In a viral video that does exactly what it says on the tin — “me singing into a well in Italy” — Tiffany Day belts out “Hallelujah,” the stirring ballad written by Leonard Cohen but popularized by John Cale and Jeff Buckley and covered by hundreds of singers. For Day, the reverb of the well provides extra depth to her voice as she crescendos, adding melisma and going up an octave along the way. The Kansas-raised, LA-based artist has plenty to praise these days, and her au courant take on soulful dance pop is more than delivering on the promise of that viral video. March 17 at 7:30 p.m. at DC9, 1940 Ninth St. NW. dc9.club. $18-$20.
When covid-19 shut down touring in 2020, Ian Shelton — drummer and vocalist for sonic pugilists Regional Justice Center — had to regroup. He quickly refocused his energy in a new project called Militarie Gun, releasing a debut project with a title that captured the dead-end depression of the peak pandemic: “My Life Is Over.” On that EP and the album “All Roads Lead to the Gun,” Militarie Gun is an outlet for Shelton’s more melodic impulses as he shout-sings about fighting his way out of quotidian nihilism, drawing inspiration from bands that forged noise into song. As he told Stereogum: “I love melody more than I love aggression, but I really love when the two can come together.” March 20 at 8:30 p.m. at the Runaway, 3523 12th St. NE. therunawaydc.com. $16-$18.
To paraphrase a once-great rapper, can you imagine locking yourself in a room and doing five beats a day for three summers? How about doing three albums a year for six years? That latter approach is the one favored by Thouxanbanfauni. The Chattanooga-born, Atlanta-based rapper-producer is a prolific proponent of the in-the-red rap that fermented on SoundCloud over the last decade. A collaborator with contemporaries including Playboi Carti and UnoTheActivist, Thouxanbanfauni shrugs out boasts and bon mots over beats that obliterate speakers, eardrums and reality itself. March 21 at 8 p.m. at Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW. unionstage.com. $20-$35.
