Monday 4/11
Adia Victoria at the Turf Club – TICKETS
Adia Victoria is a daughter of the South, a born and bred South Carolinian who now makes her home in Nashville, Tennessee. It is no surprise, then, that stories of the South find their way into her music, into the lyrics she pens and the chords she plays. It has been the case through her first two albums—2016’s Beyond the Bloodhounds and 2019’s Silences—and it remains so for third full-length effort, A Southern Gothic. This time, though, the stories don’t just belong to Victoria.
“I feel like it is the first record where I was able to get enough distance from what I thought was myself in order to look out and tell stories that were not necessarily my own,” she explains. “Because my immediate conditions were so limited it opened my imagination to think of other people, other characters, other perceptions and experiences that are all rooted in the south, to this land that informs us, that we grow on and grow in.”
Sonically, A Southern Gothic is full of frequent juxtaposition. It is equal parts historical montage and modern prophesy, dark and light, love and loathing. Put simply, it is the musical embodiment of the relationship that so many people, especially Black women, have with the South. Indeed, even as Victoria’s lyrics feel weighted by a Southern heaviness that is so often smothering, the music is also buoyed by rhythm and melody that illuminate the best of what this region has to offer.
Good Morning at the Entry – TICKETS
Good Morning are rulebreakers. Not in a sexy, flamboyant way – more in a casual, resigned kind of way. Accidental and incidental rulebreakers. The creation and release of their sixth album, Barnyard, is the result of a process of patient refinement and the breaking of a couple of self-imposed rules. Thoughtful, catchy, idiosyncratic, and nearly twice the average length of their back catalogue, it’s all the things one might love about Good Morning, this time around presented with the fat trimmed and the edges sharpened. Recorded at Wilco’s famed studio The Loft, for the first time in a long time the record was made with the help of an outside engineer and will see an international release on a record label not operated by a friend, but instead, Polyvinyl, joining the likes of Alvvays, Julia Jacklin, STRFKR, Kero Kero Bonito and more. A milestone in the history of the band it’s also their most meditative record, thoughtful and careful in its evocations. Not too little and not too much, it’s just right – just Good Morning.
Tate McRae at First Avenue – TICKETS
Singer/songwriter/dancer Tate McRae has become the artist on the rise. She currently has over 2 billion career streams with over 3.3 million subscribers and over 500 million video views on YouTube. She was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 List for 2021 as the youngest musician on the list as well as Apple’s Up Next Artist for 2021, Amazon’s Artist to Watch in 2021, Pandora’s Artists To Watch 2021 list and included on Billboard’s 21 Under 21 One’s To Watch list. She was also named one of YouTube’s Artist on the Rise, and MTV’s Push Artist for July 2020.
Tate’s breakout hit, “you broke me first” reached #1 at Top 40 radio and has over 1 billion stream worldwide. The track is approaching the Top 10 at Hot AC, helped Tate to secure her spot in the #1 spot for 5 weeks on Billboard’s Emerging Artist Chart and was #1 at dance radio last year. The track is not only double platinum in the US, but 4x PLATINUM in Ireland, 3x PLATINUM in Australia and Singapore, 2x PLATINUM in Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway and Sweden, PLATINUM in the Austria, Netherlands, South Africa, Taiwan and the UK, and GOLD in Denmark, Germany and Indonesia.
Tate is currently featured on DJ Regard’s latest track with Troye Sivan (listen here) which is currently rising up the Top 40 chart. She is also featured on blackbear’s recent track “u love u.” Her TOO YOUNG TO BE SAD EP is also available here.
Tuesday 4/12
OURS at the Amsterdam – TICKETS
OURS will hit the road in support of their latest album released last year. The self-titled set came out on OURS’ own label Cage Recording Company, the third to be released independently after several major label offerings. OURS is the brainchild of singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jimmy Gnecco who has six studio LP’s and two LP’s under his belt and going stronger than ever. Gnecco didn’t hesitate to step away from the majors and the limelight, to put his heart and soul into writing, performing, recording, mixing, producing and calling his own shots.
“It was an insane process of going through 200 songs that I had written. I ended up recording somewhere around 80 of them.” Gnecco says. The album will be showcased at the upcoming gigs along with seven special shows on the trek where the band will play the breakout debut Distorted Lullabies (Produced by Steve Lillywhite) in its entirety along with other songs from the band’s catalogue. The album was released to critical raves from Rolling Stone “…like a one-man “We Are the World”-style choir of some of the best modern rock singers of the last twenty years” and Billboard Magazine: The tracks are cemented by Gnecco’s vocals with its undeniable majesty, his voice effortlessly dips, glides, and soars. Much to his credit, Gnecco uses his instrument only to serve the song, rather than merely to show off his range.”
Over the years Jimmy Gnecco and OURS have remained faithful to the original intention of the band’s creation: to touch people with the music, the lyrics, the voice, the songs, whether on album or live. Today, the band composed of April Bauer (keyboards), Mikey Iasiello (guitars), Chris Iasiello (drums) and Carmelo Risquet (bass), is in perfect osmosis after days and nights spent rehearsing, over and over again, in order to propose OURS’ most ambitious work to date. The band offers songs that are like invitations to travel. Their sound is huge and exciting, infiltrates the mind and heart of the listeners and raises their spirit to an unsuspected level. They never forget the details that make life worth living, and everyone can relate to the lyrics.
