INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
N.E.R.D., Chester French, DJ Indiana Jones
N.E.R.D.Monday, March 17, 7 p.m., $22.50 advance, $25 day of, 21+
In an age when pop and rap stars come and go with the latest dance trend, producers and songwriters have emerged as the true superstars, with their ability to craft hits seemingly at will, whether for established artists or unknowns. Few of these unheralded superstars have a track record of songs that compares with the creative forces behind N.E.R.D.
An acronym for “No One Ever Really Dies,” the genre-bending trio N.E.R.D. is comprised of Pharrell and Chad Hugo, the production team also known as the Neptunes, and their childhood friend Shay Haley. The Neptunes have been responsible for some of the most creative production heard on the radio in the last 10 years, producing songs such as Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” The Clipse’s “Grinding” and Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” that have all grown beyond pop music to enter into popular culture. Yet they’ve kept much of their most daring production to themselves.
Gearing up for the release of the third official N.E.R.D. album, Seeing Sounds, due out in June, the group has released their strongest single to date, “Everybody Nose,” a sly, high-octane, drum-and-bass-filled number dedicated to the girls in the club scene.
The live show features a full band, including two hype-men and two drummers (the way the J.B.’s used to do it). This is a rare club date for a group of this magnitude, so relish in the fact that N.E.R.D. is playing the Vogue before hitting the stadium circuit with Kanye West on his Glow in the Dark Tour.