Night After Night

The ticket: Pop music, May 29, 2016

Braids

The ticket: Pop music
Sunday, May 29, 2016

BRAIDS There likely was no song issued in 2015 that was more intimate or painful than “Miniskirt,” an unflinching account of abuse, resilience, and healing on “Deep in the Iris,” the third LP from a Canadian trio best known for dizzy, dreamy electropop. The story continues with the title track to the band’s new EP, “Companion.” May 31, 9 p.m. $12. Great Scott. 800-745-3000. www.ticketmaster.com

BRIAN CARPENTER AND THE CONFESSIONS Versatile local singer, songwriter, arranger, and bandleader Carpenter rallies his Confessions for an amble through songs from their gorgeously rustic, moody 2015 LP, “The Far End of the World.” Field Day, a sharp alt-rock foursome (which includes current and former Globe employees), plays in support. June 1, 9 p.m. $10, advance $8. Great Scott. 800-745-3000. www.ticketmaster.com

VENOM INC. Guitarist Jeff “Mantas” Dunn and drummer Tony “Abaddon” Bray were two-thirds of Venom, the British metal outfit whose second LP, “Black Metal,” lent its name to an entire genre. They’re reclaiming their dark legacy now alongside bassist/vocalist Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan, Venom frontman from 1988 to 1992. June 2, 8 p.m. $25, advance $20. ONCE Lounge & Ballroom, Somerville. 617-285-0167, www.oncesomerville.com

BEYONCÉ We’d barely stopped vibrating from Queen Bey’s stark, enigmatic “Formation” when she rocked the world with her new video album. When life gives you “Lemonade,” you jump in the car and make tracks for the stadium. June 3, 7:30 p.m. $50-$310. Gillette Stadium, Foxborough. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

Live review: Guerilla Opera 'Beowulf,' Boston Conservatory, May 20, 2016

Brian Church and Aliana de la Guardia in 'Beowulf,' by Liz Linder Photography

"In Hannah Lash's 'Beowulf,' an unconventional monster to grapple"
Boston Globe, May 22, 2016

My review of Beowulf, the melancholy, moving new 80-minute chamber opera by composer Hannah Lash, presented by Guerilla Opera in its world premiere last Friday, ran in Sunday's Globe. I'm resurfacing it now because the final two performances are scheduled for tonight and tomorrow night, May 27 and 28. I understand that tonight's performance is sold out, but on Twitter the company is recommending coming anyway if it's convenient, since there are always no-shows. If you're entirely unable to attend, you've got the option of watching a live webstream of the Saturday night performance at 8pm EST, right here.

You can read more about Beowulf in David Weininger's excellent preview article, and more about Lash in my 2008 New York Times profile, written during rehearsals of an earlier chamber opera, Blood Rose.

Playlist.

Kevin Drumm - Middle of Nothing (Hospital Productions)

Kevin Drumm - Irradiate (Bandcamp)

Francis Poulenc - Works for Piano Solo and Duo - Lucille Chung, Alessio Bax (Signum)
> 15 Improvisations; 3 Novelettes; Sonata for Four Hands; Concerto in D minor for Two Pianos

Sergei Rachmaninoff - Symphony No. 2in E minor; The Isle of the Dead; Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 10 in E minor - New York Philharmonic/Dmitri Mitropoulos (Urania)

Odesza - In Return (Deluxe Edition) (Foreign Family Collective/Counter)

Death - Scream Bloody Gore (Relapse)

Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption (Earache)

Venom Inc. - Cine Theatro Ypiranga, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Dec. 15, 2015 (YouTube)

Ernst Krenek - Symphonic Elegy; Ralph Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 4 in F minor; Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis - New York Philharmonic/Dmitri Mitropoulos (Urania)

Ramones - Ramones (Sire/Rhino)

Circle Jerks - Group Sex (Frontier)

Pere Ubu - The Hearpen Singles (Fire)

King Crimson - Fillmore East, New York, NY, Nov. 21, 1969 (DGMLive)

Lewis Pesacov & Elizabeth Cline - The Edge of Forever - wild Up/Christopher Rountree (The Industry)

Arnold Schoenberg - Serenade - Warren Galjour, ISCM Ensemble/Dmitri Mitropoulos (Urania)

