THURSDAY, APRIL 5
Orpheus w/Three Cents Short/Lemon Law/The TroTs/The Mufflicks Orpheus is a young unsigned ska reggae septet from Wisconsin, their blithe and peppy songs marked by rock guitar solos, picked and strummed ukulele melodies, and the occasional dub-grooving rhythms, all of it brightened with tight bursts of brass. They are joined by Michigan trio Three Cents Short, which leans more punk-pop with ska overtones. Orpheus also plays Sacred Grounds in Tampa on Saturday. (Fubar, downtown St. Petersburg)
Local Live: Bulls Radio Music Fest w/Famous Kid Brick/The Beauvilles/Dynasty/Drake & Sofia/Boy Wonder/Ins & Outs/John Dillin/The Dags A showcase of high-quality local musical talent, including grungy blues-punk power trio The Dags (which also play New World's BBQ Acoustic Series on Wednesday), charming indie pop brother/sister-led five-piece Drake & Sofia; Zeppelin-channeling ball-busting rockers The Beauvilles; rhyme-slinging emcee Dynasty; and rising hip hop star Famous Kid Brick. (MLK Lawn, USF Tampa)
Pink Martini Pianist Thomas Lauderdale and singer China Forbes formed Portland-based ensemble Pink Martini while both were attending Harvard in the mid-'90s. The little orchestra's lush arrangements definitely sound like they were composed by a couple of high-class Harvard grads; their aesthetic draws on a sophisticated, worldly palette of vintage pop, jazz, Latin, classical and lounge music, with Forbes' vocals swaying between strong and sensual. The singer has recovered from the throat surgery that kept her off the road for the past two years, and re-joins Pink Martini for their current tour supporting two 2011 releases — A Retrospective and 1969. The latter album features guest vocals by Saori Yuki (considered by some to be the Barbra Streisand of Japan), and includes a diverse selection of tunes from Yuki's break-out year, among them, Jorge Ben's "Mas que nada" and "Puff the Magic Dragon," by Peter, Paul and Mary. (Carol Morsani Hall at the Straz Center, Tampa)
Sun Hotel w/El Cantador/Letters&Numbers Heavy angular guitars create dense walls of sound in the New Orleans-bred indie rock of Sun Hotel. Pretty acoustic interludes, bursts of keyboard and synth color, pleasantly melodic vocals and four-part harmonies cut through the hazy fuzz, distortion and general sonic miasma. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Torche w/Palantine Following some recent Florida dates with Floor, singer, songwriter and guitarist Steve Brooks reconvened with his main project, Miami/Atlanta stoner-melodic metal outfit Torche, which returns to town with a new guitar player in tow (Riddle of Steel former Andrew Elstner joined last January) and hyping a new album, Harmonicraft (out April 24). The record already earned a Best New Track nod from Pitchfork.com for first single, "Kicking." (Crowbar, Ybor City)
Johnny Mathis The 76-year-old schmaltzy pop crooner has made it into the Guinness Book of World Records with more than 350 million records sold worldwide, and also holds three Grammy Hall of Fame awards for his best-known 1950's hits – "Chances Are," "It's Not For Me to Say," and "Misty." (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
Rock The Park: Bird Street Players / Jackie Madden / Headnokka / John Nowicki The live music series that put Curtis Hixon Park on the map as an outdoor concert venue continues with its April presentation, headed up by funk party purveyors Bird Street Players. A head-scratcher on the bill: VH1's You're Cut Off reality personality-turned-pop tart Jackie Madden. (Curtis Hixon Park, Tampa)
FRIDAY, APRIL 6
The Legendary JC's w/The Crazy Carls It feels like forever since the Legendary JC's have brought their Orlando-brewed funk n' soul fire to the local Smokehouse, and I sure have missed getting down and groovin' with feisty frontman Eugene "Sidney P" Snowden and the nine-piece instrumental engine that keeps both him and the rest of us going. (Skipper'S Smokehouse, Tampa)
