MUSIC PICKS APR 25 - MAY 1 

• Ear House Music
• Krizz Kaliko

Krizz Kaliko @ Liquid Joe's 4/25
Kansas City legend Krizz Kaliko is unbelievably talented. The Strange Music prodigy has been an elite performer since even before his first LP, Vitiligo, dropped back in 2008. Working with his friend Tech N9ne since the late '90s, the artist born Samuel William Christopher Watson elevates a type of rap that gets packaged and delivered in a way that not many are capable of doing with the strength of being vulnerable. "As a kid, I prayed to not look like this. To not have this vitiligo on my face, because the judgment of the world will drive you crazy if you care about such things, and most people do," Kaliko told Flaunt.com "I've always wanted to eliminate that weight from me. I've gone through mental health issues. I've always wanted to alleviate myself from mental health, from vitiligo, and from weight." The rapper, singer and songwriter departed his longtime label back in 2021, and started his own independent imprint, Ear House Inc. With new music on the horizon, one can expect even more technical verses, powerful hooks and songs where every breath is planned perfectly. Representing the 801, hip-hop heavyweights Self Expression Music (SEM) will be rocking with Cristalz and Slimm El Loko hosting and Jef Doogie, Kaotic, E Will and LAM performing. Also, Co1eone and Greeneyez (Rescope Records), Rap 2 Recovery and Heeva will open with DJ Leemont on the wheels of steel. Touring artists Locksmith and Vin Jay are on the bill as well and are sure to catch wreck. Catch these acts at Liquid Joe's on Thursday, April 25, doors at 7 p.m. Tickets for the 21+ show are $35 at liquidjoes.net (Mark Dago)

• Melissa Szenda
• Joyryde

JOYRYDE @ Sky SLC 4/25
Therapy Thursdays have been a staple of the electronic dance music community in Salt Lake City for 10 years, but the last Therapy Thursdays ever will be JOYRYDE at Sky SLC. The decision to end these weekly events comes with sadness, as well as excitement over allowing a focus on other future events by ever-growing production company V2 Presents. JOYRYDE is a fantastic choice to go out with a bang. The U.K. DJ and producer Jon Ford is the son of John Phantasm (John Ford), the legendary psy-trance producer, so he's been living and breathing EDM from birth. JOYRYDE is the epitome of a rambunctious, bass-heavy fusion of garage, house and trap, and he always has super-high-energy sets. The momentum and hype he had in the mid-to-late 2010s, when Therapy Thursdays first started, was unmatched by most other bass music producers at the time, and he kills it with the energy and production of live sets. His ability to blend bass house and trap music is unlike anyone else's; songs like "Agen Wida" featuring legendary producer Skrillex, "Focus," and "I Ware House" still go insanely hard to this day. He's a perfectionist, which sucks in terms of no new releases in years, but the quality of his older music still sets the standard in EDM, and leaves us wanting more. See JOYRYDE at Sky SLC this Thursday, April 25. Doors open at 9 p.m. General admission costs $35 at tixr.com (Arica Roberts)

• Eitan Miskevich
• Cyprus Hill

Cypress Hill @ The Complex 4/29
I owned the original soundtrack cassette from the irresistible '90s thriller Judgement Night, before getting a used copy on CD. The Sonic Youth/Cypress Hill collab "I Love You Mary Jane" was the opening track, and it blew my mind. Sure, I had Cypress Hill's groundbreaking self-titled LP in constant rotation, but something about this rap/rock hybrid felt a bit more than just another college dorm staple. The Hill's emcees B-Real and Sen Dog have been high on enthusiasm, jagged noise and shouting since the days of their earliest singles, "How I Could Just Kill A Man" and "Hand On The Pump." Shout out to DJ Muggs, whose impact and influence can't be overstated. The group's tenth studio LP, Back in Black, was released in 2022, and the LP solely produced by Black Milk felt like a return to form without sounding dated. "Sometimes you have to reflect and remind yourself and others. As artists, we evolve, and certain music speaks to us a certain way," B-Real told Spin. "I've always subscribed to: whatever the music is telling me, that's what I'm telling you." The Pharcyde and Souls Of Mischief open—and all of these California supergroups are not to be missed. Catch these acts on the We Legalized It 2024 bill at the Complex on Monday, April 29, doors at 7 p.m. One dollar from each ticket purchased will be donated to The Last Prisoner Project. Tickets for the all-ages show are $42.50, and can be found at thecomplexslc.com (MD)

• Larry Marano
• Tenille Townes

Tenille Townes @ The State Room 5/1
Tenille Townes has effectively evolved over the course of her career, but she's always stayed true to her roots. Born Tenille Nadkrynechny some 30 years ago, she's Canadian by birth, but after relocating to Nashville, she got her big break after being signed to Columbia Records. Nevertheless, her ties to our northern neighbors remain intact. At the age of 17, she was nominated for a Canadian Country Music Award as Female Artist of the Year. At the same time, her single "Somebody's Daughter" hit number one on the Canadian country music charts. Two years later, she won four Canadian Country Music Awards (!) including Female Artist of the Year and three more for "Somebody's Daughter," including Single, Song, and Video of the Year. Her ties to her initial environs remain intact in other ways, including having raised nearly $2 million for Sunrise House, a shelter for homeless youth in Alberta, courtesy of her annual fundraiser Big Hearts For Big Kids. As for her adopted surname, she explained it all in an interview with the Canadian publication Everything GP. "Townes is actually from Township Road 722, which is the road that I grew up on and the house that built me essentially," she recalled. "So that's where that all comes from." That would seem a wise move; Nadkrynechny doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Besides, after three successful albums and four EPs, it seems to have served her well. Tenille Townes performs a 21 + show at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1 at The State Room. Tickets cost $27 at tix.axs.com. (Lee Zimmerman)

• Corinne Schiavone
• STRFKR

STRFKR @ The Complex 5/1
Riding the wild wave of indie sleaze at the peak stage of the scene, STRFKR brought a thus-far unmapped optimistic melancholy to a genre that thrived on break-up ballads and liquor-laced seduction. What began as a solo project for singer/guitarist Joshua Hodges hurtled towards unsuspecting young ears and the Billboard charts of the early aughts with the self-titled release, featuring the easily recognizable "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second," made famous by a Target ad (I'm serious)! Although 17 years (feel old yet?) distanced from this blast from the past, STRFKR has since flaunted many singles embedded into popular memory, including "Khalil Gibran," "Maps," "Boy Toy," as well as albums relatively peerless in the indie-pop canon such as Vault (Vol.1-3) and, as of March of this very year, Parallel Realms. Known for their use of light, color and psychedelic hypnotist-like visuals, STRFKR boasts live performances far more entrancing than any single you can queue up on Spotify. Performing an all-ages show live at The Complex on Wednesday, May 1 for only $26 feels borderline like theft—so get your tickets while you still can at tickets.thecomplexslc.com. Doors at 7 p.m., music at 8, as it ought to be. (Sophie Caliguiri)