Dynamic duos top week’s music
A tag team of singer-songwriter favorites as well as an indie hip-hop heavyweight duo are among the week’s live music highlights around town.
Matt Nathanson with Tyrone Wells
When, where: 8:30 p.m. today at The Knitting Factory Concert House, 919 W. Sprague Ave.
Cost: $22, through www.ticketfly.com
Matt Nathanson and Tyrone Wells have individually built a solid following in Spokane while making blips on the national radar.
While they’ve both played to packed houses at the Knitting Factory, this ticket with Nathanson and Wells sharing the bill promises to be a hit for fans of singer-songwriter pop music.
Nathanson’s seventh and latest album, “Modern Love,” finds him settling into his role as a purveyor of easily-to-swallow, blue-pill pop. From start to finish, “Modern Love” is filled with tried and true pop tricks, catchy hooks, pay-off riff chord progressions, and emotive vocals to match the romantic lyrics.
As far as modernization, the album relies on state-of-the-art production, while the songwriting itself has a timelessness that pays visits to the ’80s and ’90s, revealing influences from Prince and U2.
Nathanson also continues to increase his touring reputation since joining with Aaron Tap, studio guitarist, producer and the husband of orchestra leader and singer-songwriter Paula Kelley.
After spending the first quarter of the year touring as the opening act for Kelly Clarkson’s Stronger Tour, this national headlining slot with Wells is further prepping Nathanson for the major leagues.
A California singer-songwriter with Spokane roots, Tyrone Wells is touring in support of his sixth release, “Where We Meet.” Released this year, “Where We Meet” is the Spokane-bred singer’s first official independent release since parting ways with Universal Records after 2009’s “Remain.”
Wells wrote 80 songs after the mutual split with Universal. In the middle of that process, he managed to release the 2010 “Metal and Wood” digital EP that spent nearly three weeks at No. 1 on the iTunes singer-songwriter chart and debuted at No. 14 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart.
On “Where We Meet,” Wells rides the line between acoustic and electrified rock. The album goes back and forth between moments that are sparse and intimate and others that are epic and grandiose.
Whether he’s exploring his softer side or bringing the ruckus, Wells is showing his major-label experience in an independent context on his latest.
Eligh and Amp Live
When, where: Tuesday at 9 p.m. at The Red Room Lounge, 521 W. Sprague Ave.
Cost: $10 in advance, $12 at the door
Members of hip-hop’s underground elite, Living Legends, Eligh and Amp Live have joined forces on the collaboration, “Therapy at 3.”
Independently released on Legendary Music and Live Up, “Therapy at 3,” pairs Eligh’s unorthodox flow with Amp Live’s twist-and-turning beats over a series of musical therapy sessions.
Lyrically, Eligh flows at the speed of consciousness seemingly writing about the first thing that enters his mind at any given time. Meanwhile, Amp Live’s beats dabble in low-budget underground rap aesthetics while occasionally dipping into glossier, electronic music mixed with live instrumentation.
While the music as well as the lyrics jump around quite a bit, the album is grounded and coherent, with songs blending so smoothly together it’s hard to separate them from each other.
It’s as if the songs could have been extracted from the same therapy session, as well as the same studio session, giving “Therapy at 3” a live one-take feel that is sure to translate on stage.