The Stranger

Back in 1975, E. O. Wilson caused a storm in the academic world with a book called Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, in which he treated human sociality in the same way he treated the sociality of other animals: ants, great apes, and so on. The problem with this? Many on the left side of the political spectrum felt that his approach condemned humans to fixed biological laws rather than flexible cultural influences. Thirty-seven years later, the old entomologist/fox is causing a new storm with Social Conquest of the Earth, which rejects some key assumptions of Sociobiology and looks at human evolution and society in a radically new way. (Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 634-3400, 7:30 pm, $5) by Charles Mudede

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Gary Hill is brilliant, goofy, and hilarious. To use nouns rather than adjectives, he makes art that involves LSD, 3-D glasses, words spoken backward and then reversed, mazes that talk, surveillance, glasses of water wandering through the forest, and blue tulips. You definitely want to catch the show, and at night, during the libertine-ity of a party with music and drinks, is the right time. Cavort while experiencing paranoia, hilarity, and profundity. (Henry Art Gallery, 4100 15th Ave NE, www.henryart.org, 7 pm, $12) by Jen Graves

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Back at home at a thoroughly refurbished Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, the 2012 African American Film Festival offers nine days of features, shorts, and documentaries, chronicling everything from queer blues divas of the 1920s to fantastical female polygamists in contemporary West Africa to the impact of lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde on the Afro-German Movement. The 2012 fest wraps up this evening with the closing-night feature Restless City, Andrew Dosunmu’s stylish drama about Nigerian immigrants chasing the American dream in 21st-century NYC. (Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, 104 17th Ave S, for full schedule and ticket prices go to www.langstonblackfilmfest.org) by David Schmader

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Brooklyn’s School of Seven Bells create some of the slickest gothtronic, shoegazey pop this side of Zola Jesus. Now down to the duo of guitarist/producer Benjamin Curtis and silken-toned vocalist Alejandra Deheza following the departure of the latter’s sister, Claudia, in 2010, SVIIB have released three albums for the renowned Ghostly International label that are as beautiful as their members are photogenic (damn their aristocratic genes). The latest, Ghostory, swirls and surges into a ravishing, Cocteau Twins–esque ether. (Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave, www.thecrocodile.com, 8 pm, $13, 21+) by Dave Segal

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I’m no percussionologist, but if Dave King of the Bad Plus (and many other bands) isn’t the greatest drummer alive, I wanna know who is. King is an esoteric jazz-head who appreciates pop, understands that improv is work (not just noodling), and knows that any great enterprise depends on people caring more about it than themselves. (Plus, he’s a charmingly happy guy.) King for Two Days hovers around a two-day concert at the Walker Art Center. The music is genius, the personalities are winning, and one attempt to play Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” in 4/4 time is a truly comical/magical moment. (Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, www.grandillusioncinema.org, 9 pm, $8) by Brendan Kiley

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