Critical 5 Concerts in NYC this week: gorge on music, Nov 20-25

Don't let your week be wasted by any sort of food coma. If there is a week to get off your couch, this Thanksgiving week is the time to do it. So, stock up on turkey, stuffing, and pumpking pie and enjoy an amazing line-up of live shows. 

Of Monsters and Men - 11/20 or 11/21, 8pm at Terminal 5

After releasing their EP, Into the Woods, this Icelandic six-piece band rose quickly into the spotlight, winning over audiences wherever they went, including their native Musiktilraunir yearly battle of the bands, Iceland Airwaves festival, and getting their single “Little Talks” posted on KEXP's Living Room Session. Their folkie-pop music is infectiously charming and warm, and is a great accompaniment to take refuge in during this week’s cold. Their newest album, My Head Is an Animal, was released early this year, and much of it (and their music in general) takes inspiration from stories they’ve stumbled upon, carrying with it that same soft, fantastical feel of a children’s tale.

Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard, 11/21, 8:30pm at The Knitting Factory

For those unfamiliar with Jeffrey Lewis, he’s a New York City native, a brilliant comic book artist, and fiercely haunting musician, who creates playful anti-folk songs. Part of the multitude of bands and musicians who played sidewalk cafe in New York circa the 1990s, he can best be compared to bands such as The Moldy Peaches. Virtually a comedy of errors, nearly spoken-word, he conquers what can be often described as melancholy themes with hypotonic rhythm, wit, and intelligence.

Taking Back Sunday, perform "Tell All Your Friends" in entirety, 11/23 or 11/24, 8pm at Terminal 5

After consuming more than necessary for any human to ingest on Thanksgiving, why not switch course and ingest some gluttonous music instead? Remember when you had an insatiable appetite for Taking Back Sunday’s Tell All Your Friends? When “Cute Without The ‘E’” was your anthem for highschool love, quoted non-stop in your head and on your CD walkman? Currently one of the main headliners for this year’s Vans Warped Tour, Taking Back Sunday is making all your teenage dreams come true by performing their 2003 album, Tell All Your Friends in full, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the release. Don’t miss the chance to see the most classic emo-punk music live and in full… or Adam Lazzara’s deft skills with a microphone (skills that were responsible for the multitude of broken household items and noses that occurred when every high school garage band attempted to recreate his dexterous twirling).

French Horn Rebellion, Brooklyn Night Bazaar, 11/24, 6pm

Relatively new to the Brooklyn music scene, Aaron Broudo formed the Brooklyn Night Bazaar as his way to bring a bit of the Southeast Asian night markets to New York City. In our eyes, it’s the perfect fit. Running from 5pm to 2am the Bazaar has a large scale (and local) beer and wine garden, nightly performances by emerging bands, and large-scale art installations. It’s the ideal place to drink and eat from the best breweries and chefs in the borough, get some culture in, listen to some amazing musical performances, and walk home with bags full of merchandise (prints, antiques, jewelry, clothing) from independent vendors. Previously featuring LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, The Hold Steady, Titus Andronicus, and YACHT, this weekend you can catch French Horn Rebellion, a Brooklyn-based electro-rock duo made up of brothers David and Robert Perlick-Molinari. They aptly mix electro-dance with their backgrounds as a sound engineer (David produced and engineered music for MGMT) and first chair as a French horn player in an Orchestra. After releasing a few EP’s the duo released their first full length, The Infinite Music of French Horn Rebellion, in 2011.

Streetlight Manifesto, 11/25, 7pm at Best Buy Theater

After leaving Catch 22, Tomas Kalnoky, Josh Ansley, and Jamie Egan formed Streetlight Manifesto, taking all the best of Catch 22 with them (including the glorious "Keasby Nights"). Even if you are not typically a fan of ska bands, Streetlight Manifesto will find a way to seduce you. The band is made up of seven guys, each with different musical backgrounds which adds to the raucously upbeat sound. Rock, ska, latin, folk, jazz… Streetlight Manifesto finds a way to incorporate their numerous styles into a cohesive combination of riotous sound (if ska music can ever induce such feelings, these guys are the ones to do it). Their sold-out performances always leave in their wake exhausted sweat drenched crowds, spent from a night of singing along. If you’re looking for a great performance as well as an epic experience, Streelight Manifesto is a must on the list of shows to see this week.