Obey the Crooks Chief Navaho Pusha T and Vince Neil
As you may have read in last week’s issue of Fast Forward Weekly local duo Obey the Crooks have been helping usher in a new era of Calgary hip-hop thanks to their creativity-first approach to songwriting that allows for a seamless blend of genres and ideas. They’ll put their skills on display this Thursday January 23 when they open for local hip-hop veterans Dragon Fli Empire at Broken City.
That’s one of many options for Thursday night. There’s also the return of Bug Incision’s regular avant-garde programming which sees four disparate acts getting weird at Emmedia. The show will be headlined by Toronto free jazz saxophonist Kyle Brenders and rounded out by the perfectly monikered Fuck Off Dad Kevin Stebner’s 8-bit explosion Greyscreen and Mark Fleischhaker’s noisy electronic project Terrible Crayon .
Local R&B experimenters Chief Navaho will celebrate the release of a new EP on Thursday at Lord Nelson’s of all places. They’ll be joined by a large crew of local performers including DJ Syntax DJ Fizheyd Gemsnotica Windin and others.
Finally Thursday’s wide array of choices continues with a pair of Siksika Nation bands at Tubby Dog. No More Moments play a raw metal-inspired brand of punk while After the Prophet aim for a more modern metalcore attack. They’ll be joined by Calgary’s own Triton .
Though they’re often billed as an indie rock three-piece Toronto’s Magneta Lane have decided to coin their own genre descriptor. “Witchrock” is both the name of their new EP and what they’ve decided to call their own music. As it turns out witchrock sounds like a surly throwback to ’90s alt-rock. Have a listen for yourself when they perform at Broken City on Friday January 24.
Saturday January 25 presents what I like to call a dad dilemma with two classic options vying for the ear-pierced rock enthusiast in your life. Those patriarchs with an affinity for leopard print and blonde hair dye will surely want to hit up Deerfoot Casino where Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil will put his talents on display. The funkier patriarchs among us will likely prefer the show at Mac Hall where Dweezil Zappa will shred through the many divisive guitar compositions of his late father Frank.
There’s more than just different strains of dad rock on Saturday night however. Over at Republik Toronto-based noise rock masters Metz will bring the heavy sounds of their self-titled 2012 Sub Pop debut. Before they have their way with your eardrums they’ll be supported by local post-Women post-punks Viet Cong .
If you’d prefer something a little more inclusive to the under-18 set Tubby Dog will host a varied punk show featuring Edmonton hardcore act Spaewife alongside three local groups including mathy experimenters Monkey post-hardcore world travellers La Luna and gritty garage gals Hag Face .
Finally the week closes out with an excuse to finally check out Marquee Beer Market (formerly The Back Alley). The Macleod Trail haunt will host a show from G.O.O.D. Music solo artist/Clipse mastermind Pusha T . Currently working on a followup to his 2013 sleeper hit My Name is My Name along with a rumoured Clipse reunion Pusha T is at a high point in an already great career.
