AV Editors Pick: Iron & Wine w/Blitzen Trapper

Friday, November 14

Sam Beam, who performs and records under the moniker Iron & Wine, writes songs with the appealing, glimmering melancholy of single lamp lit in an otherwise dark bar: These memories and evocations draw you in, offer (and ask for) comfort and company. It’s not a bright place, sure, but stick around for one more… Once set to unassuming melodies strung out on an acoustic guitar, nowadays Beam’s evocative words are elevated by lush accompaniment, both on recordings and in live performance—a full band, slide guitar, piano, the works. Meantime, the singer whispers like Nick Drake into the microphone, hiding behind a thicket of red beard. Beam is at the tail end of a four-month tour that brings him to Babeville on Friday, supported at this show by Sub Pop bandmates Blitzen Trapper. That Portland, Oregon sextet has just released its fourth full-length, Furr, which finds the band’s hitherto engagingly eclectic approach to songcraft sharp, focused, and not a little Dylanesque.

—geoff kelly

8pm (doors). Asbury Hall at Babeville, 341 Delaware Ave. (852-3835 / www.babevillebuffalo.com). $21/advance or $24/at door (box office, Tickets.com / 888-223-6000; Tops Markets, Record Theater).

Saturday, November 15

Centro-Matic

This Saturday (Nov. 17) Centro-Matic and South San Gabriel, the ever touring alternative rock bands from Texas, will be playing a show at Mohawk Place. Yes, that makes two bands, but they are made up of the same members. While Centro-Matic still plays a more straightforward, alt-country rock style of music, its counterpart South San Gabriel both slows things down and experiments. This/these band(s) have been touring almost continuously for over a decade now, and are one of the most well-traveled bands of the new millenium. They recently released a double disc album, one by Centro-Matic and the other by South San Gabriel, entitled Dual Hawks. The album has been acclaimed by critics, and this particular endeavor marks a novel attempt to reconfigure the about-to-get-old collaborative form.

—justin sondel

8pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E Mohawk St. (855-3931 / www.mohawkplace.com). $10/$12

Saturday, November 15

Dub Trio

Dub Trio will be will be bringing their bassy brand of punk/metal/reggae to Nietzsche’s on Saturday (Nov. 15). The band is touring to promote the release of their third studio album Another Sound is Dying. Dub Trio recently toured with Mike Patton under the band name Peeping Tom, and Patton—the vocalist of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle fame—also appeared on the track “Not Alone” on the Band’s 2006 release New Heavy. These guys have worked as session musicians with the likes of 50-Cent, Mos Def, the Fugees, and Common. They are skilled at combining genres and have a mass appeal that has allowed them to tour with a diverse set of bands such as Gogol Bordello, Umphrey McGee’s, and Helmet, to name a few. This might be one night when—just maybe—you can dance and feel tough at the same time.

—justin sondel

8pm. Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / www.nietzsches.com)

Monday, November 17

Murder by Death

Taking its name from a Neil Simon movie (Murder By Death, 1976), this band from Blomington, Indiana is hardly a comedy act. Although they are fond of traditional horror-pop themes like zombies, Satan, and the concept album, the music is more serious than campy, and within the punk-rock/alt-country genre the group falls into, they land on the high end. If album titles are any indication (as they sometimes are, but often, sadly, are not) MBD’s debut, Like the Exorcist, But More Breakdancing, sets the tone for their dramatic, southern gothic arrangements, which translate live into ten minute instrumentals played in complete darkness. They hang with bands like Cursive, Interpol, and American Analog Set, as well as with more similar groups like Rasputina (did we say southern gothic?), Lucero, and the Weakerthans (did we say alt-country?) Murder By Death plays Buffalo on Monday (Nov. 17), a first appearnace here since the release of 2008’s Red of Tooth and Claw (ooooh, scary!) with William Elliott Whitmore and J. Roddy Walston & the Business

—k. o’day

7pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E Mohawk St. (855-3931 / www.mohawkplace.com)

Monday, November 17

Short Story Masters: The Stories of Alice Munro

Just Buffalo Literary Center and Talking Leaves Books launch a new monthly salon series this week, dedicated to the art of the short story. The first installment of Short Story Masters”: A Literary Salon takes up two pieces by Canadian writer Alice Munro: “Passion” and “Wenlock Edge.” December’s salon will continue with the work of Munro, and the new year will bring discussions of works by Isaac Babel, Anton Chekhov, William Trevor, and by Edward P. Jones, among others. The host of these monthly discussions is fiction writer Greg Gerke, whose own collection of short stories is forthcoming from Blaze Vox Books.

—geoff kelly

6:30pm. Talking Leaves Books, 3158 Main Street (837-8554, www.tleavesbooks.com / www.justbuffalo.org).

