Metric House of Blues, October 15
Along with future members of Stars and Broken Social Scene, Metric front woman Emily Haines went to an arts high school in Toronto, and started the group with guitarist James Shaw after returning from college in Montreal and Vancouver. Metric has found it difficult to stay in one place ever since, bouncing between several different cities while they honed their gleaming but wary latter-day New Wave. (Not surprisingly, the comely Haines became something of an indie pinup queen in the process.) This year, Metric released fifth album Synthetica, perhaps their poppiest and prickliest outing to date. CHRIS GRAY
Father John Misty House of Blues (Bronze Peacock Room), October 15
Former Fleet Foxes drummer Josh Tillman returns to Houston for the second time this year with Father John Misty, which came forth with debut LP Fear Fun this past spring. Along with Har Mar Superstar, FJM sassed the night away back in May at Fitzgerald’s, and to say this new project is a departure for the usually languid Tillman is a massive understatement. Fear Fun’s poppy, psychotic nonsense is highly addictive, especially “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings.” Here’s hoping the Father has some real longevity. CRAIG HLAVATY
Rufus Wainwright Bayou Music Center, October 15
Wainwright’s seventh studio album, Out of the Game, comes complete with lush throwback production from Mark Ronson, evoking Lou Reed and David Bowie’s more grandiose bedroom albums. It seems that in Ronson, Wainwright has finally found a suitable foil behind the boards able to surround his vintage pipes. The crooner remains an enigma, but new album Out of the Game (Decca) should make him more accessible for Rufus newbs. CRAIG HLAVATY
RZA Warehouse Live, October 16
In the early ’90s, RZA stitched together scratchy old soul records, dialogue from ’70s kung-fu movies, Staten Island slang and floor-rumbling beats to build an intimidating platform for the Wu-Tang Clan’s ninja raps. That makes him one of the few men who can say he truly invented his own style of hip-hop, but the man born Robert Diggs was hardly content to stop as a mere architect. He arrives in Houston this time behind new movie The Man With the Iron Fists, which he directed, co-scripted, and co-stars in with Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu. Think he throws a punch or two? CHRIS GRAY
Bed Moves Fitzgerald’s, October 17
Bed Moves — a local three-piece made up of //TENSE// founder Robert Lane, sIngs mastermind Brett Taylor and former Balaclavas front man Tyler Morris — brings all the elements from all three members’ previous projects to make dark, disturbing dance music with a heavy pop fetish. “The three of us agree that Tears for Fears’ Songs From the Big Chair is a flawless record,” says Lane. CRAIG HLAVATY
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This article appears in Oct 11-17, 2012.
