Weekly Music Picks: Get Out of the Cold

In case you haven't heard the next week promises to show us the winter we've been missing out – only minus the snow. Cold temperatures (below freezing every day!) will be the rule according to the current outlook. Perfect time to head out to your favorite music venue. There's no better way we can think of to stay warm. This week you'll find the old, the new, the nerd, and some classical among the mix of shows.

Tuesday 1/16
The Dears w/ Annuals
The Dears is another one of those Montreal indie rock bands whose members swap in and out at will; in fact, they're listed under the Wikipedia category "Bands with only one constant member." They're in town promoting their latest album, Gang of Losers.
Paradise Rock Club, 18+, 8 pm, $15
The Dears: website | myspace | You and I Are A Gang of Losers.mp3
Annuals: myspace | Dry Clothes.mp3

Wednedsay, 1/17
Opera Boston Underground: Kurt Weill's World
Whether you're an impoverished opera-lover giddy at the thought of a $5 performance, or a stripily-bestockinged youth curious about Amanda Palmer's keyboard
vandalism, or a person who wants quality singing with quality beer, you belong in Cambridge Common's basement this Wednesday night.
Lizard Lounge (1667 Mass. Ave., Cambridge), 21+, 7 pm, $5
Kurt Weill: wikipedia
Opera Boston: web site

Harry & the Potters
...And the rest of you should spend your $5 at Great Scott, where the local Hogwarts' alumni will perform after Texan satirist Neal Pollack reads from his new book, Alternadad.
Great Scott (1222 Commonwealth Ave., Allston), 7 pm, $5
Harry & the Potters: web site | myspace
Neal Pollack: web site | Bad Sex with Neal Pollack

Thursday, 1/18
Ilona Knopfler
French jazz chanteuse Ilona Knopfler graces Scullers. Singing in both French and English, Ilona performs songs by Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk, and Abbey Lincoln taken from her latest Mack Avenue release Live the Life.
Scullers Jazz Club, $18, 8pm & 10pm
website | All About Jazz review

Mittens
Plough & Stars, 21+, 10 pm

Friday, 1/19
Copywrite with prone2 and Project Mayhem
Copywrite, straight outta Columbus, Ohio, bring indie hip hop to the Middle East with Boston's prone 2 and Project Mayhem.
Middle East Upstairs, 18+, $10 adv / $13 dos, 8pm doors
Copywrite: myspace
prone 2: myspace
Project Mayhem: myspace

Värttinä
Three fierce blonde women singing in eerie unison, accompanied by guys on accordion, bouzouki, drums, fiddle, bass, and nyckelharpa.
Somerville Theatre, 8 pm, $25
Värttinä: web site | Katariina (clip).mov

Saturday, 1/20
Mission of Burma w/ Oneida
"Art rock." "Post-punk." Oh, let's just dispense with the labels, because all you need to know about Mission of Burma is that a) they're hometown legends, and b) they influenced everyone from Nirvana to Moby with their mix of punk and experimental music. The band reunited in 2002 after a 20-year break-up, and their most recent album, The Obliterati, made Pitchfork's Top 50 list for 2006.
Paradise Rock Club, 18+, 8 pm doors, $15
Mission of Burma: website | myspace | Donna Sumeria.mp3
Oneida: website | upwithpeople.mp3

Girl Talk
Girl Talk (aka Greg Gillis) makes mash-ups for people who hate mash-ups. His show at the Middle East Upstairs is sold out, but maybe some kind soul on Craigslist will take pity and sell you a pair.
Middle East Upstairs, 18+, 9 pm, sold out
Girl Talk: website | myspace | Smash Your Head mp3 | Hold Up mp3

Freezepop
TT the Bear's, 18+, $10, 9:15

Sunday, 1/21
The Low Budgets
The Dead Milkmen may be dead, but Joe Jack Talcum is alive and well and playing with Philly punk band The Low Budgets (not to be confused with Philly's DJ Lowbudget and the Hollertronix Crew). Bostonist is happy to report that Talcum's snotty, satirical songwriting hasn't mellowed, as evidenced by The Low Budget's songs about corporate whistle blowers and litigious opportunists ("I'm gonna sue McDonalds because I am so fat / I've got bad allergies so I'm gonna sue you cat"). With Social Circkle, Witches with Dicks, and The New Dumb.
Middle East Upstairs, all ages, $7, special afternoon show: 1pm doors
The Low Budgets: website | myspace | lawsuit.mp3 | whistle blower.mp3

Monday, 1/22
Venere Lute Quartet
Sixteenth-century music played on instruments constructed according to Pythagorean principles and strung with gut.
Pickman Hall, Longy School of Music (1 Follen St., Cambridge), 7:30 pm, $5-$25
Venere Lute Quartet: web site | Jeune Pucelle (Marc-Antoine Charpentier, 1643-1704).mp3 | purchase

Kristin Hersh
Newbury Comics (332 Newbury St.), 6 pm, free
In Shock .mp3

Matt Durutti, C. Fernsebner, and Adrienne Aldredge contributed to this weeks picks