After her debut “Holy Smoke” swept the New Zealand Music Awards in 2010, R&B-fueled Kiwi rocker Gin Wigmore was besieged by questions.
“Over and over, it was, ‘What are you going to do next? What kind of record will you make? It’s your second album — aren’t you freaking out?’” says the blond spitfire, who finally told everyone that she would track a blues album, even though she knew little about the genre.
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Top Pick
The Black Seeds
The Black Seeds 9 p.m. Sunday. $16. The New Zealand reggae-funk heavyweights — known for exciting eight-piece live shows — are touring to promote the new, 18 months-in-the-making studio album “Dust and Dirt.” [Slim’s, 333 11th St., S.F., (415) 255-0333, www.slims-sf.com]
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From the smallest acorns, as they say. Like when Mumford & Sons musician Ben Lovett kicked off his promotion team Communion a few years ago in a humble London basement.
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We would be seriously remiss if we didn’t remind you of a great new Memphis artist playing Cafe Du Nord tonight — Amy LaVere, backing her hard-won new third album “Stranger Me,” inspired (and shrouded by) the recent death of her longtime mentor/producer Jim Dickinson and her breakup with her boyfriend/drummer Paul Taylor.
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It hasn’t been easy for Melbourne-based musician Tim Rogers and his intellectual art-rock outfit You Am I. First on hip Aussie imprint Roo-Art, then on Warner Bros. for a brief period, they’ve been trying to catch on in the U.S. for two frustrating decades and a dozen albums. During their major-label stint, Rogers says, the band members were never further apart as friends. But judging by their latest eponymous indie outing — and quirk-poppers like “Crime,” “Pinpricks” and the F.
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Who’s in town Alternative-rock singer and guitarist Jim Ward performs at Hotel Utah. [9 p.m., Hotel Utah Saloon, 500 Fourth St., S.F.]Lectures Rajasvini Bhansali: The social entrepreneur talks about India’s women-led, community-driven initiatives that are working for social transformation and discusses India’s LGBT movement. [6 p.m., Commonwealth Club, 595 Market St., S.F.]
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We’ll start the week with a quick don’t-miss-this-act reminder that Oregon’s great folk/blues/rockabilly outfit Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside will be playing San Francisco’s Café Du Nord this Thursday, backing their debut full-length, “Dirty Radio.”
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We would be seriously remiss if we didn’t punch up this last-minute tip for a truly great show. You might have overlooked his name in the Café Du Nord ads, but Liam O’Maonlai — who’s rocking the house tonight — is one helluva considerable talent.
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While other kids were told to stop their silly daydreaming, Anna Calvi, who grew up with two licensed hypnotherapists for parents, was urged to pursue it.
“It was weird, with lots of dinnertime discussions about your feelings, your emotions,” says the guitar-slinging British sensation who appears at Cafe Du Nord on Sunday.
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It wasn’t as terrifying as “Black Swan,” recalls Danish synthpop singer Nanna Oland Fabricius, who performs as Oh Land and appears in San Francisco this week.But her teenage years spent striving toward a professional dance career were cutthroat and competitive.
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