Best Concerts In Dallas This Week: Action Bronson, Courtney Barnett And More

A hell of a week is on the horizon. Two controversial rap figures make their way to Dallas in the form of Tyler, the Creator and Action Bronson. The stunningly great garage rock band, Holy Wave, is headlining a show thrown for Brass Tacks Barbershop's anniversary show. Most importantly, though, you have the Rolling Stones and Courtney Barnett playing on the same night. You get legendary acts and a few old men. Action Bronson
With Meyhem Lauren, 8 p.m. Monday, June 1, at House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar, 214-978-2583 or houseofblues.com/dallas, $25-$30
It’s hard not to find bravery in Action Bronson’s bravado. My chance first impression of the man otherwise known as Ariyan Arslani was one that couldn’t be avoided: the music video for “Strictly 4 My Jeeps.” A three-minute flash of Action Bronson doing cartwheels, shooting hoops with Riff Raff and grilling spectacularly seasoned meats left me staring at the screen blinking once it faded to black. But when I played this year’s Mr. Wonderful, there was a distinctly different character present. Not to say that he’s dropped the goofiness or started taking himself too seriously (thank god), but he’s managed to strike the balance between being a joker and an artist. On “Baby Blue,” featuring Chance the Rapper, he toys with this dynamic by catching listeners off guard with bits of relationship insight mixed into lines about being found nude in a Lamborghini. Even just the production of the album reflects these updated sensibilities, with backing tracks that steer away from the generic beats of previous efforts and instead feature bouncing piano hooks that make Bronson's rhythmic flow feel more at home. And if his acrobatics have taught us anything, it's that Bronson should be most feared when you let him find his groove. Matt Wood

Terence Bradford Quartet
7 p.m., Tuesday, June 2, at The Free Man, 2626 Commerce Street, 214-377-9893, Free
The Terence Bradford Quartet is a jazz quartet led by Kanye West. Actually, no. It’s shepherded by Terence Bradford. (Stay with us here.) It wouldn’t be much of a surprise to learn that the band is heavily influenced by hip hop as there’s a confidence and swagger exuded in their music that’s only rivaled in contemporary hip hop or jazz so made so long ago that the people who made it are most likely no longer with us. The Terence Bradford Quartet also dabbles in moods typically reserved for indie rock. I mean, they have a song called “Psilocybin Metempsychosis” and another called “Macbethian Disorder” — pretty badass for a contemporary jazz outfit. H. Drew Blackburn

Holy Wave
With ¿Que pasa?, Moon Waves, Wednesday, June 6, at Brass Tacks Barber Shop, 330 W Davis St, $5-$10
El Paso is known for being Texas’ most habitable desert for folks who relish something resembling a city life. It isn’t too heavily revered for its music scene, but maybe we should pay more attention. Holy Wave is a fine garage rock band from the city way west of us who dabble in melody and psychedelia a bit parsed by hazy and lo fi sounds. Catch them at the one-year anniversary show for Brass Tacks Barbershop being presented by King Camel Productions. It should be a hell of a show. HDB

Diarrhea Planet
With, Left & right, Sealion, 7:30 p.m., Thursday, June 4, at Three Links, 2704 Elm Street , $10
What is Diarrhea Planet? Well for one it could be what happens after you gorge yourself with Taco Bell. Or it could also be a punk band from Nashville. In this instance we’re referring to the latter. Diarrhea Planet’s music kind of acts as a cross between punk, thanks to its quickness, and classic rock n roll thanks to the melodic screeching of guitars. This is by no mistake. The band is a six piece, with a drummer, a bassist, and four electric guitarists. What a perfect way to make sure your audience gets hit with a wall of sound, in a good way. HDB

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
With Teen Men 8 p.m., Friday, June 5, at Club Dada, 2720 Elm St., $15-17
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is a band that hails from Philadelphia. They’re seasoned, being apart of the big indie rock boom of the early aughts and a part of the first wave of bands that found critical success through the Internet in blogs. The band’s self titled debut album was self released further cementing their early indie cred. True the band had some of the workings in what we’ve always consider indie rock for decades, the focus on introspective lyrics and restrained and effective guitar strums in in parts, but here’s simply an indie rock band that’s actually independent and not code work for safe enough for suburban homes. HDB


