Get Out! Skye Captains

It’s fitting that Mastodon’s new album, Crack the Skye, is
their most spacious. On 2004’s Moby-Dick-inspired
Leviathan, they covered the sea; on 2006’s Blood
Mountain, they went by land. As its title implies, Crack the
Skye is all about the big blue atmosphere above us. Of course, it
isn’t just about that, since no Mastodon album really stays in one
place. But most of Skye‘s seven songs thematically and musically
float above ground. It’s the Atlanta band’s most adventurous record, a
sonically exhilarating trip through prog, roots (dig that banjo!),
traditional rock and metal — 13-minute closer “The Last
Baron” is as epic as music gets these days. It’s an awakening of sorts,
after frontman Brent Hinds’ coulda-been-fatal head injury a couple
years back (he drunkenly picked a fight after the MTV Video Music
Awards and lost) and the band’s own grappling with the hipster-metal
tag. No matter how you classify them, Mastodon is one of the best bands
in America right now. Kylesa and Intronaut open at 8 p.m. at the
Beachland Ballroom (15711 Waterloo Rd., 216.383.1124, beachlandballroom.com). The show is
sold out. — Michael GallucciTHURSDAY, APRIL 30

Chain and the Gang/Mahjongg

Hide the coffee, because this jittery crew’s already wired. Chain
and the Gang frontman Ian Svenonius has titillated the hipster masses
for two decades with his irreverent agitprop and social commentary,
leading Nation of Ulysses, the Make-Up and Weird War through a variety
of pilfered and reconstituted styles. His latest project includes
writhing, minimalist punk-funk with a trashy strut. Though a tad
self-conscious even by Svenonius’ standards (“Interview With the Chain
Gang”), it gets by on its subversive insouciance and coy wit. Even more
engaging are Chicago art-punks Mahjongg, whose disjunctive,
experimental angularity achieves an odd coherence through a chaotic
blend of electro-addled world-beat and wiry post-punk shudder. It’s
quite rhythmic without necessarily being danceable, boasting a
sputtering pulse and noisy, spasmodic aesthetic that suggests !!!
getting it on with Aphex Twin in the bathroom of an Algerian disco.
It’s obviously unhinged, but it’s surprising difficult to look away.
The Hive Dwellers open at 9 p.m. at Musica (51 E. Market St.,
330.374.1114, akronmusica.com).
Tickets: $9. — Chris Parker

Cleveland Orchestra

Paul Chihara is a multifaceted composer whose work has appealed to
movie and TV directors, dance companies and big orchestras that explore
contemporary music. His credits reflect not only his versatility, but
also his prolific output: He’s scored more than 100 films and
television programs, served as composer-in-residence at the San
Francisco Ballet and worked with foundations (Guggenheim, Fulbright,
NEA) and world-class symphonies (Boston, London, Los Angeles
Philharmonic). This weekend, the Cleveland Orchestra presents Chihara’s
When Soft Voices Die, a work for viola and orchestra, featuring
principal violist Robert Vernon. Juxtaposed with the new work are a
couple of familiar ones: Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony No. 3 (a
kind of memoir in sound based on the composer’s travels, with one
movement in traditional Scottish style) and Richard Strauss’ Till
Eulenspeigel’s Merry Pranks, a tone poem based on a German folk
hero. Jahja Ling conducts. Performances are at 8 tonight, tomorrow and
Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday at Severance Hall (11001 Euclid Ave.,
216.231.1111, clevelandorchestra.com). Tickets:
$31-$110. — Michael Gill

Gourds

The greatest thing about Austin is its diverse music scene. A
quarter of a city block’s worth of bar-hopping will expose the average
fan to folk, pop, Americana, Tex-Mex, country and rock. Of course, you
could just settle into a single venue, catch an evening with the Gourds
and hear the same stylistic range without all the walking. With a trio
of formidable songwriters, the Gourds throw genres around like AIG
laying out bailout bonuses, playing them all with astonishing aptitude
and obvious affection. You might hear bits of Doug Sahm, Randy Newman,
NRBQ, John Hiatt, Elvis Costello and a dozen other sonic benchmarks on
the Gourds’ latest album, Haymaker!, but by the time you’ve
pinned the tail on the musical donkey, they’ll be onto something new
and fantastic. The Orange Mothers open at 8 p.m. at the Beachland
Ballroom (15711 Waterloo Rd., 216.383.1124, beachlandballroom.com). Tickets:
$15. — Brian Baker

