I Just Read About That…

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 28, 2024] Mdou Moctar / J.R.C.G.

I saw Mdou Moctar at Ardmore Music Hall and it was pretty fantastic.  I wasn’t sure if I needed to see him again at a bigger venue, but this show was on my radar.

I didn’t buy a ticket because I assumed it wouldn’t sell out.  It was also squeezed right in between a few other shows I was going to and I am trying to limit the amount of shows I see in a week (honestly).  I was also assuming  that since I’d seen him fairly recently I wasn’t sure if I needed to see him again so soon.  Although it turns out he just announced an intimate semi-acoustic show in early July that I’m going to go to.

There are four Tuareg musicians who I’m interested in seeing.
Bombino, Imarhan, Mdou Moctar and Tinariwen.

I have seen Mdou Moctar.  I’ll be seeing Tinarwen in a few weeks.  We’ll see if the other two come my way.

J.R.C.G. is Justin R. Cruz Gallego who was in a band I’ve never heard of called Dreamdecay.

To experience Justin R. Cruz Gallego’s pulverizing Sub Pop debut is to get burned down to ashes and burst forth, born anew. Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra), the Tacoma-based artist’s second album, is driven by opposing forces: noisy abstractions and tightly structured beats, anguish and dissolution at the outside world and empowerment within, apathy and catharsis. Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra) weds scouring electronics to hooky songs and Gallego’s powerful drumming in a way that feels visceral and new. It’s his most personal statement to date, at once playful and intent, driven and combustible, total fucking chaos mixed into glints of broken-glass beauty.

I’ve listened to a few songs off of his album and they’re really good–weird but catchy.  I don’t exactly see how it melds with Mdou’s music, but it would have been a really fun bill.