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[Amp]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 Nov. 1:
Clairo — Friday and Saturday at Franklin Music Hall
On the heels of her third album “Charm,” indie pop/rock luminary Clairo comes to Franklin Music Hall for a two-night stand Friday and Saturday. Co-produced by Clairo and Leon Michels of The Dap-Kings and El Michels Affair, the LP is the type of gorgeous, ornate and sensual record only Clairo could create and all that has made her one of the most celebrated artists of the last five years. That’s quite the journey for an artist who began self-recording songs and music videos at the age of 13, which amassed a huge fanbase on YouTube. Since then, her albums “Immunity” and “Sling” have done time on the Billboard charts and garnered critical acclaim from publications across the country.
The Hu — Friday at The Wells Fargo Center and next Thursday at HMAC
Folk metal outfit The Hu remains one of the wilder success stories in the genre. Featuring loud and powerful guitars with low and guttural vocals sung in their native Mongolian, it’s unlike anything headbangers in the rest of the world were accustomed. A half decade after first coming onto the scene, it’s clear that they are no longer a novelty — and never really were to begin with — showing their staying power with two albums, a just released EP and live record. The band use traditional Mongolian instruments in their songs as well, ones that rarely see the light of day here in the Western world like the horsehead fiddle, Tovshuur — which is a Mongolian guitar — and the jaw harp. Regionally, fans have two chances to catch the cultural infusion as The Hu open for Iron Maiden at The Wells Fargo Center Friday and headline HMAC in Harrisburg next Thursday.
The Go! Team — Saturday at The Foundry
Twenty years ago, one of the most exciting debut records of the new millennium arrived in the form of “Thunder, Lightning, Strike” from the English collective The Go! Team. An amalgamation of indie rock, dance, electronica and hip-hop, it sounded like nothing else out there. To celebrate the anniversary, the band is doing a very limited, five-date run of shows Stateside, including Philly this weekend. Also marking the occasion is a final reissue of a record that sounded out of time in 2004, dripping in future nostalgia, and which all these years on still sounds as unique and uncategorizable as it did when it arrived.
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn — Saturday at First Unitarian Church
Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn share a common collaborative ethos, a genuine sense of musical curiosity and eagerness to escape the conventions of genre. That shared vision first brought them together on 2022’s “Pigments,” an icy and warm, stripped-down affair, and now it has reunited them for “Quiet in a World Full of Noise.” At times intimate, soul-baring, and startling, the music blends atmospheric and orchestral soundscapes with soul, jazz, and confessional lyricism, with Richard at her most raw and exposed. The union of the two artists expands the definitions of what constitutes progressive, avant-garde R&B by rewriting them altogether.
Pink Martini — Saturday at Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center
Known for its eclectic blend of classical, jazz and Latin music, Pink Martini is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and doing so in style. Bandleader Thomas Lauderdale formed the group in 1994 when he had finished college and returned to his hometown of Portland, Ore., working at City Hall with an eye toward running for office. Being a classically trained pianist, music was always in the background, and he formed his “little orchestra,” soon dubbed Pink Martini, as a means to provide music for political fundraisers for progressive causes near to his heart — including civil rights, affordable housing, the environment and public broadcasting. Along the way, they’ve collaborated with everyone from Phyllis Diller, Carol Channing, Rita Moreno, Rufus Wainwright, filmmaker Gus Van Sant, the cast of “Sesame Street” and the Portland Youth Philharmonic.
TR/ST — Sunday at Underground Arts
Weaving an entirely unique sonic tapestry, Robert Alfons has been captivating audiences with his dynamic vocals, emotive lyrics and late-night sensuality for over a decade under the moniker TR/ST. Recorded in Los Angeles, the songs on his new album “Performance” brim with dread, lust, reckoning and abandon, backlit by the light pollution of a thousand dead-end city streets. Alfons co-produced the collection with composer and producer Nightfeelings, achieving a thick, smoky balance of eerie synths, fog machine low end and a bruised, crooning voice. In other words, the music is designed to be experienced during this season, as the leaves have fallen to the ground and the days are darker.
Ora Cogan — Sunday at First Unitarian Church
Known for her singular voice and cinematic compositions, experimental singer/songwriter Ora Cogan’s smoky, psychedelic approach to gothic country merges with post-punk, psych-rock and traditional balladry. Having collaborated with a multitude of artists while touring extensively throughout Europe and North America, sharing the stage with the likes of Grouper and Mazzy Star, she stops into First Unitarian Church for a headlining show Sunday in support of her latest album, “Formless,” which came out in 2023 and received across the board praise.
Soundcheck
• Clairo: “Juna”
• The Hu: “The Trooper”
• The Go! Team: “Huddle Formation”
• Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn: “Quiet in a World Full of Noise”
• Pink Martini: “Let’s Be Friends”
• TR/ST: “Dark Day”
• Ora Cogan: “Feel Life”
