Weekly Agenda: What it means to Converge
Converge
Hardcore and hip-hop don’t seem like they’d mesh, and musically they usually don’t. But there is something internal about the two that sparks a familial resemblance, like brothers that somehow ended on wildly different paths.
Although the genres don’t exactly collide this week, Denver/Boulder is pretty heavy on both. Bay Area hip-hop duo Zion I plays Thursday at Cervantes’ and Friday at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, and AmpLive and MC Zumbi have gotten only more interesting in the decade they’ve been playing together. Last year’s The Take Over cast a wide net, working in jazzy rhythms with tribal beats and eclectic rhyming with quirky 8-bit melodies. Guest artists abound on The Take Over, including Houston-based Devin The Dude, who coincidentally is also in town, appearing Monday at the Fox and Tuesday at the Bluebird Theater as well.
West Coast-bred MURS—a.k.a. Nick Carter, but not that Nick Carter—lays it down thick: His raps are big and his beats even bigger. He’s sweetly charismatic, almost devastatingly so. (Of course, a track like “Asian Girl” tends to sway our opinion, just a little bit.) MURS is at the Bluebird Theater this Saturday with tourmate/collaborator Sick Jacken. The show will no doubt be—yes—sick.
There’s definitely something in the air this week, and it mostly smells like old hardcore dudes. Earth Crisis, which reformed a few years back for a “one-off reunion” that’s lasted through a few tours and even a new album, plays this Friday at the Marquis Theater with Tennessee’s Whitechapel. Will this show be totally skull-crushing? It’s likely. Just as brutal, Converge plays Tuesday at the Marquis as well. The staid hardcore act almost never disappoints live; frontman Jacob Bannon is a righteous, thundering force that sweats sincerity and blood. He means what he says, and he says it better than most.
