G Love and Special Sauce + Kristy Lee
Thursday, March 6; 8:30 p.m.
Tipitina's, 501 Napoleon St.
Tipitinas.com; $20
Hailing from the streets of Philly, this jam band of jazzy table taggin’, hot sauce slangin’ hipsters will be at Tips this month in promotion of their latest album, Sugar. Their 45-date Philadelphonic US tour will include the return of bassist Jimmy “Jazz” Prescott who has not played with the band for 8 years. The band has been around since 1993, and in 1994 they got their big break with the single “Cold Beverage.” Following “Cold Beverage,” popular songs like “Baby’s Got Sauce,” (also 1994), “Rodeo Clowns” (1999) and “Booty Call” (2005) contributed to the laizzez-faire R&B stylings of the band which now boast 15 albums. Their new single, “Nothing Quite Like Home” has been released on iTunes and recreates the same kind of feel good melody like a tall glass of lemonade on a hot day. And of course they wouldn’t be hippy dippies if they weren’t involved in a dope charity. G-Love and the guys are currently involved in the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund which provides financial assistance to career musicians facing illness, disability or age related problems. In need of a little sugar for your sweet tea or sauce for your for your Thursday night? Come check ‘em out at Tips. –Lauren Adam
Jucifer
Friday, March 7; 10 pm
Siberia, 2227 St. Claude Ave.
Siberianola.com; $10
Stacks of antiquated amps will fill the entire side wall of Siberia when Jucifer takes over. The mysterious long-running co-ed duo that is Jucifer will try their best to blow the roof off with their literal wall of sound created by just Amber Valentine’s guttural grunts and sparse, yet deliberate guitar strums and Edgar Livengood’s forceful drum poundings. The sludge group has been strategically crossing the country in an equally antiquated Winnebago they call the Nomadic Fortress for over a decade, destroying the eardrums and dazzling the eyes of all who are brave enough to see their shows. Their latest release За Волгой для нас земли нетis testament to their crushingly heavy and loud sludge metal. Along with Jucifer in this utter descent into metal madness are the local groups Solid Giant and Eat the Witch. It’s going to be an all-out blowout! I’m referring to the speakers and your ear drums, so please bring some ear plugs if you ever want to hear again.
Kush Rolled Up Concert:
Smoke DZA and Trademark
Saturday, March 8; 10 p.m.
Howlin' Wolf, 907 S. Peters St.
Thehowlingwolf.com; $20
Harlem’s very own Smoke DZA teams up with New Orleans native Trademark Da Skydiver to blaze the stage at The Howling Wolf representing their strong, yet noncommercial influence on hip-hop music. A founding member of The Smokers Club, Smoke DZA, a.k.a. Kushed God, has successfully gained fans internationally, selling out shows in places such as Amsterdam and Denmark, while maintaining creative freedom marking 2014 as his year to be independent, through and through. On one of his latest releases, Black Independence (featuring J Ivy produced by 183), Smoke explicitly expresses his reasons for taking the independent route. Expect nothing less than that raw hunger East coast vibe set free over soulful melodies from the upcoming April 1 release date of his album Dream.ZONE.Achieve. Performing alongside Trademark Da Skydiver is more like a family affair for Smoke as they have blessed stages together touring with Curren$y back in 2011. IHipHop artist Trademark Da Skydiver dropped his long awaited album Flamingo Barnes 2: Mingo Royale in November 2013 stating that this is one of his best works dedicating time to create a new sound for his loyal fans. Trademark’s music is laced with his straightforward thoughts on life, struggle, and taking responsibility for your future. Returning to his hometown to perform for the first time since the release of Mingo Royale, Da Skydiver is excited to show how much he has grown as an artist, “always trying to be better than I was yesterday, simply.” This concert is sure to have you in the clouds. –Telle Ink
St. Paul & The Broken Bones
Saturday, March 8; 9 p.m.
One-Eyed Jack’s, 615 Toulouse Street
Oneeyedjacks.net, $12
A few years ago, Alabama Shakes arrived on the national scene with Brittany Howard, infusing southern rock with her unique and powerful soul singing. St. Paul and the Broken Bones from Birmingham might be the next band to emerge from the Deep South led by another singer of comparable caliber, but Paul Janeway and his band have enough sonic distinction that they don’t need to ride the Shakes’ starry coattails. Lead singer Janeway grew up singing in the church and emotes the bluesy soul of gospel music in his all-out vocals while backed up by a tight, brassy – and classy – seven-piece band. The singing is emotionally and euphonically full, sounding like JJ Grey with less grit and more range or even Sharon Jones if she traded some of her old-school dap funk for Pentecostal soul. Their first full album, Half the City, was produced by Brian Tanner, the keyboardist for the Alabama Shakes. The songs run the full emotional scale, but their best, most upbeat numbers feel like contemporary reinvigorations of Rufus Thomas’s funkier hits without all the innuendo. All of it transposes successfully to the stage where the band is gaining a reputation for its high-energy performances. –Samuel Nelson
