This week, Wild Hex releases a new tape while supporting the Miami Dolphins from Minneapolis, the Baseball Project performs at Blueberry Hill with Water Liars, and Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin with the Guilty Ones take the stage at Off Broadway. Read about these shows and more in this our critics' picks.
Wild Hex Tape Release Monday, August 4 w/ Miami Dolphins, Posture @ Melt 9 p.m. | $5 By Jenn DeRose From the 2014 RFT Music Awards: Toddlers were among the Record Store Day revelers at Apop Records this year, pounding the sky and dancing to the bands outside. It was fairly innocent until the Wild Hex set, when the kiddos picked up extinguished cigarettes and previously drained beer bottles from the pavement and enthusiastically mimicked drinking and smoking while strumming serious air guitar. Wild Hex corrupted these developing minds with the pure power of thrashing, frantic rock & roll. The band's latest album, You're Gonna Get It, was released by Hexian member and proprietor of Don't Touch My Records Gabe "The Babe" Karabell.
DJ Mahf Tuesday, August 5 @ Pin-Up Bowl 10 p.m. | free By Blair Stiles From the 2013 RFT Music awards: DJ Mahf works from some place in his brain that pumps out enough enthusiasm to make his work look easy. Performing with a chilled zeal, the Indyground DJ interplays dense minutes of thumping samples with crackling movie clips and fine-tuned, one-and-two-handed scratches. He has already banged around Kansas City's spirited Middle of the Map Festival with labelmate Brett Gretzky, crossed the northern American border and cut and pasted for Red Bull's Thre3style competition this year. Whether live or replayed through Indyground's streaming footage, Mahf exudes the enjoyment he feels: In tempo he bobs at the waist, moving faster in the moments when he is inundated with the floor's energy, always looking pleased. It is Mahf's obvious enjoyment of his craft that puts his sets so squarely in the spotlight.
The Baseball Project Wednesday, August 6, 8 p.m. w/ Water Liars @ Blueberry Hill 8 p.m. | $15 By Jaime Lees It's a band. That plays songs about baseball. That's all. But the aptly named Baseball Project isn't some county fair novelty act, it's a modern day supergroup. The players drafted to this musical team include Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows) Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate), Linda Pitmon (Zuzu's Petals) and Peter Buck and Mike Mills of R.E.M. fame. Songs like "Extra Inning of Love" and "Monument Park" carry titles that push the sporty theme, but these cuts are more than that; they're stories told through the filter of the game. The bands melodies glow with a warm, familiar fuzz-pop sound-- reminding listeners that these musicians shaped America's musical history in the same way that The Babe shaped America's pastime.
Sturgill Simpson Thursday, August 7, 8 p.m. w/ The Dock Ellis Band, Brian Henneman, Kip Loui @ Off Broadway 8 p.m. |$14-$19 By Christian Schaeffer If Sturgill Simpson's new record title, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, sounds like both a dissertation title and a fuck-you, it's probably a little of both. His interest in metaphysics, world religions and hallucinogenics are outlined in the unforgettable opening track "Turtles All the Way Down." He might play country music, but it's very much on his own terms. But even when his lyrics get a little meta, or when he's rescuing the '80s one-hit wonder "The Promise" and turning it into a torch song, his honky-tonk foundations and weathered voice hold court with craggy authority.
