It's Monday, and I'm sorry about that. There was nothing I can do. But I bring good news: This week's Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix is further proof that they play live music during the week, and even on school nights.
Monday, April 15: Baauer and Danny Brown @ Club Red, Tempe
Danny Brown has "been around Phoenix," according to our interview with "The Hybrid" last week. We're not sure what that means, and we're not sure we want to know.
See also: Danny Brown on why he calls himself The Hybrid.
Suffice it to say that Detroit's famously off-kilter rapper was probably his famously off-kilter self in Phoenix, at some point in time. He'll be joined at this show by Baauer, whose "Harlem Shake" had been in the world for almost a year before it turned into the first unavoidable meme of 2013. Yes: We know by now that that dance is not the real "Harlem Shake." The people who check him out tonight at 8 probably don't care. -- Dan Moore
Wednesday, April 17: Jim Adkins and Phunk Junkeez @ Crescent Ballroom
You'd be forgiven for not associating the Phunk Junkeez with philanthropy. The Phoenix-based hip-hop group released albums with titles like Hydro Phonic and Fear of a Wack Planet, and a solid third of their Wikipedia page is devoted to tales of the band breaking into warehouses and throwing enormous keggers.
On April 17, the group -- along with Jimmy Eat World frontman Jim Adkins -- will do a show on the level, at least for one night. They're getting together to play a concert benefiting Kylee Geretti, a young girl who found herself in need of a heart transplant over the holidays. It's called We Got the Beat, and as charitable as the motives behind it are, I expect the Crescent Ballroom will be anything but somber the night of. -- Dan Moore
Wednesday, April 17: Portugal. The Man @ Marquee Theater, Tempe
They're instantly recognizable by the complex layers and textures in each song, the monumental send-ups and whispered hushes surrounding John Gourley's falsetto voice and distinctive cadence, but no two Portugal. The Man albums sound the same.
The upcoming Danger Mouse-produced Evil Friends is bolstered in places by rhythm and blues horn flourishes, lush harmonies, swelling string sections, swirly synths, gospel send-ups, and some new lyrical directions. Unlike earlier albums, references to Alaska, Gourley and bassist Zach Carothers' former home, if still there, are hard to ascertain. Instead, one finds Gourley singing about war, Jesus, suicide and a couple negative social interactions -- perhaps the result of the growing fame facing the band after In The Mountain in the Cloud's success, and the constant toil of life as a touring machine.
Evil Friends comes out on June 4, but the band is already debuting the new material in concert, including their April 17 Marquee Theatre show. --Glenn BurnSilver
Thursday, April 18: Adder @ Yucca Tap Room, Tempe
If you know someone who gets so excited about jewelry and new shoes that they write songs about it, are they: A) a Scottsdale princess with too much money and a digital recorder or B) a modern hip-hop star? Trick question! They're both prima donnas with daddy issues and inflated egos.
If you're sick of the same tired, lazy tropes you'll hear on the airwaves, maybe it's time to tune into some socially conscious hip hop. Enter Adder, a California-based emcee who's here to challenge your perceptions, spit some philosophy and get your ass grooving. What else would you expect from a sample-heavy producer who describes his music as "psychedelic socio-philosophy?" --Troy Farah
Wednesday, April 18: The Postal Service @ Comerica Theatre
If you are in or around your mid-20s, this probably isn't the first time you've felt the cold hands of classic-rockdom closing around your neck. (For me, it was seeing a Garden State DVD on the bargain shelf at an FYE. And then, right afterward, it was thinking, "Man, I can't believe I used to buy DVDs.") But the Coachella-driven Postal Service reunion is hitting my cohort pretty hard. Not because we don't enjoy The Postal Service -- because a band from our youth had to reunite.
The Postal Service's one-album discography means the middle-Aughts indie set is probably prematurely terrified of its (our?) own demise; they never wore out their welcome to begin with, and coming into this week's date at Comerica Theatre, they're nearly as influential as they've ever been. But it's not worth fighting, because music nostalgia is inevitable and not so bad, in moderation. And Death Cruise for Cutie will probably be a blast. --Dan Moore
