HIP-HOP | Hip-Hop in the Den, Anfernee Robinson
w/ Kaizër and Illadell
Sat. April 1
9 p.m.
Free
Music Farm
You may remember Anfernee Robinson as the CofC student who, last year, created the song/video “Small House,” which illustrates the effect homelessness has had on him and his family. Since then, Robinson has continued to make music, performing on the Charleston Music Hall stage earlier this year as part of the Charleston Live series launch and recently releasing a new EP. The Conspiracy is a six-song collection of hip-hop, R&B, funk, and EDM that speaks to the “conspiracy behind the power of love,” Robinson says. “Love controls a lot of our actions and emotions, and we have yet to come close to understanding it. This project is a brief look into the patterns of love that drive our actions, precisely after having lost it.” Robinson will headline the second show in 1770 Records’ new series, Hip-Hop in the Den, which highlights local hip-hop artists in an intimate setting, utilizing the Music Farm’s small stage. Local emcees Kaizër and Illadell will also perform. —Kelly Rae Smith SATURDAY
TRIBUTE SHOW | Gorillaz Tribute
w/ Little Stranger
Thurs. March 30
10 p.m.
$7
The Commodore
You know you’re living in 2017 when a virtual band with entirely animated members gets a tribute show. But the fact remains: Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s Gorillaz has made some truly great and undeniably unique music, collaborating over the years with such names as De La Soul, Clash bassist Paul Simenon, and producer Dan the Automator to create a haunting hybrid of electronic pop, indie rock, and comic book mythology. Local hip-hop duo Little Stranger, joined by Runaway Gin’s John Pope, Holy City Hooligans bassist Casey Atwater, and keyboardist Caleb Bodtorf, pay tribute this weekend, drawing from Gorillaz’s four albums (a fifth, Humanz, is out next month, by the way). To keep with the virtual theme, Gorillaz clips will be projected throughout the show, and interesting costumes are promised as well.
—Vincent Harris THURSDAY
GOTH ROCK | The Long Losts
w/ Toccata Nosferatu
Sat. Apr. 1
9 p.m.
$10
Tin Roof
Here’s a dark secret about goths: they actually know how to have a good time. Black-clad punks the Long Losts are whistleblowers to that hidden truth. Singer Anka McGowan and her husband/guitar player Patrick McGowan weave Halloween themes that tell celebratory stories about their lives on their last album Scary Songs to Play in the Dark. In one of the album’s highlights, “I Love Him for His Horror Movies,” Anka sings a heartwarming tale about bonding with Patrick over blood-chilling films. Meanwhile, her ghostly vocals mesh with his menacing guitar work to great effect on songs like “October Country,” another not-so bleak one about their honeymoon in Salem. “I think goth can be misrepresented as ‘overly gloomy’ if taken at face value,” says Patrick. “We can’t be gloomy if we’re singing about Halloween and autumn and how much we love each other. These are things that make us happy.” Some of the tracks reference All Hallows Eve directly, with allusions to cult film Trick ‘r Treat and subversive sitcom The Munsters. The duo’s killer organ riffs round out the Halloween party vibe and will make listeners collectively shriek “stereotypes be damned.” —Heath Ellison SATURDAY
INDIE POP | Grace Joyner
w/ The Mobros, North By North, and Beach Sex
Fri. March 31
9 p.m.
$8
The Royal American
One-time Charlestonian Grace Joyner returns to the Lowcountry this weekend to not only headline a show at the Royal American but to get some work done with her band and producer, Wolfgang Zimmerman. “It is all new material and a decent chunk of it is written, but I am still working on some new concepts I want the album to be centered on,” she says. Joyner moved to Asheville from the Holy City in December of 2015, but it looks like she has her sights set on a more permanent homecoming in the not-too-distant future. Seeing the scene here grow from afar over the past year or so has given her the itch to re-immerse herself. “I have been going back and forth with moving back to Charleston for the past couple months,” she says. “I love Asheville, and I have gotten a lot of cool things done here. But I think this might be a really special and important time for the Charleston music community, and I would hate to regret not being a more integral part of it.” Plus, Joyner’s band is based here, so there’s that creative pull, too. “Sometimes when you have to work full-time and at the same time try to do music seriously, you can end up feeling as though you are in limbo in both worlds, not really moving forward in either,” she says. “If I am going to move forward in music, the time is now. And I think living in Charleston could be key to that.” If all goes as planned, she’ll be back in Chucktown in time for summer. Until then, she’s focused on making music, wherever she is. “This last year has been such a season of personal growth for me,” she says, “and that is what I am hoping will come out in the new material.” —Kelly Rae Smith FRIDAY
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