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Jean Grae, Jim O'Rourke & others playing the New Museum

Jean Grae

NYC’s very own critically-acclaimed lyricist Jean Grae will perform at NYC’s New Museum on Friday, May 1st along with “the soul-inspired hip-hop of Derrin Maxwell and the gritty, heavily-fried underground funk of 3beanstew.” Tickets are on sale.

That show is part of the museum’s Get Weird series. A week later (Friday, May 8th), Get Weird hosts the Younger Lovers (featuring Brontez Purnell of Gravy Train!!!!) and Gamma Rays. Tickets are on sale.

During the No Fun Fest, taking place May 15th-17th at the MHoW, the New Museum will partners with Rhizome and the No Fun to present “No Fun 2009: Infinite Sound and Image” on Saturday, May 16th. The live-music and silent film screening includes Jim O’Rouke (a man with many credits including Sonic Youth and producing Wilco), Robert Beatty (of Hair Police and Three Legged Race), Sarah Lipstate (of Noveller), and C. Spencer Yeh (of Burning Star Core). Noveller and C. Spencer Yeh both also make separate NFF appearances. Tickets for the New Musem show are on sale. Full program details are below.

The museum combines its Get Weird music series and its Younger Than Jesus exhibit (artists less than 33 yrs old) and gets a show with BARR/Brendan Fowler and MEN on Friday, June 12th. Tickets are on sale for that too.

All details, with more upcoming New Museum music events (including Nick Hallett performing Meredith Monk, Karlheinz Stockhausen and others) below…

New Museum upcoming shows:

Friday, May 1, 2009 | 7:00 PM
Jean Grae + 3beanstew + Derrin Maxwell
Part of Get Weird
Jean Grae stands in a supremely elite class of rappers. Since her 2002 debut, Attack of the Attacking Things, she’s been making energetic, clever songs, full of humor and swagger and beauty. Described by Talib Kweli as “one of the last true MCs left,” Jean Grae enters 2009 at the absolute top of her game, coming off two stellar 2008 LPs that continue to expand her skills, her honesty, and her unbeatable poise. From collaborations with the Roots, Atmosphere, and Masta Ace to profiles on NPR and Pitchfork, Jean Grae is one of the most widely respected MCs in history, demanding praise from a vast field of admirers.

Jean Grae will be supported by the soul-inspired hip-hop of Derrin Maxwell and the gritty, heavily-fried underground funk of 3beanstew.

Thursday, May 7, 2009 | 7:00 PM
Nick Hallett: Voice & Light Systems, Part One: Meredith Monk’s Our Lady of Late
Nick Hallett–singer, composer, and downtown impresario–creates a four-part series at the New Museum theater connecting the human voice to multimedia ritual. In collaboration with a rotating cast of performers and artists, Hallett presents original music and performance alongside new interpretations of celebrated vocal works by Meredith Monk and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Friday, May 8, 2009 | 7:00 PM
Younger Lovers + Gamma Rays
Part of Get Weird
The stripped-down, insistent rock and roll of the Younger Lovers careens, buzzes, and leers with an energy unheard in decades. Led by Brontez Purnell, known for his performances with Gravy Train!!!! and his confessional ‘zine Fag School, the Younger Lovers draw on the intoxicating legacy of The Replacements, Jonathan Richman, and The Gories, revitalizing the breathless spirit of adolescence. As Brontez explains, “This decade showed a dramatic decrease in the good old standard of cool, queer, punk-kid records. Everyone ran for a drum machine and opted to be the next Justin Timberlake. No probs. No shade. This just left the playhouse empty. Enter the Younger Lovers.”

The Gamma Rays reunite downtown legends Alex Neimetz and Alice Blythe, who demonstrated all of the swagger and catchiness of The New York Dolls and Richard Hell in their first band Modrocket. A year later, they’ve added a bit of haze and ache to their New York upbringing, creating a dizzyingly fun and occasionally heartbreaking new sound for The Gamma Rays.

Thursday, May 14, 2009 | 7:00 PM
Nick Hallett: Voice & Light Systems, Part Two: Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Stimmung
Nick Hallett–singer, composer, and downtown impresario–creates a four-part series at the New Museum theater connecting the human voice to multimedia ritual.

Saturday, May 16, 2009 | 3:00 PM
No Fun 2009: Infinite Sound and Image
Part of New Silent
In its sixth year, the No Fun Festival has emerged as one of the most unique and vital festivals for experimental music worldwide. Curated by No Fun organizer and label head Carlos Giffoni, this special screening will present moving image work by a selection of artists performing in the 2009 Festival. Jim O’Rourke and filmmaker Makino Takashi collaborate on The Seasons, a dense abstract film that fluctuates in tandem with O’Rourke’s dramatic and resonant score. Robert Beatty (of Hair Police and Three Legged Race) will provide a live soundtrack to artist Takeshi Murata’s hypnotic videos and animations. Experimental filmmaker and sound artist Sarah Lipstate (of Noveller) presents Interior Variations, a collage of 16 mm hand-painted film, black-and-white super 8mm, and found footage, which will be accompanied by a new Noveller composition titled Telecine. Dominick Fernow/Prurient will screen spins the worlds wheel again, a short film inspired by his 180-page hardcover book of collages, Rose Pillar published by Heartworm Press,which deals directly with mortality within the family structure. Sound artist/composer C. Spencer Yeh (of Burning Star Core), known for his arrangements that draw on both aural and physical experience, will premiere a new work using voice as its central component. Megan Ellis and Carlos Giffoni will also showcase a new piece, created specifically for this show, which will pair minimalist visuals with an evolving electronic sound score.
Sponsors TOP

Organized by Lauren Cornell, Executive Director of Rhizome, the New Silent Series receives major support from the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Additional support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Thursday, May 21, 2009 | 7:00 PM
Nick Hallett: Voice & Light Systems, Part Three: Whispering Exercises Premiere
Nick Hallett–singer, composer, and downtown impresario–creates a four-part series at the New Museum theater connecting the human voice to multimedia ritual.

Thursday, May 28, 2009 | 7:00 PM
Nick Hallett: Voice & Light Systems, Part Four: Auroville
Nick Hallett–singer, composer, and downtown impresario–creates a four-part series at the New Museum theater connecting the human voice to multimedia ritual

Friday, May 29, 2009 | 7:00 PM
All Made Up: Monique/Fauxnique and Narcissister
Part of New Museum Presents
San Francisco-based performance artist and female female-impersonator Monique/Fauxnique shares the stage with the New York-based enigma called Narcissister for an evening of extreme dress-up and gender-boundary combustion.

Friday, June 12, 2009 | 7:00 PM
YTJ: Get Weird: BARR/Brendan Fowler + MEN
Part of Get Weird, Exhibition Related
To listen to BARR is to jump into Brendan Fowler’s head, to enter a jumble of memory, laughter, fear and perseverance. His songs are built from tiny, heart-tugging piano melodies, insistent drumming, and a singular voice that is as relentlessly obsessive and anxious as it is cheerful and celebratory. These distinctive qualities have made BARR a popular favorite at both underground venues like The Smell and legendary performance spaces like The Kitchen.

MEN is a Brooklyn-based band and art/performance collective that focuses on the energy of live performance and radical potential of dance music. Comprised of JD Samson (Le Tigre), Johanna Fateman (Le Tigre), Michael O’Neill (Princess), Ginger Brooks Takahashi (The Ballet) and Emily Roysdon, the group speaks to issues such as wartime economies, sexual compromise, and demanding liberties. Propulsive, literate, and subtly complex, their songs draw upon the history of subversive music, from Talking Heads to Timbaland, to create a breathless, future-minded sound.