THURSDAY, MAY 8Blitzen Trapper w/Lauris Vidal Blitzen Trapper unites alt country timbres – rusted drawling vocals and haunting harmonies, guitars with Southern greasy riffs, slides and solos, fine placement of banjo picks and strums, howling tube-amped harmonica blows or clipped bursts – with groove-strutting bass funk and keyboards, ambling rhythms that sometimes hit a roiling block-rocking stride, surprising experiments in production, sampling and atmospherics, and wise sage lyrics like, “You can run for a million miles but you’ll never outrun your name.” The Portland quintet’s crunchy, sunny sometimes-styled “Rocky Mountain Whoop-ass” sound has been showcased on seven full-lengths, the most recent last year’s VII. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
Official Purple Hatter’s Ball Pre-Party w/Rising Appalachia/ArtOfficial/Oak Hay/JUN A weekend celebration of healing, arts and music, Purple Hatter’s Ball is held three hours north of here at Spirit of Suwannee Music Park to honor the memory of Rachel Morningstar Hoffman, a 23-year-old college grad murdered while working as a police informant, but whose death spurred a state-wide change to policy dubbed “Rachel's Law." Headlining the official Bay area pre-party is a New Orleans act that also plays the Ball, Rising Appalachia, piloted by crunchy sensual sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith. The twosome sets their sweetly harmonized vocals – soulful, mountain-hewn, spoken word-flung or imbued with hints of the exotic – against a fusion of folk, world music, hip hop and jazz, the diverse textures crafted on banjos, fiddles, global percussion paired with electronic beat production, and sound-making devices ranging from kalimba to washboard to beat-boxing mouths. (Local 662, St. Petersburg)
The Underachievers w/Denzel Curry & Dillon Cooper In “The Proclamation,” over psych-hop production that samples the haunting backing vocals and watery guitar lines from The Rolling Stones’“Gimme Shelter,” slick-flowing, quick-spitting rappers Issa Dash and AK (The Underachievers) wax on some intellectually stimulating subject matter: disregarding universal negativity, creating your own reality, finding your third eye and becoming enlightened, smoking weed and taking LSD to open your chakras… All this amid essentially announcing their efforts to keep the rap game politically, socially and spiritually relevant while spreading a message of love and connection. The Brooklyn-based indie hip hop duo has managed to win over critics with their mix of heady bravado and street lexicon; Pitchfork.com gave last year’s Indigoism mixtape a fatty 8.0 rating and forthcoming debut full-length The Cellar Door: Terminus Ut Exordium (out next week via Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label) is already drumming up a mighty buzz with first single “Incandescent,” featuring beat-busting production by Ryan Hemsworth. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
FRIDAY, MAY 9
Tropical Heatwave 2014 w/The Hold Steady/Matrimony/Bright Light Social Hour/Katchafire/Moon Hooch/Black Taxi/New Madrid/Elephant Stone/many more WMNF’s annual musical blow-out continues its newish tradition of a Friday night kick-off party at Cuban Club and New World Brewery, adding stages at Crowbar, Orpheum, Carmine’s and Market on 7th for Saturday’s main event, together encompassing more than 50 bands touching on pretty much any genre you can think of (and probably a few you’ve never even heard of – Hindi-indie rock included). More info HERE. (Various venues, Ybor City)
Mike Dillon Band w/Legendary JC’s Prolific collaborator and beats force-of-nature Mike Dillon draws from an arsenal of drums, percussion and vibraphone, his grunts, howls, groans and crusty intones wheeling over lurid, outside-the-box prog rock with heavy punk-kicking and jazz-grooving tang. Dillon’s frenetic sonic imagination bore fruit most recently in just-released full-length Band of Outsiders with his current project, which features three New Orleans-bred musicians –“High Priestess of Trombone” Carly Meyers, bassist Patrick McDevitt and drummer Adam Gertner. His knack for exploring bizarre and comical territories, both sonically and lyrically, is most definitely Zappa informed, though other Outsiders inspirations included two tours of Mexico, a steady dose of Brazilian music, The Melvins, Deerhoof, Robert Anton Wilson, William S. Burroughs and all things New Orleans. According to Dillon, the resulting concoction is “the freakiest, most vibrant dance music on the planet.” He brings his dynamic live show to the Skipperdome, heating up the place just as much as the funk and soul revue of Legendary JC’s, if in an entirely different manner... (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
