THURSDAY, JUNE 5Rock the Park: Paleface/Beartoe/The Heavy Metals The June edition of Rock the Park features national anti-folk troubadour Paleface, a guitarist/harmonica blower associated with Beck, Langhorne Slim and the Avett Brothers among others, practicing his own stomping brand of tunes with bandmate/life partner Mo Samalot on drums and sweet vocal harmonies. Beartoe is another solo artist, a singer-songwriter from Deland who delivers swamp swaying blues and Florida-hewn roots with easy riding melodies. And The Heavy Metals do rock n’ roll, driving it home hard as led by Shawn Kyle. (Curtis Hixon Park, Tampa)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah w/Stagnant Pools More info here. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
Keb Mo The ax-slinging silky-voiced bluesman with the downhome tendencies hits town backing a brand new 11th full-length, BLUESAmericana, its light roots sonic arc never overwhelming Keb Mo’s taut accomplished fretwork. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
D.O.A. Farewell Tour w/Mosquito Teeth/Abortion Twins/Abandon The Midwest/Whiskey Faithful British Columbia’s most strident, cheeky-political and long-running punk band (est. 1978), “Godfathers of Hardcore” D.O.A. are on a so-called farewell tour, taking an indefinite break from the road while Joe ‘Shithead’ Keithley Keithley seeks nomination as an NDP candidate in the B.C. provincial election. They have a few fresh releases to hawk along the way: a new live DVD, To Hell N' Back, and last year’s double live album, Welcome to Chinatown. (Brass Mug, Tampa)
FRIDAY, JUNE 6
LeAnn Rimes Since the release of her Blue debut nearly 18 years ago, Grammy award-winning country pop star LeAnn Rimes has kept busy, issuing 10 more full-lengths (three of those platinum sellers) and growing from youthful innocence to womanly maturity. The Mississippi native’s 2013 latest, Spitfire, didn’t do as well as expected, but Rimes has more to look forward to this summer: she and husband Eddie Cibrian have a reality show in the works that’s set to air on VH1 in July. In the meantime, she takes her show on the road supporting Spitfire and lands in town for a Friday night performance. (Hard Rock Café, Tampa) –Zebrina Edgerton-Maloy
Matuss w/Brian Busto/Mike E The next international DJ to hit the Serious Soul stage is Julia Matuss, a Ukraine-bred, New York City-based talent with a musical background in piano and sax that informs her lounge-groove sensibility; she also has a keen ear for splicing warped and skewed vocal samples into her mixes. (Hyde Park Café, Tampa)
An Evening of Inspired Improvisation This avant garde performance is perfectly suited to its Dali Museum backdrop and pays tribute to some of the past century’s most innovative improvisers: John Cage, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich and Frank Zappa. The Florida Orchestra’s Dave Coash (percussion) and Lowell Adams (cello), along with keyboardist Corey Holt Merenda and brass man James L. Hall join composers/musicians Ray Villadonga (bass), Jeremy Powell (winds) and composer Robert Constable for a program of “conducted improvisations” as inspired by the compositional styles of those four aforementioned artists, in addition to presenting Robert C. Constable's "Im Gleichgewicht" for four performers. (Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg)
Andrew Jackson Jihad w/Cheap Girls Andrew Jackson Jihad doles out spastic, grit-caked blasts of folk punk and alt rock twang marked by cheeky word-dense lyrical turns and idiosyncratic lead warbles of guitarist/singer Sean Bonnette. The Phoenix five-piece is on the road behind a hooky, just-released fifth studio album and debut for SideOneDummy, Christmas Island, recorded with producer John Congleton and fleshed out with some cello, piano, mandolin and various other sonic accoutrements not always found in the Jihad arsenal. For fans of the Mountain Goats. Also on the bill: Cheap Girls, a power pop-flavored alt rock trio from Michigan backing a new fourth LP, Famous Graves (Xtra Mile Recordings). (Crowbar, Ybor City)