Tyler, the Creator
7 p.m. Friday, June 5 at The Bomb Factory, 2713 Canton St., 214-0932-6507 or thebombfactory.com, $30
Tyler, the Creator is undoubtedly a crass man-child afflicted with arrested development. To him a casual chat – perhaps over tea and crumpets – about sex, class, and religion must sound like a literal nightmare or a concoction fashioned by Rod Serling. He’s yet another dude in a line as long as the lunch rush at the DMV who's an asshole that should be punched in the throat for his personality. But he should at least also be given a bag of ice and a shoulder rub for his art. Tyler is rap music’s Peter Pan: He refuses to grow up, except musically perhaps, and his sole purpose is aimless fun. His latest album Cherry Bomb has the rooted and recognizable workings of a Tyler, the Creator album. There’s a whole bunch of N.E.R.D., Pharrell Williams and the Neptunes fan fiction. It’d loud and poorly mixed in spots because he just thinks it sounds better that way, bro. But there are flashes of a man all grown up, particularly when he hunkers down on the production and gets jazzy. You can expect this to be a rowdy show as Tyler is the James Warren “Jim” Jones of the cult of rowdy for no-reason millennial idiots. It’s the hottest ticket in town for the night, and recommended if you can grin and bear it.  H. Drew Blackburn

The Rolling Stones
With Grace Potter, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 6, at AT&T Stadium, 1 AT&T Way, Arlington, 817-892-4000 or attstadium.com, $65-$395
It's difficult now to picture the Rolling Stones as a threat to corruptible youth, but when they first became a cultural phenomenon five decades ago that was exactly how they were perceived. While the Beatles were their innocuous altar boy counter points, the Stones did everything they could to reinforce their bad-boy reputations, through lineup changes, deaths, overdoses, arrests and an entourage of supermodel wives and daughters. Now septuagenarians, the Stones are still standing — mostly without difficulty. That's because the group is as indestructible as guitarist Keith Richards, adapting their genre to changing times, from the early pristine simplicity of "As Tears Go By" to the disco-inspired "Miss You." Between that, their mystique, their debauchery and their moves like Jagger (well, they are Jagger's), the Stones have not only become rock 'n' roll deities but also inspired a multiplying breed of imitators. This summer's Zip Code tour coincides with the re-release of their classic Sticky Fingers, suggesting they'll perform many track s off that album, and Dallas is one of the lucky 15 cities to land a date. It's the first time they've played Dallas in a decade, and it's not a stretch to think it could be the last. A chance to catch these guys in action is just a kiss away – or maybe a few hundred dollars. Eva Raggio

Courtney Barnett
With Chastity Belt and Darren Hanlon, 8 p.m. Saturday, June 6, at Club Dada, 2720 Elm St., dadadallas.com, $15-$18
Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, outside of being a mouthful, is the year’s first perfect album. Courtney Barnett took fragments of garage rock that could’ve easily been unremarkable or recycled and turned them into an outstandingly witty and personal debut. The pensive anecdotes that litter her prose tesselate into an insightful worldview that invites listeners into Barnett’s cavernous mind, with each track a different tunnel. As she leads you around, she laments sleeplessness, stares at grass and goes swimming. Stripped of her clever turns of phrase and attention to detail, even the premises for her songs might seem to contain platitudes. But her voice, both lyrically and sonically, contains an allure that leaves you hanging on every word about her grocery shopping. The album could easily be as invasive as cracking open her diary and reading it aloud at a metro bus stand. But instead her illuminating insight contains recognized faults of character, featuring imperfections that are mirrored by the unexpected bends her voice tends to take. When you hear Barnett end a familiar melody on an almost sour note, you never wish she had been right on pitch — even if you much prefer the mundane. Matt Wood

Weezer
8 p.m., Saturday, June Six, Winstar Casino, 777 Casino Avenue, Thackerville, OK ,$55-85
Weezer was a band that was primed to be one of the greatest thanks to their first few releases: The Blue Album, Pinkerton and The Green Album. In recent years it seems they've come a bit undone and started doing songs with Lil' Wayne for reasons that can't even be explained by the likes of Neil deGrasse Tyson. Yes, say it ain't so, but you best believe Weezer is probably gonna stick to the classics and leave songs from Ratitude and Hurley where they best belong: as figments of our collective imagination. HDB

Ingrid Michaelson
8 p.m., Sunday, June 7, 2200 N. Lamar St.,214-978-2583, $30-50
Ingrid Michaelson, like Feist and so many other musicians in the 21st century, she’s a concoction of what if Fiona Apple went full on pop. Michaelson is a multi instrumentalist, with the ability to play both the piano and guitar. Her versatility is event with her ability to construct a ballad, upbeat pop rock anthemic song, or a folksy number at the drop of a hat. HDB

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