This Thursday, come throw down at
Asheville Music Hall when a truly stellar set of producers hits the stage. The long, hot days of summer have been turning into some beautiful nights, and what better way to celebrate the upcoming weekend then by kicking it up a notch on your Thursday with TOKiMONSTA, Ambré Perkins, and Panther God?
Tickets are on sale now, but we're giving away 2 of them for you and a lucky friend. All you have to do is
share this post on Facebook and tag someone you'd want to bring along. We'll pick a winner on Wednesday night at 7 pm.
There's a lot to say about L.A.-based
TOKiMONSTA (Jennifer Lee). I first heard her music in a yoga class and it was one of those truly rare times when I stopped mid-flow to check out the playlist. She was the first chick on Flying Lotus's
Brainfeeder label, which kicks ass. I love it when ladies represent, and TOKiMONSTA does in a big way. Her sound lights up the room with its bounce, but riding alongside the beat is a complexity and a richness that make the tracks great.
TOKiMONSTA often pairs instrumentals with lilting vocals, and she layers everything on top of totally satisfying and
transfixing lines of sound that bring things towards a vibrant, radiating experience of the music. Tracks like "Steal Promises" are a perfect example. Minus the innovative, even experimental, sounds under the vocals, this would be a fabulously catchy pop song that would gets lot of airtime on the radio and in the club. But with the extra helping of complexity, things get elevated to a whole new level. And y'all, the views up here are just fine.
Ambré Perkins is a New Orleans-based vocalist who has been getting a lot of well-deserved attention lately. She just released two mixtapes,
2090's and
Wanderlust. Both are soulful, resonant, and bass-driven. The albums are
powerful stuff.
2090's opens in a specific setting--a hotel staffed by indifferent people that she struggles to make pay attention as she draws comparisons to the Hotel California.
2090's centers around themes of loneliness and solitude that's sometimes overwhelming and sometimes healing. Although many songs focus on relationships, there's a sense that these are reflections from a distance, perhaps through the windows of the cheap hotel. I'm excited to listen to the album more and to see Perkins live--it's only a matter of time before she's catapulted to fame. Oh, yeah--and she's just 19 years old.
Panther God (Paul Gaeta) is a powerhouse of a producer. It seems like he's got something new going on every day. Between his own work and
Xero God, his collaboration with hip-artist Musashi Xero, he's a busy man who always impresses by putting out some of the best and freshest stuff I've heard. Panther God is forever pushing towards the new and
innovative in his sound and his sets, and I always love the balance of textured beats and more minimalist moments that open up spaces for new expression during his performances. Since his 2014 release,
Golden Changes, he's put out a mix and a full-length album with Xero God, and he's created a lot of new material for that project and for his own sets.
The show is 18+. Doors open at 9 and things get rolling at 10 pm.