For Your Ears

Kendrick Lamar
Sunshine Theater
Thursday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m.
$30-$35
All ages

Kendrick Lamar conjures ’90s alternative hip-hop stars The Pharcyde and De La Soul with his laid-back approach to beats and rhymes. At the young age of 25, Lamar has already worked alongside industry giants Dr. Dre, Busta Rhymes and Talib Kweli.

For Your Consideration: “F*** Your Ethnicity” opens with a relaxed beat and a Sunday school piano as Lamar says, “This is the music that saved my life — ya’ll be calling it hip-hop, I be calling it hypnotize.”

Felonious Groove Foundation, 2Bers, Brendangerous, Flo Fader, Peanut Butter Johnson
Low Spirits
Friday, Dec. 7 at 9 p.m.
Ticket price at the door
21

Local funk experts look to cheer up those who are stressed out by the holidays by providing a healthy dose of funk at this year’s “Seventh Annual Funky Sweater Get Down.” The funky ugly sweater party is marked by local funk gurus Felonious Groove Foundation and Peanut Butter Johnson.

For Your Consideration: “Porcelana” by Felonious Groove Foundation is a toe-tapping funk-meets-salsa track in which the group’s guitarist and saxophonist trade solos.

Lionize, I. Conscious
The Launchpad
Sunday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.
$8
21

Reggae group Lionize isn’t afraid to dabble into other genres, sampling bits of punk and post-rock with a fair share of flashy guitars in its tunes. The members’ work hasn’t gone by unnoticed — they recently toured with ska titans Streetlight Manifesto.

For Your Consideration: “Surrender” bounces from its twitching guitars to pummeling percussion in this reverb-heavy, six-minute reggae epic.

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
Sunshine Theater
Thursday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m.
$27.50
All ages

In hopes of rejuvenating the career they had in the ’90s, members of the Grammy award-winning group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony head to Albuquerque during their second reunion tour. One can only cross one’s fingers and hope that members Krayzie Bone, Bizzy Bone and Layzie Bone perform one of their classic cuts: “2 Glocks,” “Shots to tha Double Glock” or “Gun Blast.”

For Your Consideration: Bone Thugs-n-Harmony gets soulful for a second on “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” before reminding listeners of that one time they held a gun, with lyrics “gotta give it on up to the glock glock, pop pop.”

Reincarnite, Kreios, Pyramids of the Social Committee, Weather Red, Terror Race
The Launchpad
Sunday, Dec. 23 at 4 p.m.
$10
All ages

The Launchpad’s “Jingle Bell Rock and Metal Fest” looks to alleviate headaches caused by holiday jingles and caroling with some good ol’ fashioned headbanging. Local bands Kreios and Pyramids of the Social Committee take the stage, and $1 from each ticket sold will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House charity.

For Your Consideration: Pyramids of the Social Committee’s “Intro (Nununu)” is a quick and simple punk song, running under a minute with the lead singer shouting, “The best is yet to come.”

Ryan McGarvey
Low Spirits
Monday, Dec. 31 at 7 p.m.
$12
21

Welcome the New Year with a free champagne toast and a full glass of the blues with artist Ryan McGarvey. This local blues artist channels legend Stevie Ray Vaughan with his soulful croon and solo-heavy guitar material.

For Your Consideration: The screeching, four-minute guitar solo on “Ain’t Enough Whiskey” is just enough to bring this song out of its murky waters of clichéd, alcohol-related bluesy lyrics.