Boston The platinum-selling classic prog band named for the city that spawned them will likely dust off all the old hits for this Hall date, sailing through high note-hitting vocal harmonies and choruses in “More Than a Feeling,”“Peace of Mind,”“Don’t Look Back,”“Rock and Roll Band,” et. al. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
SATURDAY, JUNE 7
Juliet Simms w/Lions After Dark Do we like her, do we hate her, or have we merely become indifferent to native rock songstress and former Automatic Loveletter primary Juliet Simms? Her post-Voice solo career is limited to fleeting representation by show coach CeeLo Green (dropped in 2013 after issuing one tame single, “Wild Child”), a line of jewelry designed by Simms and her Warped Tour chums, and a PledgeMusic campaign to raise funds to record her new EP, with about a month left to go. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
The Woolly Bushmen/Gino & The Goons/The Pretty Voices A three-pack of high-quality local and regional acts touching on retro-hued garage-dosed twang (Woolly Bushmen), raucous blues-and-surf-touched punk rock (Gino & the Goons), and power pop-imbued punk-garage (Pretty Voices). (Octave, St. Petersburg)
The Best Day Ever/Carlisle/The Spirit Machine Another trio of locally-brewed talent – this one headed up by The Best Day Ever, a quintet that infuses their alt rock progressions with string drama and pop-catchy refrains, the howling vocals of fiery-haired leading lady Lauren Elizabeth backed by the huskier harmonies of bassist Stuart Best. (Local 662, St. Petersburg)
Suncoast Blues Society 17th Anniversary Party w/Shaun Murphy If there’s one thing you can count on hearing at the Skipperdome, it’s finger-licking blues. On this particular night, SBS celebrates 17 years with multi-award-winning blues and R&B belter Shaun Murphy, a Nebraska native songstress whose accolades from the 2013 Bluesblast Music Awards include Best Female Blues Artist of the Year and Best Contemporary Blues Album of the Year for her latest full-length, Ask For The Moon. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
Post-Rays Concert Series: Weezer While diehard fans have to wait months for Riot Festival to see Weezer perform the entirety of their classic self-titled debut (affectionately referred to as The Blue Album), locals are treated to a set by the beloved Rivers Cuomo-led LA alt-rock band when they kick off the Rays Summer Concert Series on this night. Keep fingers crossed that the outfield aesthetic inspires a Blue run-through, but don’t set your hopes too high; recent setlists reveal classic sing-along fare drawing from their beefy eight-album catalog. (Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg) –Cody Smith
Preson Phillips CD Release Show w/Brother Cephus/Mrenc Sure, his music is styled ‘indie folk worship’ and Phillips is a Watermark church pastor as well as a singer-songwriter, but even if he does discuss God, Jesus and sinning more than your average musician, he doesn’t shove his dogma down your throat to hard and his strong dusty rootsy sounds paired with haunting vocal calls are likely why he’s developed a fanbase that crosses over from the Christian realms. This show celebrates the release of his new 16-track recording, In Our Winters. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
SUNDAY, JUNE 8
Ol’ Dirty Sundays w/Crazy Legs X Charlie Chase Crazy Legs might very well be one of the most renowned b-boys to come out of NYC, the president of the Rock Steady Crew and ambassador of breakdance culture, which he brought to cities like London and Paris in the early ‘80s. He retired from breakdance battles in 2012 but offers dance instruction and continues to make b-boy appearances at various hip hop parties around the U.S. like this one at Ol’ Dirty Sundays with fellow Big Apple native and founding member of Cold Crush Brothers, DJ Charlie Chase. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
