This week’s concert offerings also include gigs by doom metal act OM, indie pop act The Japanese House, Latin roots ensemble Combo Chimbita, and punk legends The Exploited. Local hip-hop shop Trill will also stage a two-night celebration in honor of its move to a newer, bigger spot.
Details about each of these concerts and music events can be found in the following list. And for even more live music happening around town, hit up Phoenix New Times' online concert calendar.
The Strumbellas
Monday, May 13Crescent Ballroom
The Strumbellas bridge the gap between scrappy folk and catchy pop. Thanks to frontman Simon Ward's soaring vocal delivery that's at times syrupy sweet and other times raspy and raw, the Canadian sextet's brand of catchy pastoral pop delivers emotionally charged singalong songs sure to make audiences toe-tap, air guitar, and table-drum along. The Strumbellas released a fourth studio album, Rattlesnake, in late March. They’ll be at Crescent Ballroom on Monday night. The show starts at 8 p.m. and The Moth and The Flame will open. Tickets are $20 to $40. Diamond Rodrigue
Skinny Lister
Monday, May 13The Rebel Lounge
At first glance, the name Skinny Lister may evoke the image of an underweight nerd who's been taunted by his classmates. In reality, though, it's one of those clever band names that leaves a somewhat amorphous impression.
In truth, the Lister family were actually innovators in the field of anesthetics, but according to singer/ukulele player Lorna Thomas, their Skinny Lister was a boy that guitarist Dan Hepinstall went to school with. "We have no idea if he is still skinny, but we will hopefully get a chance to reunite with him one day in the future," Thomas muses. "Hopefully he doesn't mind us nicking his nickname!"
If by some chance he happened to hear Forge and Flagon, the debut album from his namesake combo, he'd probably be flattered. A stirring combination of edge, angst, and insurgent attitude, all instilled with a genuine folk flourish, the album provides an ideal snapshot for the band, as do follow-ups like 2014's Down on Deptford Broadway and 2016's The Devil, The Heart, and the Fight, as well as their recently released effort The Story Is…, which dropped in March. Catch them on Monday night at The Rebel Lounge. Doors open at 8 p.m. and tickets are $16 to $18. Lee Zimmerman
Wild Belle
Tuesday, May 14Valley Bar
Putting "Wild" as the first word in your band's name sounds like a gag from Portlandia, but Wild Belle avoid making themselves a cliche in any other way. Their psychedelic pop settles into funk and almost reggae grooves, staying far away from the straight rhythms of indie rock or the lithium-fueled bouncing of indie pop. Wild Belle's music slides through your inner ear, bending and oscillating around you in unexpected turns. Their Valley Bar performance on Tuesday starts at 8 p.m. Terri Terri will open. Tickets are $15. Matt Wood
Santigold
Tuesday, May 14The Van Buren
Not all album tours are created equal. Some artists choose to tour a particular milestone of career success in their discography. Others tour longtime fan favorites in hopes of creating a new experience in the narrower focus. But this month, as Santi White, better known as Santigold, embarks on the 10 Years Gold Tour, she’s celebrating much more than success or fandom alone. She’s celebrating an indie rock movement that started with her debut LP, Santogold, and hasn’t let up since.
Santigold made her solo debut to the world with “Creator”, a ferocious dance track that sounds infinitely more at home in the present day than it did in early 2008. Here, White threw hip-hop, dub, electronica, and indie pop into a blender and made a track that would inspire years of head-scratching emulation. While her peers leaned comfortably into '80s dance influences, here was an artist going beyond the trend and into entirely new territory.
Beginning to end, Santogold is a stylistic tour de force that somehow feels continuous despite White and her team throwing so much into the pot. There are Pixies and Blondie moments alongside futuristic dance music that felt entirely new, independent of any nod or tribute. “I’ve been lucky all through my entire career to find these people to work with who are just versed as I am to walk from Siouxsie to Bone Thugs,” White says, “any style of music we can jump around to ... to just play off this wide array of sounds so fluidly.” Santigold will be at The Van Buren on Wednesday evening. The show is at 8 p.m. Tickets are $36 to $40. Gerrit Feenstra
Combo Chimbita
Tuesday, May 14The Rebel Lounge
“Frio Severo” is a song you could, and should, lose your head to. It’s a carnival of eclectic sounds and rhythms that exemplifies why people often call music hypnotic. Its power is tripled when Carolina Oliveros starts singing. Part of Combo Chimbita’s magic is their ability to pull you inside the song. As that aforementioned track continues, you go where it leads. It’s a parade you hope won’t end too soon. This New York band’s sound comes from a fusion of African, Latin American, and Caribbean styles. The band refer to their music as “tropical futurism,” and that’s accurate. Diverse rhythms and funky beats are the heartbeat for the sometimes-breezy, other times psychedelic and experimental melodies that sweep through their tunes. Catch them at The Rebel Lounge on Tuesday. Vox Urbana and Djentrification will open. Showtime is 8 p.m. and tickets are $11 in advance, $13 at the door. Amy Young
Ariana Grande
Tuesday, May 14Talking Stick Resort Arena
In the last two years, Ariana Grande has seen more shit hit the fan than any pop star of her generation. In September 2018, her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller died of an overdose, causing angry fans to blame their breakup for his death. Another relationship, this one with comedian and Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson, ended last year. The two announced their engagement just days after their relationship became public knowledge, and the slightly odd habits they picked up, including getting ill-conceived tattoos and dressing up like Harry Potter characters, consumed the public interest.
