THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7
Rock the Park w/DieAlps!/Synergy In A Cup/Connor Zwetsch Pristine weather conditions shouldn’t be the only reason you hit this month’s edition of Rock the Park, which offers a little something for everyone. DieAlps! delivers on melodic waltzing indie rock, seven-piece outfit Synergy in a Cup throws down a percussive-infused mix of hip-hop, soul, funk and PBR&B, and pop-rock songstress Connor Zwetsch serenades with throaty rich intones and a pretty pop rock aesthetic. (Curtis Hixon Park, Tampa)
War Master w/Sacridose/Infernal Onslaught/Primate Research/Necrid Nothing announces the type of music you play better than the typeface you choose to use. War Master employs a jagged, serif-spiky typeface that screams death metal, as does the staked skeletons and hellish panoramas on their album covers. Their sound pits gut-deep grunts and monstrous bellows over the usual heavy crushing technicality. (Epic Problem, Tampa)
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8
EMIT: Eugene Chadbourne & Tatsuya Nakatani & SHIM Enjoy an evening of musical boundary-pushing during this latest EMIT Series presentation, appropriately held at the Dali Museum. “Freebop” ensemble and original EMIT spokes-band SHIM reunites to kick off the concert with their experimental-improv jazz machinations and brass (trumpet, trombone, clarinet, saxophone) infusions. Avant/free jazz and folk-roots music experimenter Eugene Chadbourne draws from an eclectic instrumental arsenal that reflects his none-too-serious mindset — a square hollow-body six-string that looks like a fancy cigar box guitar, and electric rake, essentially a lawn rake boosted with an electric guitar pickup. These are in addition to resonator, regular electric axe and banjo. New-England-by-way-of-Japan percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani builds textural and sometimes primal reverberations that call on elements of free jazz, rock, and experimental music; he uses sticks, utensils and homemade bows to hammer, thrum, swipe and tap his collection of bowed gongs, Tibetan singing bowls, cymbals, toms, snares, bells and various found metal objects. (Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg)
Josh Groban w/Judith Hill With five AC chart-toppers (including the holiday-themed Polar Express-spawned “Believe”), five platinum-selling albums and a sixth that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, singer-songwriter Josh Groban doesn’t seem to have any problems moving units in a market of flagging CD sales. Latest album All That Echoes is his typical lush and easy listening with symphonic arrangements coated in a Burt Bacharach glaze and interspersed with an abundance of pretty contemplative moments and schmaltziness (“I Believe When I Fall in Love (It Will Be Forever)”), a touch of Latin class and brass (“Un Alma Mas”) and high-soaring balladry (“Falling Slowly”). He can also fill seats, and his latest “In the Round Tour” gives his fans a more intimate concert experience via a 360-degree stage placed in the center of the arena floor. Groban is backed by a seven-piece that includes a percussionist, violin player and trumpeter, and a local orchestra and choir that’s currently TBA is also scheduled to join him on stage. Also performing on this night is powerhouse neo-soulful songstress Judith Hill, who caught eyes and ears on The Voice earlier this year and inked a deal with Sony last month. (Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa)
Lauren Mitchell Band Fresh off winning the Suncoast Blues Society Challenge to rep SBS at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis this upcoming January, soulful blues songstress Lauren Mitchell and her band — B3 professor Mike Hensley and howling guitarist Bob Fieberts — hit the Side Door stage for a night of sultry sizzle and burn. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
Ribfest 2013: REO Speewagon (Friday); Gin Blossoms, Sister Hazel, Edgar Winter Band, John Kay & Steppenwolf (Saturday); Josh Thompson, Randy Houser, Justin Moore (Sunday) Hopefully you like eating ribs and helping kids because if you go to Ribfest for the music, you might find this year’s bill a bit lacking. You’ve got classic soft rock (REO Speedwagon), classic hard rock (Edgar Winter Band, John Kay & Steppenwolf), AC pop rock (Gin Blossoms and Sister Hazel, the latter with a little more twang than usual), or bonafide country music (Josh Thompson, Randy Houser, Justin Moore). Just remember that the event benefits youth-oriented charities — so it’s really not about the music at all, now is it? (Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg)
Attila w/Upon A Burning Body/Iwrestledabearonce/The Plot In You/Fit For A King Critics can’t seem to get enough of blasting the new Attila album, About That Life, a fifth full-length that finds the seething and pummeling Atlanta quintet taking their death-and-rapcore antics to new degrees of banality. Expect lyrics about breaking shit, being a thug and various other trivialities alternately vomited, barked, croaked or rapped in snotty sing-sing style by frontman Chris Fronzak. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
Method Man & Redman The dynamic rap-spitting duo (the former a Wu Tang alum, the latter his longtime collaborator) set the internet abuzz after smoking a blunt wrapped in 24 carat gold and posting pics of the fatty on Instagram. Wish I had that kind of bread to burn. If you do, might I suggest a trip to Calgary? (Cuban Club, Ybor City)
