✔️ = Critic's Pick
Twist In The Dark a WMNF Darkwave Spectacular w/Lilith/Astari Nite/Reality Asylum/3 one G You could generalize darkwave as post-punk mode of new wave and pop that carries a synthesizer and (possibly) black eyeliner wherever it goes. We're just glad that community radio station WMNF's late night on-air programming keeps coming out to play in real life. WMNF's Dark Wave spectacular features two local acts (Lilith, Reality Asylum) joining Miami's Astari Nite and a Joy Division tribute act (Winter Haven's 3 one G) for a dark, wavy night of dancing(Joy Division tribute)/DJ Mark Paradise (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
Toast To Life w/Blu J.D./Kenosobi/JRoc Jones/Charlie G/Jinx A nice, little no-cover hip-hop bill curated by Tone Kapone settles into Fubar on Saturday, and this is a chance to see what Jinx (a Tampa emcee who put out one of CL’s favorite albums of 2017) is cooking up in the new year while CL faves Jroc Jones, Kenosobi and a slate of up-and-coming emcees play support. (Fubar, St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ DirtBike w/mtvh1n1/Sleeping Pills Streaming music website Bandcamp released a year-end report last week, and the most glaring takeaway was that people love cassette tapes. Yup, 17,872 tapes were released on the platform in 2017, which amounts to an average of almost 50 tapes per day, or one every 29 minutes. One of those bands was Boynton Beach lo-fi pop outfit Dirtbike, whose Them cassette marries the worlds of Dr. Dog and The Beach Boys, on the way to making a six-minute release that plays the way your car looks after a rainstorm blows through your Sunday Funday on the beach. New-wavey post-rockers Sleeping Pills play support alongside Tampa oddballs mtvh1n1 at this show where donations will be accepted (and expected). Expect a good time and very few fucks given at this one (I mean, look at the headless promo shot Dirtbike sent in). (Steelworker Records, Tampa) INFO
✔️ Pictures of Vernon w/Expert Timing/Worst Party Ever/Gutless/Stove. Another artist who made our list of last year’s best local albums (uke-anthem writer Stove.) fiddles around to open a bill whose web reaches into nearly every corner of the Sunshine State, thanks to Sarasota emo boys Worst Party Ever, Gainesville pop-punk quartet Gutless, and Orlando power-pop ensemble Expert Timing. The whole party is centered around out-of-town visitor Vermont, which hilariously comes in from North Carolina in support of Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 420, which is a love letter to all the catchy punk music millenials loved in the early 2000s. (Lucky You Tattoo, St. Petersburg) INFO
SUPER STOVE.
Best Local Albums 2017: Stove. ukes out a pair of neu-folk gems.
✔️ Material Body w/J. Carter/i_like_dog_face/Burnt Hair That Dirtbike show at Riverside Heights’ Steelworker Records should wrap up at a decent time, so why not make it a Heights night and head to the American Legion Post 111 — Seminole Heights, where a pair of touring acts (Valdosta synth-minimalist Material Body and Nashville noise composer J. Carter) are playing alongside Sarasota experimental composer i_like_dog_face and Sunshine State goth-wave duo Burnt Hair. (American Legion Post 111, Tampa) INFO
Victoria Ginty and Ladyhawke This year should find Apollo Beach- based singer Victoria Ginty releasing a new album produced by Norwegian blues guitarist Kis Andersen, so we think she’ll show off some of that as her band Ladyhawke pumps out big, brassy soul music and blues for Ka’Tiki. (Ka’Tiki Beach Bar, Sunset Beach) INFO
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The Welzeins, The Grizzly Atoms and Pleasures were at Green Bench in St. Pete — look
The Welzeins w/Teacher Teacher/The Wandering Girls It’s been a couple of years since Orlando psych-punk duo The Welzeins gave fans a full album, so you’ve got to feel like the boys might tease some new music at this no-cover show alongside St. Pete rock and roll outfit Teacher Teacher plus ukulele and guitar duo The Wandering Girls. (The Bends, St. Petersburg) INFO
