THURSDAY, APRIL 17Manchester Orchestra w/Balance & Composure/Kevin Devine Manchester Orchestra has churned out material from Atlanta on their own Favorite Gentlemen imprint since the mid-‘00s. Andy Hull & Co. delivers a more ferocious, guitar-grinding and heavy driving sound on fourth full-length COPE. In his statement about the album’s sonic trajectory, Hull explained, “Whereas Simple Math was a palate with each song a different color, I wanted this to be black and red the whole time… a crazy-loud rock record.” Set opener “Top Notch” is all taut zipping basslines and crunchy guitars carried on crashing rhythms, while the title track is sinister and brooding with thick fuzzed-out riffage dosed in reverb as Hull’s vocals take on a hopeless wailing tone. Even the sweetly harmonized refrain of “Every Stone” is book-ended by propulsive instrumentals. Hull’s Bad Books cohort and talent in his own right, indie folk singer-songwriter Kevin Devine, is among the openers on Manchester Orchestra’s current tour. (The Ritz Ybor, Ybor City)
Blessthefall w/Silverstein/The Amity Affliction/Secrets Heartist How do all these Warped Tour regulars/might be Christian-might not metalcore acts distinguish themselves from each other? Not sure, haven’t figured it out yet, sounds like they all use a similar formula of clean vocals-meet-harsh roars and screams, shredding and crushing guitars paired with syncopated rhythmic breakdowns, and a too-heavy dose of electronic something or other just to add a WTF? factor. Arizona metalcore quintet Blessthefall ain’t half bad; 2013’s Hollow Bodies has electro sonics but they are blessedly underused. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
FRIDAY, APRIL 18
Wahh feat. Sri Rajib Karmaker Apparently, 'Wahh!' is a word in India that articulates “Great Inner Joy and Appreciation.” The local ensemble that adopted the label describes their sound as “East meets West fusion,” essentially combining Indian Raga music with infectious Western jazz, funk and pop-melodic sensibilities. On this night, Shanhk Lahiri (tabla, vocals), guitarist Peter Mongaya, drummer/percussionist Michael Washington and bassist Ray “Rayzilla” Villadonga are joined by sitar master Rajib Karmakar, who plays traditional style and using an instrument of his own making that triggers midi samples. Wahh also performs at The Dirty Shame in Ybor on Sat., April 19. (Hideaway Café& Recording Studio, St. Petersburg)
People’s Blues of Richmond w/Florida Night Heat/Purple/Sonic Grafitti People's Blues of Richmond played at New World in January, and whew, did they set the place on fire. I've likened them to a cross between The Black Keys and Black Sabbath with a healthy dose of Led Zeppelin cock strut appeal, their dark and heavy rock n' roll dosed in trippiness and driven by the metal shredded guitar and bluesy riffage of frontman Tim Beavers (whose vocals are of the hoarse talk-sung variety), the muscular funky grooves of bassist Matthew Volkes, and the ridiculous kit-pummeling and tempo-changing of drummer Nekoro Williams. Their set drew heavily from their latest, 2013's Good Time Suicide, but they also threw in a howling cover of Dr. Dog's "Die Die Die." It's always nice when indie rock bands pay tribute to their slightly elder peers. Florida Night Heat adds oozy stoner sludge to the bill. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Vanilla Fudge w/The Lauren Mitchell Band A psych rock outfit that has re-banded sporadically in the decades following their short-lived but significant ‘60s-era reign, Vanilla Fudge pieced together loose, crawling, acid-melted covers of pop songs, most notably transforming “You Keep Me Hangin On” (originally charted by The Supremes) into a sprawling, groove-tumbling epic while Donovan’s “Season of the Witch” became an expansive, spine-tingling horror film score. Currently, three of the four original members – vocalist/organist Mark Stein, lead guitarist/vocalist Vince Martell, and drummer/vocalist Carmine Appice – are joined by bassist Pete Bremy while Tim Bogert enjoys retirement. (Largo Cultural Center, Largo)
The Boxcars w/Balsam Range A night of bluegrass melodies as headed up by The Boxcars, a Tennessee quintet with drawling three-part harmonies, instrumentals built on mandolin, banjo, fiddle, guitar and upright bass, and a collective resume that includes shifts playing with Alison Krauss & Union Station and J.D. Crowe & The New South. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
