Music Forecast 10.22-10.28: Run the Jewels, Stevie Wonder, Chvrches, My Gold Mask, Janet Jackson, and Craig Finn

Run the Jewels
El-P and Killer Mike — two successful rappers who bolster their creativity by performing together as Run the Jewels — bring their incendiary rhymes to the Midland. If you’ve been meaning to get in touch with your inner beast, make sure you’re in the audience. On last year’s acclaimed Run the Jewels 2, the two do a good deal more than intimidate with muscle-flexing — they start the brawl and throw down with vengeance. For what, exactly, are they seeking atonement? Perhaps everything.

Thursday, October 22, the Midland (1228 Main, 816-283-9921)

Stevie Wonder

Normally, a whole night of one man and his piano might not be enough to inspire our attendance at a show, but we will happily make an exception for the incredible Stevie ;Wonder. Friday at the Sprint Center, the 25-time Grammy Award winner fills the stage with more than just his earth-shaking voice; Wonder’s 30-person band qualifies as a small army. He’s on tour in support of the 40th anniversary of his iconic 1976 album, Songs in the Key of Life, so you can expect a night filled with the songs you want to hear in the three-plus hours that he’ll dominate the stage.

Friday, October 23, Sprint Center (1407 Grand, 816-949-7100)

Chvrches

With its bombastic, synth-driven beats and youthful power-pop chords, Chvrches could easily be written off as another dance-club throwaway. But the Glasgow, Scotland, trio — helmed by Lauren Mayberry and her crystalline voice — has a certain Taylor Swift-like talent for emotive lyrics. The dazzling notes that Mayberry reaches on the group’s latest album, Every Open Eye, are betrayed by just a few cracks in her armor, but that’s what gives Chvrches its humanity and — we hope — its staying power.

Friday, October 23, Uptown Theater (3700 Broadway, 816-753-8665)

My Gold Mask

Gretta Rochelle is the centerpiece of Chicago trio My Gold Mask. Her moody voice slinks and slithers around the pulsing, synth-laden 2013 album, Leave Me Midnight. Since then, My Gold Mask has released only a handful of singles — teasers for a forthcoming record, which audience members will hear more of when the group stops at RecordBar. Minneapolis electro-pop duo Holidae — led by Ashley Gold, whose singing soars above Garrett Neal’s dark, syncopating tracks — opens the show, along with Kansas City’s own electronic whiz kid Max Justus.

Saturday, October 24, RecordBar (1020 Westport, 816-753-5207)

Janet Jackson

When Janet Jackson’s newest album, Unbreakable, was released earlier this month, it sat at the top of the Billboard chart — her seventh album to obtain such a ranking. It’s easy to see why: The 17 tracks on Unbreakable are slick and sexy, and Jackson’s voice cozies up to breathy electronic beats like they’re her favorite silk sheets. Then there are the unmistakable vocal tricks — a terse syllable, a high-pitched verse — that mark Jackson as the sister of the great MJ and give Unbreakable a certain transparency. Here, she is as raw and honest as she has ever been. Welcome back, Ms. Jackson.

Tuesday, October 27, Sprint Center (1407 Grand, 816-949-7100)

Craig Finn

In September, Craig Finn — longtime frontman of the Hold Steady — released a new solo album, Faith in the Future, and it’s not exactly the collection of rainbows that the album title might lead you to believe. Finn touches on some tough subjects: domestic violence (“Sarah, Calling From a Hotel”) and 9/11 (“Newmyer’s Roof”). While he’s not a miserable cynic about it all, he also doesn’t sugarcoat anything. Still, Finn’s exploration of these and other dark themes is always nuanced, and he seems determined to be hopeful.

Wednesday, October 28, RecordBar (1020 Westport, 816-753-5207)