Improvisation is a key element of our Live at TONY series, and frankly, we wouldn’t have it any other way. The three members of Elizabeth and the Catapult were running late to their taping earlier this week, and rather than waste precious minutes stopping by their rehearsal space, they simply fished a keyboard out of the Dumpster, procured a carton of percussive rice from the convenience store across the street and headed up to our offices to perform. As you’ll see, the band had no trouble adjusting to its makeshift implements. If you like what you hear, check out Elizabeth and the Catapult live tonight (October 2) next Tuesday (October 6) at Joe’s Pub, where we expect they’ll have access to higher-end gear.

As you may have read in this week’s TONY, several local artists are gathering at Joe’s Pub this Saturday (September 5) to celebrate the legacy of one Connie Converse, a pioneering singer-songwriter who lived and worked in NYC from the late ’40s through the early ’70s before disappearing without a trace. Among the participants is David Garland, a singular and engaging local tunesmith who also hosts the fine WNYC show Spinning on Air. He stopped by our offices earlier this week to fill us in on Converse’s sad, enigmatic tale and perform one of her tunes.

Bringing you Live at TONY each week for the past few months hasn’t always been easy. Somehow, someway, equipment woes, elevator mix-ups and myriad miscommunications have managed to plague many of our in-office tapings. But this week’s couldn’t have been easier: Singer-songsmith Sharon Van Etten strolled in with nothing more than an acoustic guitar and a smile, and after a ten-second sound check, she proceeded to knock us out with her low-key yet high-intensity modern folk. Check out this performance of “For You”—from Van Etten’s latest release, Because I Was in Love (Language of Stone)—and then catch her live Saturday (August 29) at BKLYN Yard with a bunch of other cool local acts. After that she’s at Joe’s Pub Friday, September 4.

Assuming you’re not holding a ticket to tonight’s sold-out Nine Inch Nails show at Terminal 5—purportedly the band’s last ever performance in our fair city—you’ve got a few options: You can brave the scalpers, either on the sidewalk or online; you can experience NIN’s incendiary power vicariously via Lizz Kuehl’s Volume slide show (reposted below) from the band’s Bowery Ballroom show this past Saturday; or you can read on for some other worthy live-music options.

If you’re in the mood for something a whole heck of a lot mellower, try The Low Anthem, a subtle Rhode Island folk outfit, which plays tonight at the Bell House. Get a preview via an exclusive live performance the band filmed for the Volume back in June. More fine alt-roots sounds can be heard at Bruar Falls, where the twangy coed outfit Georgiana Starlington holds court.

It’s a busy night at the city’s experimental-music haunts. At Barbès, catch a rare glimpse of Tartar Lamb, a spin-off of the ever-visionary metallic art-pop ensemble Kayo Dot. Over at Roulette, Sparks—the free-improv duo of trumpeter Peter Evans and bassist Tom Blancarte—ropes in pals such as Nate Wooley, Okkyung Lee and Brandon Seabrook for some top-notch impromptu madness. And at the Stone, recent TONY star Tyshawn Sorey presents the next two chapters in his multinight work Wu-Wei.

If it’s inspired irreverence you seek, look no further than the left-field pop revue Our Hit Parade at Joe’s Pub, with Bridget Everett, Neal Medlyn and others. Afrobeat fans can catch the funky Nigerian artist Michael Olatuja earlier at the same venue.

Lastly, jazz heads have a variety of strong shows to choose from, including bassist Drew Gress’s 7 Black Butterflies project, playing for free at Bruno Walter Auditorium; pianist George Colligan’s band, featuring saxist Donny McCaslin and drummer E.J. Strickland, at Smoke; and the outstanding (and longstanding) trio of horn man Joe Lovano, guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Paul Motian at Village Vanguard.

As you may have read in this week’s TONY, tonight (August 21) is a very big night for the Strickland twins. Saxist Marcus and drummer E.J. are each celebrating the release of a new disc—Idiosyncrasies and In This Day, respectively—at a joint Joe’s Pub show. We got a preview earlier this week, as the pair and bassist Josh Ginsburg stopped by our office to perform a quick version of Marcus’s killer tune “Cuspy’s Delight.”