Future: Official Honest Album Release Concert You know that rapper with the effected vocals who keeps throwing verses on all those charting hip hop tracks, like Lil Wayne’s “Love Me” and Ace Hood’s “Bugatti”? That’s Atlanta-bred Future (aka Nayvadius D. Wilburn). He has a few charters himself (namely “Turn on the Lights”), though I can see “Move That Dope” featuring Pharrell, Pusha T and Casino (off sophomore LP Honest) becoming the next hot club banger; it’s already climbed to No. 12 on the Rap charts. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)
SATURDAY, APRIL 19
Hideaway Cafe Celebrates 5 Years w/Dave Williamson & Friends/Rebekah Pulley & the Reluctant Prophets/TC Carr & Bolts of Blue/Kasondra Rose & the Sleepless/John Kelly Band/ Will Erickson/Dean Johanesen/Ronny Elliott/more The listening room-style venue and recording studio has made it through various ups and downs (and a near-closing of its public stage) to reach its 5-year anniversary. A wide-ranging line-up of singer-songwriter-led ensembles and solo artists perform throughout the day in honor of the milestone, including whiskey n’ honey-voiced roots and folk-rock songstress Rebekah Pulley with her full band and newer dulcet-toned soul and blues-funk pushing Kasondra Rose plus her ensemble. (Hideaway Café& Recording Studio, St. Petersburg)
Record Store Day 2014 Five biggie record stores hosts music all day long. More info here. (Daddy Kool, Planet Retro & Bananas in St. Pete, Mojo Books & Records & Microgroove in Tampa)
Come Back Alice CD Release Show w/Ari & The Alibis Not quite a local but embraced by the Bay area jam scene just the same due to their high-quality musicianship and spirited live vibe, Sarasota’s Come Back Alice brews up a Southern-soaked blend of string-swelled gypsy funk, drippy wah-wah psychedelia, organ-fired blues and that knotty rollicking guitar-soloed-and-shredded style of prog rock that suggests Allmans/Umphrey’s influence, all powered by frontman Tony Tyler (vocals, guitar, B3) and feminine sidekick, violin wailer and vocal harmonizer Dani Jaye. This show celebrates the release of their eponymous full-length debut. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefer Band If your biggest complaint in life is you always seem to be searching for that lost shaker of salt for your margarita, you might be a Parrothead. Or, you know, a fan of tequila. Either way, I imagine you have some Jimmy Buffett on your iPod, and might want to join the masses converging on the amphitheater this Saturday night to sing-along with the beach-bummin’ singer-songwriter as he and his band cycle through his 27-album catalog, but make sure to touch on all the biggies –“Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,”“A Pirate Looks at Forty,”“Cheeseburger in Paradise” and the aforementioned “Margaritaville” among them. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheater, Tampa)
Air Supply The Aussie soft rock duo had a string of schmaltzy hits on the early ’80s U.S. adult contemporary charts –“Lost in Love,”“Here I Am,”“Even the Nights Are Better” and (my personal fave) “Making Love Out of Nothing at All.” (Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)
Four Star Riot CD Release Party Bay area staple Four Star Riot – which has an alt rock sound marked by hints of ska, funk, power pop and soul – stages a party in honor of releasing a new four-song EP. First set touches on all-original material; second set features “fun covers.” Joining FSR for a few songs and appearing on the EP’s hip-hop vibing “Hey Jackie” is Jon Ditty of project: SAVE c.a. hircus, who also plays during intermission. (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin)
SUNDAY, APRIL 20
Bad Veins w/Heavy Metals/Grey Market I know, I know – on this night, you want to veg out on the couch, put on The Big Lebowski, and smoke a doobie while peacefully watching the film for the 187th time. I feel ya. And sure, Dude-ing it is a perfectly satisfactory way to honor the unofficial 4/20 holiday. However, Bad Veins provide good motivation to get you off that couch. The Cincinnati duo makes a racket twice their size in hooky alt rock with light New Wave persuasions. Multi-instrumental bandleader Benjamin Davis jumps between guitars and keys and sings on a set of mics that includes a rotary phone receiver; he and beat-keeper Jake Bonta are backed by a 1970s reel-to-reel they’ve nicknamed Irene. Grey Market serves moody, experimental support while Heavy Metals kicks out psych-garage drive. If you throw down so hard you want to keep the adrenaline rolling, linger for the 420 Edition of Ol’ Dirty Sundays with Miami DJ’s Brian Jones and Rob Riggs. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
