Harlot Party
Friday @ Ciné, 12:15 a.m.
The duo of KyKy Renee Knight and Garrett Knighton have been playing together as Harlot Party for some time now, but became scene fixtures after releasing a breakout EP, I Want to Be Recalcitrant, I Am Just Exhausted in January. The EP’s six songs feature only Knight and Knighton’s interweaving guitars as instrumentation, providing focus for Knight’s heartbreaking poetry. The band has grown considerably this year, and now plays live as a four-piece with drums and bass. Catch them sandwiched in between Mothers guitarist Drew Kirby’s solo project, Civils, and dark gazers Feather Trade.
Blue Blood
Friday @ Little Kings Shuffle Club, 12:30 a.m.
Blue Blood’s Hunter Morris casts himself in a starkly different light on his new sophomore album, Pretty Wars. His latest effort, again produced by Kuroma’s Hank Sullivant, sheds the shadier, Sparklehorse-esque trappings of 2015’s This Is the Life in favor of sunny, ’80s-inflected pop-rock that bounces and bobs like the baited lines Morris has grown familiar with as a fly-fishing guide. Blue Blood headlines the Laser Brains showcase, the freshly minted label also housing Drew Beskin and Palace Doctor, at Little Kings, which serves as the band’s album release show.