10 Best Concerts of the Week: Built to Spill, The Residents, Burna Boy and More

This week in North Texas, the best concerts are divided between hip-hop and psychedelia without a whole lot in between. On Thursday night, Built to Spill kicks off the week with its psych-infused alt-rock, and Dawes launches its new psych-infused folk rock. Meanwhile Young Nudy takes the House of Blues audience into the new old school. On Friday, hardcore hip-hop legends Onyx perform, and legendary experimental band The Residents brings an audio-visual experience to Oak Cliff. Also on Friday, the Psychedelic Panther Music Festival begins a two-day run in Fort Worth, showcasing over a dozen psych-infused local acts. On Saturday, a group of hip-hop legends takes the stage in Irving, and The Crystal Method will bring the heavy dance beats to northwest Dallas. There's also a punk show in Deep Ellum if you're looking for a fourth option. Sunday through Tuesday there isn't much to speak of, but on Wednesday, Afro-pop star Burna Boy will be at the AAC.
Built to Spill
7 p.m. Thursday, April 6, Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave. $30 at prekindle.com

Established in 1992 in Boise, Idaho, Built to Spill set the course for the shape of indie rock to come. Fronted by singer-songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Doug Martsch since its inception, Built to Spill has seen over a dozen members pass through its ranks these last three decades, with its current lineup of Melanie Radford on bass and Teresa Esguerra on drums having joined in 2019. Regardless of its makeup, Built to Spill has released nine albums over the course of its career with amazing consistency. The band has never been known for its musicianship, however. Martsch himself has talked down his guitar-playing abilities in interviews. The band has, however, always been known for its low-key approach to songwriting: sleepy and only as heavy as it needs to be. Built to Spill is currently touring in support of its 2022 release, When the Wind Forgets Your Name, with supporting acts Disco Doom and Orua.
Young Nudy
7 p.m. Thursday, April 6, House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St. $60+ at livenation.com

East Atlanta rapper Young Nudy hadn't been rapping all that long when his cousin 21 Savage asked him to do a feature on his song "Air It Out" in 2015. While the two remain close both as family and as collaborators, Young Nudy has been noted for having a totally different style from his cousin, one that mixes hip-hop music with contemporary R&B. Since 2016, Young Nudy has released six mixtapes and four studio albums along with a collaborative album with rapper and producer Pi'erre Bourne. Nudy released his most recent and highest-charting effort, Gumbo, at the end of February. The food-themed album with songs such as "McChicken," "Okra" and "Hot Grease" finds the rapper returning to his DatPiff roots with its lack of identifiable instrument sounds and stripped down beats. It's a bold move for a rapper at a time when hip-hop keeps reaching for the future, but it does make for some good instant nostalgia.
Dawes
7 p.m. Thursday, April 6, The Factory in Deep Ellum, 2713 Canton St. $37+ at axs.com

Los Angeles rock band Dawes has never been a band that you could easily put into one category. Well, you could, but the band's next album would ultimately undo whatever genre label you tried to put on them. That's why the genre label with the largest umbrella, "rock," will have to do. Dawes came into being in 2009  as an indie-folk band formed in the wake of Simon Dawes' first effort, a post-punk band. Dawes rode an Americana wave for about five years before switching to a more synthesized and psychedelic sound in 2016. The musicians would go back and forth between the styles, but last summer, the band decided to change directions entirely once again. On Misadventures of Doomscroller, the band abandoned its well-worn style of pop songwriting for longer songs focusing more on instrumentation than lyrics with seven songs averaging nearly seven minutes each. Dawes will perform two sets on Thursday night's concert.
Psychedelic Panther
5 p.m. Friday – Saturday, April 7–8, Lola's Fort Worth, 2000 W. Berry St. $12+ at prekindle.com

Fort Worth's premier psychedelic music event, Psychedelic Panther, is back for its second year. Like last year, the event is composed entirely of North Texas artists who create music that can be broadly defined as psychedelic. That means that you will hear music from artists who add just a little bit or a whole lot of psychedelia to genres like punk, new wave, rock and electronica. Headlining this year's festival are psych-punks Mean Motor Scooter on Friday and avant-pop band Lorelei K on Saturday. Mean Motor Scooter has recently been playing exclusively new material in its sets. Unlike in 2022, this year's event has been streamlined. Fans will still be treated to two days of music, but the music will kick off later in the day. Lola's will be hosting the event this year after its former home, Main at South Side, closed its doors. Festival-goers will also have a chance to explore the arts and crafts of local vendors.
The Residents
6:30 p.m. Friday, April 7, The Kessler, 1230 W. Davis St. $24+ at prekindle.com

