Selections from Sufjan Stevens’ electronic album “Enjoy Your Rabbit” are featured in a new ballet by up-and-coming choreographer Justin Peck. “Year of the Rabbit” will premiere Oct. 5 at New York City Ballet, programmed with new works by Benjamin Millepied (“Black Swan”) and Christopher Wheeldon (The Royal Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet). Conductor and arranger Michael Atkinson has expanded the quartet adaptations of this music from Osso’s “Run Rabbit Run” for string orchestra. Selections for this non-narrative ballet for 18 dancers will include Year of the Ox, Rabbit, Tiger, Rooster, Dragon Boar, and The Lord. There will be two matinees on Oct. 6 & 7 and a final evening performance on Oct. 13. The ballet will also appear in the winter season next year (January 29 & 30 and February 1 & 2). Tickets are available from the NY City Ballet website.

Sufjan also joins Peck and Aktinson for the Guggenheim’s Works & Process series on Sept. 23 & 24 (at 7:30) in the Guggenheim Theater, where a string quartet will play excerpts from the ballet, with principal dancers performing. Participants will also discuss the odd evolution of Sufjan’s electronic hobby project- composed and recorded in an apartment closet- from the drum machine to the ballet theater. Tickets are no longer available for this event (the theater only seats 285) but the Guggenheim website has a link for live streaming.

You can read about Justin’s previous ballet “In Creases” from the New York Times review here, and learn more about this young dancer/choreographer’s work with the city ballet here has a link for live streaming.

Not sure if you noticed, but we here at Asthmatic Kitty really value songwriting. It's a craft and art all at once; it takes time, practice, and a spark of something special. And that is something Raymond Raposa - aka Raymond Byron - has in spades. It really shows in his latest project, entitled Little Death Shaker, from band Raymond Byron & the White Freighter. The record is out today.

You'll remember Ray from Castanets, who carved out a rugged slice of American folk rock from independent music in the 2000s by releasing a series of records replete with some of the best-written songs we've ever heard.

Little Death Shaker is no exception. Here though, the music sheds its avant-country for something a little more roadhouse blues. It's more what you'd be turning up in the parking light of the bar, Bud Light blues casting an eerie 3am glow on the cracked pavement. And we love it.

The record is available in a number of ways. Pick your poison here.

Drunk is the New Sober/Stupid is the New Dumb, the latest recording from New Jersey duo Dots Will Echo, releases today. The fruit of three days’ labor, the 23-track album serves up a mix of garage rock, post-punk, and power pop-infused tracks. It features a smattering of instruments, from guitar to glockenspiel to autoharp.

For a brief Dots Will Echo history and interview with singer/songwriter Nick Berry, read the recent article on Ourstage.com.

Stream the album below, read their intriguing story (warning: it involves both the divine and the absurd) then order a copy over here.