John “Papa” Gros Band w/Roosevelt Collier John John Gross decided not to stick to one style of New Orleans music, so his sound — which bounces around Americana, pop, rock and roll, funk, jazz and blues — is as eclectic as the people of the Crescent City. The former George Porter Jr. keyboardist (who has also played alongside The Metermen, Bonerama and Better Than Ezra) headlines this show where South Florida sacred steel god Roosevelt Collier handles opening duties. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) CANCELLED
✔️ Toy Pianos After Dark w/Baker-Barganier Duo/Preston Beebe The 2018 iteration of the Florida International Toy Piano Festival plunks on at this late-night gig, where Baker-Bargainer Duo will hopefully play from its fine 2017 experimental-music release, ...and darkness was upon the face of the deep, which CL named as one of last year’s best local albums. Preston Beebee — a composer who puts together a brand of live-electronic, acousmatic, art installation, improvisation, and site-specific performances — will futz with audio feature extraction and organic instrumentation to open the show. (Cage Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ Emo Night Tampa w/Crate Bros. First Chance Last Chance may no longer feature one of Ybor City’s most beloved bartenders, Haleigh Barchard, but the just-off-Seventh watering stop manages to retain some street cred thanks to a healthy menu of DJ nights, including this first Saturday tradition — Emo Night Tampa. If you’re wondering how legit the Crate Bros. are, then check out Emo Night Tampa’s Sesame Street-themed recreation of the cover from Cursive’s Domestica album, which the actual band loved enough to share with fans alongside this message: “If you are in the area, go join the fun!” No cover, and no Metallica requests either. (First Chance Last Chance, Ybor City) INFO
✔️ Jeremy Gloff Birthday Show w/Abortion Twins/Purr Purr Purr Long-running Tampa songwriter Jeremy Gloff feels like he didn’t treat his 42nd year of life to the mid-life crisis it deserved, so he’s giving it another go at this no-kids-allowed birthday show that’ll rock (Abortion Twins), cat-rap (Purr Purr Purr) and pop (Gloff himself) while comedian Clark Brooks provides the laughs. Be ready to get raunchy. (Beer & Brownies, Tampa) INFO
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ALSO PLAYING
Classical/Chorale/Musical
Florida Orchestra Masterworks: Jahja Ling Conducts Beethoven (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
School of Rock (Morsani Hall at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa) INFO
Tribute/Cover
No Filter (Ringside Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
Stormbringer (Buckets Grill & Tap, Tampa) INFO
Rock
Chill (art show) w/Lassyu/Catatonic Scripts (Blue Goose, St. Petersburg) INFO
Tom Gribbin & The Saltwater Cowboys (Ka'Tiki, Sunset Beach) INFO
Jenu Six & The Old Souls (The Neptune Lounge, Tarpon Springs) INFO
Dead End River w/Particle Effect/Down from the Trees/Comin Home band (Pegasus Lounge, Tampa) INFO
Against my Will w/Sister Sandoz/Aurorae/The Prosecution (Brass Mug, Tampa) INFO
Jazz
First Saturday Jazz featuring Friends of Fil Jazz Trio (Independent Bar and Cafe, Tampa) INFO
Swan City Jazz Project (Lakeland Loft, Lakeland) INFO
Singer-Songwriter
“Heart and Soul" hosted by Jamal Hasan (Hideaway Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
Peter Bradley Adams (The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Ybor City) INFO
David Potts (c.1949 Florida Beer Garden, Tampa) INFO
World/Jam/Funk
Shoeless Soul (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO
Folk/Bluegrass/Americana
Grandpa’s Cough Medicine (The Ale & the Witch, St. Petersburg) INFO
Rod Hamdallah (Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe, Tampa) INFO
Sunset Bridge Band (Crooked Thumb Brewery, Safety Harbor) INFO
EDM/DJ
Destroy With Lazers: Herobust (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) INFO
This article appears in Jan 4-11, 2018.