Wednesday 4/13
Haley Blais at the Varsity – TICKETS
For years now Haley Blais has organically grown an online community and reputation for her witty commentary and self-deprecating, self-loving balladry sung out in operatic crescendos. Her powerful voice and astounding knack for melodic detail flourished on her breakout 2020 debut full-length Below The Salt which garnered millions of streams worldwide and critical acclaim from i-D, NPR, CBC, Talkhouse, Nylon, FLOOD, Vancouver Sun and more.
Haley expertly puts into song so much of what humans are feeling, turning out song after song of unforgettable and defiant scream-into-your-pillow bedroom anthems. Today she’s shared her new single and video “Coolest f*cking b*tch in town” just ahead of embarking on her full North American tour with Peach Pit this weekend.
Alina Maira at the Entry – TICKETS
Alina Maira is a 26 year old Singer/songwriter based in Minneapolis, MN. Originally from Philadelphia, she began songwriting over a decade ago a maturity reflected in her music.
Her new single “Reservoir” touches on the complexities of grief and loss, dressed up in catchy indie rock. With each of her band members featured on this track, listeners will get a direct window into her live sound, the start of a new era for her as an artist.
Feeling melancholy and cut off? Me too! At the very end of last year, Minneapolis songwriter Alina Maira dropped her debut EP, which perfectly captures that mood.
On the Table lays any and all emotion bare, unashamed and poignant. The title track is mostly unadorned, just voice and piano, until skittering electronic percussion breaks in (courtesy of Hot Dad Labs’ Danny O’Brien). The mix of the human pain and synthetic production echoes a recent singer-songwriter trend, perhaps best represented locally by Kate Malanaphy.
“Overtones” continues the EP with a gorgeous sonic rendition of yearning. “I miss you like a second skin” is echoed throughout, with gorgeous backing vocals from O’Brien. The EP closes with “Spaces,” its strongest song. A classic pop chord structure melts in with Maira’s vocals and a throbbing beat, as she implores “Close the door on your way out.” Tiny splashes of strings appear like spots in your vision as the sun goes down. Vocal lines split off like leaves growing from the main vine. O’Brien’s production is matched perfectly with Maira’s songwriting. Let this EP keep you company as we all wait out the storm. It’ll console you even as it validates your sadness.
Thursday 4/14
Tom Grennan at the Fine Line – TICKETS
Tom Grennan is back with the release of his scorching new single, ‘Remind Me’. The euphoric singalong, recorded in northwest London with LostBoy (Griff, Anne-Marie, Dua Lipa), is the curtain-raiser on what promises to be a huge 2022 for the breakout star. Listen HERE.
With two platinum-selling Top 10 singles, a UK Number One album, two BRIT Award nominations, 100,000 gig tickets sold, over one billion streams, and a top 30 US Hot AC radio chart debut with ‘Little Bit of Love’ – ‘Remind Me’ sees Tom Grennan return with a bold artistic statement and an onrush of creative energy.
Arriving with an exuberant, elated bang, ‘Remind Me’ captures Tom’s fresh outlook and gratitude for the characters in his life, and the magic of a chance re-encounter.
Speaking about ‘Remind Me’, Tom said: “I wanted to write a song that reminded me of a moment in my life where I realised I had given up something that was really making a difference in my life – in a good way. It’s about re-connecting. It’s that feeling when you’re at the top of the rollercoaster and you’re like: this is the best feeling”.
Tom is currently in the studio working on new music for his anticipated third album. “I have a new story to tell,” Grennan says. “I’m on a run, I’m in sixth gear.”
Friday 4/15
Snail Mail at First Avenue – TICKETS
On her 2018 debut album Lush, seventeen-year-old Lindsey Jordan sang “I’m in full control / I’m not lost / Even when it’s love / Even when it’s not”. Her natural ability to be many things at once resonated with a lot of people. The contradiction of confidence and vulnerability, power and delicacy, had the impact of a wrecking ball when put to tape. It was an impressive and unequivocal career-making moment for Jordan.
On Valentine, her sophomore album out November 5 on Matador, Lindsey solidifies and defines this trajectory in a blaze of glory. In 10 songs, written over 2019-2020 by Jordan alone, we are taken on an adrenalizing odyssey of genuine originality in an era in which “indie” music has been reduced to gentle, homogenous pop composed mostly by ghost writers. Made with careful precision, Valentine shows an artist who has chosen to take her time. The reference points are broad and psychically stirring, while the lyrics build masterfully on the foundation set by Jordan’s first record to deliver a deeper understanding of heartbreak.
