“So uhm ay, listen bae/ Since you’ve been dating your phone all day/ Why don’t you come back down to Earth/ You spend too much time in cyberspace/ Ok, ok, ok this shit’s lame/ FaceTime’s the only way I get laid/ So get off your phone or leave me alone/ Yeah, that would be great” —KYLE “Just A Picture.”
Show Up!: Thursday
At first I was certain I wouldn’t like the flow or style of West Coast rapper KYLE. But after listening to his awkwardly awesome flow, metafictional shout-outs, quirky, sometimes retro instrumentation and glitchy poly-rhythms I gotta say I dig the dude. Overall, he reminds me of the poptastic heights hip-hop is capable of reaching when properly allied with precise musical intuition and deadly chops. On tracks such as “Just A Picture” and “Really? Yeah!” KYLE sounds like the postmodern descendant of The Fresh Prince, loaded up with a boom-box full of hilariously knowing lyrical tirades, sly and complex percussive moments stuck on repeat and his heart in the game, eyes on the prize. KYLE brings his super duper wit and wondrous vision to Launchpad (618 Central SW) on Thursday, April 7, for an all-ages performance that starts at 7pm and costs $16.50. Hey, it ain’t Death Grips or Flying Lotus, but it doesn’t have to be. Check it out.
Show Up!: Friday
Marshmello
Courtesy of the Artist
Marshmello, a mysterious EDM-making entity who some in the music industry think might be Chris Comstock, AKA Dotcom, makes an appearance at the Historic El Rey Theater (622 Central SW) on Friday, April 8. Marshmello says that his work revolves around “deep, fluffy, hybrid melodic sexy trap house,” and rocks a style that incorporates nods to past iterations of various EDM genres, but emphasizes very deep bass and wandering melodies. Longer, more ornate melodies may seem counter-intuitive for electronic dance music, but Marshmello combines them in such a way that causes just as much joyous, interpretive dancing as it does headphone-focused freak-outs. His work definitely has a post-war Asian pop taste to it. That Marshmello’s identity continues to be a thing in EDM nation only adds to the the artist’s allure: We all want to know who this is and where he came from … maybe. His show will run the average 18+ freedom-seeker between $5-15; beats begin to drop at 9pm that night.
Show Up!: Saturday
Leeches of Lore
Via Facebook
Hopefully by Saturday, April 9—having accomplished aural expeditions both flowing and bumpalicious—you’ll be ready for some rocanrol … or in this case its complex, multi-musical genre-bending representative. Leeches of Lore, one of the most accomplished yet still somewhat evil and underground bands to ever rise from the metal ashes of post-millennial Burque, kick off their latest western tour at the Moonlight Lounge (120 Central SW) on Saturday evening. The quartet features Noah Wolters, Andy Lutz, Steve Hammond and Kris Kirby making music that is inherently disturbing yet compelling for its intense attention to hard metal tropes that are often deconstructed through performance. Just kidding, sort of. They fucking rock and do that thing all great rock bands do, sliding from genre to genre while the Devil trails right behind, hot on their trail. For five bones, hear the Leeches of Lore live before they slip away towards the sea for a bit, beginning at 9pm. You must be 21 or older to enter unto this scene.
Show Up!: Sunday
Birds of Chicago
Natalie Ginele Miller
Vocalist Allison Russell and composer/multi-instrumentalist JT Nero, working collaboratively as Birds of Chicago, make music that is deep-river, mid-America soul imbued with rich, plaintive singing and superb confessional and narrative song-writing. Verging on the kinda moody, funky yet tuneful post-’60s R&B and rocking blues aesthetics that gained mass popularity in the pre-disco age, Birds of Chicago combine what is essentially roots music with singer-songwriter issues and a rocanrol swagger. Russell’s voice is hauntingly intense, capable of changing from smoke to fire in a matter of a few beats; Nero’s ear for evocative instrumentation and solid writing skills add to the flames. I just listened to a tune of theirs called “Dim Star of the Palisades,” and I gotta tell you, it felt good to burn. Birds of Chicago has two New Mexico dates on their latest tour in Santa and Burque. Here in town, catch them at The Cooperage (7720 Lomas NE) on Sunday, April 10, at 7:30 pm for just 15 clams.
Show Up!: Monday
Cloud Kickers International
I’d, like, totally go check out a band called Cloud Kickers International. That’s, like, totally possible—I tell myself—because they’ll be gigging at Burt’s Tiki Lounge (313 Gold SW) on Monday, April 11. Their confident, lovingly groovy handle on the sonic territories lying between, upside down and underneath the three-way borders of hip-hop, soul and Afro-beat are some of the most highly excellent sounds emanating from the East Coast these days. Si8mo Greene’s work focuses on the West African concept of Sanfoka, or reaching back to move forward; his collaborator in the Cloud Kickers International project is Young Billie, who came outta the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Nueva York. She’s worked on social justice and music projects, including the Nu World Art Ensemble. They’re more than legit; their formidable, musically and culturally. Their music has an upbeat basis that embraces peaceful reflection, good tuneage and great ganja. Fulani Malik and De Ibrations, Kyle Sutherland and Sun du Bois offer tour support while locals Ogee Gold Mine and Sarah One Love open. It’s only $5 for 21+ music enthusiasts to get in; the encounter with Jah begins at 9pm.
