MARK YOUR CALENDARS...
Thursday, Jan. 25: An epic synthesis of EDM, jam bands, cutting-edge sound and lighting delivering one of the most stunning shows anywhere, Gem & Jam Festival kicks off its 12th installment at the Pima County Fairgrounds. This year's lineup includes: Thriftworks, Papadosio, The Russ Liquid Test, Random Rab, Railroad Earth, Greensky Bluegrass, Bass Physics, Emancipator, Michael Menert of Phish, STS9, Lettuce and more... In stark contrast, performing on traditional acoustic instruments—flutes, harp, accordion, bagpipes, bouzouki, violin—Kyklo transship the music from the Aegean Sea to The Coronet... Hailing from South Tucson, Waysted Youth are out promoting their latest album Dear Diary (Rock Avenue Records). If alt-metal is your raison d'être make way to The Loudhouse. With AWG + The Disconnect and Manhigh... Story City, Iowa's hard rockin' psychedelic trio Radio Moscow are at 191 Toole...
Friday, Jan. 26: You heard it here, kids. The Resonars, Phoenix's Nanami Ozone and Lenguas Largas are banding together to bring you "the rock frickin' rollest show of 2018," at Club Congress... Pat Roberts & the Heymakers motor their traditional country/roots/rockabilly sound down I-10 from Phoenix for a stop at Monterey Court. With the dark Appalachian folk and sweet country ballads of Freddy Parish & Nathan Fenoglio... After a hiatus, Knoxville, Tennessee's alt-metal/post-grunge band 10 Years are out touring in support of their eighth album, (How To Live) As Ghosts (Mascot Records). With From Ashes to New, Painted Wives and Pyrotechnica at The Rock... With just a piano and acoustic guitar to guide him, Howe Gelb chases muses at Exo Bar. With country/folk singer-songwriter Gabe Rozzell...
Saturday, Jan. 27: Gird your loins. Día De Las Luchas is gonna be chingon. A night filled with steroid addled luchadores flying through the air, body slamming their nemeses y lanzando putasos. Yep. That's right. With the surf-rock of Shrimp Chaperone holding sway at The Rialto Theater... Not a musical event, per se, but worthy of mention. Arizona's premier gender bending queer performance troop, Boys R Us, take to the stage, in two shows, at 191 Toole... Chill. The "meditative hip-hop stoner loops" of HumBum like the warm smell of colitas will be rising up through the air at Tucson Hop Shop... Calexico are set to travel to the "End of the World With You" in a special acoustic performance at Zia Record Exchange. Their just-released ninth studio album, The Thread That Keeps Us (Anti-Records), will be available for signing... Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association presents grammy-winning Cajun superstars BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet at El Casino Ballroom. With The Carnivaleros. Proceeds to benefit Tucson Folk Festival, one of the oldest free Americana and Folk music festivals in the country...
Sunday, Jan. 28: In 1985, led by singer/guitarist Dave Meniketti, Y&T scored a hit with "Summertime Girls." An infectious dose of pop-metal ear candy that peaked at No. 55 on Billboard's Hot 100. This time around, with a lot less Aqua Net and a touch of grey seeping through the hairline, Y&T rock at Club XS. With Caiden Brewer and Scare Card... Are they a freeform-noise, ambient-psychedelic improvisational jam band? The Bumble Buzz explore their Jungian shadow selves at Crooked Tooth Brewery...
Monday, Jan. 29: Not for the faint of heart. This all-ages show threatens to be an evening of loud instrumental noise, for a good cause. Tucson's Bird Violence released their latest album 2016, brimming full of ambient-doom and droning noise, in 2017. Shake the Baby Til the Love Comes Out is "ephemeral viscera-spewing" math rock from Seattle. And, rounding out the bill are local surf punks The Boogienauts at Spark Project Collective (a non-profit organization created to raise awareness and money—via tattooing, piercing, clothing accessories, art and music—for children with disabilities). Badass...
Tuesday, Jan. 30: On "Teeny Tiny Traveling Folk Band," off Cardboard and Christmas Lights (Rock Candy Recordings), modern folk duo The Rough & Tumble tell an autobiographical tale of life on the road. A married couple, vocalist Mallory Graham and guitarist Scott Tyler have lived in their 16-foot camper, with their dog Puddle, since 2015, leaving tire tracks nationwide. "Scrape a little money together at the redneck bar/Put all the wine on the credit card/Did we make enough?/We can fill the car with unleaded gasoline/God bless the ones who feel too much/Who talk too loud, who have had enough/Who break what stands between all of us/The void, the lie, the truth." Taking the road less traveled, The Rough & Tumble drift into Monterey Court... Led by guitarist Tommy Koffin, all tatted-up with a penchant for pandemonium, Detroit's Koffin Kats took to the road in June 2003 and have yet to stop. With the release of their tenth studio album, Party Time In The End Times (Koffin Kats Records), this hell-raising psychobilly trio show no sign of slowing down. Koffin Kats rip 'n' tear their way through 191 Toole. With "Loose Devils" Texas Trash and The Trainwrecks, things could get insane...
Wednesday, Jan. 31: Roman Catholics are not the only denomination razzed about tipping the chalice. Nationally acclaimed folk singer-songwriter Don Armstrong & the Whiskeypalians will souse Monterey Court. Armstrong, on guitar and 5 string banjo, is backed by an ace band: Nick Coventry (Black Market Trust, Hot Club of Tucson) on gypsy violin and fiddle, Gary Mackender (The Carnivaleros, Kevin Pakulis Band & The Mollys) on accordion and Slim Rost (Way Out West, Ice Nine) on bass. Like a fine aged single-malt these veterans will have you wandering far afield from plotted course... Arizona Friends of Chamber Music celebrate the music of composer Leonard Bernstein at 100 with the Bernstein Bash. At UA's Crowder Hall...
ON THE HORIZON...
"I saw the bright shinies." Austin's favorite "indietronica" band, The Octopus Project, has been releasing joyous party music since 1999. Over the years, they have gained a reputation as an extremely loud, extremely fun live band. Their performances have evolved into elaborate multimedia experiences. In the process becoming festival favorites at Coachella, Lollapalooza and the once fabulous now erstwhile All Tomorrow's Parties. Memory Mirror (Robot High School), the band's sixth studio album, marks The Octopus Project's evolution from purveyors in raw, thrift-store electronica to cutting edge provocateurs. With New Fumes on Friday, Feb. 2 at 191 Toole... Ryan Adams, Conor Oberst and Julien Baker have all placed roses at Los Angeles singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers' feet. At 23, her emotionally charged debut album Stranger in the Alps (Dead Oceans) is drawing attention. On NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series, Bridgers introduces "Motion Sickness" as a song about "being in love with someone who is super mean to you... I hate you for what you did/And I miss you like a little kid.../You're throwing rocks around your room/And while you're bleeding on your back in the glass/I'll be glad that I made it out/And sorry that it all went down like it did.../You said when you met me you were bored/I have emotional motion sickness/Somebody roll the windows down." Her words are introspective, their message expressed in whispers and shouts. With Soccer Mommy on Tuesday, Feb. 6 at 191 Toole... "We're all about love," states the band. Infused with elements of rock and pop, Iration's deep-rooted reggae will fill The Rialto Theater with good vibes on Wednesday, Feb. 7. With The Movement and Tyrone's Jacket...
Until next week, XOXO...