We hope you don't have a music hangover from last weekend. The weather was gorgeous, and the music festivals were so plentiful we expect you made like us and saw music every opportunity you had, which was many.
So it'd be understandable if you didn't want to hear any music for a week or two. But if you need some hair of the dog, or were otherwise engaged last weekend, here are our picks for the week. Browse our comprehensive concert listings for more options.
In the Whale - Monday, October 27 - Yucca Tap Room
"On a Roll," the first of three songs on Eric, In the Whale's bombastic new EP, tells a story that could fit seamlessly into a vintage Sam Peckinpah Western: "Forty-five hours to the Mexican border/I got the sheriff's daughter and he's breathing down my shoulder," sings Nate Valdez. Instead of old cowboy music, though, the soundtrack to this tale of a fugitive's flight is utterly modern rock 'n' roll. Valdez belts out emotive power-pop vocals and strums distortion-laden power chords with vigor. Eric Riley, meanwhile, beats out a 4/4 drum line that's danceable in every sense of the word. "Girlfriend," a desperate, frantic plea for a romantic partner, and "Sunbeam," a moody and violent declaration, show the same broad mix of powerful rock and compelling stories. The release is all the more impressive because it's the work of just two people.--A.H. Goldstein
Dadadoh - Tuesday, October 28 - Rogue Bar
Last February, Dadadoh released Guerilla, his debut on his label TVLiFE and a highly personal album that champions a DIY lifestyle. "Steady Workin'" has a Tyler, The Creator feel, while "Give You the World" is a romantic ballad akin to Childish Gambino's, but it's really the samples -- snippets of conversations and strange radio broadcasts -- that tie it together.
Infernal, that upcoming album (he's hoping for an October 31 release) highlights "Not the Father feat. Flinner," which describes the time Dadadoh had to prove a paternity test negative. As the song title suggests, it includes samples from the popular TV show Maury. --Troy Farah
Tennis - Wednesday, October 29 - Crescent Ballroom
The husband-and-wife team behind Tennis is as excited as ever to return to familiar soil to share their new album live with some recognizable faces.
Their new and third album, Ritual in Repeat, is reminiscent of 1980s girl-pop: hints of Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, and Pat Benatar can be heard in Alaina Moore's voice. The album features production notes from Richard Swft, Jim Eno (Spoon), and Patrick Carney (The Black Keys), all seemingly drummers. Adding James Barone on drums bumped up the album from past previous Tennis works. --Mandi Kimes
Queens of the Stone Age - Thursday, October 30 - Arizona State Fair
It's difficult to understate the importance of the role that Queens of the Stone Age has played in rock music in the past decade and a half. In terms of songwriting, musicianship, and production, no other band has consistently blazed as fiery a trail as QOTSA. When frontman Josh Homme's band Kyuss dissolved in the late '90s, he joined forces with Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri and came up with the band's name, which Homme later would say he liked because it wasn't as macho as Kings of the Stone Age. The band's biggest innovation was pairing Homme's crooning falsetto, which leers as much as it seduces, with the growling, raspy attacks of Oliveri and on-and-off singer Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees). The band's first two albums made such an impression that in 2001, Dave Grohl put down the guitar and frontman duties and delayed an album for his massively popular band Foo Fighters to join Queens of the Stone Age in the studio and on tour as the band's drummer. Though the band's early songs were pretty much all about sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll (the first track on the group's landmark second album, Rated R, contains only the lyrics "nicotein, valium, vicodin, marijuana, ecstacy, and alcohol" and "cocaine"), QOTSA's ...Like Clockwork (2013) is a brooding, dark album that, among other things, delved into a medical scare that nearly took Homme's life. It's one of Queen's most impressive albums to date, a testament to the relentless musical growth to which Homme and company have committed themselves. --David Accomazzo
Jimmy Eat World - Thursday, October 30 - Marquee Theatre
Jimmy Eat World is currently touring celebrating the 10th anniversary of its landmark album Futures. The work on Futures didn't necessarily indicate the sonic direction the band, including Jim Adkins, guitarist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch and drummer Zach Lind, would land today. The gold album, produced by Jimmy Eat World one-time producer Gil Norton, is one of the band's most complex discs, kicking off with the buoyant and incredibly catchy title track, to moving into moodier territory on the tense "Polaris," where Adkins wails, "You're killing everything in me." "Drugs or Me" is a beautiful piano-filled ballad clocking in at more than six minutes, which has Adkins pleading with someone to ditch substances and head back to a sunnier place. Compared to the band's current writing process, Adkins says, the music that fills Futures shows off a very meticulous approach to the band's songwriting style. --Nicki Escudero
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