Janelle Monáe - The Electric Lady (Wondaland/Bad Boy)

Chris Kallmyer - Rhyolite (Populist)
> Chris Kallmyer - Fence, Amargosa Desert; Julia Holter - Why We Come to Californy; Lucky Dragons - Wind at More than One Speed; Wind on Four Resonant Poles; Organized Glass; Wind as a Series of Events; Permanent Melody

Tim Berne's Bloodcount - "Is That a Gap?" (from Discretion) (Screwgun)

Tim Berne's Paraphrase - "Poetic License" (from Visitation Rites) (Screwgun)

Tim Berne's Bloodcount - "Is That a Gap?" (from Saturation Point) (Screwgun)

Roxy Music - Roxy Music (Virgin)

Tim Berne's Bloodcount - "Scrap Metal" (from Seconds) (Screwgun)

Braids - Companion (Arbutus)

Chris Kallmyer & Andrew Tholl - Commonfield Clay (Bandcamp)

Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 1 in D; Symphony No. 10 in F-sharp - Adagio - New York Philharmonic/Dmitri Mitropoulos (Music & Arts)

Voitek - Voitek's Flying Overseas (Honey Soundsystem)

King Crimson - Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Nov. 20, 2015 (DGMLive)

The week ahead, May 26, 2016

Rhys Chatham, by Roland Owsnitzki

The week ahead: Pop & rock
Thursday, May 26, 2016

RHYS CHATHAM The 2nd SHIFT Music Series welcomes the punk-minimalist visionary, an auteur of symphonies for armies of electric guitars. Paradoxically, in his first local appearance since 2007 he’ll play enhanced solo-guitar music of the sort found on his entrancing new LP, “Pythagorean Dream.” May 26, 7:30 p.m. $20-$30. Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation, Waltham. 781-893-5410, www.charlesrivermuseum.org

DEBO BAND In the face of a challenging year including a contentious election at home, the refugee crisis abroad, and the deaths of musical heroes, “Ere Gobez,” the new album by this Boston Ethio-jazz outfit, serves as a hard-charging call to celebration. This World Music/CRASHarts concert marks Debo Band’s 10th anniversary as well as the LP's arrival, so you know spirits will be soaring. May 26, 8 p.m. $15. The Sinclair, Cambridge. 617-876-4275, www.worldmusic.org

BOSTON CALLING What we love the most about the latest installment of the fest that’s changed the city’s landscape: You won’t find a more female-forward lineup, yet they’re treating this as business as usual. Headliners include Sia and Sufjan Stevens (May 27), Robyn and Odesza (May 28), and Disclosure, Haim, and Janelle Monáe (May 29) — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. May 27-29. Tickets: $60 (May 27), $85 (May 28, 29), VIP $150 (May 27), $185 (May 28, 29); two- and three-day passes available. City Hall Plaza. www.bostoncalling.com

Playlist.

Bent Knee - Say So (Cuneiform)

Christopher Rouse - Odna Zhizn; Symphony No. 3; Symphony No. 4; Prospero's Rooms - New York Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert (Dacapo)

Hilda Paredes - Señales (Mode Records)
> Señales (“Homenaje a Jonathan Harvey”) - Irvine Arditti, Ensemble Signal/Brad Lubman; Páramo de voces - Alberto Rosado; Homenaje a Remedios Varo - ensemble recherche; Intermezzo malinconcio - Adrián Sandi; Recuerdos del Porvenir - ensemble recherche

Various artists - The Colorado (Music from the Motion Picture) - Roomful of Teeth, Glenn Kotche, Jeffrey Zeigler (VisionIntoArt; due May 27)
> Glenn Kotche - Beginnings; Paola Prestini - A Padre, a Horse, a Telescope; Shara Nova - An Unknown Distance Yet to Run; William Brittelle - Shimmering Desert; Colossus; John Luther Adams - Cathedrals in the Desert; Paola Prestini - El Corrido de Joe R.; Shara Nova - Welcome to the Anthropocene; Glenn Kotche - Palette of a New Creation

Odesza - In Return (Counter Records)

Kanye West - The Life of Pablo (Def Jam)

Neotantrik - Blue Amiga (Pre-Cert Home Entertainment)

