WAMM Recommends: Week of January 16th

Each week, the team at WAMM digs through the coming week’s live music calendar for the best of the best. Here are our picks for the week beginning January 16th.

Lucky 7 Brass Band

Wednesday, January 18th , 9:00 PM

Young Avenue Deli

Hey New Orleans, Memphis has brass bands too and Lucky 7 Brass Band is definitely a hometown favorite. Fronted by trombonist Victor Sawyer, the band entertains the Memphis party masses with brass band versions of pop, soul, and R&B tunes. Cooper Young’s favorite neighborhood bar, Young Avenue Deli, will play the Grizzlies game, and immediately after Lucky 7 Brass Band will take the stage to help celebrate the win (hopefully). May we add that Mardi Gras is only about a month from now, so let the season commence!

Salo Pallini

The Green Room at Crosstown Arts

7:30 PM, Friday, January 20

$15

Self-described “Progressive Latin Space Country” instrumental outfit Salo Pallini will be playing songs from their upcoming album “The Sirens of Titan: A Preemptive Scoring” this Friday at the Green Room, and as someone lucky enough to get an early listen of the album, I can confidently say you want to be there. Thr group, which is composed of local stalwarts Landon Moore, John Whittemore, Pat Fusco, and Danny Banks are clearly a literary group as this batch of songs were inspired by Vonnegut’s “The Sirens of Titan” with the stated purpose of having their debut act as the soundtrack to Dan Harmon’s proposed limited series adaptation of the novel. Whether or not they succeed in this ambitious endeavor will be answered later, the music is a success with our without Harmon’s cosign.-EW

Salo Pallini was formed by Memphis music heavies Landon Moore, John Whittemore, Pat Fusco, and Danny Banks, and Felix Hernandez– conceptualized by bassist Landon Moore, the band’s first recording was composed as an accompaniment to Kurt Vonnegut’s Sci-Fi novel, The Sirens of Titan. The band’s premiere recording titled The Sirens of Titan: A Preemptive Scoring, sounds like a midcentury spy movie soundtrack meets cocktail party vibes– martini required. Friday, The guys of Salo Pallini will be joined by musicians Logan Hanna, Jonathan Kirkscey, and Matthew Wilson to bring the magic of their recording to their live music audience at The Green Room. The recording is exclusively available on vinyl and will be available for purchase at Friday’s show and in record stores here in Memphis.-JW

Optic Sink, Ibex Clone, DJ JB Horrell

9PM, Friday January 20th

Bar DKDC

Under $10

Optic Sink has proven to be a successful translation of Natalie Hoffman’s garage-punk roots in NOTS to the realm of catchy, caffeinated electro-noise, casting a greyscale post-punk pallor over the Memphis scene that’s as eerie and gothic as it is strangely radiant. With Optic Sink about to head off to Kansas to record their second full-length, they’re marking the occasion with this date at DKDC, joined by scrappy power-poppy Goner-mates Ibex Clone and JB Horrell of Aquarian Blood providing some DJ moves. Swing by to hear how the finest of Memphis musicians continue to evolve and grow.

Deaf Revival, Turnstyles, S P A C E R

9:30PM, Friday January 20th

B-SIDE

Under $10

Memphis has long loved and nurtured her guitar/drums duos, and this night at B-SIDE offer three stellar local examples of the form for your enjoyment. Sludgy fuzzed-out bruisers Deaf Revival are all heavy-riffing rage and stomp, while Turnstyles (featuring the omnipresent Graham Winchester on drums, of course) skew nostalgically surfy when they aren’t throwing garage-rock limbs akimbo. Rounding out affairs are Bluff City favorites S P A C E R, who continue to finely-hone their vaguely-dreamy pop-punk swagger and churn. It’d be low-hanging fruit to make a jibe here about the disposability of bassists, but rest assured, these duos lose nothing by eschewing the bottom end.

Van Duren

South Main Sounds

6:30 PM, Saturday, January 21

$15

Much like Big Star (members of whom he often collaborated with), Memphis musician Van Duren could have been a power pop superstar had things worked out only slightly differently. His debut solo album “Are You Serious?” is now considered a mini masterpiece and in the ensuing decades his song craft and live performances have made him into a cult hero. While Van Duren still performs around town semi-regularly as both a solo artist and as half of the duo Loveland Duren, the opportunity to see him in an intimate venue like South Main Sounds should still be treated like a major event.

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