“Blood-shaking, clot-making viper that feeds on a mouse/ poaching the eggs of the snakes that I slayed in the south/ over and under and sideways/ I’m great at ka-prow/ gave up my baby for more babies/ see you around/ ‘cuz now I got a boy in a hardcore band/ I got a boy, likes to fuck to Can/ then there’s the boy sings those sad songs I like/ I got too many boyfriends to see you tonight” – “Taylor Swift” by Speedy Ortiz.Taylor Swift is either damn funny or horrific, according some cultural critics. But Sadie Dupuis’ faux sugary Southern drawl in the above pop fantasia is pretty damn good too. In any case, there’re a heap of awesomely awesome shows coming up this week and I hope that I see you around. Get it? Good. Here goes.
Show Up!: Thursday
Russell James Pyle has been gigging all over the damned country, rising up through the ranks, as it were, as he establishes himself as a singular and substantive voice in the realm of American music. Pyle’s rough-hewn voice, twangy guitar-picking tendencies and southern-fried musical arrangements are plaintive and authentic; he’s got that Levon Helm and the Band or Dylan as John Wesley Harding sound down, but adds to it with his own vision of life and longing. Pyle will perform music from his first solo effort, Rise, on Thursday, June 9, at Marble Brewery (111 Marble NW); he’ll be backed by Dry Heat, a backup outfit of legendary Burque sidemen. Asked about his new aural adventure, Pyle told Weekly Alibi, “I can relate to struggle more than any other experience. There is a lot of struggle in the natural world and I draw inspiration, hope and healing from it.” Catch a glimpse of Americana’s sometimes twisting, but always triumphant future for free, beginning at 7pm (21+).
Show Up!: Friday
There’ll be more Americana coming out the chute, rodeo-like and rocking, at The Co-Op (415 Central NW) on Friday June 10. That’s when Kristina Jacobsen, Kyle Martin and Kevin Herig share a triple bill guaranteed to lend nuance to notions about what exactly comprises the genre. Here’s a clue, dear reader: It’s the purest of arcadian country tuneage mixed up nicely with rocanrol sentiments and solid playing. Jacobsen is an ethnomusicologist by trade who is on the music faculty at UNM; her initial recording, Three Roses features her alluring alto authentically buoyed by acutely sensitive instrumentation and telling narratives. Kyle Martin is a rocanrol cowboy who has developed the term “Westrock” to describe the melange of sounds and influences that come together under his aegis. There’s some ZZ Top thrown in there for good measure—against an expansive backdrop of hellacious honky tonk and side-winding sauciness. Singer-songwriter Kevin Herig, whose complex melodies and mellifluous vocals make for challenging yet joyful listening, opens the show. This all ages hoedown happens at 7pm.
Show Up!: Saturday
For realz and for sure, the music created by London-based artist and musician TroyBoi is some of the most fantastically deep and therefore dig-able sound dust available on this here planet right now. TroyBoi will appear at Launchpad (618 Central SW) on Saturday June 1l for a show practically guaranteed to turn rockers into ravers. Slyly melodic, yet glitchy and punctuated with miles-deep bass lines—deconstructed but obviously respectful of tradition—TroyBoi’s oeuvre is almost unclassifiable. But that doesn’t mean it’s difficult listening; in fact it’s some of the most unitary and inspiring work currently coming out of Old Blighty. On pieces like “O.G.” and “Do You?” the dude practically takes the world of human sounds apart just to get folks out on the dance floor and into a proper trance. The artist himself refers to this holy and unholy fusion of forms as “MyStyle,” but really he’s attempting to describe the universal, I think. This 13+ expedition into fresh new lands that one can exploit for wondrous musical bounty begins at 8pm; it will cost $16 to board the rocketship that goes there.
Show Up!: Wednesday
Razakel
Courtesy of the artist/via Youtube
You know, until I started writing this column about an hour ago, I had never really stumbled onto woman-produced goth-horrorcore-death-metal-rap. But we can all thank the nation of Juggalos (and probably an over-abundance of Faygo-induced nightmares) for the creation, implementation and manifestation of the “Murder the World Tour” featuring Razakel and Smallz One. The two enfant terribles bring their faux-murderous, resoundingly rapped-out schtick to The Jam Spot (239 San Pedro NE) on Wednesday, June 15. Razakel draws her fierce and unflinching flow from the occult and vasty deep; recently she said this about her work: “Some of the things I say are vile and repulsive but you cannot deny the fact that it grabs your attention. I am the guilty pleasure among this genre.” Smallz One meanwhile focuses her funerary craft on inky emotions, telling Faygoluvers magazine (told you so!) that “I’ve seen a lot of fucked up shit, I’ve met a lot of fucked up people. I sit back, smile … then hit the pen and paper.” This show is definitely worth checking out, if only for the same reason that Jeffery Beaumont was damn curious about what was really going on in that apartment on Lincoln Street. Blue Velvet references aside, this interesting musical diversion is too dark to ignore. It’s all-ages, 12 bucks and begins at about 7pm; Raymond, get the car!
