What To See This Week
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
NEIL MICHAEL HAGERTY Guitar stylist Neil Hagerty has been working solo for five years, but he’s best-known for his partnership with ex-wife Jennifer Herrema in Royal Trux. The duo of drug-hungry misfits formed the band after Hagerty’s departure from the Jon Spencer-led outfit Pussy Galore, and they made music they knew would piss off Spencer’s fans: With unmistakable sarcasm, they brought ax-grinding 1970s classic-rock solos to puerile melodies. Even during their most straightforward Virgin Records era, songs throbbed and changed time as if emanating from a cassette that spent the summer cooking on the dashboard.
Hagerty may never again achieve the success Royal Trux enjoyed in the 1990s, but his forthcoming album, “You Can’t Beat Tomorrow” (Drag City), is his best solo work to date. The hooks on songs like “Apache Energy Plan” recall Royal Trux at the top of their game, while Hagerty’s woozy take on the Rolling Stones’ version of the blues comes through brilliantly. The rest of the album has a vaguely wandering repetition of melodies. His performance Thursday night, alongside a group of interchangeable musicians known as the Howling Hex, will presumably bear resemblance to the kooky DVD that accompanies his newest release, but no one really knows.
Thursday at Knitting Factory (74 Leonard Street, 212-219-3132).
FOUR TET After releasing the successful and quite danceable “Rounds” in 2003, Kieran Hebden’s solo electronic project Four Tet took a different direction on “Everything Ecstatic” (Domino). The primal bass beats remain, but Hebden marks new territory with breakdowns accompanied by wild sax solos, drum freakouts, and crackling acoustic percussions. There is an unmistakable avant-jazz logic to “Everything Ecstatic” – as is more and more the case with hybrid “folk” labels. Monday at Bowery Ballroom (6 Delancey Street, 212-533-2111).
SIX ORGANS OF ADMIT TANCE Ben Chasny’s brand of folk lacks the quirky lyrics of the Banhart clan, but his guitar picking and deep, moody layers of feedback are perfect for an October evening.
Friday at Mercury Lounge (217 Houston, 866-468-7619).
