NYC Concert Listings for March 19–24, 2025
Improvised music, uplifting/sad bar rock, wolves enjoying ska, jazz, jam bands and a picture of a little bird.
Quick hits
Erykah Badu is working on a new album.
News from a few weeks ago but worth reminding you and me that D’Angelo is headlining Roots Picnic in Philly (with the Roots as his band). Besides his 2021 Verzuz at the Apollo, D’Angelo hasn’t played live much since his 2015 tour.
It’s bracket season for New York local media: 21st-Century NYC Songs Bracket on the NY Groove and March Madness of NYC Hot Takes 2025 on Hell Gate.
Wed Mar 19
Domestic Drafts + Wendy Eisenberg and Ryan Sawyer + Katy the Kyng at Union Pool: Two weeks ago I called Domestic Draft’s debut “barfly rock” and this dive bar full-band show is probably the place to test that theory out. But it’s not a record confined to life on the edge of a stool—it also includes tales of ramblers, wild gamblers, woozy lido deck serenaders (that’s how I’m hearing “I’m Knocking on Your Door”) and a report from the bottom of life’s dogpile, singing as a dog, metaphorically.
Patterson Hood w/ Lydia Loveless at Mercury Lounge: In a similar twangy vein, it doesn’t get any more raw and lived-in than Drive-by Truckers’ Patterson Hood’s grizzled alt-country anthems, playing here from a new solo record, Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams. The werewolf song below takes out your insides and puts them back (but not quite the way they were) in just four minutes.
Theo Croker Quartet at Smoke (through Sun): I enjoyed this Instagram post about swinging in jazz and that made me curious about his newest record, Dream Manifest, out in June. A smart profile with Croker just came out in the LA Times about his approach to the project, and he also just talked with All of It’s Allison Stewart. The first single—with a house beat—is below.
Thu, Mar 20
Dave Harrington’s Pranksters East at Sultan Room: Since Harrington decamped to Los Angeles his ad hoc jam sessions have become more of a West Coast thing. But while he’s in town for two shows with Darkside (his gothy electronic jam project with Nicolas Jaar, which has a new record out), the guitarist gathers the jam hordes for a night of music making. Participating pranksters include bassist Anna Abondolo, trumpeter Steven Bernstein, reedist Stuart Bogie, drummers Jeremy Gustin and Kenny Wollesen (see below), percussionist Mauro Refosco, probably-on-synth multi-instrumentalist Yuka Honda and more.
Planetarium w/ Carlos Niño and Friends at Secret Space (also Fri and Sat): Nowaday’s offsite deep listening series hosts Niño, the shamanistic percussionist and music maker who spent most of 2024 touring with Andre 3000’s New Blue Sun, for three nights. The first night’s guests include Laraaji and saxist Darius Jones.
Yasuaki Shimizu at National Sawdust (also Fri): Composer and saxophonist Shimizu has a lengthy CV, making funky, psychedelic pop music with a crisp ’80s vibe as part of Japanese pop group Mariah and going further afield into the word of arty rock-jazz-pop on Kakashi, a record imbued with environmental sounds that got a well-deserved bump from its reissue on Palto Flats a few years back (he’s also recorded Bach for saxophone and composed scores for TV and film). Lately his performances have smushed all of that into minimalist solo sax with effects and processing accompaniment.
Sat Mar 22
Kill Lincoln + Westbound Train at The Woodshop: Inside of you live two wolves, and both of those wolves really like ska: one digs Westbound Train’s soulful and steady take on the music, like lovers rock filtered through a Daptone lens, while the other will enjoy Kill Lincoln’s pure uncut Tony Hawk ska-punk like its 1998 and he just got dropped off at the mall. Listen to your wolves.
Sun Mar 23
Psychic Lines + Zachary Cale + Andi Mags at Mama Tried: Celebrate the third day of spring with the last edition of Cale’s Winter Songs series.
Of Montreal Sunlandic Twins anniversary show at Brooklyn Steel: Little me rode extremely hard for the swirling, freaky indie-pop of Sunlandic Twins back in 2005. Then in 2008 Kevin Barnes sat on a horse on stage at Roseland Ballroom and that kind of broke the spell for some reason. Anyway, expect an elephant or a giraffe.
Star Rover at Bar LunÀtico: Comprised of drummer Jeremy Gustin, guitarist Will Graefe and percussion experimentalist Kenny Wollesen, the band of expert improvisers covers a lot of ground from hazy post-rock to lightly loping jazz to electronic soundscapes.
Oh, you’re still here? In that case…
A few months back Tom Waits appeared on Italian television to perform “Tom Traubert’s Blues” as part of a documentary series about homelessness in the US.