Amos Lee

Since releasing his first EP in 2004, singer-songwriter Amos Lee has
notched up achievements that take most musicians a lifetime to collect.
He’s toured the U.S. and Europe with Norah Jones, shared the stage with
John Prine and appeared on just about every late-night talk show
around. He’s also opened for Bob Dylan. Lee’s recent Last Days of
the Lodge is a stellar mix of rock and R&B that’s the
culmination of his short career. Produced by Don Was, the album has an
edge, thanks in part to veteran session guys like Doyle Bramhall Jr.,
Spooner Oldham and Pino Palladino helping out. It’s apparent from the
opening track, “Listen” (which could pass for a Ben Harper song with
its inspirational lines about “angels falling” and other cataclysmic
events), that Lee has upped the ante. He plays the Kent Stage (175 E.
Main St., Kent, 330.677.5005, kentstage.org) at 9 p.m. Tickets: $20
advance, $25 day of show. — Jeff Niesel

What You Will

Mark Krause won this year’s Dorothy Silver Playwriting Competition
for his play What You Will, which gets a staged reading at 7:30
tonight as part of Cleveland Play House’s Fusion Festival. The story
focuses on a trio of adult sisters as they gather to hear the specifics
of their deceased father’s confusing will. Charles Kartali directs
readers Tracee Patterson, Maryann Elder, Elizabeth Ann Townsend,
Dorothy Canepari, Alan Zeilinger and Jan Wolf at the Play House’s
Studio One Theater (8500 Euclid Ave., 216.795.7000, clevelandplayhouse.com). Tickets:
$10. — Gill

FRIDAY, MAY 1

Artist Archives

Member Show

Three dozen artists are represented in the Artists Archives of the
Western Reserve’s 11th annual members show this year. Up for grabs are
paintings, sculpture, drawings, photos and more. One of the perks of
being a member of the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve is that
it looks after members’ art after they die. Living artists will be on
hand tonight to talk about their work at the opening reception, which
runs from 6-8:30 p.m. at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve
(1834 E. 123rd St., 216.721.9020, artistsarchivevs.org). The show runs
through June 4. It’s free. — Gill

Verb Ballets

It takes a rare mix of talents to merge choreographed dance with
live jazz. The spontaneity of the improvised music throws the dancers a
real curve, since they have to figure out how to put together movement
with sounds that are reinvented on the spot. In the Groove
and Over the Top premiered six months ago at the East Cleveland
Public Library’s Greg L. Reese Performing Arts Center. This weekend,
choreographer Dianne McIntyre (a native Clevelander whose work has won
her a Guggenheim fellowship as well as steady gigs with various
Broadway shows) leads Verb Ballets’ performance of the piece as part of
the Fusion Festival. Dancer Telly Fowler and the Evidence Dance Company
join members of Verb for this dramatic, playful and spontaneous work.
Musicians include vocalist Mariama Whyte, pianist Drene Ivy, drummer
Rob Hubbard and bassist Glenn Holmes. Also on the program: Verb dancer
Michael Medcalf’s apparently random “Brownian Movement” and the late
Ulysses Dove’s “Vespers,” which was created for the Alvin Ailey company
and recently acquired by Verb Ballets. Performances are at 7:30 p.m.
tonight and tomorrow at the Cleveland Play House’s Bolton Theatre (8500
Euclid Ave., 216.795.7000, clevelandplayhouse.com). Tickets:
$18-$25. — Gill

Raised Voices

Last year, Wendy Partridge and Susan Vincent put out a call for
Raised Voices: Artists’ Books for Troubled Times, which opens at
Zygote Press tonight. Thirteen artists submitted work, and more are on
loan from local collectors Bill Busta and Eric May. Some of the artists
address “really big issues,” says Partridge — like the authors of
Warm, a collaborative book by KSU and German students. It’s “an
abecedarian where each artist takes a letter and uses it to address
global warming,” she says. Melissa O’Grady’s cloth pop-up work deals
with environmental collapse. “Something about the combination of
the bright children’s-book form and the subject makes me want to cry,”
says Partridge. Another book, with pages sewn to look like abstract
quilts, explores Israel, the West Bank and Gaza’s changing borders, “a
place that has been torn apart at the seams and continually stitched
back together.” Raised Voices kicks off with a reception from
6-9 p.m. at Zygote Press (1410 E. 30th St., 216.621.2900, zygotepress.com). It’s free. —
Gill

