TURN IT DOWN!

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Wednesday, July 25 @ The Loft, 414 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. All ages, $20, $17 adv., 7 p.m.

Havok, an emerging Denver-based metal band, headlines an all-ages show July 25 at The Loft. Warming up the stage are Tyrant, Extinction A.D., Jungle Rot and Hate Unbound. Since Havok formed in 2004, it promptly issued a series of angry yet thought-provoking demos and EPs stacked with blistering fast thrash that caught the attention of Candlelight Records — which issued the band’s ’80s-metal influenced debut LP, “Burn” in 2009. After that, Havoc hit the road and shared stages with metal titans like Exodus, Anthrax, Primal Fear and Hammerfall. Along the way, more acclaimed albums followed, including 2011’s “Time Is Up” and 2013’s “Unnatural Selection.” The band’s most recent disc, 2017’s “Conformicide,” was issued by its new label, Century Media Records, home to other notable metal acts like Deicide, Eyehategod, Iced Earth and Krokus.

Friday, Aug. 3 @ The Loft, 414 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. 18kknd, $22, $18 adv., 8 p.m.

Since his 1988 debut with the group Ultramagnetic MCs on the “Critical Beatdown” LP, Kool Keith has been praised for his surreal and bizarre rhymes. Friday, Aug. 3, the legendary rapper headlines a night of hip-hop at The Loft; openers include Rafa’el, Ozay Moore and DJ Omni, Big Sherm, DJ Cutt Nice and the Fist Coalition. Over the years, Kool Keith (real name Keith Matthew Thornton) has worn a few mythical alter egos, including Dr. Dooom and Dr. Octagon. He debuted the latter in 1995 and it features him rapping in character as a gynecologist and surgeon, who also happens to be a psychotic extraterrestrial. In 2006, he issued the longawaited follow up, “The Return of Dr. Octagon” LP, and then waited until April 2018 to unveil the third Octagon installment: “Moosebumps: An Exploration into Modern Day Horripilation.”

Saturday, July 21 @ The Avenue Café, 2021 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. 21kknd, FREE, 9 p.m.

Back in 2011, when the Hunky Newcomers formed in Lansing over spilt beers and scuffed-up Ramones and Replacements LPs, they didn’t waste any time delivering their amped-up punk sounds to the local scene. Saturday, the band returns to the Avenue Café for a free show. Openers are Dear Ears, Greg Blucher and Suburban Delinquents. “It was around this time seven years ago,” recalled Hunky Newcomers’ guitarist Loren Pudvay, “that we formed the band and then wrote, recorded and released our first record at our first show. That was all in the span of about a week-and-a half — so I guess it’s kind of our seven-year anniversary.” After its debut CD-r, the Hunky Newcomers further honed its threechord sloppiness on a pile of compilations and proper records — most notably 2014’s “Secret of the Booze” LP, the “Penis Time” EP and “Harder Dude Stuff,” a 2017 live album released via GTG Records.

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