The Aces at The Depot
Finally, the time has come for The Aces to tour on their incredibly catchy second album, Under My Influence, which they released in July of 2020. And besides celebrating a well-deserved tour for their album, the band will also surely be celebrating a triumphant return to their home state. While they're in many ways cool Los Angeles babes now, The Aces came up in the cradle of talent that is Utah County, and there's no doubt some of their fans from down there (and the rest of Northern Utah) will stop in to see their return at The Depot. It's also a chance to see The Aces like they've never been seen before, as they perform an album that was notably different from their first, 2018's When My Heart Felt Volcanic— three members of the band had publicly come out as queer by the time the new album dropped, and that openness and self-ownership is all over Under My Influence. That noted, it can be expected that the explosive performances by the foursome will be even more so this time around now that they've left the burden of keeping secrets behind. So go ahead and sing along to the gushing "Kelly," and indulge your own crush on The Aces when they come into The Depot on Friday, Nov. 26. Madeline The Person will open, doors are at 7 p.m., the show is all-ages and tickets are $20 at depotslc.com.
Kilby Friendsgiving at Kilby Court
Kilby Court is known for its intimate shows, and what's more intimate than the growing tradition of Friendsgiving events? For those who don't want to or can't get out of town to see family, or for those who think Thanksgiving itself is a bullshit holiday—or perhaps a bit of all of the above—Friendsgiving allows you to just chill with the friends that you love. And why shouldn't that include your favorite local bands, too? The answer is that it should, and locals Blue Rain Boots, Sunfish and Obabo all think so too. While one might think that a show right after a major holiday known for making people take post-dinner naps is a doomed idea, that doesn't take into account how busy Blue Rain Boots shows usually get. The popular indie-pop-slingin' locals easily fill the venues they play at, so this might be one chance to get a better view of the stage for once, with many folks out of town or out of commission. The openers are well worth getting there early for, too. Sunfish released their debut album earlier this year, and their new single, "Fame," is more of the same heavy rock that they've been fine-tuning for most of their youthful career so far. Both will find some balance in the feel-good tunes of Obabo, and all in all, you'll find a well-rounded night of music to feel thankful for. The all-ages show is Friday, Nov. 26 at 6 p.m., and tickets are $10 at kilbycourt.com.
Hip Hop Organics Friendsgiving at The Urban Lounge
For those 21+ hip hop-heads, there's another Friendsgiving event just for you! The local collective Hip Hop Organics is heading this one up, and it's one of their first events back after over a year of mostly hanging out online, on their Facebook-based live stream virtual hang out sessions. Fans of the collective can expect more of the same, including the mother of Hip Hop Organics, Mana at the center of it all—but back in person this time instead of behind screens. The lineup not only features Mana herself, but a long list of her friends spanning the spectrum from R&B songbirds to hard, old-school rap and pop hip hop. These include Eneeone, Eddie Lion, Dusk Raps, Courtney Kelly, Cherry Thomas, Mel Soul, Icky Rogers, Pho3nix Child, Malev Da Shinobi, Gloco, Mousley, Blair, Au, Soulyricist, Steeze Rogers, T-Mental and Awegust The Great—making it a veritable who's-who of local hip hop representation. The event will also feature vendors, art, raffles, prizes and a dance party featuring DJ Mixter Mike to close things out. The event starts at 5 p.m., on Saturday, Nov. 27 at the Urban Lounge, so drop in and shake off the tryptophan whenever you feel able. Tickets for the 21+ show are $10 at hip-hop-organics.myshopify.com.
Deadbeats Tour at The Great Saltair
The deadbeats in question are Zeds Dead, the EDM duo that's been all over the scene since it first blew up around 2010. You'd be forgiven for mixing them up with Zedd, or in thinking that it's a negative reference to the fellow EDM producer—coincidental names happen, and theirs is in reference to a line from Pulp Fiction. The duo, made up of DC (Dyland Mamid) and Hooks (Zachary Rapp-Rovan, who also goes just by his last name), have been everywhere throughout the last decade, collaborating on singles with the likes of Diplo, Twin Shadow, Rivers Cuomo, Pusha-T and Illenium to name just a few, and recently embarking on remixes of tracks by Billie Eilish and Ellie Goulding, Diplo and Swae Lee's "Close to Me." They've added the EDM touch to many tracks through their label, Deadbeats, which they launched in 2016 with the release of their debut album Northern Lights, an album that spans genres from industrial EDM to funky pop to hip hop. They'll be touring with several labelmates like Blunts & Blondes, whose sick and heavy Rastafarian-inspired beats appear on Wiz Khalifa-assisted tracks like "McQueen Dreams." Fellow artists from the label—Eprom, Sippy and X&G—will join the lineup, with the only exception being the Universal-signed Moore Kismet, a 16-year-old wunderkind joining the group for the tour. The beats go down on Saturday, Nov. 27 at The Great Saltair and the 18+ show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $35 - $40 at thesaltair.com.
Beabadoobee at The Depot
The timing of last year for album releases and planned tours was bad for everyone, but especially tragic for up-and-coming artists. The 21-year-old U.K. artist beabadoobee was one of these, and just now she's headed out on a tour in support of her 2020 album Fake It Flowers, a pop-rock album made rich by a sugar slick of '90s nostalgia, specifically referencing that space in time where grunge fell way to equally guitar-driven Brit pop melodics. beabadoobee arrived at the album, with its big guitar riffs and catchy hooks, after blowing up with her acoustics-driven early work, one song of which became TikTok-famous after a remix. But the rest of the music is much cooler than that one viral track. Since Fake It Flowers, she's even evolved more, collabing with her former tour mate, Matty Healy of The 1975, on an EP called Our Extended Play. It sure sounds like a 1975 work, though filtered through the lens of the aforementioned Brit pop aesthetic, this time with more of an emphasis on the ambient jangle pop of The La's or even Ride. Like contemporaries Snail Mail, Hatchie and Soccer Mommy, beabadoobee is tapping a sound that matches a revival in style—zoomers love everything new millennium, and so they need the music, too. All that said, beabadoobee has more than enough material to get the crowd moving on Tuesday, Nov. 30 when she comes to The Depot. The show is all-ages, starts at 7 p.m., and tickets are $20 at depotslc.com.