This weekend's live music highlights:SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6
Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun with Atlantic Oceans, Sun Signs Though the name might inspire mental images of the kind of band that would play between set and setting and Isis, Atlanta’s TTM, TTS takes its New Wave very, very seriously. Synths, machine-assisted beats, sexy female vocals — and it’s done extremely well. You should all be aware of excellent homegrown trio Atlantic Oceans, featuring Tessa and Julian from Sleepy Vikings as well as vocalist Stephanie Anderson; fellow Tampa outfit Sun Signs, a slightly quirkier affair, should be on your radar, too. (Crowbar, Ybor City)—SH
Bertie Higgins with De Lei’ed Parrots Higgins is a singer-songwriter most famous for his 1982 album Just Another Day in Paradise, which included fan favorites “Key Largo” and “Casablanca.” He’s always sort of balanced an AM Gold-informed yacht-rock sound with life-on-the-ocean imagery reminiscent of Jimmy Buffett. And, uh, that’s that, I guess. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)—Scott Harrell
Bobby Amaru wITH Nolan Neil (Unplugged) Amaru is the singer for terrible rap-metal outfit Saliva, but he’s not the guy rap-singing on the band’s earliest and biggest hits — he joined in 2012, so it’s perhaps not really fair to tie him to the legacy of dreck like “Click Click Boom.” He’s a well-rounded rock musician who used to play drums for Burn Season, and this acoustic gig at the State will undoubtedly show more sides to him than the one on display in Saliva. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg) —SH
Black Cobra with Lo-Pan, Thomas Hewitt, Prosecution I’ve got no idea how the two guys in San Francisco’s Black Cobra make such a thick, heavy, chaotic low-end thrashcore sound, but it’s so good I’m not even going to bitch all that much about having to “like” their Facebook page in order to hear the music, which is a stupid, shortsighted thing no band should ever do. Good stuff, though. Columbus, Ohio’s Lo-Pan does a melodic, slow-burn thing that’s somewhat Torche-esque, Ocala’s Thomas Hewitt does a sludgier, stonier type of thing, and The Prosecution, from right down the street, adds the kind of killer riffs and runs that recall Sabbath to the mix. (Orpheum, Ybor City)—SH
Lil Wyte with Dangeruss, Big Diesel, Dub, Krucial, Five Drexler, Los Ghost Memphis, Tenn.’s Lil Wyte has been building his rep in the indie hip-hop scene for more than a decade. He’s got a decent delivery, and often does it over those slower, sizzurp’ed-out southern beats. His latest album, No Sick Days, dropped in April. Top-notch eclectic St. Pete MC Dangeruss and a host of others are sure to turn this show into a party. (Local 662, St. Petersburg)—SH
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
Ol’ Dirty Sundays: Scram Jones The next installment of the weekly dance party brings another big name from the New York music scene, Scram Jones, a DJ, producer and emcee who has some pretty impressive names on his resume — Wu-Tang Clan (both the band and several individual members’ solo LPs), Canibus, Fat Joe, Lloyd Banks, Nas, Style P; he even got a Grammy nom for his work “Your Girl” from Mariah Carey’s multi-platinum Emancipation of Mimi. His DJ mixes are generally pretty hip-hop-heavy: old, new and everything in between. (Crowbar, Ybor City) —Leilani Polk
ALSO THIS WEEKEND
One Trip Little/Lesa Silvermore/Kimi Tortuga/Kristopher James Sat., Sept. 6, Fubar, St. Petersburg
Anthony David feat. Chantae Cann Sat., Sept. 6 , freefall Theatre, St. Petersburg
Sarah Mac Band Sat., Sept. 6, Hideaway Café& Recording Studio, St. Petersburg
Urban Gypsies w/Florida Mountain Boys Sat., Sept. 6, Ale and the Witch, St. Petersburg
Otto Palooza — Retirement Party for Steve Otto Sun., Sept. 7, Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa
Tampa Bay Rays Summer Concert Series: The Wiggles Sun., Sept. 7, Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg