Performing locally in a special live event hosted by the area non-profit Project 15:12 Love One Another, contemporary-Christian singer/songwriter Jason Gray will headline a March 25 fundraising concert at Bettendorf Christian Church, with the chart-topping Minnesota-based musician a favorite of reviewers and the recipient of two prestigious ASCAP Performance Awards.

Iowa City-based producer landethics’ release phantom tidepools appeared in the Reader’s pages back when it was released in May of 2020, and its lovely blend of post-video game OST melodicism and tonal choices, fused with a fine-tuned sense of beat programming, won my heart.

Bettendorf’s resident freak-noise-slash-post-rap industrial producer/vocalist VoidDweller has been trolling our eardrums with their aggro strain of free-for-all genre-mashing psychosis for a minute now, but the charmingly titled cum is probably their most fully formed and ultimately “complete” release to date.

Whoa. Here’s a nice surprise from a Quad Cities-based project that until this point has been nowhere near my personal radar. A five-track EP of mostly instrumental hip-hop beats from the Davenport duo Pariah and Robscire, Idle Hands perfectly scratches a sweet spot between the kinetic, proto-trap drum patterns and throbbing basslines of Memphis hip-hop staples such as Three 6 Mafia, and a strain of more tripped-out modern-rap beatmaking closer to, say, Death Grips.

The Davenport-based horror-score psych-rock experimental crew Giallows dropped a new track called “Lost Boy” on the most recent iteration of Bandcamp on March 5 – the first Friday of the month being the day the music-hosting platform cedes its usual share of profits directly to the artists, which has caused a huge monthly spike in both artist output and fan purchasing.

The talents of one of America's most revered and acclaimed blues musicians will be on display in no fewer than three virtual concert events hosted by Iowa City's Englert Theatre, with the legendary Taj Mahal featured alongside his Phantom Blues Band and guest artist Jon Cleary on March 13; hosting the Roots Rising Showcase on March 20; and performing with the artist Fantastic Negrito on March 27.

In a virtual concert perfectly timed to coincide with St. Patrick's Day, the Celtic rockers of Gaelic Storm will bring the party to the people in the March 17 live-stream event One for the Road, an Englert Theatre presentation and holiday celebration with the vocalists and multi-instrumentalists hailed by the Examiner for their “high energy” and “exceptional musical performance.”

Continuing its presentation of virtual programming in the venue's annual PASS (Performing Arts Signature Series) program, Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center hosts a riveting March 11 concert event with genre-crossing jazz pianist Barron Ryan, the up-and-coming musical sensation recently recognized as one of Smithsonian magazine's “Ten Innovators to Watch in 2021.”

Two of the most prolific and notable composers of all time will be the focus of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's fifth virtual presentation in the musicians' 2020-21 Masterworks series, with the March 7 presentation A Little Night Music showcasing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's spirit-lifting Serenade in G major, Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music) and Johannes Brahms' rich, enchanting Serenade No. 2, op. 16.

An early St. Patrick's Day bash boasting an acclaimed, Emmy Award-nominated Irish tenor, the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center hosts a virtual performance of Ireland with Michael Londra on February 26, treating audiences to a celebration of Irish culture, heritage, and glorious music from the comfort of their homes.

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