The LA Setlist: June 17-23, 2024

Madrid-raised Brie Stoner sings her dreamy Americana pop in Spanish, English, and sometimes French, adding an air of quiet exotica to an already escapist sound. Released last month, her sophomore album, Me Veo is a subdued throbbing of gauzy sentiment, restrained playing, and tasteful production from David Vandervelde (Father John Misty). But the Michigan-based Stoner’s second-album status belies at least 15 years of performing and recording, including collaborations with late Wilco all-rounder Jay Bennett. Given its unobtrusively cinematic qualities, it’s no surprise that her music has earned multiple TV and commercial placements. There’s a breathy, late-night aura to the sepia-tinted Me Veo, made cosmopolitan by her tri-lingual utterances and influences including Mazzy Star, Fleetwood Mac, and Neil Young. An author, podcaster, and natural performer, expect Stoner to deliver heartfelt renditions from her catalog at this third night of a month-long El Cid residency. Tickets at Dice.

Singer/rapper/songwriter Labinot Gashi was born in Gaddafi’s Libya to ethnic Albanian parents and raised as a refugee in multiple African and European countries before settling in Brooklyn. Embracing his American identity is a theme of his imminent sixth album, Brooklyn Cowboy. If April’s single “Midnight Sun” is any barometer, we can expect big pop hooks, whiffs of Balkan exotica, and rousing vocals tinged by lurking Auto-Tune. An artist known for being ultra-authentic and (related) genre-hopping, Gashi is one of those perpetually underrated, nearly-breakout artists who nonetheless boasts a sizable following (“Midnight Sun” has already notched over 1 million YouTube views). The self-declared “trap Phil Collins” (a reference to his 2020 album 1984 about a rapper forced to make ‘80s music), he’s collabed with the likes of Sting and DJ Snake and was selected by fellow ethnic Albanian Dua Lipa to perform at her annual music festival in Kosovo. Tickets at See Tickets.

In an era when the Internet has eased queer isolation, it’s easy to forget how much queercore pioneers like Team Dresch did to temper loneliness and, in so doing, even save lives. With co-founding singer/bassist Donna Dresch, who briefly performed with Dinosaur Jr. and Screaming Trees, also the creator of queercore fanzine Chainsaw and an eponymous record label, the band were stalwarts of the subculture for a five-year, two-album span in the mid 1990s. But Team Dresch’s messages never overshadowed their music: taut and accomplished riot grrrl- and post-hardcore influenced punk that was anything but an afterthought. Despite so much societal change since their original run, Team Dresch retains a cult following, sporadically performing and touring since 2004 and releasing an album of previously unheard material, Choices, Chances, Changes in 2019. But it’s their 1995 debut, Personal Best that you should be binge spinning before heading to the Teragram Ballroom.

Tickets to the all-ages show at Ticketmaster.

While the name may be unfamiliar to many, perpetually regretful R&B loverboy Tank earned a gold album with his 2001 debut Force of Nature and has sold close to 2 million albums overall. Originally breaking through as a backing singer for Aaliyah, who signed him to her Blackground Records imprint, Tank came out swingin’ with Force of Nature, which defied critical indifference to soar to number 7 on the Billboard 200, with the single “Maybe I Deserve” also a minor hit. More at home with syrupy, super-sincere balladry than party-hearty bangers, Tank has continued to release music while also featuring on tracks by Kelly Rowland, Tyrese, Keyshia Cole and more. Prior to the release of ninth full-length, 2022’s R&B Money, Tank announced that it would be his last. But around that same time, his first three albums were added to streaming services, reigniting sufficient interest for this belated R&B Money Tour.

Tickets at Ticketmaster.

Although technically now a veteran act that even brings their kids along on tour, The Dollyrots remain pop-punk’s vivacious poster couple. Almost a quarter-century into a just-below the mainstream radar career, vocalist/bassist Kelly Ogden and guitarist/vocalist Luis Cabezas - friends since 8th grade - still exude nothing but enthusiasm for their perky, fizzy fare on last year’s sixth studio album, Night Owls. Kings of TV/commercial placements, their music – and sometimes the enviably photogenic band itself – has appeared in everything from a National Lampoon movie to Kohl’s ads, while touring extensively with similarly lighthearted melodo-punks Bowling for Soup, as well as shorter stints with everyone from The Buzzcocks to the Go-Go’s. Now based back in their native Florida, The Dollyrots were longtime LA fixtures who, while clearly enamored of ‘90s pop-punk, somehow never sound stale. A band that lists 15 former drummers, they’ve lately been touring with Britain’s brilliant Simon Hancock behind the kit.

Tickets at Live Nation.

