Destroying walls between art-rock, avant-squonk, and mathed-out prog, Gutbucket‘s through-composed charts enter a place of pure sound. The decade-old New York quartet is not only equally comfortable playing in front of 900 sweatily pogo-ing teenage skate-punks, a crowd of cosmic indie-psych freaks, or on an anarchist German art collective houseboat, but most importantly, their music fits right in. Called “stomprovisors” by the Village Voice, the band has spent the past 10 years injecting a shot of glorious spazmitude into the minimalist cool of the New York downtown scene. – NYC-based drummer Allison Miller defies all boundaries bringing her individual sound to diverse types of music while preserving their stylistic authenticity. Allison goes from playing with legendary songwriting vocalists Ani DiFranco, Brandi Carlile and Natalie Merchant, to touring with avant-garde saxophonist Marty Ehrlich and legendary organist Doctor Lonnie Smith. She approaches each of these musical situations with her own stylistic identity and a creative, fresh and energetic approach. Allison was chosen as “Rising Star Drummer” in Downbeat’s 53rd Annual Critics Poll. Allison Miller’s BOOM TIC BOOM features Jamie Saft on piano, Jenny Scheinman on violin, Todd Sickafoose on bass, and Allison Miller on drums.

Date: Thursday, February 24, 2011
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012, ph: 212- 505-3474)
Ticket: $10
Genre: contemporary music

They are Eleanor Norton, Jane Cords-O’Hara, Rubin Kodheli and Robert Burkhart with Brian Chase on drums (of the Yeah,Yeah,Yeahs). Special guests on cello Greg Heffernan.

6. Falu

Date: Thursday, February 24, 2011
Time: 7pm
Venue: Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette St, NY)
Ticket: $17
Genre: Indian vocal and Hindi music with an inventive rock sound

Falu is a classically trained Indian vocalist whose diverse musical repertoire captures both her traditional roots as well as her unique ability in combining Hindi music with an inventive rock sound.  She has served as an ambassador of Indian music from Carnegie Hall, and her live performances have been featured nationally on FOX TV and internationally on National Geographic TV.  Her voice has also been captured in multiple films including Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut A Place in Time.  One of Falu’s most stunning performances was at the Time 100 Gala where she was invited to perform a duet with Slumdog Millionaire composer A.R. Rahman in front of the one hundred selection of Time Magazine’s most influential people in the world of 2008, which not surprisingly included First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.

Finally, Falu performed at the White House in November of 2009, where she was invited to sing alongside A.R. Rahman again at President Obama’s first State Dinner in honor of the Indian Prime Minister  Manmohan Singh.

7. Paco Pena Flamenco Dance Company

Date: Thursday, February 24, 2011
Time: 8pm
Venue: Town Hall (123 West 43rd Street. 212-840-2824) 
Ticket: $45 & 55
Genre: Flamenco music and dance

Described as a “revelatory troupe” in the New York Times, the celebrated guitar maestro Paco Peña and his outstanding Flamenco Dance Company return to New York with their new production Flamenco Vivo. The company features a stellar cast of guitarists, percussionists, vocalists and three dancers – Ángel Muñoz, noted for his “regal, smoldering dancing” (New York Times), the commanding Ramón Martinez, and Charo Espino, who “can distill a whole dance tradition through the eloquence of her hands” (The Guardian, UK).

8. THE O’FARRILL BROTHERS BAND

Date: Friday, February 25, 2011
Time: 7pm
Venue: Barbes (376 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY)
Ticket: $10
Genre: Latin Jazz

The third generation of O’Farrill keeps the family tradition vibrant. Like their grand-father Chico and their dad Arturo, Adam and Zach – respectively 15 and 18 years old – are constructing their own muscial language based on the lessons from the past and contemporary sounds. Their new album, Giant Peach, has been called “A giant success” by All About Jazz and the Wall St Journal says of their music that it “bristles with confidence and creativity” Livio Almeida – saxophones; Adam Kromelow – piano; Adam O’Farril – trumpet and Zach O’Farrill – drums.

9. Aida Shahghasemi

Date: Saturday, February 26, 2011
Time: 8pm
Venue: Zora Art Space (315 4th Avenue between 3rd and 2nd Streets in Park Slope, Brooklyn)
Ticket: $10
Genre: fusion of Persian and Western classical music

Join us for a lovely evening of Persian poetry set to lulling music, performed by truly passionate artists. The poetry will mainly be that of Sa’di and Rumi and the music will vary from Iranian Classical to Western Classical.

Featuring: Aida Shahghasemi (voc)
Amirhossein Kianiw (tar, vocals)
Alden Gatt (piano)
Alby Roblejo (guitar, percussion)
Lauren Nixon (movement artist)

10. Ryuichi Sakamoto (Japan) Solo

Date: Saturday, February 26, 2011
Time: 8pm
Venue: The Stone (is located at the corner of Avenue C and 2nd Street)
Ticket: $20
Genre: piano solo/ambient?

Japan’s Ryuichi Sakamoto is an Academy Award-winning Japanese musician, composer, record producer and actor, based in New York and Tokyo. He plays keyboards in the influential Japanese electropop band Yellow Magic Orchestra. His 1999 musical composition “Energy Flow”, also known as the alternative title of the single disc Ura BTTB, is the first number-one instrumental single in Japan’s Oricon charts history.