Each week, the team at WAMM searches through the live music calendar to find some of the week’s best options. Here are the gems for the week beginning on April 25th.
The Cult
6:30 P.M., Tuesday, April 26th
Soundstage At Graceland
The West Yorkshire elder statesmen of The Cult have donned many musical masks over the decades, from an early post-punk clothed in Gothic splendor to the glammed-out costumery of late-eighties hard rock, even incorporating the dark sonic finery of alt-rock and noise-rock for a time in the early nineties. Throughout such adventurous genre shape-shiftings, the one constant has remained Ian Astbury’s inimitable baritone coon, conveying mystery and menace but capable of textured subtitles of emotion and character. They stop by the Soundstage at Graceland on Tuesday, sure to be a hospitable and symbolically-appropriate backdrop for their hallowed musical melodrama, and further evidence of Soundstage’s ongoing ascension within the greater strata of relevant Memphis music hotspots.
Memphissippi Sounds
7:30 p.m, Thursday, April 28th
The Green Room, Crosstown Arts
If you ask a Memphian to answer what they think a band heavily influenced by the traditional sounds of Memphis and North Mississippi might sound like, the answers will certainly vary. The best answer might be,“you know it when you hear it.” Memphissippi Sounds’ style of hill country blues mixed with modern elements of soul, rock, and pop certainly fits the bill and will send you into a Memphis meditation . Cameron Kimbrough, grandson of hill country legend Junior Kimbrough, was brought up in the midst of musical greatness, while his partner Damien “Yella P.” Pearson’s smooth tenor blues vocal steadies the trance like blues grooves. Together they released the studio album Welcome To The Land in late 2021 which was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the Best Emerging Artist Album category. Kimbrough and Pearson will be getting down to it at The Green Room on Thursday, showcasing their unmistakable sound and songwriting style of the place we call Memphissippi.
Kaleta and Super Yamba Band
8:00 p.m, Friday, April 29th
Railgarten
Afro dance and funk band Kaleta and Super Yamba Band hail from Brooklyn, with bandleader, guitarist and singer Kaleta having origins in Benin Republic and Lagos, Nigeria. Kaleta is a veteran of Afrobeat and has toured with legends like Fela Kuti and King Sunny Ade. The upbeat, seven piece Super Yamba Band features a killer rhythm section and horns, and are the perfect anecdote to the long winter behind us! Kaleta’s commanding vocal and rock n roll style guitar licks will keep you dialed in, far out, and dancing in the twilight for hours.
Spaceface – Memphis In May Afterparty
8:00 P.M., Sunday, May 1st
Black Lodge
Spaceface are a treasured Memphis institution by now. This long-running band of psychedelic troubadours are known outside of the Bluff City for their ongoing association with legendary Oklahoma City weirdos the Flaming Lips, with Jake Ingalls serving as a member of both bands for a time. Spaceface has continued to reflect that influence in their deft incorporation of highly-melodic pop hooks and harmonies in their stargazing space-garage template. Perhaps there’s no better venue to experience their singular interstellar drift than Black Lodge, Crosstown’s own delightfully-weird video store and mind-expansion laboratory. Catch them for a Memphis in May afterparty on Sunday and prepare to slip earth’s bonds for a couple blissful hours.
