This week’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Monday: AFI has always been emo’s most goth-obsessed group. So it’s no surprise that Blaqk Audio — a new side project featuring AFI’s singer Davey Havok and guitarist Jade Puget — smears on the eyeliner, plugs in the synths, and rocks like it’s 1983. The band’s debut album, CexCells, cops new-wave riffs (think Depeche Mode), baritone-voiced profundity (thanks, Bauhaus), and dark-hearted introspection (just like the Birthday Party!). There are also plenty of electronic dance-floor workouts, which undoubtedly have the usually morose Havok and Puget smiling underneath all their black lipstick. Vive la gloom! They’re at the Agora tonight.
Tuesday: On their new CD, The Meanest of Times (which comes out today), the Dropkick Murphys sing about battle-scarred childhoods, impending parenthood, and growing up with some really heavy baggage. The group is still reeling from its inclusion in Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning The Departed last year. They play the Agora.
Wednesday: Starting tonight, seven local theaters screen Anime Bento, 4 Nights, 4 Servings – The Hottest Anime Movies on the Big Screen. Over the next four nights, sleek-looking animation flicks from Japan will dazzle fans and confuse the hell out of everyone else. On tap: Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, Full Metal Alchemist – The Movie – Conqueror of Shambala, Lupin the III: The Castle of Cagliostro, and Karas – The Prophecy. The movies start at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday: Singer-songwriter Martin Sexton equates his songs to kernels of hope. That probably explains why he calls his seventh album Seeds. The Boston-based troubadour tosses a lot of different sounds into his music — pop, rock, alt-country, gospel, even a little soul. He’s at the Grog Shop.
Friday: In Time an insanely jealous woman thinks her boyfriend has grown tired of her. So she leaves without a word, has plastic surgery, and re-enters his life as a brand new person. She begins dating him again — even though he’s still madly in love with his old girlfriend (he’s totally unaware that he’s going out with his former flame). Soon, her suspicious ways restart the tragic cycle. Director Kim Ki-duk fashions Time as a love story. But it’s also a cautionary tale of sorts, probing the heavy consequences of messing with character. Time screens at the Cleveland Cinematheque. — Michael Gallucci
This article appears in Sep 12-18, 2007.