The Nashville emo-punk band Free Throw is back with their fifth album, Lessons That We Swear to Keep. It’s as hard-charging, emotional and laced with Pokémon references as ever. A whole track called “Cinnabar Island” somehow becomes an existentialist meditation for lead singer Cory Castro (It’s really setting in/just how small I really am/descending and diving). Since 2012, the five-piece band has been pulling off unlikely feats, merging their favorite pop culture touchstones—often video games and TV shows of early-aughts glory—with the darkest depths of their psyches. Screaming these themes atop crashing drums and overdriven guitars just works.
Fri, 8pm, $22/adv, $25/door
Ritz, San Jose
