Let's all agree to stop talking about the "rain," mmmmk? Thanks.
Friday's here and that means yet another weekend packed with more live music than your loins can handle.
A Miami bass legend is spinning a drum 'n bass set, West Palm's Surfer Blood return without a familiar face, a Canadian blues export plays an intimate gig, and one of our new favorite composers is back from tour. The Bends is turning four-years-old tonight, too.
Loads of free shows are also happening, and all the info is below plus on CL's events calendar.
DJ Magic Mike w/Thee Joker/The FootSouljahs/Psychoactive/Random J/more If you were sneaking out of the house and going to parties your parents wouldn't approve of in the late 80’s then you might have been aware of DJ Magic Mike, an Orlando originating producer who made a huge dent in Miami’s bass music scene. He will come to Tampa on Friday to play an all drum & bass set, which is something of a first despite his many years as an underground cult-favorite. (Vapour, Ybor City – INFO)
The Heavy Pets w/ Surfer Blood Ugh, this one is gonna sting. It’s one of Surfer Blood’s first Tampa Bay shows since the passing of guitarist Thomas Fekete, who succumbed to a rare form of cancer at the end of May. Fekete’s guitar work on 2010’s Astro Coast was a big reason the West Palm Beach indie-rock outfit was able to bring their Flori-east coast sound to the masses, so look for the band to celebrate his legacy as they tour in support of last year’s 1000 Palms. Fort Lauderdale’s Heavy Pets headline the show and will tease new material that shows off their evolution from a jammy band that leaned on blues, funk and disco to the current musical powerhouse they’ve become since releasing a trio of EPs in between 2013-2014. (Crowbar, Ybor City – INFO)
Broods The Kiwis are coming, and they’re bringing some elegant electropop with them, too. Siblings Georgia and Caleb Nott make up New Zealand’s Broods, who teamed with producer Joel Little (Lorde, Fitz and the Tantrums, Ellie Goulding) to help them catapult to popularity on the heels of a pair of singles from Broods’ 2014 album, Evergreen where the Notts showed off a penchant for making ethereal electronic soundscapes feel anthemic, too. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg – INFO)
The Bends 4-Year Anniversary w/ Alexander & the Grapes/Wet Nurse/Gun Hoes The Bends gets a lot of ink in CL’s music sections, and it’s not just because of the strong, salacious drinks that basically call the Uber ride for you. The St. Pete dive is dangerously consistent in their booking of loud, scuzzy bands who are just getting out of the garage and into the van, ensuring they do everything to get past the cusp of breaking and into bigger clubs the next time they come into town. On Friday they team up with Ghost Drag Records to bring a trio of Sunshine State fuzz bringers to the party where muralist Daniel Mrgan also celebrates an art opening. Some bars always seem to teeter on the edge of oblivion, but we have a feeling The Bends will be around well beyond the days when the nursing home locks us up before the bar’s doors even open. (The Bends, St. Petersburg – INFO)
Sue Foley w/Sean Chambers/Sarasota Slim & Nitro Canadian blues sensation Sue Foley had to settle down in Austin, Texas (and release her 1992 hit debut Young Girl Blues on Antone’s Records) to start getting attention, but it paid off in spades, creating a career for her in the male-dominated blues guitarist world. She comes to Clearwater to share her latest work with fans and has an undercard of badass Bay area blues guys playing support. Tickets are $30 and you can call (727) 725-8733 for more info. (Kapok Special Events Center, Clearwater)
LOCI Album Release w/Glass Tongue Trio/Trout In Paris/Meindlig/more Tampa composer Sean Hamilton returns from tour this weekend, and is set to play a show in St. Pete’s warehouse district where listeners can finally experience LOCI, Hamilton’s 50-minute collection of sound compiled from compositions for drum set. The album — meant to be experienced in one straight listen as opposed to track-by-track — also features real-time electronics, which means the sounds are generative and create sonic material in real-time as the piece unfolds.
“No material in the work exists prior to performance,” Hamilton, who works with the post-modern classical music series Hyperbolic Chamber Music, 25 told CL. LOCI features drums, electronic tones, but also great moments of quiet. “I think of the silence as serving both a structural and musical role. The initial space provides a contrast to the two dense tracks before it and gives some aural space and breath for the listener,” said Hamilton, who has a master’s degree in music . “I also think of it as a means of transition moving forward into the brush work.” The work should be a treat to see come to live on stage, and The Venture Compound is the perfect place to experience all of the music’s oddities and intricacies up close.
Read our interview with Hamilton via here. Listen to LOCI below. (The Venture Compound, St. Petersburg — INFO)
ALSO PLAYING
Lucky Costello, Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin INFO
The Elements w/Rook DA Rukus/Nat Keza/Nukeboy/Tony Colliseum/more, Fubar, St. Petersburg INFO
Rickyxsan w/Blunts & Blondes/$Smgglr/Winta, The Ritz, Ybor City INFO
Botomatics, Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe, Tampa INFO
Serotonic, The Ale & The Witch, St. Petersburg INFOJudas Maiden, Jannus Live, St. Petersburg INFO CANCELLED
Master w/Surgeon/Demons Within, Brass Mug, Tampa INFO
Sara Rose Band, The Hut On The Boardwalk INFO
Starlight Concerts w/The Outpatients, Highlander Park, Dunedin INFO
Girlschool, The Mermaid Tavern, Tampa INFO
This article appears in Sep 1-8, 2016.