Concerts, Sept. 12-18
by Leilani PolkTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros w/Willy Mason The Magnetic Zeros are one of those acts you never really expect to catch on — a little too bohemian-crunchy and poignantly optimistic for your average indie rock listener. But the 10-member ensemble’s vivacious synthesis of psych rock, alt-folk and gospel music has won plenty of people over, as has their magnetic, effusive visionary leader, who is not, contrary to uninformed belief, the band’s namesake (though Alex Ebert did make up the Ed Sharpe persona). Ebert has called the Zeros’ new eponymous full-length — their third —“the rawest, most liberated, most rambunctious stuff we’ve done.” Willy Mason brings quirky rhythm-oriented folk-blues tunes and unique deeper-register warbles to the bill; his new album Carry On was produced by Dan Carey (MIA, Hot Chip, Franz Ferdinand). (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)
Austin Lucas w/John Moreland/Mountain Holler/Panhandler Alt-country Nashville-based troubadour Austin Lucas expresses his appreciation and love for the family and friends he leaves behind while he’s on the road, and the wisdom he soaks up from the people he sees only fleetingly between shows in “Four Wheels.” The track — off his just-released fifth full-length, Stay Reckless— is carried on moseying rhythms and buoyant slide guitar and fiddle melodies, his twangy tenor sweet crooning harmonies with higher-calling Kelly Kneiser, of Glossary; that band’s other members (Joey Kneiser, Eric Giles and Bingham Barnes) also joined him on the album, as did Lucero’s Todd Beene. A full band (not Glossary) backs him on his current tour. Also of note: Ninebullets.net fave John Moreland, a beardy Oklahoma-based folk rocker whose latest album, In the Throes, was chosen as Essential Listening by the site and called “a monumental work in our little corner of the musical universe.” (The Shelter, St. Petersburg)
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
J. Cole w/Wale The first artist to sign to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label, J. Cole (real name Jermaine Lamarr Cole) has been jamming the airwaves with tracks off second studio album Born Sinner, which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts despite hitting the same week as Kanye’s Yeezus. His melodic flow and sing-song turns feel languid in tracks like the chunky-chugging obsessive love ode “Power Trip,” featuring Miguel; laid-back and confident with TLC backing in current radio cut “Crooked Smile”; or unyielding and commanding over grooving jazz in “Forbidden Fruit” with Kendrick Lamar. Also of note: word-reeling DC rapper Wale, who also has a charting track with Miguel, 2011’s “Lotus Flower Bomb,” though he’s been on the airwaves lately with that acoustic guitar-driven slow jam with Tiara Thomas, “Bad.” (Carol Morsani Hall at the Straz Center, Tampa)
Gato Barbieri w/Gil Machin POSTPONED; NEW DATE Fri., Nov. 8 (Friday Morning Musicale, Tampa)
Rick Springfield w/Macy Kate The raspy-timbred axe-slinging power pop-rockin’ Aussie (and smoking hot General Hospital regular) charted three hits in the U.S. in the early ’80s (“I’ve Done Everything for You,”“Jesse’s Girl,”“Don’t Talk to Strangers”), and stops in town for the second time this year, behind 2012 studio album, Songs for the End of the World. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
Jay Aresty Birthday Bash w/Wolf-Face/Mosquito Teeth/Slade And The Wasters/Car Bomb Driver/Fucking Faggots One of Fubar’s co-owners gets paid his due on his birthday with sets of hard, fast, grungy-stomping punk music offered in a range of raucous locally brewed flavors. (Fubar, St. Petersburg)
Honda Civic Tour w/Maroon 5/Kelly Clarkson/PJ Morton Despite feeling like lead singer Adam Levine is kind of douchey, I dig Maroon 5. Because really, there’s no denying the sticky, infectious, whistle-fueled dance-groove of “Moves like Jagger,” Xtina’s guest spot lending it a little club pop cred. Levine & Co. have strayed away from the schmaltzier AC friendly balladry of their early reign (“She Will Be Loved,”“This Love”) to toothier groove-oriented fare for several years now, the fat fuzzy synths of 2007’s “Makes Me Wonder” (their first No. 1 hit) a theme that has continued through to fourth and latest album, 2012’s Overexposed. Levine’s vocals still tend to stray into watery bleating territory, especially if there’s a brawnier guest on hand (as with “Payphone” featuring Wiz Khalifa), but the band makes up for it by taking unique artistic turns ala the dub-reggae bounce of “One More Night.”American Idol royalty Kelly Clarkson adds feminine appeal. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa)
[page]Build Your Own Set Hometown Show w/Set It Off/Stages and Stereos/Airsickness/Music Box Fresh off the Warped Tour stage and before they go overseas on a two-week tour warming up for Tonight Alive, then hit the road with Story of the Year for some dates on the Scream It Like You Mean It tour, Tampa alt emo-punk rockers and Equal Vision Records artists Set It Off — backing the deluxe re-issue of 2012 album Cinematics— play a hometown “Build Your Own Set” show. The songs in the setlist are chosen by local fans via Set It Off’s Facebook page, though I couldn’t find a place to vote at the time of this writing. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
The Black Honkeys w/Tampa Bay Soul Divas Motown enjoys a lively revival with every show by the funk, soul and R&B players of The Black Honkeys, their brassed-up catalog of retro fare and vintage-hued originals hitting St. Pete this Friday night. (Local 662, St. Petersburg)
David Nail Country up-and-comer David Nail (who’s got two full-lengths out and charted a No. 1 Hot Country hit with 2011’s “Let It Rain” featuring Sarah Buxton) stops in town hyping a forthcoming album and shortly after releasing new single, “Whatever She’s Got.” (Dallas Bull, Tampa)
