Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has come and gone, and you still can’t get enough, can you? Well, here you go...
When are the Drums? That question sounds ludicrous, but in regards to this sometimes-'80s, sometimes-'60s, sometimes-modern pop band, it’s valid. The band’s follow-up to 2011’s breakthrough album Portamento just hit shelves, and it comes off as another decade-traversing walkabout. Encyclopedia has all the sweetness of doo wop, the angst of the Smiths, and the synth production of your laptop. It’s a testament to the album’s tenacity that the band managed to sell out a Monday night show in any time at all.
Wednesday: Lily Allen at Fox Theater
Look no further than the title of Lily Allen’s opening track on her new album (her first record in five years!) to get a sense of what she’s all about right now. “Sheezus” kinda says it all ("We’re all watching Gaga, L-O-L-O, haha / Dying for the art, so really she’s a martyr / The second best will never cut it for the divas / Give me that crown, b****, I wanna be Sheezus"). Allen very much wants to be a part of the pop conversation, as you can see, and she very much wants to champion women’s place in society. The English singer also takes aim at Beyonce and Lorde on her latest album. See what all the fuss is about on Wednesday at the Fox in Oakland.
Wednesday: Zola Jesus at Bimbo's
The first thing you notice about Nika Roza Danilova, aka Zola Jesus, is her boundless voice. The former opera singer has pipes equipped to fill the largest concert halls across the world (think a more varied Florence and the Machine). Danilova admits she’s had to re-discover her operatic roots on upcoming album Taiga, set to be release this Tuesday. She elaborated on the subject to our friends over at The Bay Bridged this past week, saying: “I consider myself more of an operatic singer now than ever before. I’m actually singing opera now, listening to opera more. … Now I’m embracing it. I’m actually using it more on the record. I’m singing in more operatic ways. I’m using more technique.” Don’t be shy, it’s more pop than anything else, but it’s a refreshing twist on a often stagnant genre.
Thursday: Animal Collective at 1015 Folsom
Animal Collective prides itself on challenging listeners and themselves in equal measure — meaning that No Animal Collective set sounds alike, much in the same way no other band sounds like Animal Collective. How could they? Their ethos is to constantly reinvent themselves, and that philosophy extends to re-thinking its live identity. This 1015 show is technically a DJ set, but you can throw out all expectations when it comes to Animal Collective shows. Anything is possible for this avant pop band-gone-enormous.
Friday/Saturday: The Weeknd at Bill Graham Civic Center
Sooo... the Weeknd is a big deal now. Like, arena-big. It’s safe to call Abel Tesfaye the posterboy for the R&B renaissance, now that he’s headlining spots like Barclays Center in Brooklyn and Bill Graham Civic Center here in SF, leading the charge in front of acts like Miguel, How to Dress Well, James Blake, et al. It wasn’t long ago that Tesfaye was a complete mystery, when mattress jams “The Morning,” “Wicked Games,” “High for This” and the rest of 2012's Trilogy caught the internet off-guard. Now everyone with a Wi-Fi connection knows Mr. Double-Entendre and his pants-dropping ways, a mere two years later. SF doesn’t normally care for cigarettes, but this two-night-stand might present an exception.
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