Welcome to Seven in Seven, where we look at shows coming to the region over the next week. As always, whether your musical tastes are rock ’n’ roll, jazz, heavy metal, R&B, singer-songwriter or indie, there will always be something to check out.
Here are seven of the best on the docket for the week of April 12:
Giant Rooks — Saturday at Underground Arts
Bubbling out of Germany, Giant Rooks have been taking the indie game by storm almost since the moment they were founded in 2015. The band has garnered hundreds of millions of views across breakout hits such as “Wild Stare” and “Tom’s Diner,” also selling out shows across Germany, North America and Europe. Their 2020 debut album, “Rookery,” has collected more than 200 million total streams to date, while it also peaked at No. 3 on the German charts. Their current tour supports the Rooks’ latest LP, “How Have You Been?” which was released in February.
Oceano — Sunday at Lovedraft’s
Deathcore mainstays Oceano are coming to Mechanicsburg in celebration of the 15th anniversary of their genre-defining album “Depths.” The Illinois outfit has shown a stark ability to encode their heavier than heavy transmission within the framework of tight and precise music since 2006. Over the years, the group has ignited a diehard fan base, expanding their deathcore punch with brutal heaviness and moments of unrelenting technicality. Additionally, Oceano utilizes thought-provoking lyricism that continues to elevate them within the genre, a key to their success over the past decade.
Arielle Silver — Wednesday, April 17, at World Café Live
Singer, songwriter and storyteller Arielle Silver returns to town for a solo acoustic date where she will be playing selections from her latest LP, “Watershed,” and choice cuts from her discography. The Los Angeles-based literate folk-popster has long delivered songs rich with imagery, empathy and insight. Conceived in the quiet of the pandemic quarantine, “Watershed” takes its title from that watershed moment and the woodsy and watery places where the story songs are set. Live is where Silver has received a large amount of accolades, and it will be interesting to see how she transforms the standard idea of a one-person acoustic setting.
Girl in Red — Wednesday, April 17, at The Met
Oslo alt-pop artist Marie Ulven, better known as Girl in Red, continued her path to global stardom earlier this week by releasing her first album for Columbia Records titled “I’m Doing It Again Baby!” She first gained recognition and captured the hearts of audiences when she released her critically acclaimed debut album, “If I Could Make It Go Quiet,” in 2021, drawing in fans and critics with her honest songwriting, disarming personality, powerful live performances and musicianship. Last year, she was handpicked by Taylor Swift to open the groundbreaking “Eras” tour, bringing in untold numbers of new fans and setting Girl in Red up to headline shows at spaces like The Met.
Thy Art Is Murder — Wednesday, April 17, at H-MAC
Thy Art Is Murder ascended the ranks of extreme metal’s top tier bands with a meteoric underground rise as explosive as humankind’s seemingly inevitable descent into doom and death. With their most recent album, last September’s “Godlike,” the group is easily Australia’s most harrowingly brutal export since George Miller’s “Mad Max.” As the sixth effort in the band’s arsenal, the record cements them as death metal’s modern torchbearers, offering a soundtrack to a divisive post-modern dystopia, while exploring new depths and dynamics without sacrificing the intensity or urgency the band have staked their career on.
Slow Hollows — Thursday, April 18, at Johnny Brenda’s
Austin Feinstein, the 26-year-old Los Angeles songwriter known as Slow Hollows, has spent the past decade following his arrow, doggedly reinventing and honing his music across a diverse collection of LPs. The latest, “Bullhead,” marks the first new Slow Hollows album in three years, following the band’s dissolution in 2020 and subsequent revival as Feinstein’s solo project. In sharp contrast to 2019’s “Actors,” which interpolated R&B and dance music and was influenced by collaborations with Frank Ocean and Tyler, the Creator, the new album finds Feinstein stripping things back to an elemental place. There are shades of Neil Young and Elliott Smith at the core of the songs, but they’re all lushly rendered, unafraid to boast rich strings, moody synths and bighearted guitar riffs.
Atmosphere — Thursday, April 18, at Brooklyn Bowl
Across more than two decades, Atmosphere has maintained a course of rigorous output, releasing over two dozen studio albums, EPs and collaborative side projects in as many years. In that time, the venerated hip hop duo has built a legacy out of continually challenging themselves to evolve without straying too far from their roots. Rapper Slug has proven masterful at storytelling and writing compelling narratives, leaving a trail of his own influence while paying homage to the rappers that helped shape him. DJ/producer Ant has skillfully molded the soundtracks with inspiration from soul, funk, rock, reggae and the wizardry of hip-hop’s pioneering DJs and producers, creating his own trademark sounds while providing the pulse for songs about life, love, stress and setbacks.
Soundcheck
• Giant Rooks: “Wild Stare”
• Oceano: “District of Misery”
• Arielle Silver: “Asteroids and Chaos”
• Girl in Red: “Too Much”
• Thy Art Is Murder: “Keres”
• Slow Hollows: “Idle Hands”
• Atmosphere: “Yesterday”
