\\<\/iframe\> Flaming Lips w/Clipping. No fetuses tonight After three decades of weirdness, the Flaming Lips’s new LP Oczy Mlody felt rather tame when it was released just after the new year. Don’t think that the 14-track collection of off kilter psych-pop isn’t without its quirks, though (Miley Cyrus does appear on album closer “We Are A Family” after all). Oczy isn’t exactly The Soft Bulletin and won’t ever touch Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots , but Lips frontman Wayne Coyne is famously the driver of one of modern rock’s most bewildering live shows. There’s no telling what tricks he’ll pull for the Jannus Live crowd, but do get there early to catch a set from West coast experimental rap outfit Clipping., who feature Hamilton’s Daveed Diggs on vocals. Read our interview with Clipping. here . (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) INFO [Front page image of Flaiming Lips via Drunkcameraguy] \\<\/iframe\>
Shovels & Rope w/Matthew Logan Vasquez Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent (the wife and husband duo collectively known as Shovels & Rope) are bringing their latest album (last year’s Little Seeds) to St. Pete, and while we’re happy to have the effort’s crazy characters come to the stage alongside Hearst and Trent’s dark songwriting, what we’re really thrilled about is a visit from Delta Spirit frontman Matthew Logan Vasquez. His writing has always been deeply introspective and marked with odes to family life, but he’s completely peeled back the layers on with Does What He Wants (a new solo LP due April 21 via Dine Alone Records). The follow up to last year’s dark and raucous Solicitor Returns is a little less bleak than its predecessor, and Vasquez’s new family sits front and center of songs like “Fatherhood” and “Old Ways.” Maybe it's because Vasquez built a home studio for the recording, but the new stuff is riddled with a warmth and overt optimism that acknowledges the struggles of day to day life without allowing them to completely suffocate all we have to be happy about. Read our interview with Vasquez here. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg) INFO
David Dondero One of the surliest (and most rad) American songsmiths is back south of the South. David Dondero is no stranger to these parts (and some of his best songs feature odes to our neck of the woods), but it's always a pleasure to know that his storied, nearly 20-year-old discography is making a stop in town. NPR famously named Dondero, 47, one of the world’s best living songwriters in 2006 (Vic Chesnutt, Tom Waits and Dylan were all on that list), and he’s only gotten better in the years after. Here’s your chance to see him up close and personal with a cover charge (free) that can’t be beat. (Independent Bar and Cafe, Tampa) INFO
ALSO PLAYING
UNFUN (The Bends, St. Petersburg) INFO
Fuzz and Carrie (Hideaway Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
