ROCK/POP

Interpol

In 24 Hour Party People, Factory Records honcho Tony Wilson's roman à clef of the Manchester music scene's evolution, the gloomy art pop of Joy Division gives way to the e-gobbling hedonism of Happy Mondays--the classic skinny-pants vs. phat-pants style war. These days the skinny pants seem to be winning. The Strokes, White Stripes, Liars, Yeah Yeah Yeahs? That's all skinny-pants rock, my friend. Interpol is the latest great white hyped skinny-pants rock band--and, boy, do they dress the part, down to their post-punk underoos. Understandably, Interpol gets tagged as a Joy Division tribute band, but Echo and the Bunnymen, the Cure and even Surfer Rosa-era Pixies get their testimonials as well. On Turn on the Bright Lights, Interpol's style-recycling is impeccably groomed. But the clothes don't make the band, and underneath all that well-appointed black- crepe guitar, there's a glaring lack of lyrical heft to the songs. Not that Interpol need worry about such things, because these days fashion is statement. (Jonathan Valania)

8pm. $10. Gasoline, Eighth and Callowhill sts. 215.382.3834

[ FRIDAY, DEC. 6 ]

EXPERIMENTAL

The Philadelphia Project

It's a trifecta for those who like their sounds a shade challenging. "The Philadelphia Project: A Night of Experimental Music" features avant medivalists the Red Masque (pictured), ambient rhythm makers Second Sufis and Relapse Records punk proggers Dysrhythmia. Show organizers and chronic member swappers the Red Masque will be premiering their latest revamping with newcomer keyboardist Marcia Bachochin-Fabirkiewicz (original keyboardist/concert harpist Nathan-Andrew Dewin defected to pursue solo projects). Like King Crimson before the accessibility, the literary-minded Masque are awash in sonic guitar booms, rumbling bass and a dash of their own prosaic emotion. Their sophomore effort, Victoria and the Haruspex, released earlier this year, reached cult status thanks in part to lead singer Lynnette Shelley's hookless Siouxsie Sue operatic spans that give direction to the album's mostly improvised instrumentation. Robots in Disguise producer Michael McDermott's one-man project Mikronesia provides aural time filler between bands, fashioning the Project's format into a seamless excusion to discover rock's darker sides. (Suzann Vogel)

8pm. $8. Sedgwick Center, 7137 Germantown Ave. 215.248.9229

[ SATURDAY, DEC. 7 ]

HIP-HOP/R&B

MC Paul Barman

With a Brown University art education and a magnificently offbeat gift for rhymes and flow to his name, Paul Barman is a frantic, often erratic breath of fresh air. Brought up under the wing of the legendary Prince Paul, he wowed critics a few years back with It's Very Stimulating, an EP so full of scatological content that you wanted to shower immediately after listening to it. Paullelujah!, Barman's long-awaited full-length, doesn't find him cleaning up his act much. On the first single, "Cock Mobster," he rattles off a laundry list of female celebrities--from Tyra Banks and Anne Nicole Smith to respected author Cynthia Ozick--and says what he'd like to do with each one (it ain't pretty). He leapfrogs that trick with "Bleeding Brain Grow," in which he tackles and masters the palindrome--you know, because simply rhyming is too easy. But before you dismiss him as a flamboyant hip-hop novelty, note the newfound undercurrent of bitter political commentary peeking through his work. Barman has brains, as if we didn't know that already. (Doug Wallen)

9pm. $10-$12. With Har Mar Superstar, the Gossip + Whirlwind Heat. Theater of Living Arts, 334 South St. 215.922.1011. www.electricfactory.com

[ SUNDAY, DEC. 8 ]

HIP-HOP/R&B

Kool Keith

Confounding fans with every career choice, Kool Keith is one of the most restless creative figures in hip-hop. One second he's an Ultramagnetic MC, the next he's Dr. Octagon, then Dr. Dooom and then Black Elvis. Keith raps in a weird, compelling way that sounds like he's on the brink of either a yawn, a scream or a laugh. He fluidly skips through styles both vocal and musical, the only constant being his burning fascination with sci-fi imagery, gross anatomy and lyrical treachery. His latest project is KHM, a three-way collaboration with H-Bomb and Marc Live, and on their album Game, Keith seems more volatile than ever. He mocks and attacks OutKast several times and then enlists Tricky for a guest spot on "Run Dem Red," though never at the expense of his outrageous persona. Live, the guy is just as unpredictable, but for most of the people who have followed him loyally throughout so many name changes and scattered albums, that's exactly the nature of Keith's genius. (D.W.)

