MUSIC PICKS: MAR 24 - 30 

• Courtesy Photo

Gary Numan at Metro Music Hall
Anyone with a passing interest in this show is keenly aware that Gary Numan's got a deep and varied catalog, dating back to his two pre-solo albums with Tubeway Army. That band released "Down in the Park," a stone-cold new wave-era classic in 1979, the same year that saw Numan's solo debut The Pleasure Principle, which spawned another chestnut of that era, "Cars." Those tracks still feature in his live sets, though they've been toughened up a little bit, with guitars that bring those 40-year-old tracks into more of a modern sound. That said, the songs are still the songs, and the voice is still the voice—and a delightful crash-YouTube-course finds some interesting twists on each, as well as other cuts from his 20-odd album history. Fascinating, too, is that the songs from his recent works don't need to be hidden in his current setlists, unlike other performers of a certain age group. A recent spate of singles, like the title track off of his latest, Intruder, fit perfectly well into the overall fabric of his life's work as a songwriter and frontman. And the look and feel of his live performance—which has taken on sort of Dune vs. Matrix staging feel, at times—has moved along with the times, too, though the "robots are our friends" vibes of early tracks remain intact, and just as fun as they ever were. In Europe and certain festival settings, Numan can pull off the big show for a big venue. In the comfortable confines of a room like the Metro, things'll be intimate but huge at the same time. Gary Numan appears at Metro Music Hall with I Speak Machine on Saturday, March 26; doors are at 7 p.m. Tickets for the show are $32, available at metromusichall.com.

Grocer at Kilby Court
The latest in a peculiar string of Philadelphia bands hitting town is Grocer, fresh off the release of their nine-song release Numbers Game; it joins a previous LP and EP in a short, but very appealing collection of material. The four members of the group (Nicholas Rahn on vocals and guitar; Danielle Lovier on vocals and bass; Emily Daly on guitar; Cody Nelson on vocals and drums) trade lead vocals appealingly, with tremendous harmonies. Mid-way through last year, the band told the Idaho Weekly that "We make music with pop rock sensibilities with some quirks here and there for the deep listener. We're most frequently compared to The Pixies meets Paramore." A listener with more-seasoned ears might also pluck names from the golden age of college rock, like Pylon or Scrawl, while younger listeners would have their own batch of comps. While folks of all ages have a myriad of ways to find new music like Grocer's, you can begin your search through the band's Bandcamp page (@itsgrocer), or via a really fine live set captured by Audiotree and available on YouTube, found by simply punching in "Grocer on Audiotree." In fact, their li'l blip about the group does a nice job of encapsulating the sound, too: "Grocer is a chaotic, multi-vocal quartet who write alternative rock with urgent, intricate constructions." Grocer will play Kilby Court on Sunday, March 27 with Headportals and Strawberry Cough. Doors for this all-ages show are at 7pm, and $10 tickets are available at kilbycourt.com.

• Courtesy Photo

Princess Goes to the Butterfly Museum at Metro Music Hall
Sometimes a band comes together with some really unusual parts, the pieces fit together delightfully. Princess Goes To The Butterfly Museum is such a band, featuring vocalist, lyricist, musician and actor Michael C. Hall, known for his roles in such works as Dexter, Six Feet Under and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Drummer Peter Yanowitz knew considerable commercial success in Jakob Dylan's The Wallflowers, and played in a great indie group that missed the big-time, Morningwood; he also backed Natalie Merchant on three solo albums. Keyboardist Matt Katz-Bohen has spent the bulk of a decade working within the seemingly-eternal Blondie, and has performed or recorded with other '80s luminaries, like Boy Geroge and Cyndi Lauper. After a formation and a first round of shows in 2018, followed by various pandemic delays, the group's on their first extended national tour now, in support of the 2020 album Thanks for Coming. With a frontman known for a host of TV roles, it's perhaps not surprising that the group's already created a nice collection of videos, as diverse as the 14-songs. To the degree that the lyrics break through the band's wild assortment of styles, well, things are quite diverse in that department, as well, with no one way to pin down what the group seems to be about. Katz-Bohen was quoted in americansongwriter.com as saying, "There's a lot of noise happening in New York's East Village, which we've all been around now for quite a while. And I think that just kind of seeps into us, this [idea of], 'We're not gonna really play in one particular game here; we're gonna do whatever the f*ck we want,' kind of thing." In that case, success is unlocked in a delightfully-unpredictable package. Princess Goes to the Butterfly Museum plays at Metro Music Hall with Lorelei K on Wednesday, March 30; door at 7 p.m. and tickets are $20, available at metromusichall.com. CW