BY B AO L E - H U U Super Passive | photo courtesy of the artists
VENUE NEWS
On their new album, Super Passive wax nostalgic and true with the sounds of post-punk and dark synth pop; the songs weave in downcast beauty with a classic alternative aesthetic ranging from originals like Alphaville to modern revivalists like Black Marble
With all the stirrings happening at the West End Trading Co., the Sanford scene is about to get a pretty notable boost. The longtime Sanford live-music pillar is currently working on a spate of significant upgrades that will expand the venue by 50 percent (to a 450-capacity space), enhance the stage, open up the courtyard and add the new bar Wild Wild West End Honky Tonk Bar on the other end. According to the venue’s new booker and events manager, Dom Maresco — best known as the drummer for the Supervillains — the enhancements will be ready by West End’s big annual Hurricane Party on May 28. This year’s lineup, by the way, will be especially loaded with headliners like Less Than Jake, Passafire, the Aggrolites and Authority Zero’s Jason DeVore, alongside dozens of well-known area acts. The honky-tonk bar should be in soft opening around the same drops, Orlando’s Los Jarritos — the Bobby Clock & the Soda Pops spinoff band time. formed by surviving members Ray Brazen (guitar, vocals) and Cesar Marquez (drums) LOCAL RELEASES Orlando music label Circuit Church has — have returned with their first official built its name on electronic music. But its Bandcamp single. A-side “Agua Fresca” is a latest release, the first in over a year, ventures hit-and-run punk rock tribute to Mexican into shades of the pop music spectrum that candy and the Mexican supermarket near play more like lost 1980s alternative radio where the band plays. B-side “Take Me Back to June,” on the other hand, is a lovely transmissions. On their new debut, Super Passive — moment of reflection whose tender garage the Orlando band of David Furrevig, Sean melody features some of Brazen’s best hooks. McNulty, Allie Slasher and Circuit Church The Bobby Clock–dedicated single is availlabel boss Jared Silvia — wax nostalgic and able now on Ray Brazen’s Bandcamp. true with the sounds of post-punk and dark synth pop. CONCERT PICKS THIS WEEK The four-song Radio EP weaves downcast beauty with a classic alternative aesthetic If you go out, be safe, be cool. that ranges from originals like Anything Box and Alphaville to modern revivalists like Ho99o9, N8NOFACE: For their sonic Black Marble. Radio now streams every- and physical extremity on stage, incendiary where, but can be owned on cassette or rap punks Ho99o9 are already underground digital through Circuit Church’s Bandcamp. legends on the live circuit. Orlando knows After some fast-and-dirty Soundcloud this well because whenever they come to
town, they leave a trail of destruction and bodies in their wake. This time, though, they’re coming with N8NOFACE, a West Coast electro-punk artist whose dark and twisted fantasies may be the best match I’ve seen yet for Ho99o9’s lurid intensity. The touring bill will arrive here hot on the fresh release of N8NOFACE’s grimy-ass new album, Homicide, so expect extra sickness. (7 p.m. Saturday, May 7, Henao Contemporary Center, $18) Better Strangers, King Complex, Skyclub, Kerry Courtney: Miami’s Better Strangers don’t like to lead with it, but they happen to have rock royalty tucked in their ranks. Drummer Nic Collins is the son of Phil Collins. And though he’s barely into his 20s, he’s been keeping the beat in arenas around the world for years with both his father and Genesis. Better Strangers, however, is his own thing with his bandmates. And they just debuted themselves to the world last month with widescreen single “But I Don’t Know Your Name.” Now, they come here with an all-Florida bill to more fully introduce themselves. (7 p.m. Sunday, May 8, Will’s Pub, $12) Executioner’s Mask, Expander, Kaupe, Vacancy, TTN: Few bills attempt to capture the spectrum of dark music like this impressively expansive one. Between the gothic post-punk of Philadelphia’s Executioner’s Mask and the crushing metal punk of Austin’s Expander, the headlining Profound Lore labelmates set the amplitude wide. Filling the range between will be the excellent noise punk of St. Pete’s Vacancy, the heavy progressive rock of DeLand’s Kaupe and the blistering industrial rock of Orlando’s TTN. It’s a great sampler of national and regional talent that’s heavy on the darkness. (8 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, Will’s Pub, $12) baolehuu@orlandoweekly.com orlandoweekly.com
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MAY 4-10, 2022 ● ORLANDO WEEKLY
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