Sacramento Beat: 3 gigs in one weekend with LabRats; Golden Road Gathering debuts in Placerville

I’m already worn out just thinking about all these shows we have on deck in the month of May. Let’s do this!

Local artists, message Aaron Davis on Instagram if you have upcoming shows, @adavis_threetosee.

Sacramento’s 2023 Big Day of Giving lands on Thursday, which means some accompanying midweek tunes from a few of our friends. GIRLS Rock Sacramento sets up shop at Luna’s Cafe (9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1414 16th St.) with music from Sarah Reiwitch, Luhan Si Hadin, Galilea and Kris Lockette (www.instagram.com/girlsrocksacramento). Over at the Woodlake Tavern, Sacramento Blues Society’s “Blues in the Schools (BITS)” showcase features the West Campus BITS Band (taught by local mainstay Lew Fratis), Ryder Green and his band, and the BITS Alumni Band (5 p.m. to 9 p.m., 1328 Del Paso Blvd. $10/$5 students. www.instagram.com/sacbluesintheschools).

Traveling to the states from Burkina Faso, scintillating quartet Baba Commandant lands at Harlow’s, touring behind their most recent record “Sonbonbela.” Fearlessly captivating guitarist Issouf Diabate is impossible to ignore on this album, hurling metric tonnage of charismatic, gripping Afrobeat rhythms into the stratosphere to circle the globe and see what sticks to them — and continuing to riff like a man possessed when they come back ‘round (8 p.m. Thursday. $15/$18. www.harlows.com)

Have yourself a weekend, LabRats! Led by the wizardry of Jacob Swedlow from behind the kit and with Joey Archie and Miguel Recendez interlocking waves of R&B, jazz, hip-hop and soul from the keys on either side, LabRats is one of Sacramento’s relatively newer acts, but is already one of its most formidable (and potentially unstoppable) groove merchants — and you can catch them thrice over Cinco de Mayo weekend. On Friday, they’ll be the first band of the 2023 season on the stage at Concerts in the Park, setting the table for Latin rockers Sol Peligro and headliner Kat Dahlia. On Saturday, they celebrate the release of their debut full-length record, the aptly-titled “Year of the Rat” at Starlet Room (8 p.m. Saturday, with Coco Leilani and Harlequin Rose. $12-$15. harlows.com). On Sunday, they set up shop at the Torch Club, as they do each week for the no-cover Sunday Jazz Sessions (8 to 11 p.m. torchclub.net). There’s a good reason this trio self-bills as “your favorite rapper’s favorite band.” On any given evening, there’s no way to predict who will show up and hop on the stage with them to lend vocals, rhymes or additional instrumentation. They’ve dropped a welcome mat for all comers willing to dive into the riptide of earnestly-crafted, endlessly expressive and unencumbered reveling. instagram.com/labratsmusic.

Up in the foothills, spend your Cinco de Mayo with Bay Area bluegrass/folk heroes The Brothers Comatose, and perhaps get treated to something from their tasty new album of covers and collabs, “Ear Snacks” (8 p.m. at Miners Foundry, 325 Spring St., Nevada City. $22/$25. minersfoundry.org). Or, you can follow them to Chico on May 6 where they’ll headline the three-band Wildflower Music Festival, linking up with Portland folk/comedy hero John Craigie and feisty funk/soul troupe Con Brio (wildflowermusicfest.com).

Indie rock veterans Deerhoof just dished up their 19th album, “Miracle-Level” — and after nearly 30 years in the business, it’s (weirdly) the first record the group has ever cut beginning-to-end entirely in a proper recording studio. The jangling, zig-zagging offering is also sung entirely in bassist/singer Satomi Matsuzaki’s native language of Japanese (with Fake Fruit and Simulation. 8 p.m. Sunday, May 7 at Harlow’s $22.50/$25. harlows.com).

A brand new three-day festival sails her maiden voyage when the Golden Road Gathering debuts at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville May 12-14, finding an array of nationally touring headliners flanked by a platoon of standout regional acts. Jazz/soul titans California Honeydrops headline an uber-funky Friday bill, with Melvin Seals & JGB (with John Kadlecik), Orgone, Island of Black & White and 10 Foot Tiger. Saturday is led by Jerry Harrison & Adrian Belew’s Remain in Light, along with the Floozies, Cool Cool Cool (featuring members of Turkuaz), Scott Pemberton O Theory, Boot Juice, Ideateam and Red Dirt Ruckus. Sunday closes out with Vaudevillian circus funk troupe March Fourth Marching Band with Five Alarm Funk, Couch, Achilles Wheel, Object Heavy and lots more. Camping is available on-site, in what figures to be a similar setup as the fairgrounds’ former musical tenant, the relocated (and soon-to-be renamed) Hangtown Festival. The team from Wet River Trips is also hosting rafting trips for festival-goers with gate-to-gate shuttle service (goldenroadgathering.com).

