Danielle DeCosmo Holiday Show w/John Kelly/Mark Huhta/Amie Decosmo Danielle DeCosmo is a throwback to the days Ella Fitzgerald, but her acoustic guitar-driven brand of jazzy soft rock feels strangely modern at the same time. She released a debut full length, Heavy Is the Heart, in March, and will likely play cuts from the LP at this show, but also expect her to throw some revamped seasonal classics at the crowd, too.(Hideaway Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
Jordan Esker & the Hundred Percent w/ Kristopher James CL couldn’t stay away from these two acts in 2016, and for good reason. In this year’s music issue Brian Roesler said that Jordan Esker’s melody lines mixed well with the band’s “jangly and bleary chord progressions and feather-light rhythms” that sometimes come to”thunderous crescendos” or segue into more haunting breaks. In our most recent profile of the 25-year-old frontman, we pondered whether or not Esker would pack some pounds onto his 132 pound frame en route to becoming the husky voiced soul singer he felt lived inside of him from time to time. We personally think he sounds just fine the way his. Plus, if he gets any bigger, then his band — the Hundred Percent — might not fit on the tiny Ella’s stage. Kristopher James, for his part, most recently got mentioned on for revamps of “Silver Bells” and “Ave Maria,” two tracks he’s added to his slowly growing Christmas songbook. The 33-year-old crooner was also the lucky recipient of a Shane Schuch remix this fall, where the former Mouse Fire member took vocal stems from James’ “Fire & the Fuse” and turned them into a bassy, electronic reflection. "I really loved the power in Kris' vocals,” Schuch told CL in October, “I wanted to wrap that organic tone of his with a crisp, synthy cloak." We’ll keep our fingers crossed for a live performance of the remix, but in the meantime, we’ll settle for watching James project his big bellow into the air at this quirky Seminole Heights restaurant. (Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa) INFO
Hip Hop For Tots w/B-Zeik/Reeves/Lo Life Clique/AM2G/Yung Prophecy/Foundation/DJ Hurley/Goliath Is hip hop the official philanthropic genre of the season? It seems like every week brings a new beat-centric event that benefits some maligned segment of the population. Last week it was Hip Hop for Hunger and on Friday it’s the same thing, but for the tots, this time. St. Pete hip pop artist B-Zeik sits at the top of this bill thanks to songs like “Annually Living” and “Cost Of A Life” which borrow a little of the irreverent introspection of the Odd Future camp and jam it into a jar with the melodic sensibilities of acts like Atmosphere and Mac Miller. Grime collective Lo Life Clique are also in the mix with more trunk-rattling, hustle hard cuts like “Consist” and “Better Man.” Admission is free with an unopened gift and there’s even a freestyle contest and raffle. (The Local 662, St. Petersburg) INFO
Awkward Age w/Teen Agers/Debt Neglector It was a March 10 show with Teen Agers that drew the playful ire of CL’s Scott Harrell who wrote that “it would be silly, if great Bay area bands didn’t have such a long and storied tradition of gleefully ignoring Jud Crandall’s advice in Pet Sematary about dead being better.” He was talking about Tampa punks Awkward Age who staged a farewell show earlier in the year. Harrell was excited about a new, re-worked five piece lineup coming to Ybor for Pre-Fest this last October, and anyone there to witness the new crew doing their thing at that set will tell you that getting to see frontman Victor Alvarez free from guitar duties and stalking the stage is just plain fun. Jeff and Katrina Snyder won’t be in the Awkward Age lineup for this show (their other band, Expert Timing, just doesn’t have any to spare), but Jordan Shroyer from Teen Agers and Joe from Too Many Daves will play in their stead. Debt Neglector, a new-ish Orlando punk band featuring members of Gatorface, NMDS and No Friends, open the show. (New World Brewery, Ybor City) INFO
Midnight Tyrannosaurus w/Blunts & Blondes/$Smgglr/Winta “Loud screechy robot noises.” That’s what Jason Figlioli (AKA Midnight Tyrannosaurus) says he makes. And he’s right. There’s a tiny bit of woozy West Coast hip hop synth in a new song, “Mudmen,” but for the most part, Figlioli’s music is the kind of hyper-agro dubstep that keeps kids headbanging in the club. The Hudon-based producer has played Electric Daisy Carnival in Orlando and has well over 100,000 fans between Facebook and Soundcloud alone, so expect this pretty-much-free show (where everyone gets on the guest list if you’re in the door by 11:30 p.m. EST) to be packed to the brim. (The Ritz, Ybor City) INFO
Civilian w/Brother Cephus/Fistful In the spring of 2017, Nashville Tennessee indie-rock quartet Civilian are going on a 30-date tour with Eisley that will take them through Texas and the South and then up the Eastern Seaboard before wrapping them around the Midwest and down the West Coast. Before that, they’re going to play a tiny little place Bay area music fans know as The Bricks. Supporting the Tooth & Nail signees, who are touring in support of You Won’t Believe What Privilege Costs (one of 2016’s best albums), will be a trio of songwriting Davis brothers (Seth and Gabe who play as Brother Cephus, and Joel who’ll front his Fistful project). (The Bricks, Ybor City) INFO
Holiday Haze Charity Drive w/Displace/Bangarang/FayRoy/Venus Bleu/DJ KSlat Throughout the course of the year, Tampa Bay concert goers spend a lot of time at watering holes like Crowbar. We stay up late, and have one or two many more often than we’d like, but promoters always give us a chance to do some good at the end of the year. Brokenmold and MoonGoddess Entertainment are the conduits at this throwdown where attendees are encouraged to bring a toy or musical instrument donation that will benefit Metropolitan Ministries or Gasparilla Music Foundation. The menu hits all flavors (funk, hip hop, psych-surf rock and soul) and ugly sweaters are encouraged. (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
ALSO PLAYING
Peace of Woodstock (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) INFO
DJ Ku (Blue Martini, Tampa) INFO
Wild Root (Ruby’s Elixir, St. Petersburg) INFO
Holly Day Music Fest (Orpheum, Ybor City) INFO
This article appears in Dec 22-29, 2016.