The hype has died down considerably, but when the dust settles, “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” just might go down as the viral single of 2009. The track comes courtesy of Das Racist, an irreverent (duh) Brooklyn hip-hop duo that performs tonight at the Bell House along with the pleasingly eccentric Montreal indie-pop outfit Islands. As you might recall, we recently posted an exclusive impromptu Das Racist performance (along with an interview) on the Volume—here it is again for your viewing pleasure:

Not feeling the conceptual hip-hop high jinks? Read on.

Brainy prog-jazz supergroup Fieldwork, featuring recent TONY star Tyshawn Sorey behind the kit, stops by the Stone for a pair of sets.

Detroit turbo-rock oddballs Electric Six (“Gay Bar”, anyone?) hit Maxwell’s in the company of faux-French mainstays Les Sans Culottes and former Be Your Own Pet belter Jemina Pearl.

The extraordinary throat singer Tanya Tagaq, who has worked with the likes of Björk and the Kronos Quartet, plays a free show at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park.

Famed party-rap outfit Naughty by Nature plays its own gratis outdoor show in Staten Island’s Mahoney Park.

Jazz drum great Roy Haynes, still sounding amazing as of April, brings his aptly named Fountain of Youth ensemble to Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola.

Moody indie veteran Chris Brokaw, of Come and Codeine fame, performs his challenging instrumental work—featured on 2008’s outstanding Canaris—at Issue Project Room.

Elsewhere: The Breeders continue a sold-out stand at Bowery Ballroom, Works Progress Administration (Nickel Creek folk plus Toad the Wet Sprocket singer Glen Phillips) graces Joe’s Pub, and probing pianist Richie Beirach begins a Birdland run.

We’re proud to say that we were relatively early to jump on the bandwagon of Asher Roth, who headlines the Great Hangover Tour at Nokia Theatre Times Square tonight. After extending the impish Pennsylvania MC a shout-out during his mixtape days, we featured him on the eve of his breakthrough release, Asleep in the Bread Aisle. Additionally, we shot some live video at Roth’s last area appearance in April. Check out that footage below and get psyched for this evening’s festivities, at which Roth will be joined by fellow It rapper Kid Cudi.

If you’re not in the hip-hop mood, check out another deafeningly hyped young artist: Nathan “Wavves” Williams—playing at Bowery Ballroom tonight—who has recently seen his life turned into a perverse sort of reality show by the music blogosphere. Drama aside, Williams’s fuzzed-out, hook-filled punk tunes are among the catchiest on the current indie landscape. Opening is psych-folk-ish Volume fave Woods. (Check out our recent Woods Q&A here.)

And if you’re at all attuned to the jazz world, you’ve no doubt read tons of breathless press concerning Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, hitting (Le) Poisson Rouge tonight. Check out TONY’s take on the self-proclaimed steampunk big band here.

Elsewhere in the city, it’s all about the free, outdoor shows, and there’s something for every taste. Left-field guitar virtuoso Kaki King hits Stuyvesant Town Oval, eccentric jazz nostalgist Don Byron salutes Motown sax powerhouse Junior Walker at Madison Square Park, freestyle mainstays George Lamond and Judy Torres stop by the Bronx’s Crotona Park, and Count Basie associate Frank Foster helms his eponymous big band up at Grant’s Tomb.

At the clubs tonight, women rule. The raging female-fronted metal unit Jucifer takes no prisoners at Cake Shop. Nashville songsmith Sarah Siskind (who recently taped an exclusive outdoor a cappella performance for the Volume) brings her Bon Iver–approved tunes to Joe’s Pub. And thoughtful pop storyteller Aimee Mann takes the stage at City Winery.

It’s also a strong night for Latin-music fans, as Jamaican reggae crooner Beres Hammond performs at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, and the charismatic Sergent Garcia makes his U.S. debut at S.O.B.’s. Last but not even remotely least, the Jonas Brothers—a little up-and-coming band you may have read about in the pages of TONY—faces the adoring throngs at Izod Center.

You might remember Francis Farewell Starlite from a Volume Q&A a few months back. If not, he’s the local future-soul crooner whom none other than Kanye West dubbed “a mix between Prince and Phil Collins.” Starlite, the driven perfectionist in charge of Francis and the Lights, stopped by the TONY offices earlier this week to film the haunting solo performance that’s streaming below. The session wasn’t without its stresses—e.g., a bulky rented Wurlitzer, a missing AC adaptor—but we think you’ll be impressed by the results, rendered in elegant black-and-white at the artist’s request. If you like what you see and hear, you can catch a rare unaccompanied piano-and-voice set by Starlite at Joe’s Pub this Saturday (July 11). Francis and the Lights play Music Hall of Williamsburg the following Saturday (July 18).

