Details about each of their gigs in the Valley this week can be found below. For more live music happening around town from Monday, November 30, to Thursday, December 1, check out Phoenix New Times’ concert listings.
Counterparts
Wednesday, November 30The Underground, 105 West Main Street, MesaWhile Counterparts may be a metalcore band, their album covers are pure metal. Take the cover to 2022's A Eulogy For Those Who Still Here: Hooded figures stand in pools of lava around a grave while shadowy crosses clustered around a mountain loom over a landscape choked with smoke and fire. It looks sick as hell; fortunately, the music it’s illustrating does a good job of living up to that promise. Counterparts scream, shred, and pound out blistering beats with gusto, their music melodic and harsh. Hailing from Hamilton, Ontario, Counterparts are elder statesmen in the metalcore scene. A Eulogy For Those Who Still Here makes a strong case for their continued relevance; songs like "Bound to the Burn" thrash and pummel with controlled fury. While much of the record hews closer to the metal side of their sound, "Unwavering Vow" taps into a punkier hardcore tempo. One constant remains from song to song: the commitment of singer Brendan Murphy, who howls every syllable with throat-shredding intensity. With SeeYouSpaceCowboy and Dying Wish; 6 p.m., $20 via simpletix.com. Ashley Naftule
Alaska Thunderfuck 5000
Wednesday, November 30Crescent Ballroom, 308 North Second AvenueAlaska Thunderfuck 5000 might not necessarily be the most successful RuPaul's Drag Race, but she's definitely in the top five. After making a splash in the popular reality competition show’s fifth season and winning the second all-stars edition, the drag superstar dove into a career as a successful recording artist, releasing such best-selling albums as 2015’s Anus and 2016’s Poundcake. And if her album titles weren’t already a clue, Thunderfuck (whose moniker was inspired by a potent strain of ganja) is quite fearless and lives her life out loud. That extends to her fierce stage persona, as she struts onto stages, commanding attention with her voice and the hard-hitting electronic beats backing her catchy tracks. She also gives new life with her covers of older tracks, like adding a kinky twist to the ‘90s Ace of Base hit “All That She Wants” on this year’s Red 4 Filth. She’s currently touring behind the album with a show that’s as scandalous and it is spectacular. 8 p.m., tickets are available on the secondary market. Benjamin Leatherman
Azizi Gibson
Wednesday, November 30The Rebel Lounge, 2303 East Indian School RoadGuesting on a Freddie Gibbs track is a risky proposition. Gary, Indiana’s favorite son has been on a world-conquering run since 2014, releasing a string of nearly-impeccable records. But Azizi Gibson holds his own on “Hate to Say It,” slinging cold-hearted braggadocio with as much poise and gusto as Gibbs. “Better ride it until the sun comes up and we zombies,” Gibson snarls over a laconic beat, sounding every inch Gibbs’ equal. Azizi Gibson traveled a long, circuitous route to his current success. He spent his childhood bouncing from Germany to Zaire, Bangkok to Singapore, and back before finally making Los Angeles his home. It was in L.A. that Gibson connected with underground producer superstar Flying Lotus and became a regular fixture on Lotus’s Brainfeeder label. Gibson is a hungry man and a talented wordsmith with a nimble tongue, exactly the guy you call in when you need someone to take a big chomp out of a track. An accomplished and provocative rapper in his own right, it’s only a matter of time before dudes are going to be scrambling to land guest verses on his raps. 8 p.m., $27-$102 via seetickets.us. Ashley Naftule
Pijama Piyama
Thursday, December 1Valley Bar, 130 North Central AvenueIt doesn't take much to be truly cool, and Phoenix's own Pijama Piyama are proof positive. As if the name (and band members like Corchalato) weren't already deeply cool, the band describes themselves as "Sonoran desert degenerate scums that have dreamt up an auditory backdrop for their cacti deity." But they're so much more than any gimmickry (or dope album art), and songs like last year’s split single "Fuego Se Va" b/w "El Nieve en Abril" are as kooky as they are catchy. This otherworldly, electronically-tinged cumbia is as draped in heavy irony and a dash of humor as much as it is earnest, organic, and 1,000 percent authentic. Plus, that friction zone of ideas and intents feels true of our little desert in more ways than one. But don't focus on all that too much, and just let these songs bore their way into the deepest part of your brain. With Los Velvets and Sativan; 8 p.m., $15/$17 via seetickets.us. Chris Coplan
Russell Dickerson
Thursday, December 1The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren StreetThe devil is in the details and so is good songwriting. It’s the little things that make a pop song really pop. This is something country singer Russell Dickerson gets: those universal feelings you can only tap into by being specific. It’s the way he sums up regret and second chances in romance on his 2022 song “I Wonder” when his protagonist sees his ex’s faded lipstick on a Starbucks cup. “Can I live and never kiss those lips again,” Dickerson sings. It’s the kind of detail that hits you with an archer’s precision. Dickerson has been at it in the country music game for a while. The Tennessee-based artist released his first EP back in 2011, building up a following in country music with a series of hit songs sung with restrained confidence. The title track from 2017's Yours has become a popular wedding song, showing once again Dickerson’s knack for writing songs that get to the heart of experiences so many of us share. 8 p.m., $25 via livenation.com. Ashley Naftule
