To quote an article written about her in November: “Porter Singer is a Borders’ Books and Music favorite. Considering that the Wesport (CT) resident will perform more than handful of times at stores all over New England, the nationwide chain seems to understand what makes the 24-year-old performer’s songs so precocious.”

Ok, so like, it’s a massive book chain you say…, but the emerging chanteuse and pianist (and Brown grad) will make you forget that, even despite the lighting. Her songs are intricate, her lyrics are beautiful, and her voice is lovely, rich and nuanced.

People describe her with a whole bunch of comparisons (Regina Spektor, Fiona Apple…), but she has a truly unique command of the song form.

Tonight is the 50th anniversary of the Grammy Awards. On the schedule is a special tribute to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band which I’m sure will be ghastly. All hope of a spontaneous unscripted moment was abandoned years ago… but wait… there’s hope. CBS is teasing a live feed from London featuring Amy Winehouse! Keep in mind that there is a 5 hour time difference. At the start of the show it will already be 1:30AM Amy-time. What could possibly go wrong?

Meanwhile enjoy the famous Bob Dylan/Soy Bomb incident.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YKhNrvUXN4]

Tonight at Firehouse 13 is an amazing lineup and probably your only chance to see these three great bands together. Most everyone’s aware of the Chinese Stars and their glass-shattering disco-spunk, not everyone’s as down with The Black Clouds, whose primal, belligerent garage rock is always pretty exhilarating. With them are the Awesome Brothers, who fuse a bizarre hybrid of drum machines, synths and super-hooky, almost 80’s inspired novelty pop topped with noisy, nebulous guitar riffs and jams. (Listen to their “Mascara”)

Firehouse 13, 8pm $6

Some familiar faces will provide the entertainment at Music Friday this week:

The Cosy Collective combines the talents of well-known Rhode Islanders Tim O’Keefe on electronics, Umberto Crenca on flute, Cliff Wood on saxophone, and Tony Teixeira on bass as they perform a mixture of live and DJ-remixed improvisational jazz and electronic music.

Also, I somehow won the raffle at the December MF, and therefore take back everything I might ever have said about it being a mediocre time. The Cosy Collective rocks (or grooves or something) so none of that would’ve applied this week anyway.

Thanks to Bookslut (and a total inability to focus on work today), I just found Musicthatmakesyoudumb and Booksthatmakeyoudumb, conceived by a CalTech student named Virgil Griffith. The two lists compare what kids say they like on Facebook with the average SAT scores of the schools they go to.

The book list is interesting though ultimately depressing. (Hint: If kids on your campus like books by black women, your school’s probably not ranked that high.) The music list isthe same–Lil Wayne and TI fans probably don’t go to very prestigious schools either, it turns out, and the only black people in the whole top 20 are animated.

Also, aside from the whole race issue, it turns out the co-eds all listen to the same music. Griffith says in the faq that “There were 3,164 distinct favorite books, but only 1,455 distinct favorite musics. College students have far more diverse tastes in books than they do in music.” Which is, you know, kind of a letdown. That’s 1,455 favorite “musics”–bands, genres, and answers like “I like anything but country”–coming from top 10 lists at 1,352 different schools across the whole country. The list data isn’t perfect–Facebook lists the top music at SAT-challenged Dallas school Paul Quinn as “I Dont Have A Particular Genre Of Music…i Listen To Wateva!” That can’t be the #1 answer at a school that has 280 people in its network. A little breakdown after the jump: more »

I don’t know what ‘The Thing’ in Cloverfield is, but I’m pretty sure I know why he was so pissed off. ‘Rob’s Party Mix’ includes Bright Eyes ferchrissake. If this is party music, it really may be time to thin the herd.

WomanSpiritRising, A Feminist Chorus is seeking several new members and is currently holding auditions on Monday nights at Central Congregational Church in Providence. We look forward to meeting women interested in joining us in singing songs about peace, equality, and justice, in a fun, supportive and musically challenging environment.
To arrange an audition please email us.
For more information about our chorus visit our web site.

Former Providence person-now perpetual world traveler and velvetvoiced singer of all things dark and beautiful, Marissa Nadler will be at the Paradise Lounge in Boston tonight. If you happen to be up there, or are one of our Boston readers (they exist…) do yourself a tremendous favor and see her. After the jump, a “video” accompanied by her gorgeous re-working of Radiohead’s “No Surprises” from last summer. I’m not sure if the video was made by her or someone she knows, but it’s oddly hypnotic. Can anyone tell the city in the distance? more »

Talk about charting your own course — Shingai Shoniwa (Zimbabwean) of the Brit band, the Noisettes, is truly one of a kind (and apparently so beguiling in person that her guitarist formed the band for the sole reason of getting near her). This is what freedom looks and sounds like to me. I think MLK would have approved.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C91iV8gQb1U]

Tomorrow afternoon San Diego will be sending its famed double-douchebag offense (Tomlinson/Rivers) into Foxboro and I’m certainly looking forward to that. But the best thing ever to come out of that city has got to be the under-appreciated band, Louis XIV. In their first cd ‘The Best Little Secrets are Kept’ their glam influences are out there for all to hear “…bang a gong, let’s get it on”! A young feminist once took me to task for some of their lyrics, but I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for guys in eyeliner. Actually, Louis are playing tonight, opening for Editors at the Orpheum in Boston. But that’s a theater… with seats… this just isn’t seat-sitting music. I’ll wait till they play a club.  Their new cd comes out (I can not say ‘drops’) January 29.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr2qgFHfPXE]

Marah will not be appearing at the Living Room tonight. Poop.

L.O.A.D.E.D. (it stands for nothing) is back and tonight I’ll speak for myself (and K-Leav) by saying I’m going to play a shitload of Primal Scream. Who the hell were Primal Scream? Yikes! I’ll give you a brief video primer on their classic Screamadelica album after the jump. Meanwhile, as always we’ll be at Local 121 tonight for our Tuesday night romp thru all the britpop, indie rock and glam classics you can handle. We like to party.
Local 121, 10pm, free!

Screamadelica, the video primer: more »

Right now, over at the Myspace, the Magnetic Fields are making available in its entirety Distortion, which is out officially tomorrow. I’m listening to it right now, and it’s fucking fantastic.

Throw a better pool party!!!! We could’ve had a more fun time at Mirabar on any random Tuesday night. In fact, we did — this week.

And is music too much to ask for? Even some ABBA would’ve sufficed — certainly better than the argon buzz of the GTECH logo that loomed over the ‘festivities.’

BAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finally made it by for last month’s MF. It was okay — I think I’ll give it another go this week, but it was a bit — how to say this tactfully… stuffier than I’d hoped for.

Music Friday

6:15pm
The second Friday of every month the Museum’s Main Gallery transforms into a funky lounge for an after-work alternative that features cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, art and music. Socialize with old friends and meet new ones. Enjoy special signature cocktails and door prizes. Museum members: $5; non-members: $8. Age 21 and over. PWCVB members and RISD|CE students receive the Museum member rate.

Warm up to the sounds of Superchief Trio, featuring the two-fisted piano of Keith Munslow, the red-hot trombone of Pam Murray, and the frenzied percussion of Johnny Cote as they sing and play a mixture of original music and classic Swing/New Orleans R&B/Boogie Woogie. This band was the winner of Providence Phoenix’s Best Local Jazz Act in 2005.

Daily Dose reader Fern Kay sent us some awesome pics from last months Space Rock show at AS220. Do you have some cool photos to share with our readers? Send them in.