Love You More

Than You Know

The gravity of the title Love You More Than You Know could
only be underscored by the numbers. This new book, which is subtitled
Thoughts of Ohio Mothers on Sending Their Sons and Daughters to
War, collects the stories of 45 Ohio moms who talk about their
feelings of having a child enlist in the military, called up for duty
and facing mortar fire while staving off boredom and heat. Editors
Janie Reinart and Mary Anne Mayer will discuss their book —which
comes out today — at Joseph-Beth Booksellers (24519 Cedar Rd.,
Lyndhurst, 216.691.7000, josephbeth.com) at 7 p.m. It’s free.
— Gill

SATURDAY, MAY 2

Cajun Sushi Hamsters

What’s in a name? Despite their goofy moniker, the Cajun Sushi
Hamsters are actually a longstanding science-fiction writers’ group and
workshop. Likewise, S. Andrew Swann (born Steven Swiniarski) has
published 18 adventure novels like Forests of the Night, Fearful Symmetries and Dragons of the Cuyahoga. Swann
will read from his work at the Hamsters meeting at Mac’s Backs Books
(1820 Coventry Rd., Cleveland Hts., 216.321.2665, macsbacks.com) at 7 tonight. The group’s
founder, Mary Turzillo, and NASA scientist and sci-fi writer Geoff
Landis will also talk. It’s free. — Gill

Deckwreckers

After a recent interior design turned the adjacent Mullens Bar into
an “art bar,” Pop Shop Gallery owners Rich Cihlar and Jeff Hulligan are
all ready to unveil a second space, the (Art)ificial Gallery. Cihlar
says it will be “geared toward national and seasoned artists [and]
complementing the Pop Shop, which supports local and up-and-coming
artists.” First up is Deckwreckers, a group show featuring
skateboard decks as canvases. Or, as Cihlar refers to it, a
“hand-picked collection of tasty artwork slathered onto hundreds of
layers of wood-veneer goodness.” It happens from 6-9 p.m. at
(Art)ificial Gallery (17020 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216.227.8440,
whatisartificial.com). It’s
free. — Gill

SUNDAY, MAY 3

Evening of Classical Music and Art

According to his biography, painter Seth Chwast can’t cross the
street by himself. Diagnosed with autism as a child, he doesn’t talk
much either. But since taking an oil-painting class at the Cleveland
Museum of Art in 2003, when he was 20, Chwast has found a way of
expressing himself. It not only gives him a way of relating to the
world, but it’s drawn the world to him via a steady stream of exhibits
and sales, including gigs at galleries in Ecuador and the Cayman
Islands and an appearance on The Today Show. His paintings are
both representational and abstract, often including animals and roller
coasters. The Mandel Jewish Community Center opens a retrospective
exhibit of his work tonight at its annual Evening of Classical Music
and Art, with a performance featuring musicians from the Cleveland
Institute of Music and Cleveland Orchestra. On the program: works by
Bach, Ravel, Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Fauré and Tchaikovsky.
The exhibit opens at 6 p.m. (and continues through May 26); the concert
begins at 7:30 at the Mandel JCC Stonehill Auditorium (26001 S.
Woodland Rd., Beachwood, 866.546.1358, clevejcc.org). Tickets: $12-$22.
— Gill

MONDAY, MAY 4

Gojira

France’s young extreme-metal pioneers have come a long way since
their 2001 jaw-dropping debut Terra Incognita. Back with a new
album, The Way of All Flesh (which features cameo by Lamb of
God’s Randy Blythe and engineering, mixing and mastering by former
Machine Head guitarist Logan Mader), Gojira continue to mess around
with the sound of traditional metal. With their intricately played
death/math-metal, Gojira consistently prove they’re one of the best
bands working onstage and in the studio these days. Having supported
and blown away the likes of Dimmu Borgir and In Flames on past tours,
they return to town with their first headlining show tonight. Finally!
We get to savor a full Gojira performance in all of its mind-blowing
glory. The Chariot and Car Bomb open at 6:30 p.m. at Peabody’s (2045 E.
21st. St., 216.776.9999, peabodys.com). Tickets: $15 advance, $18 day
of show. — Hannah Verbeuren

TUESDAY, MAY 5

Apparition of the Eternal Church

While making Apparition of the Eternal Church, director Paul
Festa asked several dozen people to react spontaneously to Olivier
Messiaen’s 10-minute blast for solo organ from which the film takes its
name. Messiaen composed the piece early in his career, in 1932, when
the composer was 24 years old. It’s an ecstatic work, a vision of the
apocalypse rendered in sound. Festa’s movie is built around interviews
in which he asked musicians, music scholars, artists, actors,
filmmakers and authors (most of whom were hearing the work for the
first time) to describe Messiaen’s piece. Subjects include Juilliard
String Quartet founder Robert Mann and drag star Jackie Beat. The film
is the final event in Oberlin College’s celebration of the 100th
anniversary of the composer’s birth. A screening follows a musical
introduction and performance of Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen by
pianists Robert Shannon and Haewon Song at 8 p.m. at Finney Chapel (90
N. Professor St., Oberlin, 440.775.8169). It’s free. —
Gill