Pet Shop Boys According to vocalist Neil Tennant, the Pet Shop Boys’ 12th and latest studio LP, Electric, is a more banging endeavor than last year’s introspective Elysium, crafted using vintage synths and drum machines paired with modern computer tricks. Latest single “Love Is a Bourgeois Construct” is a triumphant, pulsating anti-love anthem (“Love is a bourgeois construct, it’s a blatant fallacy, you won’t see me with a bunch of roses, promising fidelity, that doesn’t mean a thing to me”), while their energetic reading of Springsteen’s “Last to Die” offers more proof as to why Tennant and longtime co-collaborator, keyboardist/guitarist Chris Lowe, are still the most successful duo in U.K. music history. (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg)
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
Depeche Mode w/Bat For Lashes“Enjoy the Silence,”“Personal Jesus” and “Policy of Truth” were my go-to Dark Wave jams back in the day, when hitting The Castle on Monday nights kicked off my weekly Ybor routine and Depeche Mode’s Violator was in heavy rotation with other British exports like Echo & the Bunnymen and The Cure, David Gahan’s low intones simmering and brooding in contrast to the morose wails of the latter few. The innovative electronic music trio spins through the amphitheater on a huge world tour behind Delta Machine, their 13th studio LP. Fellow countrywoman Bat For Lashes (London multi-instrumentalist songstress Natasha Khan) opens the show supporting a much-anticipated third album, last year’s The Haunted Man. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa)
Ricky and Stevie’s Big Birthday Bash and Moonsnakes CD Release Party Local singer-songwriter Ricky Wilcox and his former Delores Telescope bandmate and current axe-slinging Moonsnakes sideman/producer Steve Connelly, present a co-birthday bash/release show in honor of their Old Glory EP, which includes three old DT tracks along with a few new Moonsnakes originals. Special guests TBA. The $7 admission includes a copy of the CD. (Hideaway Café& Recording Studio, St. Petersburg)
WMNF Birthday Bash, Part 1: Del McCoury w/Tommy Malone/The TPA Collective If you missed out on Del McCoury when the iconic bluegrass Hall of Famer stopped in town with Preservation Hall Jazz Band in February, or you simply want to do it all over again, minus the formality of a concert hall and plus the more casual and intimate under-the-stars confines of the Skipperdome, WMNF welcomes Del and his award-winning group of players to headline its 34th Birthday Bash. The community radio station also welcomes Subdude Tommy Malone, who hits with fiery Louisiana-brewed roots rock informed by classic R&B, blues, and country music. Kicking off the festivities is The Tampa Collective, led by vocalist Dre Anders with guitarist Josh Lamkin, keysman Howard Helm, and drummer Leroy Myers. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
Loretta Lynn The graceful star of country and honky tonk has been plying her songs with a smile for more than five decades and over 54 studio albums, and her membership in The Grand Ole Opry stands at 51 years and counting. Loretta Lynn broke two ribs after a fall in her home a few weeks ago, which caused her to postpone the first few dates of her current tour, though the injury hasn’t kept her off the road for too long and her Florida stops are scheduled to go on as planned. (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg)
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
Kid Rock w/ZZ Top/Uncle Kracker A triple serving of Southern-fried sounds as ring-led by Detroit’s favorite trailer park progeny, Kid Rock, whose 2012 album Rebel Soul finds the 42-year-old in a more Motown soulful state of mind. ZZ Top serves up their usual helping of beardy blues rock grind on this last stop of the “$20 Best Night Ever Tour.” (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa)
WMNF Birthday Bash, Part 2: Ana Popovic Band w/Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs/Betty Fox Band The festivities celebrating WMNF’s 34 years conclude on Sunday with a blues-charged bill headed up by Serbian electric slide guitarist and soulfully singing songstress Ana Popovic, who uprooted from her longtime Amsterdam home last year and re-located to Memphis, recorded with local musicians to capture the “old school funky, bluesy Memphis groove,” and issued her ninth full-length, Can You Stand the Heat, in April. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
NOW Ensemble A quintet of performers/composers who aim to create 21st century-sounding chamber music, their experiments in the classical realm built on flute, clarinet, electric guitar, double bass and piano. This free concert premieres a fresh chamber work, Chimera, by UT faculty composer Bradford Blackburn. (Sykes Chapel at UT, Tampa)
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band Ashville’s Booty Band delivers grooving funk rock marked by soulful brawny masculine vocals and sweeter feminine coos and howls, big fatty elastic basslines, some waka-waka guitar, a firm pounding backbeat, gooey keyboard layering and healthy doses of trombone blast; sophomore record Doin’ It Hard was recorded at City of Progress Studios in Miami with DJ leSpam. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
BBQ Acoustic Series w/Good Graeff The folk pop purveying Good Graeff twins — songbirds Brooke (lead vocals, guitar) and Brittany (cello, ukulele, backing coos) — started out busking in the street as wide-eyed 16-year-olds before eventually embarking on separate paths, only to reunite thousands of miles away, in Vietnam, and pick up where they left off. The response was encouraging enough that the sisters returned to their Sarasota-Orlando area homebase, recorded the bright speckled six-song Better Half EP, and now hit New World’s mid-week food, brews and tunes series before launching a short tour that stops in Nashville, Cincinnati (at the Midpoint Music Festival), and Indianapolis, among other places. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Thomas Gold Not to be confused with the astrophysicist who came up with steady state theory, this Thomas Gold is a beat exporting producer, DJ and re-mixer who brings the unz direct from Berlin, Germany, and works primarily within progressive, electro and tech house realms. His current “Remember The Light” fall tour concept is spurred by his forthcoming Axtone Records single, “Remember,” and the crucial role that the lights play in setting the mood for your dance music experience. (The Ritz Ybor, Ybor City)
CLICK HERE to see a complete rundown of shows taking place this week and in the coming weeks.