THENEWYORKER,FEBRUARY3, 2020 7
ILLUSTRATION BY ANJA SLIBAR
As pop stars appeal to their fans to boost their music up the charts,
Roddy Ricch—thanks to his supporters—emerged in recent weeks an
unwitting villain, one whose rarefied position atop both the Hot 100 and
the Billboard 200 threatened to keep such mainstays as Justin Bieber and
Selena Gomez from those slots. The Compton rapper’s current single,
“The Box,” is an earworm that showcases a playful command of melody
and cadences; the elongated vowels in words such as “lazy,” “eighties,” and
“soul” are ready-made for inebriated club sing-alongs. His début album,
“Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial,” from December, brims with
similar kinds of eccentricities, playing with pitch, flow, and emphasis in
a manner on par with the best Young Thug disciples. Up against formi-
dable competition in the pseudo-rivalry for No. 1, Roddy, who performs
at Brooklyn Steel on Jan. 31, shines all the brighter.—Briana Younger
HIP-HOP
1
NIGHTLIFE
Musicians and night-club proprietors lead
complicated lives; it’s advisable to check in
advance to confirm engagements.
iann dior
Gramercy Theatre
When iann dior seemingly appeared like
magic last year, with millions of streams on
SoundCloud, accusations that he was an in-
dustry plant—an artist whose rise is facilitated
by corporate entities instead of by hustle and
organic buzz—swiftly followed. Rather than
mount any real defense, the rapper embraced
the skepticism and named his début album,
well, “Industry Plant.” The release, from No-
vember, navigates the murky, lovelorn waters
of emo rap with impressive proficiency, as
dior stands to potentially become the next
star purveyor of the style.—Briana Younger
(Jan. 29.)
Vijay Iyer
Jazz Standard
For the pianist and composer Vijay Iyer,
juggling disparate ensembles and musical
contexts seems to come as naturally—and
be as necessary—as breathing. He leaves his
celebrated sextet at home for this four-night
stint, which he kicks off with a solo perfor-
mance before mixing things up with a trio
that features two acclaimed improvisers—the
bassist Linda May Han Oh and the drum-
mer Tyshawn Sorey. On the final night, the
trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, with whom
Iyer recorded the marvellous duet “A Cosmic
Rhythm with Each Stroke,” joins Iyer and
Sorey, with the bassist Stephan Crump in
t ow.—Steve Futterman (Jan. 29-Feb. 1.)
Molly Nilsson
The Market Hotel
From her base in Berlin, the Swedish sing-
er-songwriter Molly Nilsson quietly releases
gloomy synth pop for misanthropes. “Now
I’m at the party and I hate everyone,” she an-
nounces on “Whiskey Sour,” a sulky standout
from 2008. Still, subtle touches reveal her
idealism: “Every Night Is New,” the shimmery
opener of her latest album, “2020,” references a
wistful song she wrote ten years ago about star-
ing up at the night sky alone. “Hey moon,” she
says a decade later, “I never lost faith in you.
Every night is new.”—Julyssa Lopez (Jan. 30.)
Frances Quinlan
The Sultan Room
In the quartet Hop Along, Frances Quinlan
performs quietly ambitious indie-rock songs,
her every lyrical knot presented as a plaintive
confessional. “Likewise,” the Philadelphia
singer’s opening bid under her own name,
stalks similar ground while broadening her
instrumental battery to incorporate a synthe-
sizer, a harp, and field recordings. The fancified
soundscape foregrounds an artistic mindful-
ness that extends to the images Quinlan cre-
ated for the album cover, which she displays
at a pop-up exhibition and Q. & A. at Selina
Chelsea, on Jan. 29.—Jay Ruttenberg (Jan. 30.)
Seratones
Rough Trade NYC
Last year, the Seratones released “POWER,” an
album that marked an evolution for the group
of raucous, unpredictable kids from Louisiana
who riffed off soul and punk with explosive
cheer. Their edges aren’t quite as serrated,
but some refinements in their sound—par-
ticularly the voice of AJ Haynes, who grew up
performing in a Baptist church—boost their
musicianship. Though the band doesn’t com-
pletely ditch streaks of noisy recklessness, such
moments are undergirded by a newfound sense
of maturity.—J.L. (Jan. 30.)
The Wood Brothers
Webster Hall
If there is an added slackness to the Wood
Brothers’ new LP, “Kingdom in My Mind,”
it comes with good cause: the Nashville band
began recording the album almost by accident,
intending merely to sound out their new studio.
The bagginess suits this fluid trio, which stars
the brothers Oliver and Chris Wood (the latter
of jazz’s jam-world ambassadors Medeski Mar-
tin & Wood), plus a non-sibling ringer, Jano
Rix. They breezily piece together varied strains
of American roots music, rarely revealing the
stitches.—J.R. (Jan. 30-31.)
“Transformation”
Rose Theatre
Glenn Close may be quite the versatile artist,
but it’s still unexpected to find her performing
with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in
a multimedia piece composed by Ted Nash, a
Grammy-winning saxophone stalwart. Blend-
ing poetry (curated by Close), dance, and jazz,
“Transformation” features guest appearances
by John Cameron Mitchell, Amy Irving, and
Justin Vivian Bond.—S.F. (Jan. 30-Feb. 1.)
Jane Fitz
Nowadays
There’s a searching, dawn-over-the-horizon
aspect to the London d.j. Jane Fitz’s selections
that makes her an ideal dance-festival closer, a
role she’s taken on with increasing regularity
in the past few years. That sensibility holds
whether she’s playing soulful, bass-heavy deep
house or giddy, gibbering psytrance—two