Funk Fest 2012: Erykah Badu w/Fantasia/Evelyn "Champagne" King/Dynasty (Friday) and Charlie Wilson w/Slick Rick/Morris Day & the Time/El DeBarge/Trumain Lamar (Saturday) Two days of groove-oriented entertainment launches with the ladies on Friday. Headlining is neo-soul queen Erykah Badu, who dabbles in R&B, jazz and funk, and produced one of my favorite albums of the decade, 2008's New Amerykah Part One (4th World War); 2010's follow up, Part Two (Return of the Ankh) has some good jams, too, but didn't speak me quite so deeply. Also on Friday: R&B songstress and season three American Idol winner Fantasia, disco electro-funk diva Evelyn "Champagne" King ("Shame"), and Tampa's own femcee, Dynasty. On Saturday, romantic R&B singer-songwriter Charlie Wilson takes the lead slot with his smooth serenades. Other Saturday notables: British emcee Slick Rick ("La Di Da Di"), and funky zippy synth-fused dance pop purveyors Morris Day & the Time, best known for their association with Prince and singles like "Jungle Love." (Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg)
Ricky Wilcox and the Moonsnakes CD Release Party w/Gale Trippsmith & Kirk Adams Balancing the sounds of rockabilly, roots rock and '90s-flavored power pop jangle, adding a healthy dollop of Southern twang and gritty soul, and you've got yourself Ricky Wilcox and the Moonsnakes, led by St. Pete musician Wilcox (one-time drummer of Deloris Telescope, currently on guitar and vox) and also featuring local axeman/producer Steve Connelly. This show celebrates the release of their new record, Last Day on Planet Earth; according to WMNF's Duncan Strauss, "it's loaded with one irresistible melody after another and tons of gorgeous vocal harmonies…"(Hideaway Café, St. Petersburg)
Sonen w/Empire Cinema/Zulu Wave Sonen is an Atlanta three-piece with a compelling electro-rock sound and dark blitzy pop tendencies, the thick basslines, echoing guitar and dual fuzzy-blip synthesizer attack carrying the strong straightforward lead vocals of Keith Evans and sweet femme support of Holly Mullinax. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
SATRUDAY, APRIL 7
Rock School Blowout Over the past 12 weeks, students of the Patel Conservatory's Rock School (ages 7 to adult) have learned how to play well with others as guided by three professional musician instructors – Lee Ahlin, Paul Stoddart and newbie British import Dean Tidey, who's supported the likes of Rolling Stones, U2 and Coldplay with his band Feeder, and joined the Rock School faculty this January. An auditioning process initially broke the students up into individual bands, with each taught how to perform a song during weekly rehearsals that culminate with the Rock School Blowout. The 15 bands at this year's showcase perform tracks by the Beatles, Green Day, The Clash, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, ZZ Top, Muse and others. (Riverwalk at Straz Center for the Performing Arts, downtown Tampa)
Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band w/November Foxtrot Whiskey/Al Torcia & the Tattered Saints While rural Southern Indiana isn't necessarily breeding ground for high-quality talent, the region did spawn Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band, a three-piece that embraces their backwoods ways with moonshine-swigging, dusty plank-stomping country blues. Peyton leads with his booming, gnarly-crispy vocals and sliding, finger-style skills on resonator guitar, wife Breezy Peyton rages on washboard and supplies sweet backing vocals, and distant cousin Aaron "Cuz" Persinger pounds drums and a five-gallon bucket. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
I Set My Friends on Fire w/A Lot Like Birds/Greeley Estates/A Bullet For Pretty Boy Epitaph-repped rockers and Warped Tour faves I Set My Friends on Fire (don't get too close) deliver an experimental hybrid of post-hardcore and scrunk marked by frontman Matt Mehana's abrasive screeches and cleaner wailing calls, all set against crushing riffage, electro-pop keytones and drum machine programming. Last year's sophomore record Astral Projection peaked at No. 9 on the Heatseekers chart but critics' ratings were low across the board. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
