Weekend Music Ideas: May 18, 2018

Jonathan Davis, Bishop Briggs, Kingsley Flood, Los Van Van and more

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Jonathan Davis (pictured) usually gets dark and spastic at an ornamental mic stand as the brooding frontman for nu-metal stalwarts Korn, but Davis stretches a bit from that persona (with acoustic bass, Eastern sounds) on his week-away new album Black Labyrinth and a tour that brings Davis to House of Blues on Friday. At the other end of the spectrum the same night, singer/songwriter Shawn Colvin digs into lyrical fare at Rockport’s Shalin Liu Performance Center with Melissa Ferrick completing the bill. And feisty singer Celia Woodsmith strays from her bluegrass outfit Della Mae to team with alt-country guitarist Chris Hersch of Girls Guns & Glory in the upstart band Say Darling (not to be confused with Yes Darling, the duo of Ryan Montbleau and Hayley Jane) at the Burren’s Back Room series.

Local music also gets a chance to shine this weekend at the harborside Harpoon Brewery’s annual Harpoonfest, on Friday with acts like hip-hop avatars STL GLD and soul singer Ali McGuirk and on Saturday with a larger schedule that ranges from bluesy powerhouse Julie Rhodes and rocker Carissa Johnson & the Cure-Alls to rap upstarts Oompa and Latrell James. Rhodes and Johnson also hit the stage on Friday, commanding Somerville’s Once Ballroom (where Johnson’s band won the last Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble) on Friday. Then the Naseem Khuri-fronted Kingsley Flood continues to refine its melodic, thoughtfully pointed punk-folk hybrid on its broader-than-ever new album Neighbors and Strangers and at Once on Saturday, with more fine support in Glenn Yoder & the Western States and Andrea Gillis.

Saturday also includes big shows with charismatic alt-pop rising star Bishop Briggs at Royale (jump here to my recent interview) and the classical-jazz mashup of saxophonist Joshua Redman’s trio and the string quartet Brooklyn Rider in a Celebrity Series show at the Berklee Performance Center. And Sunday adds diverse options in Cuba’s venerable, sprawling dance orchestra Los Van Van making its first Boston visit in decades while the bluesy Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers hit Once and enlightened garage-rocker Kyle Thomas leads his outfit King Tuff at the Brighton Music Hall.


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