Welcome to Seven in Seven, where each week we typically take a look at shows coming to the region over the next week. And while venue doors are slowly opening again, due to the current pandemic they aren’t quite there yet. That doesn’t mean the music stops, and new releases are coming out weekly from artists you know and love and some waiting to be discovered. Each week we’ll be looking at some of the best hitting shelves and streaming services and a can’t-miss show in the region.
Whether your musical tastes are rock and roll, jazz, heavy metal, R&B, singer-songwriter or indie, there’ll always be something to check out. Here’s what’s on the docket for the week of Jan. 14:
Show of the week
Upsahl — The Foundry — Jan. 15
Early in her career, alt singer-songwriter Upsahl released songs that gained much-deserved recognition throughout the Phoenix music scene. As a graduate of the Arizona School for the Arts, a performing arts middle/high school, she continued to hone her craft while being trained on piano, guitar and choir every day. Since then, she’s gone on to ignite a groundswell of fan adoration and tastemaker praise by way of numerous indie alternative gems and EPs, capped off by her debut studio album, “Lady Jesus,” which came out in October.
New releases
Grace Cummings — “Storm Queen”
Melbourne-based singer, songwriter, producer and accomplished stage actor Grace Cummings returns with a self-produced sophomore album. True to its title, “Storm Queen” is a body of work with its own unruly climate, governed only by the visceral quality of Cummings’ spellbinding and devastating vocal presence. Most of the songs were captured within the first few takes and feature unexpected flourishes by Cummings’ peers in Melbourne, resulting in vast and volatile emotional landscapes from one of the most captivating folk artists to enter the scene in years.
Slowbleed — “A Blazing Sun, The Fiery Dawn”
Formed with a goal of achieving unrelenting extremity, Slowbleed bridges brutality and technicality within their blend of hardcore aggression and death metal precision. Born, bred and raised on the bands of the Nardcore scene they grew up in, the Santa Paula, Calif.-based outfit started in 2017. Following the release of a couple EPs, the band has recorded its debut LP, “A Blazing Sun, The Fiery Dawn,” which unloads nine volatile tracks of pummeling death metal surging with metallic hardcore energy and haunting tones.
The Lumineers — “Brightside”
The circumstances surrounding the creation of The Lumineers’ fourth album, “Brightside,” were unlike anything Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites had previously experienced in their nearly two decades of making music together. They were five months into a projected two-year tour behind their 2019 album, “III,” with no plans to start work on another LP, when the pandemic forced them off the road in March 2020. Each ended up throwing themselves into solo projects, with renewed energy and perspective informing them for the process of making album number four, one of their most cohesive to date.
Yot Club — “Santolina”
Ryan Kaiser’s lo-fi indie pop project Yot Club stems from a diverse array of influences, and offers a unique and recognizable brand of vibrant, sunny pop rock. His sound reflects a pretty summer vibe, using distorted vocals, lo-fi beats, guitar tracks running through a chorus pedal, warm guitar leads and analog synth melodies, mixed with light pads. On the new EP “Santolina,” Kaiser presents a record not avoidant of but rather in conversation with all those things that make modern America a hulking, unsustainable — but somehow still beautiful — weirdo wasteland.
Dance With the Dead — Driven to Madness
California-based electronic duo Dance With the Dead, made up of Justin Pointer and Tony Kim, are inspired by retrospective movies and music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Their sound reflects heavily on analog synthesizer sounds and early heavy metal guitars, evident all over their sixth full-length album, “Driven to Madness.” The LP features 10 tracks of dynamic, riff-forward thrills that provide the ultimate soundtrack for fans of the group’s John Carpenter-inspired sound, along with a guest feature from the aforementioned Carpenter and his son Cody on the opening track “March of the Dead.”
Mae Mae — “Gummy Heart Eyes”
Amplifying the bliss of life’s little pleasures through a kaleidoscope of alternative and pop, Mae Mae’s music mirrors the unabashed earnestness of the Atlanta-born and Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s uninhibited personality. Her sound, evident on the new EP “Gummy Heart Eyes,” is a reflection of her life and vice versa. Since her childhood, she has always lived adjacent to entertainment with her dad, a performer on cruise ships and in numerous funk bands throughout Miami, imparting an appreciation for music and performance upon her at a young age. The result sees her songs meshing various sounds together, like on “Crumblin’,” a lovelorn synthpop piece led by propulsive drums and cascading explosions of electronics.
Soundcheck
• Upsahl: “Thriving”
• Grace Cummings: “Raglan”
• Slowbleed: “Graves (Pours of Earth)”
• The Lumineers: “A.M. Radio”
• Yot Club: “Alive”
• Dance With the Dead: “Sledge”
• Mae Mae: “Crumblin’”
