MUSIC PICKS OCT 3 - 9 

• Insomniac.com
• Riot Ten

Riot Ten @ Boxpac Project 10/4
Hailing from El Paso, Texas, DJ/producer Riot Ten (Christopher Wilson) will certainly come in with a bang. SLC is a must-see stop on his Feral Tour, which will feature his signature bass-heavy tracks. As a self-taught producer and DJ, he's been working at his passion since high school and over the past decade and a half, it has certainly paid off. While he's been touring alongside huge names in electronic music like Yellow Claw, Adventure Club, Steve Aoki, Kayzo and Excision, his biggest track to date is "Rail Breaker" on Aoki's Dim Mak label in 2017. This single set him at the forefront of bass music and solidified him as the inventor of "hard-trap." What does hard-trap sound like? Take the slow and heavy bass drums and gritty lyrics of traditional trap music and morph the quick high cymbals into a less melodic and ecstatic flow, creating a sound that is lower, harder and more serious. Wilson's latest EP Hype or Die: Ballistic is exactly that—very hype and dark! There are no boundaries to music and Wilson's set will prove that. Hosted at Boxpac Project warehouse (1810 W. Fortune Rd.), the iconic 360-degree stage is sure to bring out all the headbangers. This is a 21+ show brought by Mutiny Music Collective. 9 p.m on Friday, Oct. 4. Tickets are limited and cost $30. Go to seetickets.us. (Arica Roberts)

• Courtesy Photo
• The Mother Hips

The Mother Hips @ The Commonwealth Room 10/4
Across 12 studio albums and five live releases, The Mother Hips have recorded and released music that can be variously described as alternative rock, jam, folk rock, psychedelic, Americana and even power pop. And along the way the Mother Hips have built and cultivated a loyal fan base. The Chico, California, group began in the early '90s, gigging around the Bay Area and building a following. The band released their debut, Back to the Grotto in 1993, a time by which the original vinyl era was over, having given way to the CD. Fast forward nearly three decades: in celebration of their 30th anniversary, beginning in 2021, The Mother Hips reissued their entire catalog on the resurgent vinyl format—one album at a time—over the following months. Those records are a varied lot, but the band's stylistic metamorphoses are a feature, not a bug; a significant part of The Mother Hips' appeal among its fans is the group's creatively restless approach to making music. Their most recent studio release, 2023's When We Disappear continues that eclectic character, folding in elements of Beach Boys-style vocal harmony, rootsy Americana and a jam band mindset applied to pop-length songcraft. Jesse Roper opens this 21+ show at The Commonwealth Room on Friday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $48 and up and available from axs.com. (Bill Kopp)

• Chapman Baehler
• Atmosphere

Atmosphere @ The Union 10/5
The relationship between someone's "authenticity" or their level of sincerity on the inside, and how "real" their art feels, let alone how good it is, is very complex. Minneapolis duo, Ant and Sean Daley (a.k.a. Slug) of Atmosphere are bona fide creators that have an uncanny way of connecting with the audience. "The most important part of any of my songs is probably authenticity, whether or not the listener hears it or feels it. That's what I'm attempting," Slug told the High Plains Reader. "And sometimes you want to express an idea that you might not even fully believe yourself, because it's just a notion or a theory or an idea, but you still want to express it as authentically as possible." Their latest LP from 2023, So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously, is the realest of reality rap. S.M.O.R.E.S. (a delicious acronym) races through 20 songs in just over an hour and begs one to really listen as opposed to background daily life ubiquity. Standout tracks "Bigger Pictures," "Talk Talk" and the album's opener, "Okay," perfectly set the optimistic tone. Atmosphere is so effortlessly good at what they do and tight as a unit, that you imagine they could quite easily rock an hour-plus set one-handed while playing a game of cards between themselves with the other hand. NOFUN! and Reverie open. Catch these artists on the Traveling Forever tour at The Union on Saturday, Oct. 5. Doors at 6 p.m. Show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $37.50 can be found at ticketmaster.com. (Mark Dago)

• Alexus Mclane
• Pixel Grip

Pixel Grip @ The State Room 10/7
The re-rise of electronic music has taken hold of the worldwide music scene in a seemingly unshakeable grip, with discos everywhere bumping and thumping with the sounds of Charli XCX's Brat and The Dare's What's Wrong With New York? on repeat. Yet, seemingly missing in these newfound club classics is what made electronic music so great in the '80s when it first raged onto the scene: a dark, menacing edge. Pixel Grip, a Chicago-based three piece, provides that and then some. Their 2021 album, ARENA, while well received, surely deserved at least half the recognition we've seen for 2024 releases in a similar although less nuanced vein (sorry, Charli!). Daring to lean more heavily into more macabre, memento mori themes and keeping lyrics in the shadowy backgrounds of an otherwise bass- or dark melody-heavy song, Pixel Grip is sure to satisfy the October itch to begin rockin' your bones. See them live on their Stamina Tour at The State Room on Monday, Oct. 7, doors at 7 p.m. Tickets for the 21+ show presented by Diabolical Records can be found at thestateroompresents.com. (Sophie Caligiuri)

• Dave Stauble
• Dropkick Murphys

Dropkick Murphys @ The Union 10/9
It's ironic that the Dropkick Murphys are now considered synonymous with Irish insurgency, especially since this particular band actually hails from Boston, a city that's separated from the Emerald Isles by several thousand miles. That's not to say Boston is totally distinct from Old Eire. At one point, it was the port of entry for many an expatriate from the old country. Named after Dr. John "Dropkick" Murphy's alcohol-detoxification facility, Dropkick Murphys manages to maintain a legitimate geographical bond all on their own. Their connection to Irish tradition is also manifest in the group's instrumentation, a raucous combination of guitars, fiddles, accordions, mandolins and, naturally enough, plenty of rowdy rhythms. So too, in terms of inspiration and authenticity, they draw on their Celtic roots to shape the songs' themes, including the religious and political strife that's plagued the Shamrock Isle for the past 200 years. That, then, brings rebellion to the fore, courtesy of the anger and defiance that's become an integral part of the band's determined delivery. So too, they specialize in brash, defiant anthems, all of which have become an essential element in Dropkick Murphys' signature sound. Like other bands with a similar attitude and approach—The Pogues, Black 47 and Flogging Molly in particular—they affirm the fact that rowdy rock and roll is indeed a universal concept. Needless to say, St. Paddy himself would certainly be proud. Dropkick Murphys with Pennywise and The Scratch perform at The Union on Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets cost $49.50 GA, $149 for VIP. Go to ticketmaster.com. (Lee Zimmerman)