Dan Deacon, John Maus at Pier 84 (Hudson River Park), July 12, Free
Last week, the collective indiesphere remembered why we loved Dan Deacon when he released his "remix" of Carly Rae Jepsen's sugar-drenched "Call Me Maybe," which took the original song and layered it on top of itself 147 times. It was a wonderful experiment, something that functioned as an active piece of pop criticism, yet was also simply a very good decontextualized joke. Also performing is John Maus, the ridiculously good avant-garde musician who's recorded with Ariel Pink and is wrapping up a PhD in political philosophy. -Drew Millard
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic at Rockefeller Park, July 12, Free
Summers in New York are pretty amazing. As last week taught us, they can also get hotter than Hades. But some nights, being outdoors during a New York summer can be amazingly amazing, especially on nights when a reunited Parliament plays a free concert in the park. The band, whose collective age must be pushing 600 or so, basically invented funk back in the day and know their way around an extended jam. Clinton's been getting only crazier in his time off, whether he's working with Wu-Tang's RZA or spouting spoken-word poetry about weed on Big Boi albums, and P-Funk shows as gestalt are the stuff of legend. In short, expect weirdness. -DM
Thurston Moore, Loren Connors at The Stone, July 14 at The Stone
Jazz destroyer and art-boho legend John Zorn started Alphabet City mainstay The Stone with one purpose in mind: to give an improvisational space for artists to work out their wildest ideas in a live setting and chase whatever tangents fascinated them most. You never know what you'll get at the Stone, but you can bet it will go off-script in a memorable way. Thurston Moore hardly needs the encouragement to explore his wandering side, but the chance to see the Sonic Youth legend do whatever the hell he feels like for an hour or so is not something you should take lightly. It's entirely possible this set will be filled with nothing but earbleeding feedback, or perhaps he'll give up to some lovely tonal explorations. Or maybe he'll just sit there and talk about 'zines and Gossip Girl for a while. You should be so lucky. -Michael Tedder
Shilpa Ray, The Immaculates at Cake Shop, July 14, $10
The Lowest East Side bakery has been a breeding ground for some of New York's best bands. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The Vivian Girls and The Drums all played early sets here while they were learning how to properly align their jangle pop with their fuzzy reverb. But Cake Shop has been going through some hard times lately, with a series of inconvenient fees and legal hassles threatening the owners' ability to keep the venue open. (Read more about this
here.) It would be darn shame if Cake Shop closes, as co-owner Nick Bodor's willingness to give young artists a stage to develop on has played a vital part in keeping the local indie rock scene vibrant. Also, the whoopie pies are very good. Fortunately, some of Cake Shop's most high-profile alumni are doing what they can to keep their alma matter open, including the wild gypsy punk balladeer Shilpa Ray, who sings song about loving you and then gutting you whole, while making both options sound equally terrifying and appealing at the same time.
-MT
