“Dressed up to the eyes/ It’s a wonderful surprise/ To see your shoes and your spirits rise/ Throwing out your frown/ And just smiling at the sound/ And as sleek as a shriek/ Spinning round and round/ Always take a big bite/ It’s such a gorgeous sight/ To see you eat in the middle of the night/ You can never get enough/ Enough of this stuff … “Friday, I’m in Love,” as written by Robert “I’ll never comb my black and tangled sexy-locks again” Smith and performed by his like-minded rocarol ensemble, The Cure.Even in the pallid realm of gothdom, joy, though necessarily elusive by nature, is indeed possible. In a world where love hurts and makes for realz soul-blackened sufferers out of those who experience nearly any type of emotion, music provides a purity of form that leads away from the edge to a pulsating center. It could be a womb, or the essence of all good and decent moments distilled into pure experience. Or maybe it’s just a comfortable, oft-visited venue where wondrous adherents can rock out ecstatically and still make it home in time to binge watch “True Blood” and snuggle before the sun returns.And that’s that’s just the goths, yo. … I imagine every other subculture in Albuquerque I can think of has probably come to the same conclusion. With that universalism of intent in mind, here’s a week’s worth of what I recommend, curatively speaking.
Show Up!: Friday
Sonido Cachimbo
courtesy of the artist
¡Ja! Just as I predicted—well actually Gustavo Arellano should ultimately get the applause and kudos for this latest development—Latino musical culture has truly infiltrated hipster culture and is now busy getting all conquistadora on local music scenes all over the nation. I knew something was up when I hung out with the dudes from Chicano Batman and they claimed to have the key to the universe hidden amongst them. Anyway, besides that cosmic encounter proof of this new ascendancy an be witnessed first hand at Sister (417 Central Ave. NW) on Friday April 13, during a dance and concert program entitled “Borderless Cumbia.” Burque’s Baracutanga, voted the number one Latin music ensemble by Alibi readers in 2018’s Best of Burque Music reader’s poll is the featured act in this regional showcase. Multi-national, multi-instrumentalist Kiki Villamizar—whose work combines traditional Columbian conceits with subtle psychedelic flare makes an appearance, as does Sonido Cachimbo. They’re from Juarez, a location that has helped the band define a sound that twists up Caribbean rhythms with Tropicalia and Mexicano melodicism; their album Fiesta Popular has been dancing on my turntable at home since last summer. 9pm • $12 to $15 • 21+.
Show Up!: Saturday Part I
The Doobie Brothers
courtesy of the artist
I admit there was a certain flirtation among members of my high school tribe (read: long-haired jazzy freaks that eschewed hippies and would later proclaim their affinity for punk rock and flannel shirts) with the Doobie Brothers. As any major dude will tell you, involvement with Steely Dan often results in bizzare cultural digressions and tangential behavior. The thing was, this sorta-offshoot of the mighty Dan—including vocalist Michael McDonald and bassist Skunk Baxter—was always a bit too saccharine and melodically predictable for my tastes. But they did have some big and decent hits, from the rock-radio friendly “China Grove” to the cool jazz inflected, “Minute by Minute.” See the remaining members of the once huge ensemble gig at Route 66 Casino’s Legends Theater (14500 Central Ave. SW) on Saturday, April 14. These fellows have fine chops and you oughta hear their crispy-clean and effervescent take on pop before you sink into the big sleep. I’m telling you, it keeps you running. 8pm • $45 to $95 • All-ages.
Show Up!: Saturday Part Ii
Pherkad
I definitely think you should see and hear Pherkad. As it so happens you have a chance to witness this fearlessly artful, funky and uplifting dubstep, techno and everything else unnameable jam band—the winner of this year’s Best of Burque Music readers’ poll in the Experimental/Avant-garde category, ya know—on Saturday, April 14, at the Launchpad (618 Central Ave. SW). They’ll be premiering their latest work, Learning to Fly Again. In case you are interested and so I dasn’t have to repeat myself, this is what I wrote a couple of weeks ago regarding this local treasure: “Pherkad arrives from out of the dusky, dreamy realm of the jam band, combining nuanced traces of a multitude of other genres—including jazz, rock and folk—to make a rocanrol stew that is intriguing, tasteful and totally, incomparably experimental. … Together their output is authentically psychedelic, not ‘psych,’ a good thing when listening to the galaxy for proof of intelligent life.” Zenova and Mahdood provide sonic support. 9pm • $10 • 21+.
Show Up!: Tuesday
manhigh
courtesy of the artist
If you would like to hear the newest, latest and most profoundly distrubing versions of rocanrol currently available to audio slaves the world around—but particularly in Albuquerque where the weird seem to be drawn like moths to a head-banging flame—then truck it on over to Launchpad (618 Central Ave SW) Tuesday night, April 17, for a hootenanny designed with the eclectic, electric rocker in mind. California’s current contribution to the underground sound, El Myrons jam out on a bill complemented by home run hitters like Albuquerque’s Acceptable Losses—whose cover of “16 Tons” crushes—and psych-shoegaze harmony kings Panther Car (outta Montana, where they are not dental floss tycoons) make an appearance that is supplemented by manhigh, the project of the Gambino family and former Resin Records roustabout Ray Gutierrez. Electric Sheep, but not the Electric Sheep fronted by Tom Morello, open this spectacular can of rock and roll stew. 8pm • $5 • 21+.