7pm. $15. With KHM, Jacky Jasper + Zion I. Trocadero, 1003 Arch St. 215.922.LIVE. www.thetroc.com

[ MONDAY, DEC. 9 ]

THEATER

Writing Aloud

Before artists took to rubbing chocolate on their naked bodies while reciting anarchist poetry, performance art consisted of a single actor reading from a literary work. Now InterAct Theatre Company offers a return to those days with its popular Writing Aloud series. Pairing Philadelphia's finest actors with the area's top fiction writers, tonight's event, called "Coming Home," features three short stories that all deal--in very different ways--with finding your way home. The first, by Elissa Goldberg, centers on the residences of an elderly man and his daughter, while Ned Bachus' Home piece tells of a young woman's first apartment and her battle for independence. The evening's final installment, Alice Schell's Kingdom of the Sun, is about a woman's recollections of her father's experience in baseball's Negro Leagues. The talented Kala Lynne Baxter reads Kingdom, award- winning veteran actor Harry Philibosian reads Goldberg's piece and April Wolfe gives voice to Bachus' homey meditation. (J. Cooper Robb)

7pm. $10. InterAct Theatre Company, 2030 Sansom St. 215.568.8079

[ TUESDAY, DEC. 10 ]

BOOKS

The War on Freedom

Forget what you think you know about Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Osama or even the United States--because you don't really know anything at all. So as Bush's cohorts sign off on Homeland Security drafts, I offer The War on Freedom: How and Why America Was Attacked, September 11, 2001 as a truly meaningful gift for the holiday season. But be forewarned: Until you finish this book, you may suffer from some restless nights, probably caused by an ever-growing guilty conscience. The self-reproach comes courtesy of author Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed's research, which unveils America's real agenda when we aided the Taliban against Russia, when we originally supported the idea of Al Qaeda and when we played dumb after being attacked. While the highly acclaimed human rights activist doesn't excuse the atrocity, his excerpts from worldwide media dispatches and policy-maker comments issued years before the attacks are undeniable evidence that Sept. 11 should not have happened, could have been prevented and was a long time coming. Sleep tight. (Gian Sachdev)

$16.95. Read at your leisure.

[ WEDNESDAY, DEC. 11 ]

DVD

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Put in extraordinarily general terms, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp feels like an epic made by Wes Anderson. But then, screenwriting/producing/directing partners Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were practically the Anderson of their age (albeit in the form of two people). Studio filmmakers in 1940s Britain, Powell and Pressburger fashioned their lavishly budgeted films with pure British wit and cinematic tricks that were light years ahead of their time. (Go rent Stairway to Heaven or Black Narcissus. Now.) Recently given the Criterion DVD makeover--and thus making its video debut at its original fuck-off length of 163 minutes--Blimp puts a new spin on the usual stuffy, silly British military types. Instead of poking the usual fun, Blimp makes a go at understanding them. Though the film follows our hero, Clive Candy (an insanely charming Roger Livesey), from the Boer War to hours before World War II, Powell and Pressburger prove tricky bastards throughout: The passing of years is shown through hunting trophies popping up on Candy's wall, Deborah Kerr appears up in three roles and, most famously, Powell and Pressburger spend 13 minutes setting up a duel only to crane out once it begins. Criterion's typically loaded disc also contains an old commentary track with Powell and conversations with a caffeine-riddled staunch fanatic, Martin Scorsese. (Matt Prigge)