Music

NXNE 2011: Friday Best Bets

by Nicole Villeneuve

AUX’s BEST BETS: FRIDAY, JUNE 17

The Descendents played last night so you’ll just have to find something else to do tonight at NXNE tonight, guys. Here’s what that should be.

HEAVY CREAM Nashville’s Heavy Cream play their ragged garage punk with a youthful abandon and you’d be wise to catch their set tonight. No doubt playing songs from their JEFF the Brotherhood’s Jake Orrall-produced debut (out on Infinity Cat Recordings), the four-piece is led masterfully by the snarling Jessica McFarland, a presence that sets them apart and is sure to make this one a highlight. Comfort Zone, 486 Spadina Avenue, 1AM

CULTS Easy to roll your eyes at as a whatever, see-you-in-five-years blog buzz band (because they are! ), Cults seem to have built some pretty credible attention around their spacey indie pop in the past year. The young Manhattan duo, Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin received instantaneous attention from a couple of essentially anonymous tracks they threw online to show friends. Their self-titled debut album was released this month by Lily Allen’s Columbia Records imprint In the Name Of, and Follin appears on “Queen of Hearts” from the best record of the year, Fucked Up’s David Comes to LIfe. So. Yeah. Lee’s Palace, 529 Bloor Street West, 12AM

RUSTY This is probably where you’ll be if you’re in your late 20s and spent your formative teenage years binging on a healthy dosage of Canadian indie rock bands like Rusty and now you’d like to get back to your roots and also, have you realized that Rusty was actually good and you weren’t just remembering them in a haze of nostalgia and existential crisis? COOL SEE YOU THERE. El Mocambo (Main Floor), 464 Spadina Avenue, 12AM

GHETTOSOCKS Ghettosocks is a Halifax rapper and producer whose most recent album Treat of the Day was nominatted for a Juno award and won an East Coast Music Award. He’s sample heavy, witty, and bountiful with the words, and he’s part of the ongoing hip hop showcases at Crawford that is definitely in the minority and thus easier to forget about among all the guitars and such at NXNE, so let’s not do that entirely. Let’s go refresh our ears. Crawford, 718 College Street, 10PM

KIDSTREET Waterloo, ON sibling trio Kidstreet sound too cute to be true! Or at least to be good. But they are, and their minimal setup creates an electro pop sound that’s bigger and deeper than you’re expecting. Synths are bolstered by live drums and guitars and of course, vocals to create catchy, direct, sounds with an intensity that again belies the cuteness of them and their name. Kidstreet released their debut EP X earlier this year and, having already been signed on to work with Nettwerk, are sure to make sure we hear lots more from them. Supermarket, 268 Augusta Avenue, 12AM

Get the full festival schedule and artist details over at NXNE.com.