NERD LOUNGE BY THE STEVE MCQUEENS
Home-grown soul-funk band The Steve McQueens will preview new songs from their next recording project at this show.
Formed in 2013, the quartet have spent the past few years gigging worldwide, playing shows at Japan's Tokyo Jazz Festival, South Korea's Jarasum International Jazz Festival and Australia's Melbourne International Jazz Fest.
This concert is part of the Esplanade's Mosaic Music Series.
WHERE: Esplanade Annexe Studio, 1 Esplanade Drive
MRT: Esplanade
WHEN: Today, 8pm
ADMISSION: $30 from Sistic (call 6348-5555 or go to www.sistic.com.sg)
POWER TRIP - LIVE IN SINGAPORE
American band Power Trip are known for their energetic style of music that mixes metal, hardcore and punk. The Dallas quintet have released two albums, Manifest Decimation (2013) and Nightmare Logic (2017).
Their gig will also feature home-grown punk and metal acts Opposition Party, B.C, Hollow Threat, Abaitor and Doldrey.
WHERE: Esplanade Annexe Studio, 1 Esplanade Drive
MRT: Esplanade
WHEN: Tomorrow, 5pm
ADMISSION: $50, go to wetheuncouth.bigcartel.com
A-HA HUNTING HIGH AND LOW LIVE IN SINGAPORE
It has taken them more than three decades, but 1980s pop icons A-ha are finally playing their first gig in Singapore.
You can expect to hear the trio - keyboardist/guitarist Magne Furuholmen, singer Morten Harket and guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy - play some of the decade's biggest hits, such as Take On Me (1984) and Stay On These Roads (1988).
Retro music fans can continue the party after the concert with a special edition of Zouk's famous Mambo Jambo night at the same venue.
WHERE: Singapore Turf Club @ Kranji, 1 Turf Club Avenue MRT: Kranji
WHEN: March 21, 7.30pm
ADMISSION: From $148 from Sistic
SYNTHPOP
HOTSPOT
Pet Shop Boys
3.5 stars
Trust Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe to put out another album of infectious and irresistible synth-pop bangers in Hotspot, their 14th release. Britain's most successful pop duo have lost none of the wry charm that first propelled them to fame in the 1980s.
While the album may feel like comfort food for long-time fans, the pair are also very much in touch with modern dance culture, featuring Years & Years singer Olly Alexander in shimmering dance track Dreamland.
Perhaps as a snub to Brexit, several tracks feature nods to European landscape, such as the Berlin railway references in buoyant album opener Will-O-The-Wisp.
ALTERNATIVE ROCK/INDIE ROCK
HAVE WE MET
Destroyer
3.5 stars
Destroyer - fronted by Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Bejar from indie supergroups Swan Lake and The New Pornographers - are back with their 12th album.
True to the band's constantly evolving sound, Have We Met is shrouded by a warm ambience and a somewhat retro-futuristic bent, most noticeably on synth-pop influenced tracks such as Crimson Tide and It Just Doesn't Happen.
There are plenty of intriguing moments as the band pepper the album with idiosyncratic songs like Cue Synthesizer and its oddball rhythms and electric guitar flourishes.
Lyrically enigmatic, Bejar seems to take equal pleasure in matters both grim (Kinda Dark) and beautiful (The Man In Black's Blues).
