Newsflash: There's a shortage of rock clubs capable of handling the high volume of national touring acts interested in visiting Tampa Bay. DIY spots have picked up some of the slack, but venues like Crowbar and Orpheum have calendars full of shows, and indie-rock and electro fans might as well camp out in Ybor City this week. Here's why:
THURSDAY, APRIL 4
of Montreal w/Yip Deceiver/Glove. When it comes to weird, modern-day indie-rock, Kevin Barnes might as well be the poster child. For almost 30 years now, the 44-year-old songwriter has been fearless in the studio and onstage, where he’s unabashedly changed skins (or worn nothing at all) in pursuit of pushing the the dismantled musical reality in his mind out of club PA systems across America. He used to do it as part of Athens, Georgia’s Elephant 6 art collective; for the past 22 years the work has been done in the guise of psych-pop band of Montreal (supporting its 2018 album, White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood, at this show). You’d think that Barnes’s frequent visits would lead even the deepest fans to skip a show every now and then, but concerts with this mad scientist at the helm are unpredictable and not to be missed. Yip Deceiver and local favorite, Glove., open the show. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
FRIDAY, APRIL 5
Boy Harsher w/Special Interest/Batry Powr/DJ Maus No lie, Boy Harsher’s Careful could end up being one of the best albums of 2019. It’s certainly one of the strongest electronic releases of the year, and it finds the duo continuing to merge Jae Matthews’s prose to Gus Muller’s compositions, which have both become increasingly darker since the band pivoted from its original monker as Teen Dreamz to Boy Harsher (side note: the pair met after Matthews spotted Muller dancing to New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle” at a party). Fans of David Lynch will love the Boy Harsher aesthetic, but you don’t have to know the lines from Lost Highway to appreciate the way the band turns meditations on hedonism, desire and dejection into insanely-danceable electronic body music. New Orleans fuckwave act Special Interest plays direct support, and Floridians will be happy to see Batry Powr (a new project from Hundred Waters’ Nicole Miglis) on the bill, too. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
TUESDAY, APRIL 9
Rubblebucket w/Mikaela Davis/Hello Joyce Packed rooms across the country have already had the pleasure of watching Rubblebucket support its 2018 LP Sun Machine, and Tampa Bay finally gets its turn on Tuesday when Kal Traver and Alex Toth show off what happens when a couple puts the pain from the end of their relationship — plus the confusion of cancer treatments and a battle with sobriety — to tape along with all kids of euphoric dance-pop sounds. Love is complicated, beautiful and crazy. Rubblebucket just managed to turn all of that into something you can stream. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
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