On “Ben Franklin”, the second single of the album, Jordan sings “Moved on, but nothing feels true / Sometimes I hate her just for not being you / Post rehab I’ve been feeling so small / I miss your attention, I wish I could call”. It’s here that she mourns a lost love, conceding the true nature of a fleeting romantic tie-up and ultimately, referencing a stay in a recovery facility in Arizona. This 45-day interlude followed issues stemming from a young life colliding with sudden fame and success. Since she was not allowed to bring her instruments or recording equipment, Jordan began tabulating the new album arrangements on paper solely out of memory and imagination. It was after this choice to take radical action that Valentine really took its unique shape.
Daniel Rossen at the Icehouse – TICKETS
For nearly two decades, Rossen had been a crucial component of Grizzly Bear and is a founding member of the acclaimed folk and electronica outfit Department of Eagles. You Belong There follows Rossen’s 2012 EP, Silent Hour/Golden Mile, critically acclaimed and rated an 8.0 by Pitchfork, who called it a “majestic song cycle full of fingerpicked notes that babble like tributaries.”
DanielRossen just released “Unpeopled Space,” the second single off of his solo LP YouBelong There, out April 8 via Warp Records. “Unpeopled Space” reflectsRossen’s time in upstate New York, where he built a life amid wilderness thatalways tried to close in around him before moving to Santa Fe, NM where heslowly built the world that is You Belong There largely in his highdesert home. The song features Grizzly Bear’s Christopher Bear on drums andpercussion as well as Amber Wyman on bassoon. The song follows lead single“Shadow In The Frame,” which earned Best of the Week nods from NY Times,Pitchfork and others.
Thelandscape surrounding You Belong There is Daniel Rossen’s sophisticatedand visceral consideration of what comes after the restless enthusiasm ofyouth. It’s a riveting 10-song reintroduction to a voice that sounds bothentirely familiar and fully re-energized by the act of unfettered expressionand newfound self-sovereignty. Rossen performed almost all of the parts on thealbum himself, with Chris Bear contributing to 9 out of the 10 songs. Bestknown as a guitarist, Rossen took up woodwinds, too, buying several cheapstudent models and learning just enough to understand the rudiments.
Saturday 4/16
The Violent Nines at the Icehouse – TICKETS
The Violet Nines: Hayley // Ben // Delon // Nick // Austin are back with a new lineup featuring the incomparable vocal talents of Hayley Lewis (a.k.a. “Corzine”) and drummer Austin Kurtz!
The vibrant outfit from Minneapolis, MN play groove pop; rhythm-centric alternative fused with funk, rock and R&B.
The Airborne Toxic Event / Mondo Cosmo at First Avenue – TICKETS
When the Airborne Toxic Event took the stage at Spaceland in Silver Lake on January 31st of 2008, the 400-capacity venue was a madhouse. In the entryway, patrons squeezed in and pled their cases to the door girl. Another 400 people queued impatiently along the sidewalk outside, forming a massive line of a thousand people that snaked down Silver Lake Boulevard, surrounding the venue on all sides.
It was the final night of the band’s five-week residency at the legendary Eastside venue, and all that month, when they weren’t rehearsing or performing, they were busy self-recording their first full-length album at a friend’s home studio in Eagle Rock. For the past week their song, “Sometime Around Midnight,” had unexpectedly been played again and again on KROQ, the biggest rock radio station in the world. The highly respected Indie 103.1 had suddenly started playing it too. It quickly became the most requested song on both stations, despite the fact that it had no “chorus” or “hook.” The song was essentially a poem set to music describing the desperate inner monologue of a man seeing a lost love at a bar with someone else. One critic described it as Leonard Cohen backed by the Jesus and Mary Chain.
At the time, the band had no label, no manager, no publicist, no radio promoter, and no distribution. In fact, both stations were spinning an un-mastered mp3 of the song, barely three weeks after it had been recorded. It was an odd moment, one in which it seemed that whatever rules had been established in the music world suddenly didn’t apply and all the connections, money, favors and advertisements faded in the face of music people wanted to hear. That night onstage, the conversation between singer Mikel Jollett and guitarist Steven Chen went something like this:
Chen: “This is really fucking strange.”
Jollett: “Yes. It is.”
Mondo Cozmo’s new album This Is For the Barbarians is due April 8 on Last Gang Records. The album recognizes that death and life can be celebrated synchronically, pulling the darkness in to find the light inside, discovering grandeur in life’s most intimate moments. “It’s bright and funny, the human experience in a year of isolation,” Ostrander says. “It’s a slice of my liver and a piece of my heart. This is for the people going through darkness like I’ve been going through. Is anybody else out there hurting, or mad, or scared out of their mind? We’re in this together.”
Ostrander has performed everywhere from Lollapalooza to Bonnaroo, and toured alongside Bastille, Spoon, and Muse, to name a few. He has also been joined by Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons for a live duet on The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony,” while Anna Faris starred in the videos for “Hold On To Me” and “Come On,” and Paz de La Huerta starred in the video “Higher.” Before this album, he had previously released singles “Come On” and “Black Cadillac” from his 2020 album New Medicine, an album that was aided and abetted by friends and family including producer Butch Vig, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Dan Wilson, Lars Stalfors and others – and his 2017 full-length debut, Plastic Soul, which boasted the #1 single “Shine.”
