THURS 30
Soft Opening/Month Mind/Alien House Asheville, N.C.'s Soft Opening purveys shambling, drawn-out doom and psyche-drone rock, filling up the spaces with haunting vocals, crashing and buzzing and wildly warped and sustained guitar notes, slow-pounding drum beats, and a sinister layer of heavy organ. Soft Opening just released their first official recording, a self-titled six-song 12" likely available at this Mojo show. A pair of Tampa experimental duos, Moth Mind and Alien House, support. (Mojo Books & Music, Tampa)
Florence + The Machine w/Hanni El Khatib In a little over a year, Florence Welch — the British songstress otherwise known as Florence + The Machine — has gone from emerging young artist to international superstar. Her 2009 debut, Lungs, topped the charts and went 4x platinum in the UK, but she didn't catch on in the U.S. until an unforgettable performance of "Dog Days Are Over" at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards exposed her to new audiences and caused the album to jump from No. 44 to 14 on the Billboard. She's been a musical force ever since, earning a Grammy nomination for "Best New Artist" and performing in an Aretha Franklin tribute at the awards show that night. This is one of two stops in Florida. *Sold Out* (Hard Rock Live, Orlando)
Jim 'Kimo' West Even though he's played backup for Weird Al Yankovic since the early 1980s, Jim "Kimo" West is more widely known for his mastery of the finger-style Hawaiian acoustic guitar tradition known as "ki ho'alu" or "slack-key." Basically, one or more of the strings are open-tuned or "slacked," and the bass and melody are picked and plucked at once, gently, as if set against the sound of a quietly burbling island stream. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
FRI 01
The Venturas Sarasota's own throwback band, The Venturas, draw on a repertoire that ranges from 1930s blues and jazz standards to present-day pop hits, all songs given swinging treatment and delivered in the sexy sandpaper purr of frontwoman Ally Couch. (Gulfport Casino Ballroom, Gulfport)
Daikaiju w/Auto?Automatic??/Set and Setting Musicians in kabuki masks dubbed "Secret-man" (guitar), "Rock-man" (guitar) "Hands-Man" (drums) and "Rumble-Man" (bass) serve up generous portions of tripped-out reverb-heavy instrumental surf-psychobilly rock. Post-prog rock trio Auto?Automatic?? and psyche-retro rockers Set and Setting open. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Urizen w/Autumn Empire/Rising Down/Broken End Stereo Mixing two seemingly disparate genres — 8-bit electronica and hard-hitting metal-tinged rock 'n' roll — Urizen hails from Ft. Worth, Texas, and performs every show, big or small, with cheeky outrageousness and in handmade space gear (think Star Wars stormtrooper meets half-dressed football player). Looks like highly entertaining stuff; now imagine watching it at the Pegasus and you have yourself one interesting Friday night. (Pegasus Lounge, Tampa)
Bernard Allison w/Walker Smith Group Son of legendary Chicago blues guitarist Luther Allison (who most famously played backup to Howlin' Wolf), Bernard Allison is a Midwestern singer-guitarist who was exposed to the deep roots of blues at an early age and picked up a few things along the way playing with Koko Taylor and later as part of his dad's touring band. He's put out more than a dozen albums as a solo artist — his latest is Live at the Jazzhaus, is a 2011 CD/DVD release recorded in Germany last year — and infuses his driving, soulful blues with wah-wah guitar and a heavy funkified rhythm section. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
St. Pete Blues Allstars The next Side Door Blues event is an encore performance by the St. Pete Blues Allstars, which features seven of St. Pete's finest musicians (singer-pianist Liz Pennock, guitarists Jon Puhl and Dr. Blues, harmonica player Kim Harpo, saxman Mike Delaney, bassist Don Cox and drummer Denny McCarthy) in a program of Chicago, jump and other lick-ridden, rhythm-rolling blues. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
SAT 02
Psychedelic Furs England's seminal punk/New Wave band returns to the Bay area on a tour marking the 30th anniversary of their definitive sophomore release, 1981's Talk Talk Talk. "We'll play the entire album in the first set, take a 15-minute break, and then come back to play all the other hits and some of the misses," bassist Tim Butler joked in a recent interview with CL writer Gabe Echazabal. Read his full story on p. 50. (Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)
Matt Burke & Rebekah Pulley A night of rootsy acoustic songwriting showcasing the solo talents of brassy-toned Have Gun Will Travel frontman Burke along with honeyed-timbered folk rock mistress Pulley, of the Reluctant Prophets. (Hideaway Café, St. Petersburg)
Red Elvises w/The Vodkanauts Igor Yuzov's goofy world music-fused surf and rockabilly outfit rolls through the Tampa Bay area a few times a year, usually around Halloween, but also on the occasional off-date, which is fine by locals as the band is wildly popular here. Opening the show is surf rock staple The Vodkanauts in one of their last performances with drummer Tom Staley, an original founding member of NRBQ who played with the V-Nauts for the past four years and is leaving the fair shores of Florida to settle down in North Georgia. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