And lest we forget that on May 22, 2017, a concert Grande gave in Manchester, England, ended with a bomb exploding in the arena, killing 23 people and wounding 139. It was a traumatizing experience, perhaps most of all for the singer, who immediately suspended the rest of her tour.
Nevertheless, Grande continues to put in work. She recorded the song "No Tears Left to Cry" in response to the bombing and released her latest album, Sweetener, last year. The record went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and now, Grande will tour behind it. The Sweetener World Tour comes to Talking Stick Resort Arena in downtown Phoenix on Tuesday night. The show, which starts at 8 p.m., is currently sold out, but tickets can be purchased on the secondary market. Douglas Markowitz
OM
Wednesday, May 15Nile Theater in Mesa
Metal band OM first formed when Al Cisneros and Chris Hakius got together a handful of years after their old band Sleep parted ways in the late '90s. The idea was to create a project that used rhythms to convey meaning in a fashion akin to Tibetan devotional music or Gregorian chants. From 2003 until the departure of Hakius in the beginning of 2008, the duo created an impressive body of contemplative, even meditative, heavy music that some have referred to as "transcendental metal."
Grails drummer and primary Holy Sons songwriter, Emil Amos, was tapped to play drums in the new lineup that also includes Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe of Lichens (and formerly of experimental rock band 90 Day Men). As a trio, OM have released a pair of albums, 2009's God Is Good and the group's most recent effort, 2012's Advaitic Songs. On Wednesday night, they’ll invade Nile Theater in Mesa. The show starts at 7 p.m. and Wovenhand will open. Tickets are $20. Tom Murphy
The Japanese House
Wednesday, May 15Crescent Ballroom
You had to go up to Arcosanti last weekend if you wanted to see Japanese Breakfast, but luckily there’s another female-fronted indie project with “Japanese” in the title performing right here in the Valley this week. 21-year-old Englishwoman Amber Bain chose the name The Japanese House after staying in a cottage in Cornwall furnished to look like a Tokyo tea house. There, she posed as a boy named “Danny” and developed a crush on the girl next door, a childhood experience that heavily colors her dreamy music. Art School Girlfriend will open the show on Wednesday, May 15. The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18 to $20. Douglas Markowitz
Trill’s Grand Opening
Wednesday, May 15, and Thursday, May 16Trill and Rips Bar
In case you haven’t heard the news, local hip-hop shop Trill has found some fresh digs. Earlier this month, owners of the two-year-old emporium (which features anything and everything associated with hip-hop culture) packed up their shirts, snapbacks, and spray paints and moved several blocks west to Trill’s new home at 1817 East Indian School Road. And they’ll be celebrating the occasion with a two-night grand opening affair boasting a mix of DJs, turntablists, and street artists.
Things get going on Wednesday night at the shop, when the legendary DJ Shortkut of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz and The Beat Junkies will be in the mix along with Cwitch of Battlestar Massive. Local turntablists Akshen and LES735 from the Fader Manners DJ collective, which will be celebrating its fifth anniversary at the event, will also perform. The event runs from 5 to 9 p.m. Admission is free. Later that night, an after-party will take place at Rips, 3045 North 16th Street, and will include sets from Shortkut and Cwitch, as well as locals like DJ M2, DJ Fact135, and Tricky T. The party goes from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. and there’s no cover.
The second night of Trill’s grand opening happens on Thursday, May 16, and will feature an appearance by renowned illustrator and street artist Justin Bua (whose work has been featured on MTV, a few EA Sports video games, and the music video for the Slum Village/Dwele track “Tainted”). Meanwhile, locals like Fact135, Akshen, and Felix Fresh will be cutting and scratching on the wheels of steel. The event takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. and admission is also free. Benjamin Leatherman
The Exploited
Thursday, May 16Marquee Theatre in Tempe
Believe it or not, The Exploited are celebrating 40 years of cutting a crusty swath of anarchist destruction across the globe. Rest easy, though – with such ditties as "Fuck the System," "Fuck the U.S.A." and "You're a Fucking Bastard" to their credit, one can pretty safely assume the corrosive Scottish punks aren't gonna get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame anytime soon (still ain't as bad as the G.G. Allin "Suck My Ass It Smells" approach, but whatever).
Now 61 years old, unapologetically obnoxious singer Wattie Buchan is the sole member of the original lineup still fighting the good fight (drummer Dru Stix got sent up the river in 1982 for armed robbery, while founding axman "Big John" Duncan bailed in 1983, resurfacing briefly in 1993 as Nirvana's second guitarist on the In Utero Tour). Yeah, The Exploited have enjoyed plenty of personnel changes over the last four decades, but as long as Buchan's around to get in your face and spit his fervent anti-establishment venom (mall-core it ain't), it doesn't really matter who's backing his two-minute rant-anthems with an unrelenting, three-chord crunch.
Their Marquee Theatre show on Thursday kicks off at 5:15 p.m. Total Chaos, Dead 77, Krovak, The Venomous Pinks, Corkys Leather Jacket, and Rontgen will open. Tickets are $22 to $32. Michael Alan Goldberg
