Rage music, pop-punk and more concerts to check out
Meet Me @ the Altar
Guitarist Téa Campbell and drummer Ada Juarez first bonded over the latter’s Youtube pop-punk covers, and — despite living in different states — they decided to form a band, eventually recruiting Edith Victoria as their singer. Together, they are Meet Me at the Altar, one of the most promising bands among a wave of acts breaking the cis-white-male dominance of the scene and sound that most inspire them. Victoria’s Manic Panic braids will catch your eye, but her rich, lush voice will catch your ear, especially when she’s taking on internet critics that are “still stuck in [their] mother’s basement.” Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW. unionstage.com. Sold out.
Thick
Born in Brooklyn’s DIY scene in the 2010s, Thick is equal parts Blink-182 and Bikini Kill: straight-ahead punk reminiscent of alt-rock’s heyday. With an ear for pop melodies and a talent for harmonies, the trio is best at pumping out anthems with lyrics that lean on side-eyed sarcasm, like when aiming tired misogynistic tropes back at small-minded folks, as they do on the songs “Mansplain” and “Your Mom.” “Anger freaks me out, so I minimize a lot. But when I play Thick music, that’s the only time I feel like I can release anger in a way that is acceptable,” vocalist-guitarist Nikki Sisti told MTV. “I think anger onstage is so empowering.” Sunday at 8 p.m. at DC9, 1940 Ninth St. NW. dc9.club. $15.
Emotional Oranges
The much-bandied origin story of Emotional Oranges sounds like the setup to a joke about the music biz — an audio engineer for Drake met a vocal coach for Adele at a bat mitzvah — but hints at how the Los Angeles outfit sounds so good. Beyond its pair of vocalists, one male and one female, the anonymous-ish band is all about connecting the dots between studio-grade pros and the sounds of days past. With Emotional Oranges’ pristine instrumentation and well-worn grooves and lyrics, the music feels like juicing decades of funk, soul and hip-hop with some of the pulp strained out. Tuesday at 7 p.m. (doors open) at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. 930.com. $30.
Yeat
Balaclava-clad rapper Yeat is a man of his moment. The 22-yearold is a leading proponent of rage music, a rap subgenre that favors whole-lotta-red productions saturated with bass-blasting beats and synthesizer melodies that slice like oversized “Final Fantasy” swords. For his part, Yeat takes the Auto-tuned chirps of Future, Young Thug and Playboi Carti and pushes them to their abstract — if not absurd — endpoint: His lyrics are overloaded with ad-libs and ad hoc lingo that is born of and intended to become meme fodder and Tiktok trends. His song titles often feature extraneous umlauts, and while the accent mark highlights different vowel sounds, Yeat seems obsessed with creating new sounds entirely. Thursday at 8 p.m. at the Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. theanthemdc.com. $59.50-$79.50.