Music Forecast 3.19–3.25: Bob Seger, Tommy Castro, TV on the Radio, and more
The Fog, Bummer, Nubiles, Slave Label
The lineup at FOKL Thursday night is not something you can miss with a clear conscience. Four young bands at the top of the local hardcore scene (or on their way there) are set to kick up the volume of this show to levels that would make your neighbors call 911. High Dive Records’ newest signee, the Fog, brings its own ambient weirdness, while label mate Bummer crushes you with meaty metal power. Nubiles hasn’t released anything since last spring’s excellent cassette EP, so we’ve built up a sore need to hear more from this rabid, trash-talking trio. Slave Label, out of Overland Park, has been together less than six months, so bring an open mind — and probably some earplugs.
Thursday, March 19, FOKL Center (556 Central, Kansas City, Kansas, foklcenter.com)
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
Listening to Bob Seger’s most recent album, Ride Out, you would never guess that it was the Detroit rocker’s first in eight years. Seger has kept his signature growl and stayed true to his preferred theme of independence. Sure, all the songs sound like the kind of thing your dad might listen to on a road trip to, say, a national park, but there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s oddly comforting to know that, long after the wane of Seger’s 1970s and ’80s popularity, songs such as “Night Moves” and “Stranger in Town” remain American classics. Expect those and plenty of other radio chestnuts when he stops Friday at the Sprint Center.
Friday, March 20, Sprint Center (1407 Grand, 816-949-7000)
Tommy Castro, Amanda Fish Band
There is no cure for the blues like the blues. California singer-songwriter and guitarist Tommy Castro, one of the genre’s finest practitioners, can tell you as much. The riffs on his most recent album, 2013’s The Devil You Know, set your speakers smoking. Opening for him Friday at Knuckleheads is local blues act Amanda Fish Band, which delivers plenty of sizzle by itself, thanks to frontwoman Fish (sister of national blues treasure Samantha Fish). Amanda Fish Band is also celebrating the release of its latest album, Down in the Dirt. If you’re wondering where the party was this weekend, we’ve found it for you.
Friday, March 20, Knuckleheads Saloon (2715 Rochester, 816-483-1456)
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio issued Seeds this past November, three and a half years after the death of its bassist, Gerard Smith. In some ways, then, the album feels like a kind of catharsis, a set of songs to push the Brooklyn quartet past its grief and into fresh waters of renewal. Sonically, it doesn’t breach brand-new territory for the band, but the music itself delivers big, with TVOTR untangling knotted emotions to find a good deal more optimism than it has ever conveyed before. Rain comes down like it always does, sings Tunde Adebimpe on the closing title track, This time I’ve got seeds on the ground. Thirteen years after the band’s debut, TVOTR finally seems to be right where it wants want to be.
Saturday, March 21, the Midland (1228 Main, 816-283-9921)
Screaming Females
Marissa Paternoster has a growl that will make your skin crawl. The frontwoman for Screaming Females can be haunting — see “Hopeless” — or full-out terrifying, as she is on “Ripe,” the latest single off the band’s forthcoming album. Add that to her undeniable prowess on guitar, and Paternoster transforms onstage from woman to ferocious beast. Hear her come to life Tuesday at the Riot Room.
Tuesday, March 24, the Riot Room (4048 Broadway, 816-442-8179)