It seems to be a given that if your daddy’s a preacher,  you’ll belt out a good song, and Diane Birch is no exception—the blue-eyed soul sounds of her new album, Bible Belt, being testament to this. Last night the singer played Joe’s Pub, and TONY snapper Taso Hountas was there to catch Birch in action. More pictures after the jump.

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Among last year’s more buzzworthy events in the contemporary-classical world was a performance by the JACK Quartet of the complete works for string quartet by Iannis Xenakis, at (Le) Poisson Rouge. Xenakis, a Greek composer, music theorist and architect who died in 2001, was known during his lifetime for using mathematical processes to fashion complex pieces with a rugged wildness mirroring the chaos and grandeur of nature. Lately, Xenakis’s works have begun to attract a following far beyond cloistered new-music circles, as indie-rock and noise fans have embraced their fierce power.

In its critically acclaimed concert, the JACK Quartet, a young ensemble whose members came together at the Eastman School of Music, demonstrated a real flair for making Xenakis’s craggy string-quartet works sing and dance. The group went on to record Xenakis’s four string-quartet works—Tetras, Tetora, ST-4/1,080262 and Ergma—for the Mode Records label, for which this unique composer’s works are a specialty.

Now, the JACK Quartet is celebrating its new CD with a record-release concert at Joe’s Pub on Sunday, July 5, at 7:30pm, and we’d like to send you to hear the group play live. The program will include some Xenakis, as well as newer pieces by Elliott Sharp, Jeff Myers and Kevin Keller. One lucky winner will receive a pair of tickets for the concert, as well as a complimentary copy of the JACK Quartet’s all-Xenakis CD. To enter, just go here, answer one not-especially tricky question and fill in your contact information. One winner with the correct answer will be randomly selected at noon on Friday, July 3.

“You sort of have to get close in this place, whether you want it or not,” Anna Ternheim said as she carefully swiveled around the edge of the tiny stage at Joe’s Pub on Monday night, maneuvering herself behind the piano. “I really like that,” she added. Ternheim, a Swedish singer-songwriter now based in the East Village, has played more spacious rooms than Joe’s Pub—both here in the U.S., where she’s opened for Lykke Li, El Perro del Mar and Kristin Hersh, and back in Europe, where Ternheim racked up Swedish Grammy awards for each of her first two albums.

Turned out the close quarters and intimacy of Joe’s Pub ideally suited Ternheim’s lithe, penetrating voice, moody storytelling and stripped-down instrumentation. Read more »

No one drives a funky beat like Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Booker T. Jones. King of the Hammond B-3 organ, he set the foundation of soul music in the ’60s while leading the MG’s, the original house band of groundbreaking Southern soul label Stax Records. Could anyone forget “Green Onions,” his signature instrumental hit? Plenty of new memories were produced during his sold-out performance on Wednesday night at Joe’s Pub, thanks to the fresh inspiration Jones seems to have found in working with guitarists Tony Gonyea and Mark Ford, bassist Ronnie James and drummer Darian Gray, all powerful musicians better known in hip-hop and rock circles. Read more »

When we found out The Lisps were presenting a Civil War–themed sci-fi musical, we knew we had to feature them in Perfect Pitch. The Brooklyn quartet brought along five friends to help it belt out one of the bizarrely enchanting tunes from Futurity, which it performs at Joe’s Pub tonight and Sunday.

It’s easy to forget sometimes that jazz was once a music of protest. (Anyone remember Abbey Lincoln and Nina Simone?) If you need a reminder, look no further than Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, where René Marie holds court tonight and throughout the weekend. The singer caused an uproar in Denver last summer by modifying “The Star-Spangled Banner” on the fly to suit her own agenda. Check out this video of the event—you can tell by the way she closes her eyes and takes in a gulp of air beforehand that she knows she’s courting controversy:

Not your speed? Here are some other choice options:

Little Annie brings her postpunk-cabaret stylings to Joe’s Pub. (Read more on the artist here.)

