Events

[INDIE ROCK] Shilpa Ray comes across like the love child of early Blondie and the Detroit Cobras infused with some vampiric seed a la Nick Cave, who she once sang backup for. It’s quite the stew. With her band The Happy Hookers, Ray has generated a healthy buzz via two fine releases for Knitting Factory Records and a rigorous touring schedule that brings her to Buffalo regularly.

She returns to Nietzsche’s this Sunday, March 1 supporting a covers cassingle (remember those?) that shows off her interpretive skills through versions of childhood hero Lou Reed’s sissy anthem “Make Up” and the Grever/Adams classic “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes,” made famous by Dinah Washington. The latter shows off Ray’s ability to clean-up well and carry a tune, but it also has a surreal, listless shuffle that’s got David Lynch written all over it.

If this is a preview of what’s to come on her anticipated new full length, Last Year’s Savage (May 19, Northern Spy), it’d seem like she’s broadening her horizons. But Ray’s got little to prove: between being that rare Indian-American front gal, her garage-punk harmonium playing, that distinctive bluesy howl and a talent for creating striking imagery about gender politics, she’s not easily forgotten. Pine Fever opens the show.