Justin Martin kicks off the Dirtybird residency at Smart Bar this weekend, joined by J Phlip and veteran tastemaker Nate Manic. Continuing the success of the club’s periodic partnerships with musical heavyweights and their record labels, the Dirtybird residency promises a packed and sweaty bassment dance floor for the foreseeable future. Martin rolls with the bouncing, tech-house style championed by Dirtybird honcho, Claude Von Stroke, but adds his own melodic elements and heavy kicks to separate his sound from other San Francisco underground artists. His early efforts landed him international notoriety from Steve Bug’s Poker Flat imprint and Ben Watt’s Buzzin’ Fly, and his current work with Christian Martin (as The Martin Brothers) continues to fill dance floors. (John Alex Colon)
March 13 at Smart Bar, 3730 N. Clark, (773)549-0203, 10pm.
Shock Value: A Preview of Last Fantastic Nasty at Quenchers I get the sense that Last Fantastic Nasty are still in that “figuring who we are” phase, where you’ve realized you can get attention by shocking people, but you start thinking long and hard about whether or not you want to. And they do have the musical chops to do well: the songs are metallic and complicated and compelling, even…
Never Give Up: A Preview of Fantastic Negrito at Martyrs' When Fantastic Negrito emerged onto the music scene in 2015, he looked to all the world like a new, emerging artist. In fact the man born Xavier Dphrepaulezz—winner of that year’s Tiny Desk Contest for his song and video “Lost in a Crowd,” which showcase a sound that builds upon the blues, but didn’t conform to most people’s ideas about…
Do It Again: A Preview of Brian Wilson at Horseshoe Hammond While today former bandmate Mike Love leads a group calling itself the Beach Boys, that band features no Brian Wilson. Wilson’s group, on the other hand, includes original Beach Boys member Al Jardine as well as late-prime-era Beach Boy Blondie Chaplin, and is jaw-droppingly facile at recreating the Beach Boys sound.
