Weekly Music Picks: It's Melting

The state of the sidewalks around Boston kept us on our asses this weekend. Not so much of the figurative kind where we sat at home and skipped a show because it was too hard to get around. No, more the literal kind where we kept falling down because of that damn 2" layer of ice that was pretty much everywhere. This week they tell us that the temperature is rising by week's end. So that is where we'll start the picks. Local music makes a good showing this week, don't forget to get your fix at Exploit Boston Radio before you head on out to catch them live.

Thursday, 2/22
Ivan Lins (also Friday, 2/23)
A giant on the MPB (Musica Popular Brazil) charts, Ivan Lins' lush, romantic jazz and pop songwriting draws off samba and choro rhythms. The singer-songwriter-keyboardist brings his Brazilian sound to the Regattabar for two nights.
Regattabar, 7:30pm & 10pm, $30 adv / $35 dos

Friday, 2/23
The Rise & Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny)
"What's the line for?" a shivering passer-by asked the crowd hugging the outside of Cambridge Common for warmth. "What's going on tonight?"
"Opera."
"Opera?"
The line that spilled down the sidewalk was too much for the dim confines of the Lizard Lounge, and, along with a slew of disappointed Cambridge ladies, Bostonist was denied a $5 Kurt Weill fix that January night. For now, we'll have to settle for fully-staged Kurt Weill, sans craft beer.
Cutler Majestic Theater, 7:30 pm (also 3 pm Sunday 2/25 & 7:30 pm Tuesday 2/27), $24-$95 (we're shooting for the $10 rush tickets)
City of Mahagonny: web site
Opera Boston: web site | myspace

King Britt
Early in his career, DJ King Britt spun for legendary jazz rap group Digable Planets under the moniker Silkworm. He also formed E Culture with friend and fellow Philly DJ Josh Wink and cranked out the international dance smash "Tribal Confusion." Since then, Britt's highlights include When the Funk Hits the Fan ("Last Night a DJ Saved My Life"), a mix of mostly original material steeped in 70's funk, soul, and jazz presented as a day-in-the-life of a mid-'70s DJ, and Sister Gertrude Morgan, a remix of Morgan's lost gospel recording. Britt eschews categorization by mixing hip-hop, broken beat, nu-jazz, deep house, funk, and afro-tech. His new mix CD, Deep & Sexy 4, will be released next month. Boston's Soul Clap opens.
Redline, 59 JFK St., Cambridge, 21+, 10pm, $10
King Britt: myspace | purchase
Soul Clap: website

The Slip with Phonograph, Wintersleep
Some say Jam Band. Some say indie. They had been on the road with My Morning Jacket last year, but that tour has wrapped. They're headlining this tour, and will be stopping in Boston early on in the rotation.
Paradise Rock Club, 18+, doors at 8PM; $16.50
The Slip: myspace | website

Saturday, 2/24
Kendrick Oliver & The New Life Orchestra (also Friday, 2/23)
This 19-piece group of "young, hard-swinging cats" led by Berklee alum Oliver is "on a mission to take big band jazz where it's never gone before." As Jazz Times notes, group plays "inventive, vital and fresh . . . spiritually rousing, gospel-soaked big-band jazz." The band's reputation for fun and innovation has attracted guest spots by such young lions as Roy Hargrove, Christian McBride and pianists Jason Moran.
Scullers Jazz Club, 8pm & 10:30pm, $28
website | Berklee profile | purchase | welcome to the new life.m3u | the comeback.m3u

Bang Camaro with Damone, Protokoll
On the verge of being over-hyped Bang Camaro will try and cram all 17,343 members of their band on stage at Paradise this weekend. It's not a CD release party, but it will be the first show they're playing since the release of their debut album (tomorrow!). They'll get support from openers Damone and Protokoll – both worth showing up early for.
Paradise Rock Club, 18+, doors at 8 PM, $12
Bang Camaro: myspace | website
Protokoll: myspace | website

Reverend Glasseye (farewell show), Porsches on the Autobahn, Ho-Ag, Hallelujah The Hills, and featuring Black Cat Burlesque
It's a tough choice on a Saturday if you're looking for good live, local music. Do you hit up the Paradise or go to Middle East – a really tough choice. But then they spiced it up with Black Cat Burlesque and had us sold.
Middle East Downstairs, 18+, $10

Sunday, 2/25
The Bad Plus
To say that Bostonist favorite The Bad Plus have breathed new life into the jazz trio is like saying our hometown overreacted to the mooninite guerilla marketing campaign (quite an understatement). The trio's grooving, rocking and often pounding rhythms, intricate interplay, chaotic dynamics, and unbelievable chops are balanced by their wicked sense of humor and penchant for unconventional (to jazz purists) covers (Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Blondie's "Heart of Glass," Radiohead's "Karma Police," etc). Former Latin Playboy Tchad Blake (Cibo Matto, Los Lobos) helped shaped the group's sound for their three major label releases. The band split with Columbia last year in the wake of the Sony-BMG "rootkit" DRM fiasco. No word yet on whether their upcoming album PROG, due out in May, will be self-released. Jazz event of the year, thus far.
Museum of Fine Arts, $25 / $20 MFA members, 7:30pm
website | myspace | immigrant song (edit).mp3| purchase

Matt Durutti and C. Fernsebner contributed to this weeks picks