This week's edition finds me with two submitted A-lists featured prominently in the back of the music section. According to my editor (It would be easy to channel my anger at the decreased opportunities for publication at her if she wasn't in the same frustrating boat as me), the corporate takeover of the "alternative" weekly by wolf-in-sheep's-clothing conglomerate Village Voice Media Holdings has led to decreasing content space and increased ad space. Cutting corners to save a few bucks for the major shareholders has never been more fun, and the neat and tidy $60 CD review that was once my bread-and-butter is now largely a thing of the past. I guess no one buys CDs anymore anyway, but the whole thing's depressing nonetheless. Now I have a backlog of great indy hip hop I've been sent that will never get the exposure it merits. And my pockets continue to get flatter. But without further ado, here are two shows that will be worth checking out, especially the Big Trouble gig tomorrow:
Big Trouble
Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater
To celebrate the release of their cleverly titled EP, Crescent Moon Is in Big Trouble, the local all-star group of Twin Cities musical staples Big Trouble bowls through Bryant-Lake on Thursday, giving anyone who likes music a chance to satisfy her craving for it. Too broad for you? Sorry, but it's hard not to recommend Big Trouble to anyone at all, what with members deriving from TC staples such as Heiruspecs, Martin Devaney, and Joanna James, with enticing guests always a possibility, and with a musical vocabulary that runs the gamut of shit you're likely to hear on the Current (and that's mostly a compliment). As an extra tasty icing on this four-layer cake, MC Crescent Moon lends his formidable vocal presence to the release and show. Let's review then: a group of maestros with an eclectic and far-reaching repertoire? Check. A killer on the mic? Check. Smiles on the faces of everyone from hippie-dippies and hipsters to backpackers and knapsackers, all uniting in harmony under the banner of good music? Check please, I'm there. $9. 9:30 p.m. 810 W. Lake St.; Minneapolis; 612.825.3737. —Jordan Selbo
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Ying Yang Twins
Trocaderos
Don't front—if you really went to a rap show to hear intricate lyrics full of subtle metaphor and internal rhyme structures, you'd bring your headphones and crash in the corner. For the rest of us, dropping 25 duckets for the live version is a chance to reenact some sweaty bedroom gyrations and get funky in public (although it's usually dark in da club, mercifully); if you're real lucky, you might just get sardined against a dime piece with some class, or at least a decent bump. Swinging over to us from a stop in Wisconsin's frigid wasteland (devoid of all things hip-hoppy), the Ying Yang's "Spring Break Concert" is the ideal venue to work off all that cabin-fever dead-skin build-up. I suspect that in this classy venue, the Twins will be even more raucous than usual, leaving me to do the easy part—chant along to their stupid choruses, twerk to the booty beats, and ice grill every sucker who dares step on my 10-dollar sneakers. With J Kwon, Meech, and Mike Page. 18+. $25. 8 p.m. 107 Third Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612.465.0440. —Jordan Selbo
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