Ramping up
With the arrival of spring, concert season picks up speed

This has been a long, unequivocally difficult winter. Without a moment’s hesitation, I can resolutely say not a one that has preceded it comes anywhere close to comparing. To be perfectly clear, I’m in no way referring to the snow totals at our home mountains and the surrounding areas. If anything, the truly uncanny and unprecedented amount of snowfall has provided me, personally, a healthy distraction these past few months. For those of you that don’t choose to recreate similarly from November/December on – I can dig it. The precipitation and inclement weather just present a pain in the ass (back, neck, shoulders, etc.) A total drag.

This has been an exhausting, painfully unpleasant, at times excruciatingly cruel, heavy-handed winter for a variety of reasons. But, as of last week, spring sprung, which means I can spew a litany of overused clichés and adages about death and decay leading to growth, rebirth, new leaves and blah blah f***ing blah. I’ll spare you.

Spring can also give way to rising temps, and rising temps also suggest that maybe, just maybe, the roads south of town ushering concert-goers to the Land of Enchantment are dry and clear. Spring tours will be routed through Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and live music equals catharsis. To some. To me. The squall crunch of guitars and effects pedals help temper some of the swirling, spiraling brain and are a hell of a distraction. Plus, you get to eat new foods, visit museums and galleries, shop at Asian markets, thrift at different shops, visit comic book stores, and hell, you can even visit a zoo or an aquarium if that’s your thing.

Some of you continue to ask for my opinion of worthwhile shows upcoming in New Mexico, so here are a couple few in the coming weeks:

• Cut Chemist, Fri., April 7, Sister Bar (Albuquer-que): Lucas MacFadden, better known as Cut Chemist, is one of the greatest turntablists, arguably, of all time. A founding member of Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli, Chemist solidified his status with his “Brainfreeze” collaboration with DJ Shadow. This will be an all-vinyl set and quite likely mind blowing.

 • Brooks Nielsen, Sun., April 9, Launchpad (Albuquerque): I haven’t really looked into what Nielsen’s former band, The Growlers, are up to as of late. I’m not sure I care. Nielsen fronts (fronted?) the beach goth (their words, not mine) band since 2006, and his solo record sure does sound a lot like a Growlers album. People like The Growlers, I think? They certainly made a handful of solid albums, and I’m guessing you might hear some of those tunes at this gig. That was an exceptionally underwhelming sell. Oops.

• The Appleseed Cast, Tues., April 11, Sister Bar (Albuquerque): I really, truly hate “emo” as a descriptor. “Post-rock” doesn’t bother me as much for some reason. This Lawrence, Kans., band straddles a variety of indie rock-adjacent mediums. Likely not for everyone, but certainly for me. If you’re planning on zipping down on a Tuesday, let me know.

• Avey Tare, Mon., May 8, Meow Wolf (Santa Fe): Avey Tare is one-fourth of Baltimore-based Animal Collective and released his latest solo record, “7’s,” on Domino in mid-February. Known for psychedelic textured electronic soundscapes, I imagine this particular show at this particular venue would be darn good, totally wholesome and not at all drug-fueled time.

There are a number of other shows worth seeing that I’m happy to drone on about, but I am out of time and space. With summer around the way, more records will be released and more tours will be announced, though very few will be stopping HERE this summer. This is a point of contention, internally, and perhaps I will revisit it down the road. I guess this constitutes a gripe. Anyhoo … if you’re personally excited about a release or a tour announcement, send those recommendations my way along with questions, comments or gripes. Especially the gripes.

Jon E. Lynch is the program director at KDUR. He can be reached at KDUR_PD@fortlewis.edu