10 Best Concerts of the Week: DENTONPALOOZA, Steve Aoki, NOFX and More

With Thanksgiving behind us and the leftovers finally hitting the trash can, it's time for North Texas to gear up for the holiday season. The music gets dark this week with horrorcore rapper Tech N9ne playing Dallas, the dark electronic music found in Steve Aoki's opening acts, a night of Goth rock at Three Links, hardcore band God's Hate's show at Club Dada and a full night of darkwave on Greenville Avenue with two sets by Rosegarden Funeral Party. Punk legends NOFX make good on their promise of a quickly rescheduled show Saturday night, and D.R.I. gets thrashed out in Deep Ellum next Wednesday. There is also plenty of light coming in as Fort Worth indie rock band Sur Duda celebrates a new release at its old stomping grounds and Flamingosis brings the electro-funk to our local stages. The internet joke turned serious charity event DENTONPALOOZA will also be taking place on Friday if you're looking for a lot of love and laughs.
Tech N9ne
7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2, at Amplified Live, 10261 Technology Blvd. E., $33+ at eventbrite.com

Tech N9ne began his rap career in 1991 with rap groups Black Mafia, 57th Street Road Dog Villains and The Regime before founding his Strange Music record label and launching a solo career in 1999. Known for his Midwestern, chopper style of fast-paced rhyming, Tech N9ne has been a legend of underground rap for over two decades. Though the artist hasn't gotten the mainstream recognition he deserves, Tech N9ne has been shown much respect from across the hip-hop and metal communities, collaborating on songs with artists as diverse as Three 6 Mafia, Eminem, Boyz II Men and Corey Taylor of Slipknot. On his October release Asin9ne, Tech N9ne brings heavy rhymes with even heavier features, bringing artists like Lil Wayne, E-40 and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson into the mix. Tech N9ne will perform Thursday night at Amplified Live with Rittz, King Iso, MAEZ301 and Jehry Robinson.
DENTONPALOOZA
2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3, at Rubber Gloves, 411 E. Sycamore St., $15 at prekindle.com

What started as a joke, with a meme celebrating the wacky list of characters around downtown Denton, became a full-fledged festival. With all profits from ticket and T-shirt sales split between pancreatic research charity PanCAN and the Denton Music and Arts Collaborative, Friday's DENTONPALOOZA festival kicks off with "dogs driving power wheels by that dog dude" followed by a meet-and-greet with Elvis the Dog Mayor of Denton. The day will also include interviews with and performances by other characters from around town, including "Beat Machine Dude," "Psychedelic Flute Player" and "Tiger Head Keyboard Dude." The night's headliners will be legendary Denton polka-punk outfit Brave Combo and the ubiquitous symphonic punk outfit The Wee-Beasties with their guest Krampus. And, what better host could there be than the iconic Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios?
Steve Aoki
6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3, at The Factory in Deep Ellum, 2317 Canton St., $40+ at axs.com

Once celebrated as the highest-grossing electronic dance musician on the planet and recently ranked No. 9 on DJ Magazine's list of the Top 100 DJs in the world, Steve Aoki brings his Freakfest tour through The Factory in Deep Ellum Friday night. Joining Aoki on the tour is British dubstep trio NERO, Colorado DJ Brondo and mid-tempo bass DJ Swarm from Florida. All of the night's special guests are known for their darker take on electronic dance music, so expect the vibe that night to be like that of a Resident Evil video game. Aoki, on the other hand, released the fourth volume of his Neon Future series. Aoki's music has always been about connecting people, and with his latest album, he shows just how diverse that group of people can be with featured collaborations with musicians Travis Barker, Sting, will.i.am, the Backstreet Boys and many others.
Flamingosis
8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3, at Trees, 2707 Elm St., $20 at axs.com

Electro-funk producer Flamingosis has been mixing and matching old-school soul with modern electronica since 2012. New Jersey-born and Brooklyn-based, Flamingosis spent years preferring to craft his music alone. In 2019, however, the producer decided that the best way to expand his sonic palette would be to bring collaborators into the studio with him. The result was the summer release Daymaker, which featured guests from Thievery Corporation, Pretty Lights and Recess. These collaborations give the album more of a tropical sound with chilled-out beats and just a bit of bounce. Flamingosis is still up to the old tricks, drawing samples from '70s and '80s artists Graham Central Station, Tim Maia and Niteflyte. The Flamingosis show at Trees Friday night will have opening support from self-taught multi-instrumentalist Ian Ewing who creates ambient compositions from sample-based sounds.
Sur Duda
8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3, at Main At South Side, 1002 S. Main St., $7 at prekindle.com