One of the most mysterious bands in all of modern music history is playing a special show in Oak Cliff this Friday. It's been half a century now, and we still have no idea who the members of The Residents are, but for all these years, a group of people known as The Residents have been gleefully pushing the boundaries between music, art and performance, creating over 60 albums, countless music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and 10 DVDs. For their Dallas performance, The Residents will first be screening their long-awaited first feature film, Triple Trouble, at 7 p.m. before coming to the stage at 9 p.m. This is sure to be a memorable performance from the art collective. The band will perform selections from their beloved 1978 album, DUCK STAB! The Residents are also set to play music from their 2020 rock opera METAL, MEAT & BONE as well as some other fan favorites.
Onyx
7 p.m. Friday, April 7, The Echo Lounge & Music Hall, 1323 N. Stemmons Fwy. $25 at livenation.com

In 1988, hip-hop and hardcore were two music genres nestled deep within the underground of American culture. While Onyx, a four-piece hip-hop group formed in South Jamaica, Queens, New York, was certainly not the first group to find the through line between the two genres, it certainly was the first group to earn a platinum record in the process. Even if you don't know the group, there is a very good chance you know the track that put them on the map in 1993, "Slam," which has been featured in many basketball scenes in video games, television and film for the last three decades. Now a two-piece group consisting of MCs Fredro Starr and Sticky Fingaz, Onyx has been quite prolific, releasing five full-length albums in the last three years. For this week's concert, however, Onyx is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its iconic album Bacdafucup from which "Slam" originates.
Hip Hop Classic
6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 8, The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving. $29.50+ at livenation.com

Another throwback concert this week brings together some of the earliest hip-hop artists to enter mainstream consciousness.  New York rappers Doug E. Fresh, Rakim (sans Eric B.), Slick Rick and Big Daddy Kane team up with Houston's Scarface and West Philadelphia's DJ Jazzy Jeff for another Hip Hop Classic concert experience. Beatboxing pioneer Doug E. Fresh was once in the Get Fresh Crew with the smoothest rapper to ever grace the mic, Slick Rick. That group produced the early hip-hop classics "The Show" and "La Di Da Di." Rakim and Big Daddy Kane add a lot of lyricism to this lineup. Big Daddy Kane is known for his sharp delivery and unmatched verbal skills, while Rakim is responsible for intricately crafted lyrics comprised of internal and multisyllabic rhymes. Given his affiliation with the Fresh Prince, it's easy to forget that DJ Jazzy Jeff, too, was a pioneer, popularizing the transformer scratch sound in hip-hop. With Southern rap pioneer Scarface in the mix, this is sure to be an inspirational and educational experience for all in attendance.
Fire Sale
7 p.m. Saturday, April 8, Three Links, 2704 Elm St. $15 at seetickets.us

Fire Sale has been billed heavily as the latest project of guitarist Chris Swinney, formerly of pop-punk band The Ataris, and bass player Matt Riddle of punk bands Face To Face and No Use For A Name. However, this punk-rock supergroup also showcases Pedro Aida of lesser-known bands Ann Beretta, ShotClock and River City High on vocals and Matt Morris from Darlington on drums. The band has released only a handful of songs since April 2021 but has recently signed with underground label Negative Progression Records, where it's in the process of recording a full-length album. Fire Sale's Saturday night show is your chance to get in on the ground floor as the band tests new material in front of a live audience in the intimate setting only a punk club like Three Links can provide. Warming up the crowd that night will be local punk bands Nonstarter, Mutha-Falcon and The Midway.
The Crystal Method
10 p.m. Saturday, April 8, Stereo Live, 2711 Storey Ln. $5+ at eventbrite.com

Once a two-piece act that defined the club sound of the late '90s, The Crystal Method split in 2017 when Ken Jordan decided to retire from music. Since 2018, with the release of The Trip Home, founder Scott Kirkland has kept the beats going as a solo act. The Crystal Method is set to perform Saturday night in Dallas in support of its 2022 release, The Trip Out. Even as a solo act, The Crystal Method's new album still has a lot of that same dark, big beat sound the group was known for when "Busy Child" and "(Can’t You) Trip Like I Do" dominated the airwaves at alternative stations in the '90s, but there are also quieter moments for the older audiences to catch their breath. The Crystal Method's Dallas show is the first in a string of shows planned sporadically across the country for the next two months. This is a late show set to run deep into the night, and it is sure to make for a very, very late Easter Sunday.
Burna Boy
7 p.m. Wednesday, April 12, American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave. $39.50+

Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer Burna Boy has spent over a decade bringing the sounds of Afro-pop, reggae and dancehall into the international mainstream, starting with his 2012 hit "Like to Party." It wasn't until 2018 that his major-label debut, Outside, earned the singer widespread acclaim in the U.S. The following year, Burna Boy was recognized as the "Best International Act" at the BET Awards and was named as an Apple Music Up Next artist. In the years that followed, Burna Boy was nominated two straight years for Best World Music Album at the Grammy Awards, making him the only Nigerian artist to achieve such an honor. In 2021, his album Twice As Tall won the award. Burna Boy is on the second leg of his tour in support of his sixth studio album, Love, Damini, which moved from pavilions to arenas. Dallas will be Burna Boy's last stop before playing two weekends at Coachella and moving onto the European leg of the tour.