Fastball

Fastball is one of those bands you know you’ve heard of, but you
just can’t put your finger on them. Then someone mentions that one song, and things start to click. Pretty soon, you find
yourself lost in a reverie of hazy personal association, looking back
fondly on the end of the century, remembering people and parties you
haven’t thought about in a decade. While few bands start out aspiring
to become a semi-forgotten time-warp of half-recalled nostalgia, it
almost seems fitting for the creators of “The Way,” itself a
romanticized homage to the notion of reverie and recaptured youth.
Though the song may well overshadow the band in our collective
consciousness, Fastball aren’t content to dwell in the temporary glory
of their musical past. They recently released their fifth album,
Little White Lies, a solid, guitar-driven record that, while
unlikely to elicit adulation from alt-rock-radio festival attendees,
establishes Fastball as one of the most competent and assured purveyors
of classicist pop. Allen Ilg and the Bailouts open the show at 8 p.m.
at Musica (51 E. Market St., Akron, 330.374.1114, akronmusica.com). Tickets: $12.
— Nicholas L. Hall

An Evening With Patti Lupone

and Mandy Patinkin

Since the last time Mandy Patinkin and Patty LuPone appeared onstage
together, children have been conceived, graduated college and even
earned masters’ degrees. They costarred in Evita — he as
Che Guevara, she as the title character — on Broadway from 1979
to 1983. Patinkin says their new stage show, An Evening With Patti
Lupone and Mandy Patinkin, is a pastiche of scenes and songs that
tell the story of two people — “from the first time they meet to
the passage of time in their lives.” It opens at 7:30 tonight at the
Palace Theatre (1615 Euclid Ave., 216.241.6000, playhousesquare.com). Performances
run through May 17. Tickets: $10-$55. — Gill

Meet Mary Lou Ferbert

Mary Lou Ferbert’s watercolor renderings of industrial landscapes
and market-stall produce inspired author Elizabeth McLelland to note
that Ferbert “pays homage to the perfection that exists in the
commonplace.” But that’s not quite what’s going on in Book of Hearts, a collection of personal hand-painted valentines that
spans 20 years. Celebrating her family history and the people who
matter most in her life, the book is way more intimate than her usual
subject matter. Ferbert will sign copies of her book (available for
sale at the event) at 7 p.m. at Lakewood Public Library’s Main
Auditorium (15425 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216.226.8275, lkwdpl.org). It’s free. — Gill

Quire Cleveland With City Music

Worlds collide at this collaboration starring two relatively new
music ensembles. The Johnny Appleseed of local classical music,
CityMusic Cleveland (citymusiccleveland.org), teams up
with a cappella choir Quire Cleveland to perform Franz Schubert’s Mass
No. 2 in G Major at a half-dozen locations around town over the next
few days. Founded last year, Quire Cleveland is a 16-voice ensemble led
by Peter Bennett, an Oxford- and Cambridge-educated organ and
conducting scholar. These days, he teaches at Case Western Reserve
University. The collaboration — featuring Mozart’s “Jupiter”
Symphony, No. 41 in C Major, and conducted by City Music director James
Gaffigan — plays a bunch of churches this week: 7:30 tonight at
Fairmount Presbyterian Church (2757 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Hts.,
216.321.5800); 7 p.m. tomorrow at St. Vitus Church (6019 Lausche Ave.,
216.361.1444); 7:30 p.m. May 7 at St. Mary Church (320 Middle Ave.,
Elyria, 440.323.5539); 8 p.m. May 8 at St. Noel Church (35200 Chardon
Rd., Willoughby Hills, 440.946.0887); 7:30 p.m. May 9 at the Shrine
Church of St. Stanislaus (3649 E. 65th St. in Slavic Village,
216.341.9091); and 7:30 p.m. May 10 at Rocky River United Methodist
Church (19414 Detroit Rd, Rocky River, 440.331.7676). They’re all free.
— Gill