Classic Albums Live: Dark Side of the Moon Not a tribute act, per se, Classic Albums Live faithfully recreates a seminal album in a live concert setting, from start to finish, note for note and with extreme attention to detail. For this presentation of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, 10 vocalists and musicians deliver the psychedelic odyssey along with additional hits from the Floyd repertoire. (Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)
A Taste of Pinellas: Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo/Bruce Hornsby and The Noisemakers/Loverboy (Friday); Blues Brothers starring Dan Aykroyd & Jim Belushi/KC & the Sunshine Band (Saturday) A Taste of Pinellas has returned from hiatus and moved up a few weeks, likely to avoid the hurricane season rains that have come down on past editions, but unfortunately bumping up against this year’s Tropical Heatwave. Not that the two simultaneous festivals are ultimately drawing the same crowd – Taste leans to retro and classic sounds, with Friday night’s lineup touching on ‘80s hitmakers like Pat Benatar & hubbie/collaborator Neil Giraldo (“Love Is a Battlefield,”“Hit Me with Your Best Shot,”“We Belong”), Bruce Hornsby (“The Way It Is,”“Valley Road”) and Loverboy (“Turn Me Loose,”“Working for the Weekend”; interview with frontman Mike Reno at cltampa.com/music), while Saturday is a more varied sonic stew with the comic shuffle of Blues Brothers and some disco funkin’ good times with KC & the Sunshine Band (“That's the Way (I Like It),”“Get Down Tonight”). (Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg)
Il Divo: The Greatest Songs of Broadway Live The Simon Cowell-created Il Divo – an operatic pop quartet with international multi-platinum crossover success – mark 10 years in 2014 and hit town backing sixth studio album, A Musical Affair, a collection of songs inspired by Broadway shows like West Side Story, Carousel and Phantom of the Opera. (Carol Morsani Hall at Straz Center for Performing Arts, Tampa)
JUN Birthday Show and Tour Kick Off A CL favorite with warm, rich vocals and distinctive vibrato-bent phrasing hits the road backing her third full-length effort, this year’s The Heart and Home, The Body and Throne. Local anti-folk multi-instrumentalist composer/producer JUN – who marries elements of hip hop, jazz, experimental electro, world music and rock into her sound – is joined by violin player Rick LaBarbera for this Hideaway set/birthday party/tour kick-off/live recording event. Opening the set is Ophelia, the project of another instrument juggler, Roger Lanfranchi, who layers finger-picked guitar, percussion and cello into melodic forays sometimes touched by ethereal vocals. (Hideaway Café& Recording Studio, St. Petersburg)
TFO Presents The Music of the Eagles The Florida Orchestra’s last Rock Series concert of the season pays tribute to The Eagles, with a full rock band featuring vocalists Terry Brock, Glenn DeLaune and John Hines performing a program of hits by The Eagles –“Witchy Woman,”“Hotel California” and the like – with full TFO backing. (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg)
The Movement w/Synergy in a Cup Philly foursome The Movement crafts a mix of alt reggae rock, hip hop and dub marked by bouncing and swaying rhythms, thick basslines, guitars and keys that vary between drippy melodic noteplay or funky riffing grooves, and rapped verses paired with high-toned vocal harmonies delivering uplifting messages (“We all must walk this road sometimes… Feel the rays of sun on your face and you know that you’ll be just fine”). (Crowbar, Ybor City)
You Me at Six w/ Deaf Havana/Stars In Stereo/The Downtown Fiction Brewing up that particular brand of alt rock that’s lightly shaded in post-hardcore guitar distortion and emo-drenched vocal urgency is British outfit You Me at Six, not so famous here as overseas, though 2014 fourth album Youth Cavalier seemed to break through to U.S. audiences, peaking at No. 1 on the Heatseekers charts its first week out. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
SATURDAY, MAY 10
