Music
Furniture Girls Electro-rock quintet Furniture Girls is kicking off the year in a big way with the release of two six-song EPs: Dreams, being released at this show, and Chaos. From the in-your-face “Drool” to the almost bluesy “Killbabykill,” Dreams is a grab bag, with themes of love, lust, Jack the Ripper, and . . . the zombie apocalypse. With Thrivealike, The Yev.. 21 and over. AZARIA C. PODPLESKY High Dive $8 Thursday, February 27, 2014, 10pm
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Vikesh Kapoor Those seeking a balm after the recent passing of Pete Seeger will find it in Portland’s Kapoor, who opens for Eleni Mandell tonight. Kapoor burst onto the Northwest folk scene last year with a collection of original songs titled The Ballad of Willie Robbins. His songs are steeped in the folk tradition that Seeger carried from the prewar era into ‘60s counterculture, but Kapoor isn’t as direct a musical descendant of the famed banjo-picking civil-rights activist as is, say, Ani DiFranco, who plays the Moore on Saturday (see page 29). In fact, until just a couple of years ago, the slight 28-year-old Pennsylvania native most likely didn’t even know who Seeger was. Kapoor came to folk music through a Johnny Cash LP he bought at a garage sale as a joke; and his styling is so eerily reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s denim years that it would come off as a little naive if his songs weren’t so vivid, his poetry so lucid. Like Cash, Dylan, and DiFranco before him, Kapoor carries the spirit of Seeger, which is really just the act of playing songs about the people for the people.
Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789-3599, tractortavern.com. $12. 8 p.m. MARK BAUMGARTEN Tractor Tavern $12 Friday, February 28, 2014, 8pm
Keb’ Mo’ It’s been 20 years since the release of Keb’ Mo’s self-titled debut. In that time, the Compton native has toured the world and kept the dwindling embers of Delta blues alive. With a new record due in April, Mo’ clearly doesn’t intend for the fire to go out on his watch. CR Edmonds Center for the Arts $42 Friday, February 28, 2014, 8:30pm
A Tribe Called Red Canada’s First Nations trio, A Tribe Called Red, fuses electronic club and contemporary indigenous music into something it calls “powwow step.” Nation II Nation, the band’s second full-length album, dropped last spring and earned, among other praise, sold-out shows and a feature spot on Diplo and Friends, the DJ/producer’s music program on BBC1. Red’s sound-aboriginal drumbeats and vocals layered with the thumping of electro bass and clap tracks-elevates electronic music to the next level, marrying the traditional and the modern. This has made the group unofficial spokespersons on current issues affecting the indigenous community: land rights, decolonization, cultural appropriation. (The latter issue has seeped into Red’s live show; adoring concertgoers donning war paint and headdresses have roused ATCR member DJ NDN’s indignation. In an interview for Huffington Post Canada, he called such acts “redface” and asked fans to “Please stop.”) The beatmakers, in town on the Turtle Island Tour, are sure to put on a pulsating show; just please leave the face paint and feathers at home. With Tang & Toast. 21 and over. MARGERY CERCADO Nordic Heritage Museum $13 adv. Friday, February 28, 2014, 9pm
