SEVEN IN SEVEN
Welcome to Seven in Seven, where each week we typically take a look at shows coming to the region over the next week. And while venue doors are slowly opening again, due to the current pandemic they aren’t quite there yet. That doesn’t mean the music stops, and new releases are coming out weekly from artists you know and love and some waiting to be discovered. Each week we’ll be looking at some of the best hitting shelves and streaming services and a can’t miss show in the region.
Whether your musical tastes are rock and roll, jazz, heavy metal, R&B, singer-songwriter or indie, there’ll always be something to check out. Here’s what’s on the docket for the week of Sept. 24:
Show of the week 1 Dirty Honey — BB&T Pavilion — Sept. 23 and 25
WMMR’s annaul MMR*B*Q has a stacked lineup this year, what with Jane’s Addiction, Cheap Trick and the Offspring as part of the nighttime headliners. But during the general admission portion of the day, it’s Dirty Honey, the Los Angeles-based quartet who exploded in early 2019 with their debut single, “When I’m Gone,” that we’re most excited about. They’ve since pulled opening duties for such legendary acts as The Who and Guns N’ Roses and are currently opening for a sorta reunited Black Crowes, absolutely wowing audiences with their fiery live show. Their latest single, “The Wire,” manages to sound fresh with just the right rock ’n’ roll blend of ’70s bottom end and ’80s brashness, providing a shot in the arm for a genre needing one. And speaking of the Crowes, you can catch that show tonight, also at the BB&T Pavilion. That’s double the chances to see Dirty Honey and zero reasons to miss them before they no doubt quickly outgrow support-act status.
New releases 2 The Connells — “Steadman’s Wake”
Raleigh-based alt-rock band the Connells are back after a 20-year-long hiatus with the release “Steadman’s Wake.” Despite the two decades since their last recording, the group never quit performing, and Mike Connell never stopped writing songs. The new LP features eight new songs and three re-recorded versions
of previously-released demos that originally appeared on 2001’s “OldSchool Dropouts.” This is the band’s first album to feature its two newest members, guitarist Mike Ayers and drummer Rob Ladd, who have been in the lineup since 2002 and 2012, respectively, and the first record with Mike Connell taking a prominent role as vocalist.
3 Des Rocs — “A Real Good Person in a Real Bad Place”
Des Rocs’ self-recorded “A Real Good Person in a Real Bad Place” demonstrates that he is in a league of his own. The album is bold and intoxicating, drawing on
rock, punk and electronic music to forge a “bedroom arena rock” sound that’s at once deeply intimate and profoundly expansive. Lead single “MMC” swerves from ferocious to playful and back again as it rails against all things fake and manufactured, while the video showcases a pulse-pounding, genre-bending performance juxtaposed with a character’s brutal exploration of identity.
4 Various Artists — “I’ll Be Your Mirror”
“I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground & Nico” features contributions from R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, the National’s Matt Berninger, Sharon Van Etten
with Angel Olsen, Andrew Bird, St. Vincent & Thomas Bartlett, Fontaines D.C., Iggy Pop & Matt Sweeney and so many more. The release of the track-bytrack tribute to the wildly influential band’s original debut album marks the kickoff of a robust campaign of Velvet Underground activity in 2021. The tribute album was conceived in 2017 at the same time that Todd Haynes signed on to direct “The Velvet Underground,” the highly anticipated film
that premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews and will see release next month.
5
Ada Lea — “one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden”
Montreal’s Ada Lea (the moniker of Alexandra Levy) delivers her latest LP, “one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden,” the follow-up to her 2019 debut, “what we say in private.” The album, on one hand, is a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/ folk songs and on the other a book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. The album is set in Montreal, and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. The city exists as both the location of and a character across much of the tracks.
6 School of X — “Dancing Through the Void” Danish multi-instrumentalist Rasmus Littauer is hitting his stride under the moniker School of X, homing in on his honest expression while simultaneously expanding in every direction. “Dancing Through the Void” sees Littauer dipping his toes into the realms of hip-hop, experimental, singer-songwriter and more, emerging with an ambitious, timeless indiepop sound. More than a collection of diverse indie-pop songwriting, the LP is also a message to have selfconfidence, and Littauer is walking the walk.
7 Michael Seyer — “A Good Fool”
Michael Seyer’s “A Good Fool” is the most intimate music he’s made. It’s an album full of warm and hushed tones that makes you feel as though you’re sitting right next to him in his home recording studio. As many other artist’s stories go, the LP was written and recorded throughout 2020, although recording didn’t start until the end of that year. The tones from the singer-songwriter come clear throughout the 11-track, 38-minute project. Over the course of the album, Seyer offers his voice to several heavy topics including race, sexuality and mental health, unafraid to confront them head on and full of passion.