The Sounds

When they debuted at the turn of the century, the Sounds were
labeled a gimmick band. But nearly 10 years later, they’re releasing
their third album and still going strong. When they dropped Living
in America in 2003, there were a number of groups paying homage to
the kitschy synth-dance tones of the ’80s, but the Sounds took the
concept a little further. The Swedish band rocked like it had unearthed
its instruments and songwriting know-how from a time capsule buried at
Ridgemont High. So go ahead and make your Blondie references. The
Sounds succeed because they’re unafraid to fully embrace — rather
than just casually nod toward — the new-wave/punk/pop songs that
dominated the airways 25 years ago. Hey Champ opens at 10 p.m. at the
Grog Shop (2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Hts., 216.321.5588,
grogshop.gs). Tickets: $15.
— Matt Whelihan

WEDNESDAY, MAY 6

The Killers

A couple of years ago, the Killers ventured outside their gaudy Las
Vegas home and headed to the surrounding desert for Sam’s Town. It was very big and very extravagant, and owed a huge debt to U2 and
Bruce Springsteen. The band must have been torn over the lukewarm
response to the record, because on its third album, Day &
Age, the Killers return to their new-wave dandy roots, which they
flashed on their hit debut, Hot Fuss. There are plenty of glitzy
dance-pop moments on Day & Age, but you’ll also hear some
Sam’s Town-style widescreen panoramic views of America.
It’s all kinda messy, goofy and occasionally downright baffling. But
the Killers have always been a product of their Las Vegas environment,
so it’s no big deal that their music sounds so artificial and
insincere. And as much as frontman Brandon Flowers wants to be Bruce or
Bono, he isn’t. He’s a gawky pop star raised on Duran Duran, struggling
with his mostly out-of-reach ambitions. Like many other Vegas workers,
the Killers are putting on a show. And at times, it’s a mighty grand
one. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at Time Warner Cable Amphitheater at
Tower City (1887 W. 3rd St., 216.241.5555, livenation.com). Tickets: $42.50.
— Gallucci

Obscura

Technical death-metal bands frequently get so fixated on technique
that the human element disappears, and the music becomes a blur of
impossible-to-count rhythms and guitar solos that sound like videogames
exploding. German quartet Obscura retains its essential humanity by
combining genre trademarks like intricate, high-speed drumming,
downtuned riffage and growled vocals with heavy doses of progressive
rock and even jazz-fusion. Their bassist plays a six-string fretless on
many sections of the band’s second album, Cosmogenesis, and he’s
astonishingly high up in the mix. This melodic progressivism has been
somewhat controversial in death-metal circles, but coupled with
Obscura’s use of clean vocals, it makes them that rare extreme music
act that could conceivably have some appeal outside the genre. If you
like Atheist, Death and Necrophagist, you’ll like Obscura; if you like
Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever, you might like Obscura too.
Graves of Valor and Abysmal Dawn open at 7 p.m. at Peabody’s (2045 E.
21st St., 216.776.9999, peabodys.com). Tickets: $8. — Phil Freeman

WEB ONLY:

FR 5/1

The Thermals

They may have started on a whim, but the Thermals are serious
business these days. Hutch Harris’ songwriting progressed dramatically
between 2003’s lightweight and lo-fi debut More Parts per
Million and 2006’s anti-religion screed The Body, the Blood, the Machine. In the meantime, this Oregon, group has shifted
from side project to full-time group. Their new and ambitious Now We
Can See includes lots of nods to our collective environmental
neglect, even if the idealism behind “At the Bottom of the Sea” and
“When I Died” is even more convoluted than that found on its somewhat
messy predecessor. Still, “How We Fade” and the title track are
melodically clear and tightly played. Plus, the Thermals sure know how
to make a bummer sound like a great time. The Shaky Hands and Point
Juncture open at 9 p.m. at the Beachland Ballroom (15711 Waterloo Rd.,
216.383.1124, beachlandballroom.com). Tickets:
$12. — Chris Drabick

SU, 5/3

James Morrison

You might not know this British blue-eyed soul singer, but back home
he’s become sort of a national sensation, thanks to his pain-inflected
songs, natural charm and gritty voice. His 2006 debut
Undiscovered topped the charts overseas. Over here, it sold
somewhat respectably, enough that Morrison was able to parlay its
success into collaborations with Jason Mraz and Nelly Furtado (who
appears on his 2008 album Songs for You, Truths for Me).
Morrison is clearly influenced by Al Green, Van Morrison, Otis Redding
and especially Stevie Wonder. His lyrics tell of broken hearts and
unrequited love, but in real life, he’s a pretty happy guy: He and his
longtime girlfriend became parents last year. Diane Birch opens for
Morrison at 8 p.m. at House of Blues (308 Euclid Ave., 216.523.2583,
houseofblues.com). Tickets:
$19.50-$25. — Ernest Barteldes