“This is what I love and can’t stop loving/ Get wasted at parties from 9 til 7 in the morning/ I live for the music/ Rolling blunts, feeling high, getting loaded/ Or take some pills and go to la la land/ Spending all my money on dope and extreme high-priced tickets/ But in the end, it’s all worth it/ I like to live in my own world/ Fuck regular life … I just wanna hear the music.”—Intro to Nocturnal Wonderland 2014 Live Set, Slander (Derek Andersen and Scott Land)Some intense lifestyle choices inevitably confront adherents of the jazz, rocanrol, hip-hop and EDM lifestyles. It’s not necessary to embrace the extremes exemplified above, and one always hopes readers’ ebullient expeditions are measured and reasonable sonic super-experiences without high ticket prices or psychotropic intervention interfering much. That said, prepare yourself for some mighty fine musical moments coming at you this week from deep in the high desert—on the verge of December’s darkness—while the holiday season’s shiny lights begin their yearly twinkle.
Show Up! Thursday
Reighnbeau
Eric J. Martinez
Local feverish tech-dream musical collective NOTHNG FOREVR hosts a Deep Space Party at the historic El Rey Theater (622 Central SW) on Thursday, Nov. 20. Presented as part of the Innovation is Solid Gold series that debuted at this year’s TechFest, this trip to the energetic void features performances by The 1960 Sci-Fi Era, Nathan New, Reighnbeau and BK Beats.Harnessing glitchy, ambient acoustics, neo-disco conceits and haunting samples and keys that range from oblique to percussive, the artists of the NOTHNG FOREVR collective blend diverse electro aesthetics with an overarching commitment to high-tech musical exploration. Mission control begins telegraphing the 21-plus event live from the El Rey stage starting at 9pm. Admission is $5.
Show Up! Friday
’NayNay Shineywater of Library of Sands
Courtesy of the artist
Enigmatic, prolific and propulsive, the music of NayNay Shineywater, late of Humboldt County, Calif., can be disruptively disarming. Armed with a mad guitar and a shifting collection of collaborators, Shineywater’s new project Library of Sands makes an appearance on Friday, Nov. 21, at Burt’s Tiki Lounge (313 Gold SW). Library of Sands is a bluesy trio that growls while it lounges for an effect that positions noise and nuance in startlingly new configurations.Heroically humble yet totally talented Burque denizen William Fowler Collins takes the stage to demonstrate his ability to successfully blend sonic distortion and wanton grooviness. Collins works collaboratively with Raven Chacon, Aaron Turner and James Jackson Toth, but his massively informed and thickly gravitational solo work stands on its own. There’s no cover for this 21-plus show which begins at 9:30pm.
Show Up! Saturday
Slander
Courtesy of the artist
City of Angels hip-hop/EDM duo Slander, which proffered this week’s introductory lyrical reference plays Sunshine Theater (120 Central SW) on Saturday, Nov. 22. DJs and producers Derek Andersen and Scott Land do it with a discernible left-field influence mixed with an electro dance discourse. Slander’s live set from September’s Nocturnal Wonderland Festival has a jammability factor of approximately 9.75 out of 10.EDM party festival circuit veterans with recent gigs at TomorrowWorld and the Moonrise Festival, Slander are a resident act at XS Las Vegas alongside fellow genre-destructors Deadmau5 and Skrillex. Tickets for this 16-plus recitation of rage and glory are only 12 bucks; the stacks begin pulsating at about 8pm and continue until at least 1am.
Show Up! Saturday, Pt. Ii
Al Hurricane
El Defensor Chieftain
If the “All Tomorrow’s Parties” aesthetic of Slander seems overwhelming, do yourself a solid and check out an outstanding, Burque-style celebration of traditional Hispanic music. Los 15 Grandes de Nuevo Mexico Awards Show and Dance is slated for its yearly iteration on Saturday, Nov. 22, at the Route 66 Casino Legends Theater (14500 Central SW, I-40 Exit 140).Featuring local legends like Al Hurricane and Al Hurricane Jr., Sparx, Johnny Sanchez y Puro Norte and Chelsea Chavez, Los 15 Grandes presents the very best in traditional yet ultra-modern Hispano and Latin sounds. The top performers get trophies and awards, but the big winner at this casino-housed concert is the audience. The event is joyous, and the dance afterward absolutely rocks. The evening is open to listeners of all ages, with ticket prices ranging from $45 to $65. The doors swing open at 6:30pm, and the festivities begin at 7:30pm.
Show Up! Sunday
DJ Qbert
Courtesy of the artist
Turntablist/composer Richard Quitevis aka DJ Qbert gigs up north at Santa Fe Sol (37 Fire Place) on Sunday, Nov. 23. A veteran of the Rock Steady Crew and Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Qbert has been working for 25-plus years to define the role of creative turntable manipulation in hip-hop and related genres.Qbert tours in support of Extraterrestria and GalaXXXian, a double set of otherworldly recordings featuring the dude’s signature scratch along with notables like multi-instrumentalist Dana Leong, producer Chad Hugo and the mad, mad keys of Tipsy. Jeremy Ellis, DJ Jimi B and Wae Fonkey open. This 21-plus blast from a spaced-out place costs 25 bucks in advance or 35 galactic credits at the door. It begins at 8pm.
Show Up!
Someone once said that with awesome power comes awesome responsibility. Or something like that. Admit it—there’s a certain power to knowing what comes next musically, what the next concert destination portends. But along with that awesome sense of knowing comes a grand choice. The gift of reason allows for indulgence or reserve; while living inside oneself for the sake of music and a good buzz says something sort of singular, it can also be a many splendored thing that stymies. Our advice? See as many of these shows as you can. Leave the baking for a holiday when you can take the time to reflect at home … while your favorite concert memory oozes from the speakers.
