Best of the week: Local music

Sunday, May 29 - Moniker + Phantasm + Vinny Vegas + Ryan Jackson

Boston’s likely got more unsigned indie bands per cubic inch than any city in America, but even still it’s hard to imagine why someone, somewhere hasn’t picked up a band like Moniker. Crossbreeding such marketable genres as roots rock, spacey guitar rock a la Modest Mouse and Phish-inspired down home groove rock, the band coats its varied influences over with a glossy pop sheen that helps all the sorted pieces mesh together swimmingly. Phantasm, Baltimore pop rockers Vinny Vegas and Allston native Ryan Jackson will open.

Sunday, May 29 - Ed O.G. + The Cool Kids
 
Time has certainly been kind to Roxbury’s Edward Anderson, better known within the Hub hip-hop Community as Ed O.G. Since breaking through in the early '90s as a member of Da Bulldogs, O.G. has built a devoted following both locally and nationally, thanks in no small part to collaborations with the likes of Pete Rock, Common, the Roots and Mary J. Blige to name but a few. These days he’s busying himself as a member of the forward thinking local hip-hop collective 4Peace, but Sunday he’ll roll solo in support of the much hyped Detroit/Chicago rap duo the Cool Kids.

Thursday, June 2 - Live Rock Band Karaoke with The Nickel and Dime Band

There are two types of people, those who are pro-karaoke and those who wouldn’t stand up and sing before a crowd to save their lives. But Milky Way’s free Live Rock Band Karaoke featuring the backing services of the Nickel and Dime Band might sway some naysayers into unleashing their inner rocker. The band’s catalog consists largely of long-celebrated karaoke standards—AC/DC, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, the Stones, etc.—but even the most rote selections are immediately revitalized when the microphone and teleprompter are substituted for a full service rock and roll band.

Friday, June 3 - Ad Frank and the Fast Easy Women + Count Zero + Me and Joan Collins + Birds Make Birds

Ad Frank isn’t an artist that can be conveniently defined in broad strokes. Equal parts post-punk, glam, new wave and dance rock, Frank and his backing band, the Fast Easy Women, turn heart-on-sleeve earnestness into campy fun. The songs can tug at the heartstrings, but they successfully walk the delicate line of being emotive without venturing too far into pissy self loathing. Friday night’s show will be their last ever, so catch them while you still can alongside local indie rockers Count Zero, Me and Joan Collins and the arresting, pop rock sounds of Birds Make Birds.