XULUPROHET + LIGHTWATCH @ EL ROCKO
SAT., JUNE 29 | 9 PM
Our hometown psychedelic funk/rock/reggae stalwarts have been around long enough to gain near-institution status, but come from elsewhere. Frontman and guitarist Xulu Jones is a South Bronx native who maintains a thought-provoking Instagram page worth checking out. His musical partner, Oisin Daly, hails from Ireland. They feature a rotating list of guest musicians who provide percussions, keys, and horns to fill out the sound and create new vibes for each performance. Lightwatch travels from the legendary musical town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, demonstrating what a silver lining sounds like. The eclectic hard rock band formed at the onset of the pandemic and used that time to create a sonic signature and build a catalog of songs to play on tour. Mission accomplished. Local indie-psych rockers Clyburn Ezekiel, formerly Meddle Waeve, open with an acoustic set.
EYEHATEGOD + NO/MÁS @ LODGE OF SORROWS
SAT., JUNE 29 | 7 PM
Pulling out all the NOLA sludge they can from the swamps and bayous of that fair city since the late 1980s, Eyehategod set themselves apart from their local heavyweight peers Crowbar and Soilent Green by adding gooey blobs of punk and hardcore into their doomy, slow metal sonic assault. You’ve heard a version of this metaphor before, but an Eyehategod show is like being run over by a steamroller doing four mph and loving every excruciating second of it. Slow metal is like that, and when the riffs are down-tuned for extra girth and drear, with plodding rhythm notes hitting like liver-focused body blows, you can almost feel the planet slow down on its axis. Add singer Mike Williams’ anguished vocals, and all of these elements work wonders on the typically uncheerful lyrical themes of addiction, despair, social decay and hopelessness. Just how hopeless a situation can be for an extreme metal band surviving for 30-plus years is open to debate, but you can count on a cathartic night to work out uncomfortable feels. With youthful exuberance, Washington D.C.’s No/Más threatens to steal the show with their energetic, brutal combination of classic thrash, grindcore and hardcore punk. Fans of Shitshow, Pig Destroyer and Nasum will surely love these guys.
KASH’D OUT + DALE AND THE ZDUBS @ DISTRICT LIVE
SAT., JUNE 29 | 8 PM
In certain situations, the state of being officially cashed out is a bummer, potentially bringing good times to an end. When it’s Kash’d Out on a stage in front of you, it’s the opposite. Reggae is goodtime music, no matter the lyrical topic. Early 1970s political protest songs from Peter Tosh or Bob Marley were serious stuff, telling harrowing tales of someone being wronged, but the buoyancy and lightness of the music make it hard to get all that upset. One supposes the message still gets out. Kash’d Out offers another opposite. Aside from being very good at what they do, they aren’t tackling subjects any more serious than love, desire and comity, possibly the most popular topics audiences want to hear when they’re in a good mood, releasing from the abject idiocy of everyday life for a few hours. The perpetually shirtless Dale and his Zdubs bring a similar sound and hippie reggae vibe, a perfect opening act for the tour.
THE YACHT CLUB @ COACH’S CORNER
SAT., JUNE 29 | 8 PM
Put Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross, Toto, Rupert Holmes, Boz Scaggs, Steely Dan, Player and Ambrosia into a sonic blender attached to a speaker. Consider the results. Predictably, out-of-touch world leaders would be in a state of panic, concerned about an overabundance of mellow vibes, “too much for the masses to handle,” they’d surely claim. Of course, regular people living normal lives know with confidence that there is no such thing as “too much smooth.” If you’re a fan of the genre, you know this is as silly as claiming a soft rock hit is somehow burdened by an excess of Rhodes electric piano or saxophone licks. Utterly preposterous. Resist the powerful clowns with an equally ridiculous captain’s hat (even if you aren’t clinically insane), suck down several fruity cocktails, loosen all the way up and set sail for a soulful, mid-tempo dreamworld with The Yacht Club. No membership required, but the fee is two ears and a heart.
MEGALODON @ ELAN SAVANNAH
FRI., JUNE 28 | 10 PM
Extinct for more than three million years, the 30-plus-foot megalodon mackerel shark could swallow something the size of an average EDM DJ whole, complete with turntables, crossfader and hard drives. Turning the tables on this scenario is San Francisco DJ and producer Megalodon, a beast in the world of bass and dubstep for about a dozen years. He increased his early reputation with collabs featuring Zeds Dead (“Wit Me Dub”), Antiserum (“Platinum”) and Habstrakt (“Yaba Dabs”). His solo work often nods to the origins of dubstep, and live performances are consistently solid. He’s also branched out with his own label, Bypass Audio, after a decade with Never Say Die.