Feisty singer-songwriter Shilpa Ray, formerly of Beat the Devil, hits the Bell House with her harmonium and her Happy Hookers in tow.

Ethereal-voiced cabaret beauty Maude Maggart continues her parents-and-children-themed Oak Room run.

The whimsically edgy avant-jazz trio of Adam Lane, Lou Grassi and Mark Whitecage stops by the Stone to celebrate a new CD.

New Orleans organ-punk Quintron brings his demented, puppet-abetted dance party to Santos Party House.

(And if you’re up for a late night, Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale appears in his solo Black Pus guise at Death by Audio.)

It’s likely that there’s no hotter ticket in town tonight than Katy “I Kissed a Hot and Cold Girl” Perry’s sold-out gig at the Fillmore. Brave the scalpers if you dare, or head downtown a few blocks to catch Bob Mould at Joe’s Pub. We’ve been a bit unnerved by the crotchetiness of his recent recordings, but we’ll always have a place in our hearts for the former Hüsker Dü frontman and current Blowoff impresario. Here’s the singer in stripped-down solo mode, performing a tune from his latest, Life and Times:

Not into the pop starlets or indie-rock lifers? We’ve got plenty of alternatives for you.

*New Orleans soul queen Irma Thomas reigns supreme at B.B. King Blues Club.

*Long-running German thrash-metal crew Kreator heads up a marathon metal bill at Nokia Theatre.

*Tenor titan Joe Lovano teams up with brilliant bop pianist Hank Jones at Birdland.

*Satiny-sounding soprano KT Sullivan surveys standards by “Alone Together” coauthors Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz at the Oak Room.

Happy Ending is a local staple that pairs authors reading with singers singing. The series has long boasted distinguished taste, not to mention a thick Rolodex, with performances from Colson Whitehead, Kimya Dawson, Mike Albo, Laurie Anderson, and a slew of other smart writers and musicians. And it looks like Happy Ending has just scored another coup: On May 6, Vampire Weekend will serve as the show’s musical guest, alongside writers Wells Tower, John Wray and Arthur Phillips. The show takes place at tiny Joe’s Pub. Note that each musical guest is required to perform a cover song. Something from the AC/DC songbook, perhaps?

County Clare fiddler Martin Hayes brings a precise, Zen-like simplicity to his reels and jigs, supported by the subtle, jazz-tinged guitar of Dennis Cahill. The gentle, percussive taps of both men’s heels on the floor energizes and soothes, but this is no New Age chill-out zone—it’s pure, simple, spare and intense. Hayes, named Traditional Musician of the Year by Irish broadcaster TG4 in 2008, is to trad fiddlers what Gypsy-swing icon Django Reinhardt is to guitarists—incomparable.

He and Cahill arrive in support of last year’s Welcome Here Again, their first studio CD in a decade, and a disc deemed “as close to a spiritual experience as a musical recording can be” by the Irish Examiner. Each track features a single tune rather than a set of them—a departure for a duo known to stretch a song set for half an hour. Live, the duo gives each tune space to build as a breathless tension mounts; when the climax arrives, Hayes’s curly hair flies, and it feels as though he and the room might levitate. You have to wonder if diners at Joe’s Pub tonight will forget to chew.—Gwen Orel

What’s the polar opposite of Ne-Yo lighting up Radio City Music Hall or Hugh Jackman doing the lambada at the Oscars? It’s Jay Clifford, a small-time singer-songwriter crooning with his guitar at Joe’s Pub last Saturday night. After toiling and touring with the now-defunct Southern band Jump Little Children for a decade and a half, Clifford has settled into a routine of solo shows, producing and songwriting, and hooking up with Zach Braff to shoot a video along the way.

Clifford has the troubadour act down pat: one part rumpled, one part humble (”Five CDs sold!” he says warmly when greeted with a smattering of applause). His voice is syrup-thick and unhurried, dreamy and determined at the same time. When he sang about heartbreak, heartache, heart-to-hearts, you remembered why you thought heart stuff, not to mention scruffy singer-songwriters, were so damned appealing in the first place.

Clifford ended his early-evening set with an unplugged version of his band’s biggest song, “Cathedrals,” an earnest ballad about “fallen angels” and NYC-appropriate “shadows of tall buildings.” Not breaking new ground, but in the land of snark, old-fashioned sincerity is welcome.