Can you feel the post-SXSW, pre-Coachella concert window heating up? Can you feel your nightly show-going obligations starting to ramp up? Can you feel your disposable income depleting with each concert announcement?
Good. That’s how it should feel.
Monday: How to Dress Well at The Independent
Once upon a time, Tom Krell referred to How to Dress Well in the “royal” sense, never mind that he was acting alone under a moniker that assumes a collective presence. The jig is up now — it’s just Krell and his porcelain voice — but we can’t help but feel like Krell is channeling something beyond one man’s psyche. Maybe it’s because Krell is part of the R&B revival spearheaded by James Blake and recently bookended by Blood Orange and seemingly hundreds of other millennials cooking up odes to their parents' baby-making music. That when Jrell refers to his music, he refers to a genre picking up momentum and speaking on behalf of what we’ll call the hyper sexualized Tinderspora (copyright 2014). Trust that Krell is not alone, but he's an important part of the nu-R&B movement.
New Song Alert: “Words I Don’t Remember”
Thursday: Tycho at The Fillmore
The reviews are in for San Francisco soundscapist Tycho’s latest album, dubbed Awake. Take note and hop on the bandwagon:
musicOMH.com: “This record is recommendable to the happy, the loved-up, the chemically-stimulated and the drowsy. If you’re one of these, Awake could be the record of your summer.”
Sputnikmusic: “More than ever before, these songs spin on their own axes: and that fact alone makes this record as positive a step forward for Tycho as anything.”
Drowned In Sound: “You can hear a band recognizing that the journey is as important as the destination, and the process as important as the final product.”
Translation: Stream the new album here (or see below) and go to the Fillmore on Thursday.
Friday: Bart Davenport at The Chapel
If the name is familiar, good. Bart Davenport was — and still is — an under-the-radar Bay Area treasure who recently took up residence in Southern California after stints with Loved Ones and Kinetics, in addition to his own workmanlike solo escapades. We won’t hold the move against him, if only because his new album Physical World finds the singer-songwriter at a new creative peak, and we wouldn’t dare jeopardize that kind of mojo. As Davenport recently told the SF Chronicle, “I needed a change of scenery. I lived my entire life in the Bay Area. But I go back so often I feel as though I'm still pretty in touch with the place. That six-hour drive is pretty easy.” Although, it should really only take him five hours. Take it from a seven-year SoCal vet.
Friday: Rebirth Brass Band at the New Parish
Saturday: Rebirth Brass Band at the Mezzanine
Did you miss Mardi Gras this year and find yourself in a state of full regret? Allow Rebirth Brass Band to be your compensatory mode of better-late-than-never celebration. The legendary New Orleans party-starters come to SF fresh off their hometown’s annual rager, ready to spread their love + respect + passion + screw-it-let’s-dance philosophical blend.
Saturday: St. Vincent at the Fox Theater
Fun fact: At the age of 15, Annie Clark, the one-woman protagonist also known as St. Vincent (who we featured earlier this month here) toured with her aunt and uncle, a vaguely New Age jazz duo called Tuck & Patti. One listen to St. Vincent’s brilliant self-titled album (not to mention her other gems Actor and Marry Me) and it’s clear Clark’s inspiration infrastructure is unlike her contemporaries. Clark invents new compositional forms at the snap of a finger, sounding extraterrestrial and humanly in the same breath. Expect to hear critical praise about this album when Best-Of-2014 lists start to pour in.
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