Nate Najar Trio: From Europe With Love Local jazz guitarist Najar is always up to something, whether it’s recording with his trio (the last album was a tribute, Blues For Night People: The Nate Najar Trio Remembers Charlie Byrd) or staging lightly-themed programs at Palladium like this Saturday night concert inspired by his recent European travels. Joining him are drummer Eddie Metz, Jr. and bassist Alejandro Arenas. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
Legends of Hip Hop w/Rakim/Slick Rick Two legendary heavy-hitters who came up during hip hop’s golden age land at Jannus for this night of throwback jams. Rakim (of "Don't Sweat the Technique"/Eric B. & Rakim fame) is counted among the genre’s most influential emcees, ranked No. 1 on The Source’s 'Top 50 Lyricists of All Time' and listed as one of MTV’s “Greatest MCs of All Time,’ among numerous other honors. Slick Rick is the British-American rapper with the conversational storytelling style you likely remember best from his 1984 hit, “La Di Da Di” and previous stage moniker, Ricky Dee; he made No. 15 on The Source’s aforementioned list… (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)
SUNDAY, MAY 11
Blueprint w/Count Bass D/DJ Rare Groove In the title track off his just-released full-length, “Respect the Architect,” Rhymesayers artist, Greenhouse Effect member and frequent RJD2 associate Blueprint opens, “You want the fly shit? You got the right brother / Catch a chem trail right after I fly over…” He continues to flow about his spot in the hierarchy of hip-hop over production imbued with a sense of dark urgency and dramatic-vibing string samples. The indie producer/emcee backs his new record with support from Count Bass D, a rapper and multi-instrumentalist producer from Atlanta who issued a deluxe 10-year-anniversary re-release of his breakthrough, Dwight Spitz, last year. (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin)
The Wanted w/Cassio Monroe/Midnight Red on the Fillmore UK boy band The Wanted makes vanilla-flavored teeny-bopper dance pop that hit U.S. charts in 2011 with "Glad You Came." Their name recognition here grew a bit with the debut of E! reality series The Wanted Life, which followed the fivesome as they recorded their third and latest album, 2013’s Word of Mouth, and prepped for the world tour that stops here on this night and marks their last time on the road before taking a hiatus. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)
I See Stars w/Like Moths to Flames/Ghost Town/Miss Fortune If there’s a subgenre of -core music that sounds any less appealing than “electronicore,” I’d be hard-pressed to find it. I See Stars, from Michigan, are among its leaders, fusing metalcore heaviness (crushing guitars, pounding rhythms, a balance of saccharine-emo vocals and harsh grunts and roars) with blitzing pulses of electro programming and torrents of synths that blast dubstep-rooted womp and fuzz. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 14
The Gipsy Kings Chances are you’ve heard The Gipsy Kings’ cover of “Hotel California,” in The Big Lebowski or HBO series Entourage, though The Gipsy Kings have spent nearly three decades spreading their rumba flamenco music around the world. France-spawned but taking heavy influence from Spain’s southern gypsy (Gitane) culture, their bright and distinctive sound – which fuses traditional flamenco music with pop, gypsy folk, reggae, jazz and Latin and Cuban styles – finally earned them a Grammy win this year, after six nominations in the Best World Music Album category. This date falls on the second leg of the group's 25th Anniversary Tour commemorating the release of their self-titled debut while also supporting their most recent, the Grammy-winning Savor Flamenco. (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg)
Shai Hulud w/Seeker/Xenomatic/New Cathedral New York-by-way-of-Pompano Beach, Fla. outfit Shai Hulud purveys hardcore punk of an prog-aggressive nature, i.e., the galloping rhythms and self-righteous barking, shouting and multi-roar choruses are accompanied by technically precise guitar shreds and changing tempos. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
Deer Tick w/Langhorne Slim & the Law/Have Gun, Will Travel Roots music fans are treated to a triple threat of solid tunes on this Hump Day show, as led by Rhode Island outfit Deer Tick, which infuses their twangy indie rock with ‘70s grooves and pop melodic catchiness in 2013 fifth full-length Negativity. Derby hat-sporting singer-songwriter Langhorne Slim and his band, the Law, deliver on heartfelt alt country with plenty of rollicking ups and melancholy downs, while Brandenton faves Have Gun, Will Travel warm the stage with vigorous vintage-hued Americana. (Crowbar, Ybor City)