Nathan McLaughlin - Nothing to Be Sad About (Eilean)

Tony Malaby Paloma Recio - Incantations Suite (Clean Feed)

Fred Frith Trio - Another Day in Fucking Paradise (Intakt)

Jim O'Rourke - Steamroom 29 (Steamroom)

Flume - Skin (Mom + Pop; due May 27)

Mono - Under the Pipal Tree (Tzadik)

Derek Bailey - Ballads (Tzadik)

Kevin Drumm - Imperial Distortion (Hospital Productions)

Miles Davis - Agharta (Columbia/Legacy)

Miles Davis - Pangaea (Columbia/Legacy)

Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 6 in A minor - New York Philharmonic/Dmitri Mitropoulos (Archipel)

The Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup (Rolling Stones)

Anderson-Stolt - Invention of Knowledge (InsideOut; due June 24)

The ticket: Pop music, May 22, 2016

Four Tet

The ticket: Pop Music
Sunday, May 22, 2016

WEAKENED FRIENDS This snappy Portland, Maine, trio came in second place at this year’s Rock ’n’ Roll Rumble, earning a spot in the competition’s not-winners pantheon alongside Mission of Burma, the Lemonheads, and Morphine. An addictive new EP, “95,” arrives in July, but is worth celebrating now; righteously raggedy folk-punk four-piece Tigerman WOAH and atmospheric alt-rock outfit Doom Lover complete the bill. May 22, 9 p.m. $10. Great Scott.  800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

FOUR TET English instrumentalist/producer Kieran Hebden took a deep dive into his Indian heritage on last year’s “Morning/Evening.” He reworked a characteristically beatific recording of playback queen Lata Mangeshkar’s voice to transcendent effect on “Morning Side,” while the flip meandered from gauzy dreamstate and reassuring drone to the dance floor’s thoroughly urbanized din. May 25, 8 p.m. $20. Paradise Rock Club. 800-745-3000,  www.ticketmaster.com

RHYS CHATHAM The 2ndSHIFT Music Series welcomes the punk-minimalist visionary, an auteur of symphonies for armies of electric guitars. Paradoxically, in his first local appearance since 2007 he’ll play enhanced solo-guitar music of the sort found on his entrancing new LP, “Pythagorean Dream.” May 26, 7:30 p.m. $20-$30. Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation, Waltham. 781-893-5410, www.charlesrivermuseum.org

DEBO BAND In the face of a challenging year including a contentious election at home, the refugee crisis abroad, and the deaths of musical heroes, “Ere Gobez,” the new album by this Boston Ethio-jazz outfit, serves as a hard-charging call to celebration. This World Music/CRASHarts concert marks Debo Band’s 10th anniversary as well as the LP’s arrival, so you know spirits will be soaring. May 26, 8 p.m. $15. The Sinclair, Cambridge.  617-876-4275, www.worldmusic .org

Album review: Bent Knee, "Say So"

Bent Knee, by Chris Anderson

My brief review of Say So, the much-anticipated third album by Boston prog-rock-only-not-like-that sextet Bent Knee, is live on the Globe website and out in print today, too. The band already put on its record-release concert last night in Somerville; keep an eye out, because it might be playing near you soon.

I'm convinced that this unique and talented group, who I profiled in January, has big, big things ahead, and I'm grateful to have been introduced early enough to help spread the word.

The week ahead, May 19, 2016

Weakened Friends

The week ahead: Pop & rock
Thursday, May 19, 2016

BENT KNEE “Say So,” the third album from this young Boston art-rock sextet, is due on Friday; one night earlier, the wise, witty, and skillful group heralds the landing of a record that confirms its eloquence and ebullience, while also breaking new stylistic and temperamental ground. May 19, 7:30 p.m. $15, advance $12. ONCE Lounge & Ballroom, Somerville. 617-285-0167, www.oncesomerville.com

TOGETHER BOSTON This weeklong festival of technology, art, and music heads into the home stretch, with performances by Giraffage and Negative Gemini (May 19, Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge), Jon Hopkins and KiNK (May 20, Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge), Matthew Dear (May 21, Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge), and Bicep and Ben UFO (May 22, Middlesex Lounge, Cambridge). Times, prices vary. www.togetherboston.com

WEAKENED FRIENDS This snappy Portland, Maine, trio came in second place at this year’s Rock ’n’ Roll Rumble, earning a spot in the competition’s not-winners pantheon alongside Mission of Burma, the Lemonheads, and Morphine. An addictive new EP, “95,” arrives in July, but is worth celebrating now; righteously raggedy folk-punk four-piece Tigerman WOAH and atmospheric alt-rock outfit Doom Lover complete the bill. May 22, 9 p.m. $10. Great Scott. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

Playlist.

