YANN TIERSEN ~ Tuesday, April 28
Classically trained Frenchman Yann Tiersen is probably best known in the U.S. for composing the soundtrack for the movie Amélie. His score—which weaved together piano, accordion, strings, various toy instruments, and even typewriters, and drew from European folk and classical melodies and textures—was at turns whimsical, breezy, buoyant, and bittersweet, and really was the perfect accompaniment to all those saturated colors, the film's imaginative premise, and star Audrey Tautou's magnetic performance. Tiersen—whose musical tastes also include semi-standard rock and experimental ambient minimalism (he's fond of futzing with found sounds)—has made several solo albums, done other soundtracks, and collaborated with the likes of Cocteau Twins singer Elizabeth Fraser and Tindersticks' Stuart Staples. If tonight's show is anything like his recorded material, it should be magical and mesmerizing. With Asobi Seksu. Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9442. 8 p.m. $15 adv. All ages balcony. MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG
Josh Sisk
Dan Deacon gets a handjob.
Related Content
More About
PINETOP PERKINS ~ Tuesday, April 28 and Wednesday, April 29
More or less singlehandedly responsible for setting Ike Turner on a musical path, it's no small miracle (though not necessarily a surprise) that veteran blues pianist Pinetop Perkins is still a creature of the stage. When schoolboy-aged Turner and his friend Ernest Lane heard Perkins' playing wafting up from Lane's father's basement on their way home from school one day in the late '30s, two lifelong musical careers were born on the spot. Transfixed by Perkins' piano playing, the lads wandered downstairs, where Perkins dutifully taught them both how to play. Now, as Perkins approaches 96 years old—still on a daily regimen of cigarettes and McDonald's, mind you—he represents the last of the front-line Mississippi bluesmen. And if you didn't know that already, Perkins tells you so himself on the aptly titled 2007 (recorded in 2004) live album, Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen. Arguably best known as Muddy Waters' sideman from 1969 to 1980 (replacing Otis Spann), Perkins also has done notable support work for the likes of Earl Hooker, Robert Nighthawk, and B.B. King. Perkins' distinct, quirky phrasing—which stems in part from an arm injury he sustained early in his career—is now considered a pillar of the boogie-woogie style. He didn't "go solo" until 1988, but since then Perkins has put out albums at a rapid clip in a rare and delightful example of a musician finding success in his later years. With Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. Dimitriou's Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave. 7:30 p.m. $25.50. All ages. SABY REYES-KULKARNI
