> CONCERT SAMPLER
Live-music highlights for the week of Aug. 17 to 23.
Portugal. The Man and Partner
Alaska-breds Portugal. The Man have always been a cheeky, somewhat underrated lot. But underpaid? Not so much, at least lately.
“Feel It Still,” a single with their former producer Danger Mouse’s influence all over it, has via commercial placement earned them an overdue payday and spawned “I was into Portugal. The Man before they sold out” T-shirts at the merch table.
Having spent the previous weeks tuning up on the festival circuit, they start off their summer tour proper around eighth LP Woodstock here in Toronto, and, hopefully, that means a few of the shirts remain.
More certain a proposition is New Brunswick duo Partner, rapidly gaining friends and acclaim and surely worth arriving early for — though they’ll be right back Sept. 8 at the Horseshoe. (Thursday and Friday, Danforth Music Hall, doors 6:30 p.m.)
Jessy Lanza
You could do worse than just pitching your tent for the weekend’s Camp Wavelength, except that literal option no longer exists, given the island flooding and the event’s resultant move to the mainland.
As it is, it’ll be off and running with this Friday night kickoff, wherein Lanza’s voice and electronica tou-ches several sweet spots between avant-R&B and direct pop — a heady start that continues with weekend afternoons at Sherbourne Common and evenings at the Great Hall’s Longboat Hall, where anarchic Bay Area stalwarts Deerhoof are a fitting choice to bring down the curtain on Sunday night.
As for this opener, Lanza figures to get strong, diverse support from former A Tribe Called Red beat-maker DJ Shub, rising Filipino duo Datu and tropicalia shapers Os Tropies. (Friday, Garrison, doors 7 p.m.)
Zeshan B
Zeshan Bagewadi brings a lot to this Toronto debut, including his four-man backing band the Transistors and a laundry list of influences from blues and soul, whether the American or Indo-Pakistani variety.
Out of Chicago, he comes off like a Desi Sam Cooke on this year’s album Vetted. Expect him to flit between English, Urdu and Punjabi and with a background covering gospel, opera, qawwali and ghazals, he’s among the most absorbing and uniquely situated of retro stylists to emerge in recent years. (Saturday, Adelaide Hall, doors 7 p.m.)
Kiefer Sutherland and Meghan Patrick
Hey, it’s the Ex, back again this week, and with Sutherland landing amid the kitschy fairground nostalgia you might be thinking uh-oh, vanity side project.
That’d be a little harsh, as Sutherland appears to be a number of admittedly safe steps up from the dubious track record for these kind of crossovers, with his own record label and a distant past that included rodeo ropin’ and ridin’.
Last year’s Down In A Hole LP earned decent notices and led to a Horseshoe date that sold out, so expect the celebrity factor to kick in again, but what tilts this one into consideration beyond all that is the addition on the bill of emerging star Meghan Patrick, up for three CCMA awards out of debut LP Grace & Grit and perfectly capable of blowing Jack Bauer away. (Sunday, CNE Bandshell, 7:30 p.m.)
Cult of Luna, Julie Christmas and Dalek
Quite the pairing here as the Swedish post-hardcore vets return with vocalist Julie Christmas in front and carrying equally heavy repute. The pairing joined on 2016 release Mariner and amid the dark and guitar-heavy going, Christmas’s wails and whimpers drop some colour on to the viscous mass.
The support on the bill doesn’t seem on the surface to be a match for the headliners, but they do bring credentials and ought to lay down some opening sludge for the headliners to swim in: it’s noise-rap trio Dalek, ahead of Sept. 1 release Endangered Philosophies and an Oct. 23 date as Hard Luck Bar headliners. (Tuesday, Mod Club, 7 p.m.)
SZA
Solana Imani Rowe got the assistance of some Top Dawg labelmates to help out on debut LP CTRL, including Travis Scott. Her strengths on her own appear more than enough; she’s developed her own voice and songwriting considerably from the monotonic tendencies of her earlier EPs and has the look and future-leaning sound to suggest there’s more of interest to come.
This one offers evidence of her momentum, upgraded to this overhauled venue with more than double the capacity of the original Phoenix booking — original tickets honoured. (Wednesday, Rebel, 8 p.m.)