UPDATE: Original post accidentally interchanged Jarvis and Shirky because I was reading Buzzmachine while I was writing it. Apologies! Luckily, all three are awesome new media gurus.

Photo by NYU Journalism

Thursday, November 6 / Friday, November 7

The Hold Steady, Drive-By Truckers @ Terminal 5

The co-headliners on this bill hail from disparate parts—the Hold Steady from Brooklyn-by-way-of-Minneapolis, Drive-By Truckers from Athens, Georgia. But they both arrive at beer-soaked catharsis with guitar-heavy slices of Americana, complementing without overlapping.

More after the jump.

Friday, November 7

Sasha, Ulrich Schnauss @ Webster Hall

Progressive House DJ Sasha takes over Webster Hall, supporting his recent mix Invol2ver, which contains tracks from crossover acts such as Ladytron, M83 and Thom Yorke. Watch for him to sprinkle in these pop songs into a propulsive set. Ulrich Schnauss, the German digital shoegazer producer, opens.

Friday, November 7

Deerhunter, Times New Viking, Knife Hys @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

WNYU presents Deerhunter, supporting its much-hyped new album, Microcastle, a surprisingly poppy offering from the Atlanta quintet. Openers Times New Viking takes no prisoners in a blistering, lo-fi assault, while Knyfe Hyts are spontaneously noisy. Deerhunter plays a second show at Bowery Ballroom on Saturday, with Vivian Girls and Times New Viking.

Saturday, November 8

Asobi Seksu @ Santos Party House

Brooklyn’s Asobi Seksu (”playful sex” in Japanese) hasn’t released anything since 2006’s Citrus, and it’s been nearly as long since they last played here. Expect some new abstract pop gems, characterized by billowing feedback and Yuki Chikudate’s blissed out vocals.

WNYU Chart for November 3, 2008
Compiled by Music Director Kayla Cohen

1. The Lines – Flood Bank (Acute)

2. Windy & Carl – Songs for the Broken Hearted (Kranky)

3. The Rosebuds – Life Like (Merge Records)

4. Crystal Stilts – Alight of Night (Slumberland)

5. Larkin Grimm – Parplar (Young God)

6. Jim O’Rourke – Despite the Water Supply 7″ (Touch7)

7. Gultskra Artikler/Lanterns – S/T LP (Other Electricities)

8. WOMEN – S/T (Jagjaguwar)

9. The VSS – Nervous Circuits (Reissue) (Hydra Head)

10. Fight Bite – Emerald Eyes (self-released)

11. The Legendary Pink Dots – Plutonium Blonde (ROIR Records)

12. Benoit Pioulard – Temper (Kranky)

13. Moha! – One-way Ticket to Candyland (Rune Grammofon)

14. Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life (Matador)

15. Marnie Stern – This Is It… (Kill Rock Stars)

16. Guitar – Saltykisses (Clairecords)

17. Deerhunter – Microcastle (Kranky)

18. The Clientele – That Night A Forest Grew (Acuarela)

19. Growing – All the Way (The Social Registry)

20. High Places – High Places (Thrill Jockey)

21. Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker – Fantasma Parastasie (Alien8)

22. Little Joy – S/T (Rough Trade)

23. Vivian Girls – S/T (In The Red)

24. The Alps – III (Type)

25. Dead Luke – Record Two 7″ (Sacred Bones)

26. Yoshi Wada – Off the Wall (Em)

27. The Postmarks – By-The-Numbers (Unfiltered)

28. The Last Shadow Puppets – My Mistakes Were Made For You (Domino)

29. CaUSE Co-Motion! – It’s Time! (Slumberland)

30. V/A – Awake My Soul, Help Me To Sing: Songs of the Sacred Harp (Awake Productions)

Roland Li is publicity director at WNYU.  His personal blog is ÜberDrivel.

As part of this year’s CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival, which runs from Oct. 21-15, the E&L Auditorium (4th floor of Kimmel) will be hosting the Nu Music Show featuring indie duos High Places and Best Fwends with openers Totally Michael. Hipsters rejoice.

Keep in mind that even Paul Simon, a man known for his inability to connect with the subjects of his liberalism, hit on the tenderness and implicit understanding thematically inherent in songs about patres familias with chemical dependencies. I think it’s safe to say that the great judgmental drinking song isn’t going to come from a band that has taken it upon itself to be the weathered voice of wisdom for this generation of chemical dependents.

Of course the whole The Hold Steady modus operandi is about finding the transcendent within your druggy little messed up teenage life, but in 2008 Patterson Hood, relating instead to the goodly men of the south who don’t care about this recession because their financial situation wasn’t any better before, found a moment of transcendence while attempting his own tender understanding of the alcoholic condition: “daddy needs a drink, to deal with all the beauty.”

Both The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers secured for themselves positions of authority this year. As goodly men themselves, they perceived an audience centered around their respective rock and roll traditions turning towards music as a means of escaping their vulnerability, and then attempted direct connection. For the Hold Steady, this meant everybody in New York under the age of 25 with a drug habit. For the Truckers it would be everybody south of the Mason Dixon line, provided they didn’t have enough money to not be classified as one of those people.

Hence a nationwide tour, where both bands can reciprocate the notion that they do in fact share status as indie rock’s benevolent uncle. Take it as you want it; Craig Finn wants you to know that wherever you are, he’s been there himself. The other two would like to make it clear that unless you’re a meth addict, there’s room for error in your development as a person. As for me, I’m just glad two great rock bands have decided to play together, drug habit and depressed geography notwithstanding.

The Drive-By Truckers and The Hold Steady play Terminal 5 on November 7.

This weekend is the last chance this year to see the country’s only “ten-in-one” circus full of “freaks, wonders and human curiosities”, as described on the Coney Island website. Admission is a paltry $7.50 and features such performers as Insectavora, Donny Vomit, and Scott Baker the Twisted Shockmeister. What better way to bid the summer of 2008 goodbye than with a stroll through this collection of living oddities? It’s potentially thrilling… and definitely cheap!

Coney Island Sideshows by the Seashore
September 19, 20, 21
1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

If you haven’t heard of Killola, the pop/punk band from Los Angeles whose lead singer Lisa Rieffel makes Debbie Harry look like Maria von Trapp, then mosey on over to the Knitting Factory on Saturday and prepare to be wowed.

And, if the $8 online ticket price is too rich for your blood, you can download the band’s entire album I Am the Messer for free on their MySpace. That’s right. Free music.

The Action Design, also hailing from California and boasting a female vocalist (Emily Whitehurst), co-headline the evening. Check out their tunes here.

Killola, The Action Design
Saturday September 20
Knitting Factory
8:00 p.m.
$8 ADV, $10 DOS

Photo: Flickr user wallyg used under the Creative Commons

For a mere $10, decide for yourself Who Killed Amanda Palmer? at the New York screening premiere of six music videos directed by Michael Pope. The videos weave a mystery surrounding the fictional death of—you guessed it—Amanda Palmer, whose solo album of the same name also debuts on Tuesday.

Short films “Bony Lil’s Distraction” and “Bony Lil’s Creation,” created by Pope and collaborator Zea Barker, will also be shown, accompanied by a live original score.

Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
Tuesday September 16
Joe’s Pub
7:00 p.m.
$10

For the super cheap (or super broke), the Palmer videos are posted on YouTube.