Berklee’s Summer in the City series opens a window to fresh sounds - The Boston Globe (2024)

Sound Check is the Globe’s weekly guide to concerts, tunes, and trends rooted in Boston and beyond. This column covers May 31-June 6.

Typically, when seeking out the next Ripe or esperanza spalding to arise from Berklee College of Music, inquisitive listeners have to head to university-operated venues like The Red Room at Cafe 939 or the Berklee Performance Center. But when summer arrives, Berklee’s footprint extends from the Back Bay into Cambridge and the Boston Harbor Islands, thanks to the school’s far-reaching Summer in the City series.

Established nearly 20 years ago, the free concert series introduces Berklee students, alumni, and faculty — plus their myriad musical styles — to new fans at outdoor spaces across Greater Boston. This year’s programming spans over 100 student-organized shows at locations like the Boston Public Library, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Longfellow House, and Spectacle Island. The 2024 season launches on Tuesday with two performances: jazz and Latin artist Manuela Sánchez-Goubert at Kendall Center, and classical Indian and beatboxing group Kaju Barfi at Lyrik.

“Genre-wise, it’s pretty eclectic, but I think as a baseline, they’re family-friendly shows,” says Michael Borgida, Berklee’s director of concert and video production. He emphasizes that the performances are low risk and high reward for everyone involved; Berklee students can attract new audiences off campus, while guests can broaden their musical palette without fretting over admission costs. With no pressure to pack a room and recoup costs via ticket sales, anything goes, from classical opera by Sarah Mesibov to decades of pop covers from Last Minute. Borgida calls the model a “beautiful thing” for the public, Berklee, and their venue partners.

“It just allows us for more variety as far as booking goes,” he notes. “It’s not like, ‘Oh man, if we don’t have 200 people in, we’re not gonna have the show.’ If there’s 100 people there, great, if there’s 500 people there, even better.”

While many shows offer an element of surprise — like a newfangled hybrid of R&B and trapsoul from Advaitha — some crowd-pleasing aspects of the programming return every year, like the Tito Puente Latin Music Series. Borgida says that the subset of shows, which run July through August, are some of the most popular performances in the entire series. Along with fans of Latin music, budding and expert salsa dancers flock to the shows, eager to improve their moves with onsite dance lessons.

“It’s a great entry point or introduction to a genre, dancing, or culture,” Borgida says. “You don’t have to invest a lot.”

GIG GUIDE

Deep Cuts in Medford brims with new music from Boston artists throughout the weekend; garage band Zip-Tie Handcuffs celebrate their new record “Moss” on Friday, followed by Saturday’s dual album release show with indie rock outfit Beeef and Brooklyn bedroom pop artist Helenor. On Sunday, Boston alt-rock mainstay Thalia Zedek supports a visit from Oregon guitarist and composer Marisa Anderson.

21 Savage conjures visions from his recent album “american dream” at the Xfinity Center on Friday, priming the Mansfield amphitheater for a grab bag of Top 40 tunes at Saturday’s Kiss Concert. This year’s edition of Kiss 108′s touring showcase features prominent names in modern hip-hop and R&B — such as Doja Cat, Jason Derulo, and country rapper Shaboozey — alongside hard rock band and stark outlier Shinedown.

Gunna and Flo Milli pull up to MGM Music Hall at Fenway on Saturday for Gunna’s “The Bittersweet Tour,” which touts the Atlanta rapper’s new album “One of Wun.” Across the street on Sunday, Framingham-born country artist Jo Dee Messina visits the House of Blues for one of her homecoming shows across New England, which also includes a June 8 stop at the Cape Cod Melody Tent.

Celebrated Massachusetts folk group the Ballroom Thieves return home on Saturday to sprinkle The Sinclair with “Sundust” from their spring album; the performances err on experimental as the week unfolds, with Japanese genre-smashers Melt-Banana liquifying hardcore licks on Tuesday, followed by quirky pop cuts from of Montreal on Wednesday.

Don’t think you’ll get away from the “Murder on the Dance Floor” craze when Sophie Ellis-Bextor brings her newly-unearthed disco jam to Royale on Tuesday. The English singer-songwriter ignited clubs across Europe with the single in the early aughts, but it took the final, bare-it-all scene of the 2023 flick “Saltburn” for US audiences to get hip to the 2001 earworm, spurring on Ellis-Bextor’s first North American tour.

Glass Beams shroud the Paradise Rock Club with Eastern-influenced instrumentals from their “Mahal” EP at consecutive shows on Wednesday and Thursday. Boston lo-fi pop artist Layzi opens for the enigmatic Australian group — known for donning beaded masks that obscure their faces — on both evenings.

NOW SPINNING

Senseless Optimism, “Walk Along.” Senseless Optimism — a.k.a. Lowell singer-songwriter Brittany Tsewole — steps off the stage at Boston Calling and into a new era with this soul-steeped single about cutting ties. “Walk Along” presents an organic extension of her 2022 EP “It Gets Better,” continuing Tsewole’s knack for husky-voiced kiss-offs.

Winnetka Bowling League, “Sha La La.” On their debut record, Winnetka Bowling League polish earnest and pining pop tunes, applying pep to lamentations about turning 30 and feeling “Happy Adjacent.” But the first full-length effort from the Los Angeles trio peaks when playfully dabbling in romance, displaying adorable devotion with “Breakfast for Dinner” and winking wordplay in “Handsome,” which taunts “if you ain’t holdin’ hands with her/ hurry ‘cause somebody will.”

Anna Tivel, “Living Thing.” For an encapsulation of Anna Tivel’s sixth studio album, look no further than final track, “Gold Web,” which captures the Oregon artist spinning sparse folk over pattering rainfall. Written during the turmoil of 2020, “Living Thing” — and “Gold Web” especially — maintains grace and composure amid an unprecedented storm, with Tivel’s eye for detail centering the record in poppier songs (“Disposable Camera”) and ominous ballads (“Kindness of a Liar”) alike.

BONUS TRACK

The third annual Dorchfest — Dorchester’s porchfest-style afternoon of music — runs this Saturday between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. throughout the Ashmont Adams neighborhood. Rapper Jazzmyn RED, ukulele pop soloist Travels With Brindle, open-format DJ codeswitch, and the Dirty Water Brass Band are among the 40 local acts that are scheduled to perform. (And no, Guster is not expected to crash the festivities.)