Blue Sky Mission Club You can almost see the dusty sun-lit trail that the swaying, twangy roots folk of Blue Sky Mission Club travels along, the five-piece from New York brightening their sound with femme-masculine vocal harmonies, lap steel, accordion and jaunty scrub-board rubs. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
SUNDAY, APRIL 8
Old Tire Swingers w/Ramblegrass A quartet from Fresno, Calif. — Paul Chesterton (banjo), Frick Dau (upright bass), Nick Kennedy (guitar), and Nathanael Felon (mandolin) — with a repertoire of newgrass numbers and traditional old time string band music that they deliver in multi-voice harmonies. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
Chelsea Grin w/Attila/Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!/For The Fallen Dreams/Crimson Armada In case you didn't know by their smile-slicing handle, Chelsea Grin are badass motherfuckers, a deathcore/blackened death metal sextet from Utah that issued a sophomore LP, My Damnation, last year and are set to play every date of Warped Tour 2012. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Reggae Sunday w/Lionize The Sunday reggae series continues with Maryland-based groove and soul-fused rock outfit Lionize, which recorded their fifth album with super producer J. Robbins (Against Me!, The Pauses) and issued their fifth album, Superczar and The Vulture, last year. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)
MONDAY, APRIL 9
The Anatomy of Frank A rather bright and boisterous indie electro pop rock project of songwriter Kyle Woolard, who plays with a full band but frequently tours solo, as on his two local dates, reconstructing the songs all by his lonesome with some clever maneuvering on keyboards, sampler, laptop, acoustic guitar, drums, toy piano, melodica, loop station and delay pedals. He also hits Hideaway Café in St. Pete on Tuesday. (Sacred Grounds, Tampa)
TUESDAY, APRIL 10
Plants and Animals w/This Is The Kit/Alexander and The Grapes Parc Avenue was wistful, melancholy and bright, La La Land was psyche-dark and richly arranged, and the third and latest Plants and Animals record, The End of That, finds the threesome playing with a loose, hip-strolling Dylan-Petty roots rock and twang-blues saunter. Click here to read more about the Canadian indie rock band. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
The Wonder Years w/Polar Bear Club/others Pennsylvania pop punk/melodic hardcore act The Wonder Years is currently on the road in support of third album, Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing, issued via Hopeless Records last year. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
WEDSNESDAY, APRIL 11
Portugal.The Man w/The Lonely Forest Portland-by-way-of-Wasilla, Alaska quintet Portugal.The Man is on the steady track to greatness. They issued an album a year starting in 2006 and evolved a little more with each one until Atlantic took notice and signed the band in 2010. Their sixth studio LP, 2011's In the Mountain of the Cloud, shows that despite rising to major label ranks, Portugal.The Man has maintained their sonic integrity. Moreover, Cloud could be their strongest and most cohesive effort yet, an effervescent marriage of retro glam, driving prog and modern psychedelia. The 11 tracks are built on heavy-textured washes of dramatic organ and synths, and marked by driving guitar, bass fuzz and grooves, transcendent multi-voice chorales that are angelic or foreboding and raised in wailing harmonies that bolster the piping falsetto of frontman John Baldwin Gourley, his vocal tone of the sort that stops you dead and evokes a spectrum of feeling — melancholy, despair, triumph, tenderness, bliss. I hear they put on an incredible live show, and I, for one, don't want to miss it. (The Ritz Ybor, Ybor City)
Daughtry w/Safety Suit/Mike Sanchez One more American Idol alum who didn’t score the title but did use the show as a launchpad for his music career. Rough-toned N.C. singer Chris Daughtry has put out three albums since the show with his lightly grungy five-piece rock band; last year's Break the Spell, the third and latest, was certified gold. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
CLICK HERE to see a complete rundown of shows taking place this week and in the coming weeks.
This article appears in Apr 5-11, 2012.