For a young band, local psych-pop outfit You has already opened for an impressive roster of acts: akron/family, Chrome Sparks, M. Geddes Gengras, Maserati, Outer Minds and Religious Girls. Their latest EP, Green Suite, is available as a name-your-price download on Bandcamp: bit.ly/yougreensuite. On the 10-minute title track, shimmery psych-pop whispers of a million crushes before segueing into a full-tilt jam session. You hosts a release party for a new 7-inch, Cadillac Sweep, at The Plant (1407 Fourth Street SW) on Saturday, Oct. 12. The show starts at 9pm, and admission is $5. Post War Germany and Uranium Worker open.
Four Up Swamp-Pop Spiritual
Widowspeak
Country-western and pop-inflected rock and roll duo Widowspeak has purveyed its hazy, swampy twang since 2010. Members of the Captured Tracks roster, Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas aka Widowspeak have only just begun, and they already have two impressive full-lengths under their hip-slung, worn leather belt. Their upcoming EP, The Swamps, drops on Oct. 29, and its singles, candy-colored “Calico” and echo-laden “True Believer,” bode well for Widowspeak’s expansive, transcendent sound and body of work. Witness Widowspeak at Low Spirits (2823 Second Street NW) on Sunday, Oct. 13, along with self-described “new age/slow dance/adult contemporary/spiritual” group Pure Bathing Culture. This 21-and-over show swoons to life at 8pm, and admission is $8.
Four Up Post-’60S Avant-Garde Jazz
Tom Guralnick
Mark Weber
Tom Guralnick, founder and director of Outpost Performance Space, revives a lecture series from the Outpost of yore with a series of informal, layman-friendly afternoon music lectures. On Sunday, Oct. 13 at 2pm, the subject is avant-garde jazz from the ’60s onward, and the featured speaker is former touring experimental saxophonist Guralnick himself. On Nov. 17, local bandleader César Bauvallet (Son Como Son, Tradiciones) presents an afternoon session exploring Latin jazz. Hosted at Outpost Performance Space (210 Yale SE), this lecture series provides a budget-conscious—tickets are just five bucks—way to seriously expand your musical horizons on otherwise lazy Sunday afternoons.
Four Up A Haunted Funhouse
Caravan of Thieves
Connecticut quartet Caravan of Thieves describe themselves as swingin’, serenading, firebreathing circus freaks and gypsies. Rooted in an aural alchemy of 1930s swing, gypsy jazz rhythms and popular music, Caravan of Thieves is a combo of acoustic instrumentation—acoustic guitars, upright bass and violin—and dark lyricism that may serve as a pre-marigold season sonic celebration of, say, the spirit of autumn. Take the opening lyrics from “Raise the Dead”: “Hey love, you’re not still afraid of our dearly departed, right?/ ’Cause Earhart, Mozart, Joan of Arc and all of their friends are expected tonight.” Catch the gypsy troubadours and local “grit und drang” folk/Americana band Pawn Drive at Low Spirits (2823 Second Street NW) on Wednesday, Oct. 16. The stage lights up at 7pm at this 21-and-over (sans parent or guardian) recital, and tickets are $12 presale and $15 day of show.