MONDAY, APRIL 21
Ghost Mice w/Bernays Propaganda/Madison Turner/Ricky Steece Local folk-punk songstress Madison Turner has organized this special all-ages Monday evening bill (on which she also plays with a full band, promoting her new solo album Life). Headlining the show is Indiana trio Ghost Mice, their roots-flecked sound marked by dual punk-snotty boy-girl harmonies, dark-themed song topics, and unexpectedly appealing notes of melody via melodica, violin, mandolin and concertina. Also of note: Bernays Propaganda, a vigorous post-punk/New Wave band from Macedonia with a sweet-yet-sharp-voiced frontwoman. (Epic Problem, Tampa)
TUESDAY, APRIL 22
Cloud Nothings w/Ryley Walker/Zulu Wave "I’m Not Part of Me" off new Cloud Nothings full-length Here and Nowhere Else finds the indie rock trio a cheerful sonic state; the drums pummel with laser-precise fills while overdriven power chords bounce at breakneck speed just below Dylan Baldi’s perfectly imperfect congested delivery. All of it goes full-force in a chorus that’ll surely make for some great, unintelligible sing-alongs live. It’s a straightforward, catchy, and a novel leap from where they left off in 2012’s Attack on Memory, a melodious onslaught of punk ferocity that felt dated in the best way possible, hearkening back to 1990’s outfits like Fugazi and Sunny Day Real Estate but maintaining a sense of youthful fuck-all-this-ness. (Crowbar, Ybor City) –Andrew Silverstein
A Very Special Multi-Media Event with Todd Snider Among WMNF’s most beloved favorites, sly and wry roots-folk singer-songwriter Todd Snider must rank somewhere near the top. For this event, his music takes a backseat to two special presentations. The fun kicks off with a 30-minute preview screening of East Nashville Tonight, meant to be the Barnes Brothers’ documentary about touring songwriters from the East Nashville neighborhood with Snider and Elizabeth Cook at its center, in reality something entirely different fueled by drugs and booze and music. After the screening, Snider reads selections from his forthcoming book, I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like (Mostly True Tall Tales), due out April 29 on Da Capo Press. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
EMEFE w/Gailath Group EMEFE is a many-piece collective maestro-ed by 22-year-old Greenwich Village-raised drummer, singer and composer Miles Arntzen, who was mentored by Billy Martin (Medeski Martin & Wood), is an official member of Antibalas (a few of its instrumentalists play in EMEFE), and he beat-keeps for Superhuman Happiness, too. EMEFE’s exceptionally vibrant sound is informed by Arntzen's on-the-job training, his love of Fela Kuti and his cinemascopic mood-building style that is, more often than not, free of vocals. The result is an elastic grooving, horn-blown, percussive-imbued fusion of funk and Afrobeat heavily dosed in Latin jazz, jangly pop, rock and soul flavors. Super tasty stuff and worthy of some weeknight attention. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23
GRiZ w/Michal Menert/Late Night Radio Amid the rising tide of electro sound makers, GRiZ (real name Grant Kwiecinski) is a talent to be reckoned with. He hails from Detroit, has a hip hop ear for production qualities and vinyl sampling that reaches into old school soul and electro funk territories as well we newer glitchy bass, synth fuzz and bouncy beat-dropped landscapes, and he finishes it off with his trademark instrument of choice, beyond computers and controller boards: live saxophone. But wait, hold the snort – he doesn’t do that sexy smooth thing, not much, and when he does, it’s totally appropriate; mostly he plays with effects or dissonance or uses it as another texture to loop into the mix. GRiZ brings his own visuals and light production to the “Rebel Era Tour” behind his sophomore album of the same name. (The Ritz Ybor, Ybor City)
For a complete breakdown of this week's concerts plus more concerts on the horizon, click here.