The story of Fanny, the trailblazing all-female rock group with Sacramento roots founded by Philippines-born sisters June and Jean Millington, has been tragically and somewhat inexplicably buried in the annals of rock history — even with five critically-acclaimed records to their credit, a superfan in David Bowie, and a wild-spirited sound that rides the line between fiery ‘60s psychedelic pop and free-rambling ’70s radio rock. The 2021 documentary “Fanny: The Right to Rock” (in which they’re name-checked by the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Cherie Currie, the Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine and others) follows the group’s battles against early barriers of race, gender and sexuality and seeks to undo the overlooking. The film screens at the Crest Theatre at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 22, followed by a live performance from the band — it’s free and seats are first-come, first-served, but you can reserve a ticket online (crestsacramento.com/events). The film also premieres at 9 p.m. that evening on KVIE, the PBS station on Channel 6.

You’re going to want to get familiar with the name Broken Compass Bluegrass, an upstart quartet that’s becoming a fixture at spots like SacYard Community Taphouse — which is pretty cool considering much of the band is not old enough to legally drink (or barely vote!). Nothing in their surgical and glowingly genuine acumen hints at their age - with a classically refined, workmanlike approach to bluegrass, they could already do-si-do right alongside many a torchbearer of the genre. They dropped their debut full-length “Fool’s Gold” in March, and they have a smattering of dates on the calendar this month, including Bike Dog Brewing’s West Sacramento taproom May 14, the Orangevale farmer’s market May 25 and the aforementioned SacYard on May 19 (where even the passive beer drinking crowd seems to take notice). They’ve also just been added to the venerable Strawberry Music Festival lineup Memorial Day weekend in Grass Valley (strawberrymusic.com) for their debut there; according to the festival’s press release, Broken Compass band leader Kyle Ledson picked up his first musical instrument during a “Fiddle For Kids” workshop at the festival at the age of 3. brokencompassbluegrass.com.

You’re not going find many artists (not named Phish) with the guts to include six- and seven-minute tracks on a debut record, but a quick spin through Kassi Valazza’s debut “Dear Dead Days” finds healthy doses of daring lurking around every corner (holding either flowers or switchblades, we’re not quite sure). Valazza has a sweet wanderlust and intermittently haunting quality in her voice, akin to many of her country/Americana temporaries, backed by a meandering, high plains drifting brand of edgy, tumbleweed psychedelia that crashes through any perceived norms of the medium (with Juliana Riolino. 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 30, at Goldfield Midtown. $13. goldfieldtradingpost.com)

Thumbing the calendar ahead a bit…our pals at Delfino Farms in Camino just dished up their lineup for the summer Folk on the Farm series, and she’s a beaut’. Highlights include the indelible Mother Hips June 24, meteorically-rising throwback British soul-pop act The Heavy Heavy July 1 (listen to “Go Down River” and thank me later for your new summer anthem), local veteran Dead Winter Carpenters July 15, Americana rockers Cordovas July 29, and folk-rock darling Mapache Sept. 2. delfinofarms.com/folkonthefarm.

In July, another brand new festival, Gambler’s Run, lands in North Tahoe at the Crystal Bay Club Casino, with sets on an outdoor stage and inside in the Club Room. Jammers Pigeons Playing Ping Pong lead the pack all three nights, with endlessly delightful duo Shovels & Rope, L.A. hot jazz/roots collaborative Dustbowl Revival, Sunsquabi, Moon Hooch, Hot Buttered Rum and tons more throughout the weekend, plus “after party” gigs with Tauk, Yonder Mountain String Band and Tyler Bryant (July 14-16. $75 daily/$200 weekend. tixr.com/groups/crystalbaycasino)

Grab bag: Oakland funk/rock/soul maestro Fantastic Negrito returns to Harlow’s (8 p.m. Tuesday, May 9. $25/$30. harlows.com); Indie folk-pop darling Haley Heynderickx visits the Crest with Saintseneca (8 p.m. Wednesday, May 10. $20. crestsacramento.com/events); Bluegrass megagroup Mighty Poplar — featuring Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge of Punch Brothers, Andrew Marlin of Watchouse and Greg Garrison of Leftover Salmon - heads to the Center for the Arts in Grass Valley (7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 21. $45. thecenterforthearts.org); Longtime Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers axeman Mike Campbell comes to Ace of Spades with his band the Dirty Knobs (7 p.m. Tuesday, May 23. $35. aceofspadessac.com); Rocker Micah Nelson (youngest son to Willie and brother to Lukas) leads his twisting lo-fi outfit Particle Kid into Goldfield Midtown (8 p.m. Sunday, May 28. $20. goldfieldtradingpost.com).