A round of applause, please, for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which had the intelligence and good taste to award violinist Regina Carter a MacArthur Fellowship (aka “Genius Grant”). Carter used part of that substantial and unexpected windfall—the grant pays out $500,000 over five years—to fund a project that had been steeping in her imagination for years: a world music album.

Never believe those who say nothing good is happening musically in Albuquerque. They have given up. Small venues and performance spaces abound, vibrating with strange sounds for a few hours nearly every day. For months, touring and local musicians have performed in a small room in the back of a house Downtown. The unassuming Moldspores has been consistently curating lineups with a loose thematic connection. With no pressure to churn out shows like a sonic grist mill, Moldspores events deliver experimental, exciting and irregular performances.

Observe this superstitiously spooky Friday with a collection of Americana acts at Low Spirits (2823 Second Street NW). Cali Shaw, Wildewood, Todd and the Fox, and Jenny Wren form the local lineup. Admission is $5, and the show starts at 9 p.m. (JCC)

For at least the past 14 years and probably long before, especially when Pulse was pounding out the hot Burque Goth jams on Thursday nights in Nob Hill—requerdas, Estuardo?—the vibrantly dark local subculture responsible for drenching this town in the blackest of all musical arts has celebrated themselves and the lifestyle they prefer with a traditional Gothic Winter Ball. This year's event happens on Saturday, Feb. 1 at Sister from 9pm in the evening til 1:30am the next morning—with just enough time to get back to the crypt before sunrise. Just kidding. Now, repeat after me: The Cure, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Siouxsie Sioux … For only $10 and a 21-plus ID you're practically guaranteed to get laid, especially if you know the names of any albums by Dead Can Dance and don't forget to touch up that black nail polish and eyeliner, dudes.