Tuesday, November 18

Oenology: The Study of Wine With Alexandre Martin

By the invitation of the Délégation Générale de l’Alliance Française aux Etats-Unis, oenologist Alexandre Martin is on tour in Iceland, in Canada, in the United States, and in Puerto Rico this fall. He will bring his lecture, “Traditional Wine-Making in France” to Buffalo State College on the Tuesday (Nov. 18), at 7:30pm. Martin is known for his lectures and workshops on educating the senses, particularly for teaching the art of detecting aromas in wine using a system designed and made famous in France. This system promotes a deeper, more personal appreciation of wine by teaching participants how to describe and remember 54 aromas with words. His visit to Buffalo is presented by Buffalo State College and the Alliance Française of Buffalo. The event is limitesd to 80 participants, contact 886-0886 or mvs52@verizon.net.

—anthony chase

Buffalo State College Bulger Communication Center West, 1300 Elmwood Ave. (878/4000 / www.buffalostate.edu). $20/general; $10/students. Ages 21+

Tuesday, November 18

Bombadil

The bimonthly indie and underground rock-bible Magnet describes Bombadil as “a drunker, circus-reared version of the Band.” Deriving their name from a Lord of the Rings character and pulling inspiration by combining the Piedmont style of blues, Bolivian folk, and rock for a wild, turbulent music that heeds no boundaries, the Durham, NC band refuses to play by any one set of rules and are bent on making their name as a live outfit. “We are trying to create our own phenomena and culture about our live shows,” says guitarist/singer Bryan Rahija who started the band in 2005 with bassist Daniel Michalak following the duo’s inspiring stay in Bolivia. Their latest album Buzz, Buzz (Ramseur Records) puts thee band’s kalediscopic flavor for style and instruments on full view and shows that doesn’t neglect on songcraft either. Fans of The Decemberists and The Avett Brothers – with whom they are labelmates - will find plenty to like in Bombadil, who come to Buffalo for a show at Nietzsche’s this Wednesday, November 19.

—gore petersen

8pm. Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / www.nietzsches.com)

Tuesday, November 18

Iraq in Fragments

Reviewing James Longley’s Oscar-nominated documentary Iraq in Fragments in these pages last year, George Sax called it “A densely compiled series of close-ups of this country and its ravaged, riven people. In his own way, Longley modestly redresses the vacuum of comprehension about Iraq, one that afflicted this country’s political elite—the Dick Cheney crew and its propagandistic accomplices—as they misled America into war…this busy, impressionistic portrait of Iraq under American occupation (the Americans make only brief, disconnected appearances) is also redolent of humanity in a threatened, truly fragmented country.” The upcoming screening on Tuesday (Nov. 18) includes a talk by Dahr Jamail, author of Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches From an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq. It’s all part of UB’s International Education Week. For a complete schedule go to www.buffalo.edu/intlservices/special_events.html.

—m. faust

5:45pm. UB Student Union Theater, Amherst Campus (645-2258 / www.www.buffalo.edu/intlservices). FREE

Thursday, November 20

Small Press Poetry: Elaine Equi & Jerome Sala

Next Thursday, Just Buffalo Literary Society and Rust Belt Books host a husband-and-wife team of poets: Elaine Equi’s latest book, Ripple Effect: New & Selected Poems, was a finalist for the LA Times Book Award and on the short list for the Griffin Poetry Prize. She teaches at New York University and in the MFA programs at the New School and City College. Her husband, Jerome Sala, has been described as an “honorable hysteric” by critic Peter Schjeldahl. His latest book is Look Slimmer Instantly from Soft Skull Press. Other books include cult classic such as Spaz Attack, I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent and The Trip.

—geoff kelly

7pm. Rust Belt Books, 202 Allen St. (85-9535 / www.justbuffalo.org). FREE

Thursday, November 20

Sebastien Grainger

Anyone with decent ears who heard the nihilistic but infectious 2004 release You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine—the sole full length from the Toronto based duo Death From Above 1979—could tell that not far beneath the bombast and clamor of bassist Jesse F. Keeler and drummer Sebastien Grainger’s positively unique dance-punk-metal hybrid, there were some great songs. While Keeler’s post DFA1979 life veered toward electronic music with the project MSTRKRFT, Grainger’s path has shown his strength as a songwriter and band leader. Working up material and recording at his own Giant Studio (which he co-owns with Metric’s Jimmy Shaw), Grainger seems to have spent his time not so much reinventing his style but redefining it. The result is 2008’s titular Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains (Saddle Creek), on which Grainger proves a tempered artist with a strong sense of his tested talents but with enough daring to take unexpected turns and experimentations. He kicks off his 2008 tour with the Mountains next Thursday, (Nov. 20) right here in Buffalo.

—donny kutzbach

7pm. Mohawk Place. 47 E Mohawk St. (855-3931 / www.mohawkplace.com)