See Through Dresses w/Zulu Wave/Empire Cinema You can definitely hear a mix of ‘90s shoe-gazey alternative and dark wave/post-punk in the See Through Dresses sound – that sort of angular drive and British-vibing vocal style of male lead Matt Carroll, who trades off with femme counterpart Sara Bertuldo (Tim Kasher, Millions of Boys). This free date supports the Omaha foursome’s 2013 self-titled debut. Zulu Wave provides a warm-up highlight with their howling, seething and wheeling brand of propulsive alt rock. (The Hub, downtown Tampa)
We Are Jazz (Session Three): NPG with Spies on Bikes/Resurgence Venture’s third installment of the avant jazz series proves rather intriguing, with headlining act NPG (guitarist LaRue Nickelson, multi-sax juggler Jeremy Powell and drummer Ian Goodman) joined by indie-tronic pop sound sculptor Spies on Bikes (aka Nathan Cochran), who will likely bring an unexpected dimension of sample-studded ethereality and analog synth soundscaping to the mix. Resurgence stages “original compositions for jazz sextet.” (The Venture Compound, St. Petersburg)
MONDAY, JUNE 9
Black Star Riders w/Rockstarr Bentley/Azzitizz Black Star Riders isn’t Thin Lizzy contrary to what all the press releases say. See, Thin Lizzy leader Phil Lynott died in ’86 after the band issued a dozen albums and charted money-makers "The Boys Are Back in Town.” But lead guitarist Scott Gorham reunited remaining members from the original lineup in ’96 and has toured periodically under the handle with various lineups until recently, when he and his latest assemblage of musicians started recording some new material and decided "out of respect to Phil Lynott and the legacy he created” (and likely in no small part due to Gorham being the only original Thin Lizzy member), they’d release the songs as Black Star Riders. Debut full-length All Hell Breaks Loose dropped last year. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
TUESDAY, JUNE 10
The Ukiah Drag w/i_like_dog_face/Swamp Hag/Fishwife/No Milk Rhode Island-by-way-of-Florida outfit The Ukiah Drag has that moaning, guitar-fuzzed brand of garage/post-punk made for dark hazy barrooms where hipster ladies in tight black threads give you stank eye stares if you look too hard at their tatted-up boyfriends, shiny red lips pursed and painted-on eyebrows clashing in a jagged black forehead furrow. (The Soundcloud description calls the band “masters of desert-fried psych punk garbage.” Seems adequate to me.) (Mojo Books & Records, Tampa)
Foxy Shazam w/Larry & His Flask Foxy Shazam is like a low-rent Darkness purveying a punk-kicking mix of glam rock and pop theatrics dosed in horns and marked by the unrestrained falsetto-hitting howls of frontman Eric Nally. The Cincinnati sextet self-released 2014 fifth LP Gonzo (their first indie release since 2005, produced with Steve Albini), and offered it for free download via their website. You can still grab the not-so-energetic outing off their website, so you know all the words to the songs when they hit town and play Gonzo in its entirety. I imagine there will be a few other Foxy Shazam numbers in there somewhere. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11
Counting Crows w/Toad the Wet Sprocket Alt-pop rockers Counting Crows have hit the ground running on their current tour, with a new album in the works and fresh material to try out on the road. Frontman Adam Duritz talks all about it, along with his ongoing struggles with mental illness, in a Q&A with Ray Roa here. Support on this tour from another ‘90s-era heavyweight, Toad the Wet Sprocket. (Carol Morsani Hall at Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa)
Little Dragon w/Lawrence Rothman Yukimi Nagano might very well have one of the sexiest vocals in indie-tronic music today – smooth, sultry and seductive, her low intones crawl over the skin and into the subconscious and make you want to get your groove vibe on. Little Dragon, the jazz-hued electro group from Sweden she fronts, has risen in the ranks with a series of strong releases and sticky dance singles. The latest, "Klapp Klapp" off fresh fourth LP Nabuma Rubberband, is a mid-tempo scorcher with thick fizzy synth lines, percussive thumping rhythms and Nagano cooing lines like “I know you want it, don’t you? Don’t you?” (Orpheum, Ybor City)
Click here to see a complete listing of concerts for this week and beyond.