Cut from the same cloth as Macklemore's approachable-to-a-fault breakthrough The Heist, Grieves’ latest record — 2014’s Winter & the Wolves — posits itself as the culmination of three years of self-discovery in the wake of successful tours with Atmosphere, P.O.S., and yes, fellow Seattle-based pop-rap sermonizer Macklemore. The strength of Grieves (aka Benjamin Laub), though, rests not in hip-hop posturing or teenage melodrama, but in a handful of that album's hooks. Should he surrender further to the guardian angels of pop, Grieves could potentially prove a viable radio adversary. His previous show at the Bartlett, last June, sold out relatively quickly, so don't procrastinate in nailing down your plans.
— Trace William Cowen