RIGHT HOOK | MIDDLE EAST, 2.19
Love him or loathe him, Boston concert promoter Edu Leedz has done more for Beantown's hip-hop scene in the past half-decade than any other individual. In addition to luring commercial and underground heroes to rock nearly 50 shows a year, he's helped develop and record some of this city's most outstanding rhyme, DJ, and production talents. On top of all that, he's paired Boston's top dogs with accelerated rap cats from across the atlas to cut a mess of tracks, which finally drop on his long-awaited Mass Movements compilation CD. Get the live component on this night and this night only.
GIPSY KINGS | HOUSE OF BLUES, 2.20
Yup, you read that correctly. Not the Gipsy Kings part (though that's pretty sweet, too), the House of Blues part. This performance by the world's greatest living threat to company-party dancefloors marks the first gig at the long-awaited House of Blues, which will replace the big pile of dirt known as Lansdowne Street with a stylin' 2500-capacity fun-zone. Their opening line-up of shows points to high-accessibility good times galore: B.B. King and Buddy Guy roll in February 22; Jimmy Eat World get heartfelt on February 26; the Disco Biscuits throw down on February 28; Flogging Molly . . . flogs Molly on March 10; the Pogues make everyone proud and bruised on March 11; and March 13-17 finds Dropkick Murphys taking up their beloved St. Patty's week residency once again, much to the chagrin of the region's young livers.
ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS | BERKLEE PERFORMANCE CENTER, 2.22
Even though 2008 was the year Antony Hegarty publicly baptized himself in the waters of downtown disco as a guest with Hercules and Love Affair, everyone's ears have remained pointed to January 20, when The Crying Light (Secretly Canadian) appears. The first full-length with his Johnsons since 2005's I Am a Bird Now, the follow-up follows up with an even more delicate rendering of Hegarty's unique spirit (check out "Another World" on their MySpace page). Follow the cloud of clove smoke to the BPC for this rare opportunity to cry in public.
PHOSPHORESCENT | MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS, 2.27
Brooklyn's Matthew Houck did something nearly impossible with the release of 2007's Pride: he put out an album that sounded kind of like a Will Oldham record and didn't get eviscerated by a hair-trigger music press for ripping off Will Oldham. How? Well, by not ripping off Will Oldham of course. Though his voice bears close resemblance to Papa Palace's wizened warble, and his songs take the same meandering paths through the dusky woods of the psyche, Houck's just a bit more fun about it. With the right vibe in place, his shows can turn into full-on singalongs, and if he's playing songs off of To Willie (his homage to Willie Nelson, forthcoming on Dead Oceans), that vibe is pretty much a lock.
