Nellie Mckay

Nineteen-year-old pop ingenue Nellie McKay is a self-proclaimed misfit who feels a greater connection with the eccentric drunks at the East Village jazz clubs where she sharpened her chops than with her own peers. And it's hard to imagine her double-disc debut, "Get Away from Me," finding a niche within her age group. The album, which was helmed by legendary Beatles producer Geoff Emerick, is a precocious mix of jazz, dance beats, and irreverent lyrics delivered in a Doris Day voice laced with barbed anger.

Nellie McKay was probably the only pop singer in town this past weekend who dedicated a song to Mary Daly and Howard Zinn. Friday night at the Regattabar, the singer-songwriter gave props to the feminist and the historian prior to her satirical “Mother of Pearl,’’ which takes aim at those who would take aim at the alleged humorlessness of humanists. And only she, while jauntily strumming a ukulele, would throw a goofy dance break into such a song. That collision of astutely acerbic and unashamedly ecstatic is what makes McKay such a unique talent.

Could there be a more selfless star than Hilary Swank? Having ascended to fame like an angel playing women who die, she's generously decided in "P.S. I Love You" to give someone else a chance. This time it's Gerard Butler - wait a minute, didn't he just lead the Spartan army to its death in "300"? Well, now he's Gerry, a hunky happy-go-lucky musical Irishman (do the movies know any other kind?); and after 20 minutes, he's dead. But the letters he's left behind are intended to keep his girlish wife, Holly (Swank)

Could there be a more selfless star than Hilary Swank? Having ascended to fame like an angel playing women who die, she's generously decided in "P.S. I Love You" to give someone else a chance. This time it's Gerard Butler - wait a minute, didn't he just lead the Spartan army to its death in "300"? Well, now he's Gerry, a hunky happy-go-lucky musical Irishman (do the movies know any other kind?); and after 20 minutes, he's dead. But the letters he's left behind are intended to keep his girlish wife, Holly (Swank)

Nellie McKay was probably the only pop singer in town this past weekend who dedicated a song to Mary Daly and Howard Zinn. Friday night at the Regattabar, the singer-songwriter gave props to the feminist and the historian prior to her satirical “Mother of Pearl,’’ which takes aim at those who would take aim at the alleged humorlessness of humanists. And only she, while jauntily strumming a ukulele, would throw a goofy dance break into such a song. That collision of astutely acerbic and unashamedly ecstatic is what makes McKay such a unique talent.

Nellie McKay shuffled on stage Tuesday at the Paradise nearly an hour late carrying a stack of tattered songbooks and sheet music. She piled her papers precariously on the piano and sat down to sing. But nothing came out of the microphone. McKay had missed sound check. It was a predictably batty start to a rich, captivating set. A blond pixie with a tart tongue and pink chiffon dress, McKay makes witty, issue-oriented music that bridges the vintage sounds of Tin Pan Alley and the subversive sensibilities of the East Village.

The week that Columbia Records dropped Nellie McKay over creative disagreements regarding her second album, the headstrong young singer-songwriter released a satirical statement promising to ‘‘continue to make irritating music which will baffle and enrage.’’ Nearly two years later, McKay’s ‘‘Pretty Little Head’’ is finally seeing the light of day, thanks to her own label, Hungry Mouse Records, and the indie spinArt Records....

If contrast didn't matter in music, then music wouldn't ever get beyond a single voice singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat. " But instead, we have Regina Spektor singing "All the Rowboats," the first single off her fourth major-label studio album, "What We Saw From the Cheap Seats," scheduled for release on May 29. As in so many Regina Spektor songs, the drama derives in part from the contrast between her shifts in tone and the song's simple underlying structure....

CAMBRIDGE -- With due apologies, the guy standing next to me at the Middle East Upstairs Saturday night looked a little silly. Were the earplugs really necessary? From Dylan in the Movies to St. Vincent to Midlake, quiet was the new loud as the venue swelled to capacity. You'd never know it from record sales, but Midlake inspires cultish devotion in its fans, nearly on the order of the Arcade Fire. The underdog status suits this unassuming Texan quintet helmed by lead singer and songwriter Tim Smith.

Friday, April 13, is the 104th day of 2012. There are 262 days left in the year. Today's birthdays: Movie director Stanley Donen is 88. Former Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) is 79. Actor Lyle Waggoner is 77. Actor Edward Fox is 75. Actor Paul Sorvino is 73. Poet Seamus Heaney is 73. Movie-TV composer Bill Conti is 70. Actor Tony Dow is 67. Singer Al Green is 66. Actor Ron Perlman is 62. Actor William Sadler is 62. Singer Peabo Bryson is 61. Drummer Max Weinberg is 61. Bluegrass singer-musician Sam Bush is 60. Rock musician Jimmy Destri is 58. Singer-musician Louis Johnson (the...

Nellie McKay shuffled on stage Tuesday at the Paradise nearly an hour late carrying a stack of tattered songbooks and sheet music. She piled her papers precariously on the piano and sat down to sing. But nothing came out of the microphone. McKay had missed sound check. It was a predictably batty start to a rich, captivating set. A blond pixie with a tart tongue and pink chiffon dress, McKay makes witty, issue-oriented music that bridges the vintage sounds of Tin Pan Alley and the subversive sensibilities of the East Village.

The week that Columbia Records dropped Nellie McKay over creative disagreements regarding her second album, the headstrong young singer-songwriter released a satirical statement promising to ‘‘continue to make irritating music which will baffle and enrage.’’ Nearly two years later, McKay’s ‘‘Pretty Little Head’’ is finally seeing the light of day, thanks to her own label, Hungry Mouse Records, and the indie spinArt Records....

Nineteen-year-old pop ingenue Nellie McKay is a self-proclaimed misfit who feels a greater connection with the eccentric drunks at the East Village jazz clubs where she sharpened her chops than with her own peers. And it's hard to imagine her double-disc debut, "Get Away from Me," finding a niche within her age group. The album, which was helmed by legendary Beatles producer Geoff Emerick, is a precocious mix of jazz, dance beats, and irreverent lyrics delivered in a Doris Day voice laced with barbed anger.

"That weird whispering voice that you just heard is what you're going to hear all night," announced Aimee Mann near the start of her Sunday show at the Berklee Performance Center. She revealed with an apology that she had become sick recently and her voice was not 100 percent. But such was the good cheer at Mann's 2d Annual Christmas Show that there probably wasn't a single person in the audience who wasn't pulling for her. For one thing, while her vocal weakness was noticeable enough on "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "Wise Up," and "Deathly," she always had enough to carry her...

Less than a minute into "Endless Wire," the Who's first studio album in 24 years, an emasculated rhythm section kicks in on the heels of a twinkling synthesizer intro straight out of "Baba O'Riley. " Moments later Roger Daltrey's thinning bellow arrives -- heaving and straining toward classicism -- along with all sorts of questions. Not least, can (and should) this be done without bassist John Entwistle, who died in 2002? Or for that matter Keith Moon, who OD'd decades ago and whose ornate, uncorked drumming combined with Entwistle's heavy filigree to form the soul of what...