Over and Under
One big show, one smaller
Kanye West has gotten so popular that even his obsessive fan forum spawned a break-out hip-hop group. Brockhampton reigns from California, but they met on West’s kanyetothe.com fan blog, dubbing themselves the internet’s first boy band. True to that title, the group sounds like an Ethernet cable sprung a leak. Take “Gold,” its goofy marquee single. Tabla-drum fills pop out between woozy beats and a dumbly fun chorus: “Keep a gold chain on my neck / fly as a jet / boy, you better treat me with respect.” Rap has a soft spot for party jams, and Brockhampton’s sonic jabs are sharper than most. See what the fuss is about when Brockhampton takes over the Ogden Theatre on Feb. 22. Tickets are $28.50-$35 via axs.com. Sometimes, a band isn’t the light but the lens that refracts it. That’s the case with The Back Pages, a rock band that, in the vein of nationals like Dawes and Dr. Dog, has dedicated itself to reinterpreting an era rather than revolutionizing its own. The Junta five-piece invokes Tom Petty, Neil Young and Bob Dylan (the group’s name is seemingly a reference to the Dylan protest standard “My Back Pages”) in its wounded ballads. It’s a songwriter’s band, and “The Lion and the Sun,” its latest album, evinces that. Songs like “Tail Swallower” and “With Hold-It Steel,” a pretty, slow-building anthem, are worth the mosey-down to LoDo’s Moon Room, where the band will hold court Feb. 16. Tickets are $10 via ticketfly.com.