Named to suggest contrariness without meaning anything specific at all (encompassing the varied interests of its disparate members), Oakland’s Anticon collective has for the past decade provided a home for those millennial lost boys raised on hip hop, alternative rock and experimental electronica, but who seem mainly interested in exploring the cracks dividing these genres. Although first positioned as conventional noise/alternative/hip hop, it quickly became clear that the label’s output defies categorization, sounding more like indie experimental rock built from the beats and loops of hip hop and electronica than the extension of rap culture that alt.hip hop often represents. To be sure, the street-hewn art of the battle rap emerges, but what you call it and how you define it is entirely beside the point. Experience genre implosion (and if that’s not enough for you, some great, groundbreaking new music) at the Anticon showcase. Headlining is Anticon co-founder, hip hop anti-hero and prophet of suburban dystopia Sole (Tim Holland), whose songs mix kitchen sink electronic experimentation with personal, beat-oriented rap confessionals. Backing him up is the Skyrider Band, an experimental trio known for throwing violin, banjo, drums, cello, glockenspiel and whatever else is necessary into the sonic tumult, who will also perform a short set. Rounding out the evening is Anticon’s Telephone Jim Jesus, whose ambient soundscapes suggest a lo-fi trip hop devoid of techno influence. Also on the bill is Buffalo’s Fourem, uptempo purveyors of samples and beat-based electronica.

No artist has paved a musical plateau to the stars quite like the critically extolled, playfully exalted South Carolinian jazz luminary James “Blood” Ulmer. With a signature look that recalls the sophistication of funk visionary George Clinton, the grainy soulfulness of B.B. King and a string-snapping sound orchestrating a rock synthesis critics have described as “the missing link between Jimi Hendrix and Wes Montgomery,” Blood has become a kind of pioneering jazz futurist. With the release of his pivotally acclaimed Bad Blood in the City: The Piety Street Sessions (Hyena), Blood has fashioned heart-wrenching vocals and resonating poetics to accompany his real-life political and cultural statements about the devastated city of New Orleans. Garnering Grammy nods, his recent record Birthright—a record adored even by nit-picking, hairsplitting faultfinders—is sure to bedazzle jazz lovers. “Blood’s” intimate one-night only performance as part of the 2007-08 Hunt Real Estate Art of Jazz Series is to be heralded by “The Geography of the Blues,” a pre-concert conversation with Jim Santella at 7pm.

Metropolitan Opera star Marilyn Horne felt that vocal recitals were essential to her development as a singer, and she established a foundation in 1993 to give young singers the opportunity to bring the art of song to audiences throughout the land. As the finale of a four-day residency sponsored by the Marilyn Horne Foundation this week that includes visits to three local high schools, the widely acclaimed young baritone Jesse Blumberg will give a recital at Baird Recital Hall on the UB north campus. His accompanist Thomas Bagwell is currently on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music, and is one of today’s most active pianists in the field of song recital. The program will feature German lieder by Beethoven, Schumann (Kerner-Lieder, Op. 35) and songs by Erich Korngold. French songs by Poulenc, including the quirky Avant le Cinema, and an intriguing selection of recent American songs by John Musto (“Nude at the Piano”), William Bolcom (“Black Max”) as well as Tom Cipullo’s irresistibly titled “Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House,” based on a Billy Collins poem, promise an evening of sheer delight.

Check out Squeaky Wheel’s second biennial Peepshow for a night of sexy events and sexy art. Come to the Broadway Market and take a peep at the 12 artist installations and performances, or any of the three video screenings in private booths. Hear live music featuring the bands Mother Red and Handsome Jack as well as the Brazilian jazz trio Don Metz, Heather Connor and Michael Colquhuon and guitar duo Nick Vega and Mike Golner. Get a drink from the cash bar and bid in the silent auction that includes original work of over 50 pieces from local artists and gift baskets with combinations that include wine, dinners, chocolate—even yoga classes. This night full of the risqué has installations by Michael Bosworth, through whose giant camera obscura guests can voyeuristically view the market, and Elizabeth Licata and Cheryl Jackson, whose multi-media installation is titled The Secret Sex Life of Plants. With many more performances and artists, including a chance to have your picture taken, with props, by local photographer Nancy Parisi in her Be Bo Peep Polaroid photo booth, this St. Valentine-inspired event is not one to skip. Pictured above is I Wish I Had a Date, by Sean Hovendick, which intersperses appropriated educational film from the 1950’s with video from the modern dating scene.