The secret of Noah Kahan’s dizzying ascent from TikTok slowburner to two-night Hollywood Bowl headliner is in the details. Because while this affable singer-songwriter’s brand of poppy Americana is of the lately all-powerful “stomp-clap-hey” variety, he’s mercifully shunned the mock authenticity of acts that went to great trouble to look like they’d just been dressed by a 19th century haberdasher. Instead, this enthused edible lover from rural Vermont keeps it real with self-deprecation about his drunken debacles and sudden global popularity. He’s an unassuming artist who broke through with 2022’s nostalgic yet rousing, banjo-flecked Stick Season album, which returned with an expanded 2023 version and an even more expanded edition this year, the latter including collabs with Post Malone, Hozier and more. For the bearded, confessional Kahan, sincerity is songwriting second nature that just happens to sell, not an affected marketing ploy. His versatile, subtly crinkly voice does the rest.

Tickets at Ticketmaster.

Over a 40-year career, São Paulo-born Eliane Elias has constantly found fresh expression at the intersection of classical tradition, jazzy spontaneity, and throwback música popular brasileira. The multiple GRAMMY-winning singer/pianist/composer has been so prolific that there’s debate as to exactly how many albums she’s released as a leader (31 is the consensus), not to mention collaborations with legends like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and even Police guitarist Andy Summers. On her latest full-length, 2022’s Latin Grammy-nominated Quietude, Elias revisits her Brazilian roots with understated interpretations of eleven bossa nova songs which leave the focus on her sensual, intimate (and never melodramatic) Portuguese delivery. Co-produced with her husband and bassist Marc Johnson, the sun-soaked, gently sentimental collection earned a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album. Elias’ four-night stand at Hollywood’s long-running Catalina Jazz Club is a rare opportunity to see storied talent of this caliber up-close - and over dinner!

Tickets at Ticketweb.

Amazingly, for a GRAMMY-winning artist with two Top 10 albums, this is Megan Thee Stallion’s first-ever tour. While a chunk of her 8-year career was impacted by lockdown, this had upsides for the Houston rapper’s notoriety. Bored teens taking TikTok challenges to emulate Megan’s near-synonymous twerking helped make “Savage Remix,” her 2020 hit with Beyoncé, an era staple. Her braggadocious material is shamelessly sexually charged but also positive, inclusive, and empowering, which has fueled her rapid commercial rise and an unusually strong bond with fans. Megan’s performances on this tour, much of which sold out within days, belie its debut status, with the statuesque star as ultra confident as her lyrics suggest and utterly at ease with even spontaneous audience interactions. And, yes, there’s world-class twerking, from Megan, her dancers, and concertgoers in the aisles and, at one point in the set, on stage with their idol. Tickets at Ticketmaster.

To the oversaturated Americana scene, Ethel Cain’s 2022 debut album Preacher’s Daughter was like a welcome glass of icy water – down the throat or in the face – on a muggy, muddled night. Influenced by Gregorian chant and Christian music, and genuinely the child of a Floridian deacon, the singer/songwriter/producer instinctively brings contemporary sonics to old-soul vocals, with a meditative, pristine voice that could convert even the most cynical ear – to anything. The haunting, mesmerizing Preacher’s Daughter tells tales of a fictional Ethel Cain character (real name Hayden Silas Anhedönia), straddling slowcore, ambient folk, and spiritualized Americana to manifest a singular “cloistercore” sound. A veteran of prestigious global fests including Coachella, Ethel Cain opened for the likes of Florence and the Machine and Caroline Polacheck before Preacher’s Daughter elevated her to Greek Theatre heights. At just 26, she’s destined to be an ultra-authentic fixture for years or even decades to come. Tickets at AXS.

Twin Tribes, as my ol’ mum would put it, know which side their bread is buttered. The Texan duo, now a staple in darkwave and post-punk circles, excels at midtempo, romantic yet slightly tense electro/guitar music that never quite gets gloomy enough to abandon all hope. Juxtaposing stark programmed drums and robust basslines against glacial Depeche Mode synths and airy Cure guitars, they connect through Luis Navarro’s melodic and echoing Spanish/English evolution of time-honored Andrew Eldritch melancholia. Released in January, their fourth album Pendulum doesn’t stray far from the formula that’s served Twin Tribes so well, but for bumping up some RPMs and adding some ire to its emotional palette. These are sounds equally suited to eyes-closed swaying in the arms of another or solo, post-breakup headphones wallowing. Despite their drummerless format, Twin Tribes bring welcome movement and very palpable passion to their black-clad men/machine live performances. Tickets at AXS.

EDM mega-event producers Insomniac has swiftly made Day Trip Festival a SoCal staple for those who love to dance and indulge in a transporting, heady environment. Back for a third consecutive year on the Long Beach shoreline, the West Coast’s biggest house music fest boasts a super-stacked two-stage lineup including Kaskade, Loco Dice, Cloonee, Mau P, MK B2B Green Velvet, Boys Noize, Patrick Topping, Armand Van Helden, HoneyLuv, HUGEL, Noizu, Westend, Sonny Fodera, Shmitty, and more. Insomniac is promising multiple improvements including more shade structures to temper the expected radiant sunshine, a 25 percent increase in restroom facilities, the biggest stages yet, and a layout optimized to minimize congestion between stages. With the historic Queen Mary as its backdrop, Day Trip Festival 2024 is set to be a memorable gathering of ravers that many will barely remember at all. Tickets at the Day Trip website.