Weekly Music Picks: Listening Our Way to Evacuation Day

Admittedly we’re a little low on the Saturday evening picks for this week. Mostly because we know we’ll still be swigging green beer by the pint – or at least too hung-over from Friday night to make it out to a show. Again this week we’ve put a little classical music for those of you that feel a little culture is good for the soul.

Monday 3/13:
Dilated Peoples and Little Brother
Rakaa, Evidence and DJ Babu rose out of the hip hop underground in 2004 with a little help from Kanye West and the hit "This Way." With new album 20/20, Dilated Peoples stay on the socially conscious path paved by fellow west coast crews Jurassic 5 and Blackalicious. North Carolina's Little Brother gave the alternative rap renaissance a shot in the arm with 2005's Minstrel Show, and these Tar Heal greats bring a different kind of March madness to the Bay State.
Dilated Peoples will give also 5:00PM in-store performance at
UndergroundHipHop (Huntington at Mass Ave).
Paradise Rock Club
18+ $18 / $20 dos
Dilated Peoples: myspace | video of live performance on Jimmy Kimmel | Purcahse
Little Brother: myspace | Purchase

Tuesday 3/14:
Orthrelm
D.C.'s Orthrelm bring their abrasive avant-spaz-metal and utter lack of song titles to Allston.
Great Scott
Orthrelm: Ipecac Recordings | Three One G Records | Track 3 .mp3

Borromeo String Quartet.
New England Conservatory's young and flamboyantly talented quartet-in-residence play a few movements from Mozart, including the famous opening to the "Dissonant" Quartet.
New England Conservatory, Williams Hall
6:00 pm, free
BSQ: web site | Ravel, Sonata for Violin and Cello .m3u

Wednesday 3/15:
Audible Mainframe and Outernational
Eight piece Audible Mainframe, "Boston's premire hip hop band," invade Allston with comrades Outernational. Often compared to Rage Against the Machine, Brooklyn's Outernational pick-up where Sandinista! era Clash left off, adding a diverse array of world music to their firebrand funk-metal-rap. Fear Nuttin' Band open.
Harper's Ferry
18+ $5
Audible Mainframe: myspace | Purchase
Outernational: myspace | ricochet.mp3, frrm the future.mp3

The Speed of Things
Britpop-inspired The Speed of Things with Local Nothing and Black Arrows.
Abbey Lounge.
21+ 9PM
The Speed of Things: Myspace

Boston Symphony Orchestra with David Robertson, conductor and Yo-Yo Ma, cello. Through Saturday.
James Levine is out of commission for at least a few months, and Osvaldo Golijov's promised piece isn't ready yet, but this rejigged programme looks extraordinary. It begins with Gyorgy Ligeti's obscure and moving Romanian Concerto, and ends with Richard Strauss's hilarious Ein Heldenleben. Our own superstar Yo-Yo will play the Schumann Cello Concerto, a technically demanding yet gently persuasive masterpiece which features a unique bit of audience manipulation: Schumann hated the nineteenth-century custom of clapping before the absolute end of a piece, so he made the end of the first movement grow progressively quieter and slower, thus discouraging applause before the second
movement.
Symphony Hall
8:00 pm Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, 1:30 pm Friday, $28.00-$98.00
BSO: Schumann Cello Concerto .mp3 | Strauss.mp3

Thursday 3/16:
Club d’Elf
Post-Rock, Jazz, Worldbeat, Electronica Club d’Elf (did we miss any genres?), with Brahim Frigbane.
Lizard Lounge
21+, $10, 9:30PM
Club d’Elf: website | Sidi Rabi.mp3 Live at Tonic | purchase

Uri Caine
Uri Caine was once a good if ordinary jazz musician, until he started to absorb and regurgitate all sorts of other kinds of music. This lovable maniac once released three albums on the same day, and his solo concert at the New England Conservatory should fill up quickly. Anyone with a hankering for frenetic and fanciful jazz piano should hustle on down there early.
New England Conservatory, Jordan Hall
8:00 pm, free
Uri Caine: web site

Friday 3/17:
Zion I and Sadat X (of Brand Nubian).
We're not sure about green beer, but you can grab a taste of the red hot Bay Area hip hop scene on St. Pat's night when Zion I is on tap in Central Square. The duo's new album features guest spots by Talib Kweli, Aesop Rock and Blackalicious' Gift Of Gab. The legendary Sadat X of Brand Nubian opens along with local scensters Awkward Landing, Exposition (of Audible Mainframe), and Slumz.
Middle East Upstairs
18+ $15
Zion I: myspace | Purchase
Sadat X: Purchase
Awkward Landing: myspace
MC Exposition: myspace

Thalia Zedek
Local art-punk hero Thalia Zedek, with Nikki Sudden and Kahoots.
PA's Lounge
21+ $8 8:30PM
Thalia Zedek: website | Everything Unkind.mp3| purchase

Jenny Lewis
Rilo Kiley chanteuse and Postal Service worker Jenny Lewis comes to Davis Square with her new posse The Watson Twins. Good luck hearing any of their gentle singing over the St. Patrick's ruckus down the street at Sligo and the Burren.
Somerville Theatre
8:00 pm, $18.00
Jenny Lewis: web site | video

Saturday 3/18:
Cyanide Valentine
Several Archenemy bands play with the synth-pop Cyanide Valentine. (Chop Chop, The Texas Govenor, Karacter).
21+ $9 9PM
Cyanide Valentine: Myspace | Freaks.mp3 | purchase

Sunday 3/19:
The Cantada Singers
The Cantata Singers perform "But Mary Stood," a new piece by local composer John Harbison, plus a couple of lovely Baroque motets.
New England Conservatory, Jordan Hall
3:00 pm, $15.00-$48.00
Cantata Singers: web site
John Harbison: String Quartet No.3.ram

Lora Valente, Matt Durutti, C. Fernsebner, and Christina all contributed to this post