Are you ready for a backroom speakeasy experience inspired by Europe’s underground dance music culture? Because that’s what live electronic duo Elysian Moon plans to offer when they present Intimate Nocturne in Kreuzberg’s Lo-Fi Lounge. The event was inspired by a recent trip.
“Hello from Amsterdam,” neoclassical pianist and synth artist Grace Jiia emailed a couple weeks ago. “I am here attending a global electronic music conference. I’m deeply inspired to bring the best of this culture back to SLO. It’s much deeper than the rave.”
Elysian Moon and opener DJ Grambo perform this Friday, Nov. 7 (8 p.m. to midnight; 21-and-older; $20 at the door, … space is limited, so arrive early if you want to guarantee admission). It begins just as Art After Dark is ending.
“The real rave is about losing yourself, … the room moving as one, no space between us,” Jiia explained. “It’s trance, not as escapism, but as a place to remember what it feels like to be alive and love, and all of us in this together, safe, kindhearted, wild. We’re bringing that kind of experience here.”
She and violinist, producer, and sound engineer Tyson Leonard (formerly electronic artist Tropo, known for his work with The Alan Parsons Project, Jeff Bridges, Festival Mozaic, Jade Jackson, Azere Wilson, Moonshiner Collective, and others) formed their duo with the aim to weave “live instrumentation and sound sculpting to awaken a trance that connects us to color, intrigue, and imagination.”
According to their bio, “Their music is a modern twist of electronic dance shaped by the European underground house and techno culture, the golden mountains of SLO, and the capacity to transcend in dance music culture. It’s a space for self-discovery and shared presence.”
Fresh from the Amsterdam Dance Event, the duo “is inspired by a global culture of people dancing across generations. Club culture is not just for young party kids but rather built into everyday life. In contrast to often fragmented American nightlife, this producer duo sees SLO as ready for a revival of underground energy, where you can shake off stress and rigors of life: uncovering passion and interconnection.”
The Lo-Fi Lounge will be transformed into “an intimate multi-level dance room with production that stimulates senses—a hidden space for communion and release.”
“We’re here for those peak experiences,” Leonard concluded. “But we don’t want to define what that looks like to you. Our music is the backdrop as you write your stories.”
The show must go on
Queen was such a legendary band that created one hit after another in the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s. “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “Killer Queen,” “You’re My Best Friend,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Fat Bottomed Girls,” “Somebody to Love.” I could go on and on. You can’t overstate their significance in pop culture.
Lead singer Freddie Mercury died of AIDS in 1991, and though the band has continued to perform with Paul Rodgers, the Mercury years remain the band’s heyday. You can relive the magic when One Night of Queen, performed by UK group Gary Mullen & The Works, comes to the Clark Center on Tuesday, Nov. 11 (7:30 p.m.; all ages; $49 to $85 at clarkcenter.org).
The two-hour show pays tribute “to the stage theatrics and music of the legendary Queen,” according to organizers. “Freddie Mercury imitator Gary Mullen … previously won the UK talent show Stars in Their Eyes with his vocal and visual imitation of Mercury. They perform highly entertaining shows as the band’s set includes one classic Queen song after another augmented by an exciting and fast-paced production of lights and sound. Their energetic, engaging live shows stay true to Queen’s music even down to the stage presence and dazzling choreography displayed by Mullen as Freddie.”
Bluegrass and country
Numbskull and Good Medicine have a couple of must-sees for Americana fans starting with Rose’s Pawn Shop in Club Car Bar on Friday, Nov. 7 (7:30 p.m.; all ages; $15.14 at goodmedicinepresents.com). Frontman Paul Givant formed the band as a bluegrass-inspired act known for punky tempos and fiddle solos, and for two decades they’ve been delivering their version of roots music.
They’ve recently recorded their fifth album, American Seams, releasing on Dec. 25, which can be pre-ordered on vinyl from Blue Elan Records.
“Our music is a patchwork of American styles,” Givant said on the label website. “We have country, rock, bluegrass, and folk—all sorts of American musical influences, and they all go into the Rose’s Pawn Shop sound. We liked that visual, which is why we named the record American Seams.”
Jason Boland & The Stranglers play The Siren on Thursday, Nov. 13 (7 p.m.; 21-and-older; $30.59 at goodmedicinepresents.com). They’re touring in support of their newest, The Last Kings of Babylon, which was released last March.
“This album is a mirror,” Boland said in press materials. “It’s a retrospective, a reflection of everywhere we’ve been and everything we’ve learned over the last 25 years on the road.”
Their 11th studio recording was produced by legendary Texas pedal steel player and producer Lloyd Maines, and the band describes the songwriting on the album as “bold and muscular here, filtering classic country through a kaleidoscopic lens of rock, punk, bluegrass, and folk.”
“These songs are about the journey,” Boland added. “We were searching for something when we started this band, and we’re still out there searching for it now.”
Jeremy Pinnell opens.
Rap and rock
Also this week in The Siren, check out rapper Andre Nickatina on Friday, Nov. 7 (8 p.m.; 21-and-older; $65.87 at tixr.com). Born Andre Lamond Adams, the Bay Area rapper also performed under the name Dre Dog.
Herway to Hell (A Tribute to AC/DC and Bon Scott) comes to Morro Bay on Saturday, Nov. 8 (8:15 p.m.; 21-and-older; $24.30 at tixr.com). The all-female tribute band is fronted by Madame Ozzy of Mistress of Reality (probably not her real name, just sayin’!). Expect a no-holds-barred high-voltage rock show of AC/DC hits!
Latin indie folk
SLO Brew Live and (((folkYEAH!))) present Y La Bamba on Sunday, Nov. 9 (doors at 7 p.m.; 18-and-older; $29.27 at ticketweb.com). The Portland band is touring in support of their seventh album, Lucha (2023), which translates from Spanish as “Fight.”
“Lucha is a symbol of how hard it is for me to tackle healing, live life, and be present,” lead singer Luz Elena Mendoza Ramos said of the title.
Lucha is also the singer’s nickname. Her name, Luz, means light.
“The album explores multiplicity—love, queerness, Mexican American and Chicanx identity, family, intimacy, yearning, loneliness—and chronicles a period of struggle and growth for Mendoza Ramos as a person and artist,” according to press materials. “Lucha was born out of isolation at the advent of COVID-19 lockdowns, beginning with a cover of Hank Williams’ ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,’ and following Mendoza Ramos as she moved from Portland, Oregon, to Mexico City, returning to her parents’ home country while revisiting a lineage marred by violence and silence, and simultaneously reaching toward deeper relationships with loved ones and herself.”
Los Tranquilos opens the show.
It’s not live music, per se, but …
Over at the Fremont Theater, Bingo Loco returns on Friday, Nov. 7 (doors at 6:30 p.m. with the event starting at 8; 21-and-older; $45.29 at prekindle.com).
What is it? Good question! It’s three hours of adult fun with three bingo games and challenges in between like dance-offs and lip-sync battles. Apparently, it turns into a rave. I’ve never been, but I hear it’s fun. ∆
Contact Arts Editor Glen Starkey at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Nov 6-16, 2025.