Danny Brown, On tour
A small hip-hop tragedy occurred last year when a track called ODB was pulled from Danny Brown's album. As many will know, ODB (Ol' Dirty Bastard) was the most unhinged member of the Wu-Tang Clan. If anything, Danny Brown's song was musically more crazy than anything ODB ever recorded, but in subject matter at least, it cued up the old school feel of his current album, fittingly called Old. Divided up into sides A and B like a cassette tape, the album maintains an authentically 90s vibe: the beats, the subject matter and the delivery are all raw and impressive. Interestingly, though, while Brown may – with his outre appearance and jokey delivery – have once identified with ODB, this is a rather grittier street narrative, more reminiscent of the dextrous tales of Raekwon than those of his exuberant bandmate.
Brighton Coalition, Sat; Gorilla, Manchester, Sun; Academy, Dublin, Tue; The Arches, Glasgow, Wed
JR
Big Ups, On tour
Big Ups operate around the edges of hardcore. In amongst moments of strafing noise, you find quieter moments, with room for lead singer Joe Galarraga's articulate interior monologue. As angsty as that might occasionally sound, the best moments – such as Goes Black – on their brisk and bracing debut album Eighteen Hours Of Static, serve as a form of auto-encouragement, a mantra that sees the band urging itself to seize the moment before it's too late.
Start The Bus, Bristol, Mon; Shipping Forecast, Liverpool, Tue; Nation Of Shopkeepers, Leeds, Wed; The Old Blue Last, EC2, Thu; Bermuda Triangle, Brighton, Fri
JR
Boulevard Solitude, Cardiff
Welsh National Opera now builds each of its touring seasons around a theme, and the latest is "Fallen Women". Along with a revival of David McVicar's version of Verdi's La Traviata, there are new productions of two operas based on Abbé Prévost's novella about Manon Lescaut. Mariusz Trelinski's staging of Puccini's Manon Lescaut (Sat & Thu) is joined by Boulevard Solitude, also directed by Trelinski and designed by Boris Kudlicka. First performed in 1952, Hans Werner Henze's Boulevard Solitude updates the Manon story to Paris immediately after the second world war. It was Henze's first full-length opera, and the score is a wonderful amalgam of mid-20th-century styles. There's even a snatch of Puccini's La Bohème transformed into blues.
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, Wed & Fri; then touring to 3 Apr
AC
Colin Towns, On tour
Ageing prog-rock musicians who go back on the road don't always emerge with their reputations or dignity intact, but Colin Towns is no ordinary prog-rocker. A keyboardist in Deep Purple star Ian Gillan's band in the 1970s, Towns blossomed into a successful TV and movie composer, and discovered a parallel life as a jazz original who has created some of the most audaciously original big-band music since Gil Evans. He's a brilliant big-ensemble visionary but has lately shown how effectively he can design a smaller outfit, and relishes returning to his role as the keys-playing sideman in the process. Towns is on tour this week with Blue Touch Paper, the UK-German sextet featuring Polar Bear saxophonist Mark Lockheart.
Vortex Jazz Club, N16, Mon; Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton, Tue; Artrix, Bromsgrove, Wed; Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, Thu; Band On The Wall, Manchester, Fri; then touring to 1 Mar
JF
Radkey, On tour
If you had to put together a grunge version of Hanson, it would sound a little like Radkey. Comprising the three Radke siblings – Dee (20), Isaiah (18) and Solomon (16) – the Missouri band take their primary influence from their dad's record collection. From this they have singled out the works of Nirvana and Foo Fighters as worthy of note, and there is much in their three EPs so far that shows an instinctive understanding of the quiet/loud dynamic. Dee's vocals can give the band a faintly gothic edge, but really the band are all about the pop.
Sebright Arms, E2, Sun; Hare & Hounds, Birmingham, Mon; Rock City, Nottingham, Tue; Leeds, The Cockpit, Wed; King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Fri; touring to 5 Mar
JR