After Fort Worth indie-rock outfit War Party called it quits in 2019, lead singer Cameron Smith began working more on his solo project and his other band Sur Duda. The band released its second full-length album Total Distortion in mid-November. An album reflecting on maturity and growth, Total Distortion took four years to develop into what it is today, with some of its origins found in the reflective songwriting Smith has been working on even before his time in War Party. The result is a diverse collection that ranges from poppy love songs to folky existential tunes and dreamy indie tracks. The official release party for Sur Duda's new album will be held at Fort Worth's beloved local music venue Main At South Side (M.A.S.S.) Friday night. Lo-fi Fort Worth rockers Cool Jacket open the show, and up-and-coming Dallas indie-rock band FIT will play after the guests of honor.
God's Hate
7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4, at Club Dada, 2720 Elm St., $20 at etix.com

Led by Ring Of Honor professional wrestler Brody King and Twitching Tounges vocalist Colin Young, God's Hate was formed in the early 2010s with the express purpose of creating unflinching heavy music in the style of Hatebreed and Merauder. The band released EPs in 2014 and 2015 followed by their first full-length album in 2016 before taking a break to focus on other projects, births, deaths and other life changes. Recorded between the summers of 2019 and 2020, the band's self-titled new album brings together the 10 hardest and fastest songs the band has recorded to date. While most of the album revolves around personal experiences, the album's eponymous track "God's Hate" focuses on the issues surrounding the church and its place in our government and society. At Saturday's show at Club Dada, God's Hate will have opening support from West Texas hardcore band Judiciary and Seattle grindcore band Regional Justice Center.
NOFX
8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4, at Amplified Live, 10261 Technology Blvd. E., $40+ at seetickets.us

Playing its only club show in the country and final show of the year, pop-punk icon NOFX performs Saturday Night at Amplified Live after rescheduling the Nov. 20 show following singer Fat Mike's COVID-19 diagnosis. In many ways, NOFX set the standard for pop-punk back in the early '80s when punk was declared dead by some and made more hardcore by others. NOFX took a semi-serious approach to the genre, penning hooky songs with humor and cynicism that found an audience in those who took punk seriously. Never signing to a major label, NOFX has released 14 albums under its own Fat Wreck Chords label while helping launch the careers of many punk acts that have gone on to sign with bigger labels. On the band's latest, Single Album, NOFX continues in the tradition it started in the late '90s, experimenting with a variety of sounds that may take older fans some time to adapt. Local band Fat By The Gallon opens the show followed by Austin hardcore punk legends M.D.C.
Twin Tribes
8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 5, at Three Links, 2704 Elm St., $15 at seetickets.us

A Goth-rock duo formed in Brownsville in 2017, Twin Tribes' Luis Navarro and Joel Niño Jr., first started making an impression on the post-punk world in 2018 when their video for "Shadows" captivated audiences with its style and over-the-top occult imagery. In the few years that have passed, Twin Tribes have taken the world by storm, signing with Spain's Dead Wax Records and playing shows around the world. Using analog synthesizers and drum machines, Twin Tribes creates dark melodic songs for the undead. Joining Twin Tribes Sunday night at Three Links will be Dallas dream-pop duo NITE who recently remixed contributed a remix of Twin Tribes' song "Upir" for their remix album Altars. Twin Tribes will also have opening support from SEVIT, whose keyboard player Cameron Brand recently covered "The Scene" by Sparks with Rosegarden Funeral Party for its "Take Cover" series.
Rosegarden Funeral Party
7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 8, at Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave., $12+ at prekindle.com

Over the course of the last year, Dallas darkwave band Rosegarden Funeral Party has been working on two projects. The first is the band's monthly "Take Cover" series in which the band releases a song and a video with a special guest, covering artists such as David Bowie and Tears For Fears with musicians of the likes of Poppy Xander of Helium Queens, Scott White and Michael Doty of Duell, Scarlette McPherson of King Clam and Lorelei K. The second project is the band's new 13-song album In the Wake of Fire. The band released the album's second song "Gates of Heaven" back in April, but the band has kept the rest of the album tightly under wraps in anticipation of Wednesday night's show at the Granada Theater. That night, Rosegarden Funeral Party will open with a cover set featuring all the songs and special guests from its "Take Cover" series. They will follow with a second set playing the new album in its entirety.
D.R.I.
8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 8, at Trees, 2707 Elm St., $15 at axs.com

Crossover thrash legends Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, or D.R.I., came crashing out of Houston in 1982. The band's mixture of hardcore punk with thrash metal would set the model for bands like Suicidal Tendencies, Corrosion of Conformity and the Cro-Mags. Though the band released its last official full-length album in 1995 and has sporadically released EPs in 2001 and 2016, D.R.I. has continued to tour the world extensively despite a hiatus from 2006 to 2010 in which guitarist Spike Cassidy was diagnosed, treated and recovered from colon cancer. While rumors of another full-length album have been floating around for the last couple of years, no new material has actually surfaced. Regardless, D.R.I. built a reputation for its live shows, making studio recordings far less important. D.R.I.'s openers at Trees include thrash bands INTENT from Arizona, Rabid Flesh Eaters from Arlington and Electric Vengeance from Dallas.