Mashrou'Leila - Ibn En Leil (Mashrou'Leila)

Venom - From the Very Depths (Spinefarm)

Martha Argerich - The Legendary 1965 Recording (EMI Classics)
> Frederic Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor (Op. 58); 3 Mazurkas (Op. 59); Nocturne in F (Op. 15, No. 1); Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp minor (Op. 39); Polonaise in A-flat (Op. 53, "Heroic")

Rush - Hold Your Fire (Mercury)

Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 9 in E-flat; Symphony No. 5 in D minor; Suite from Hamlet; Symphony No. 8 in C minor - Boston Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons (Deutsche Grammophon)

Rhys Chatham - Pythagorean Dream (Foom; due June 3)

Robert Fripp - Washington Square Church, New York, NY, July 28, 1981 (DGMLive)

Robert Fripp - Sound Warehouse, Chicago, IL, Aug. 18, 1979 (DGMLive)

Christian Wolff/Michael Pisaro - Looking Around (Erstwhile)

Napalm Death - Death by Manipulation (Earache)

Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness (Earache)

Cecil Taylor - Live in the Black Forest (MPS)

Edvard Grieg - Piano Concerto in A minor - Artur Rubinstein, Philadelphia Orchestra/Eugene Ormandy (RCA Victor)

Nails - You Will Never Be One of Us (Nuclear Blast; due June 17)

Thalia Zedek Band - Eve (Thrill Jockey; due Aug. 16)

Swans - The Glowing Man (Young God; due June 17)

Four Tet - Morning/Evening (Text Records)

Discharge - End of Days (Nuclear Blast)

Venom - Black Metal (Neat Records)

Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales (Noise International)

Possessed - Seven Churches (Combat)

Peter Baumann - Machines of Desire (Bureau B; due May 27)

Drake - Views (Young Money/Cash Money/Republic)

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool (XL Recordings)

Beyoncé- Lemonade (Columbia)

The ticket: Pop music, May 15, 2016

The Kills

The ticket: Pop music
Sunday, May 15, 2016

TOGETHER BOSTON This weeklong festival of technology, art, and music opens with a live set from Floating Points (May 15, 8 p.m. The Sinclair, Cambridge), launching a don’t-miss series that includes the Black Madonna (May 17, 8 p.m. Middlesex Lounge, Cambridge), France Jobin and Tim Feeney (May 18, 7 p.m. Metropolitan Waterworks Museum), Giraffage and Negative Gemini (May 19, Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge), and more. Through May 22. Times, prices vary. www.togetherboston.com

DEAD MEADOW It’s been a long minute since this prodigiously tuneful LA stoner-psych trio touched down, since which time a new drummer, Juan Londono, has joined the fold. Playing in support is Boston’s mighty Ghost Box Orchestra, celebrating the release of a muzzy new platter (or cassette tape, if you prefer), “High Plaine.” May 15, 9 p.m. $15, advance $12. ONCE Lounge & Ballroom, Somerville. 617-285-0167, www.oncesomerville.com

THE KILLS The lean, taut postpunk duo of vocalist Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince comes to town well in advance of its fifth studio album, “Ash & Ice,” due June 3 on Domino. Thursday night’s show sold out quickly, but you can still get in on Wednesday. May 18, 8 p.m. $35, advance $30. Paradise Rock Club. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

BENT KNEE “Say So,” the third album from this young Boston art-rock sextet, is due on Friday; one night earlier, the wise, witty, and skillful group heralds the landing of a record that confirms its eloquence and ebullience, while also breaking new stylistic and temperamental ground. May 19, 7:30 p.m. $15, advance $12. ONCE Lounge & Ballroom, Somerville. 617-285-0167, www.oncesomerville.com