Rock Picks

Earl Greyhound, The Starlite Desperation, Lion Fever, Eastern Conference Champions at the Troubadour

New York’s Earl Greyhound have played L.A. more often over the past few months than some local bands, but that’s no reason not to seize this opportunity to watch ’em do their wildly kinetic soul-rock thing one more time. On Soft Targets, the trio’s high-octane debut, they answer the long-simmering question of what the White Stripes would sound like as produced by Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra. Despite a recent bout of record-biz trouble, the Starlite Desperation are still kicking out scruffy psych-garage jams well suited to Dandy Warhols fans hungrier for tunes than noodles. Lion Fever’s Casey Geisen used to play in Starlite; now he and his current bandmates churn out a spooky brand of sex-drenched goth-blues. Openers Eastern Conference Champions split their time between L.A. and Pennsylvania and split their sound between Smashing Pumpkins and the Violent Femmes. (Mikael Wood)

The train kept a-rollin’: the Yardbirds (Photo by Chris Dreja)

Donita squeezes out some Sparks.

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More About

• Jill Cunniff
• Henry Fonda
• Mr. T
• Knitting
• Arts and Crafts

Aterciopelados at the the Ex-Plex After releasing separate solo albums, singer Andrea Echeverri and bassist/producer Hector Buitrago got together last year to record Oye (Nacional), their first CD as Aterciopelados in five years. Although the new disc isn’t as rambunctiously rocking as their early work in the mid-’90s when they first emerged from Bogotá, Colombia, there are entrancingly lovely interludes such as the upbeat prayer for peace, “Paces,” where guitar lines are twisted up exotically to sound like sitars. In “Cancion Protesta,” Echeverri issues a gently funky roll call of her favorite inspirational protest singers and poets (Bob Marley, Victor Jara, Joan Baez and Manu Chao), as flutes filter light like rays of sunshine bursting through clouds. Curtly rhythmic chords punctuate the love song “Complemento” as Television-style lead-guitar patterns swirl like glowing satellites around Echeverri’s soft cooing. The Velvety Ones keep things simmering smoothly with laid-back percussion, mellow harmonies, magic-pipe exhalations, sunny arrangements and warm, uncluttered production. This show occurs in the Echo’s adjoining downstairs club, the the Ex-Plex. (Falling James)

Also playing Saturday:

TV ON THE RADIO, NOISETTES at Henry Fonda Theater; SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK at Royce Hall; TOTIMOSHI at Alex’s Bar; JIM ROSE SIDE SHOW at Boardner’s; MARIA TAYLOR at the Echo; VAINS OF JENNA, SIXTH CHAMBER at Knitting Factory; VAGABOND OPERA, MOIRA SMILEY & VOCO at McCabe’s; MITCH EASTER at Silverlake Lounge; MARIA FATAL at the Westchester; FISHBONE at Malibu Inn.

SUNDAY, APRIL 1You Am I at Spaceland

You Am I live in a parallel universe where they routinely top the charts with gold albums and are invited to tour with the Rolling Stones and the Who. In this parallel universe — also known as Australia — they’ve played with Oasis and introduced the Detroit Cobras and the Strokes to their first audiences in a land Down Under. They throw a curve on their latest CD, Convicts (Yep Roc), starting things off with “Thank God I’ve Hit the Bottom,” an atypically scuzzed-out hard-rock exercise that sounds like Motorhead or L.A.’s Binges. Before long, though, Tim Rogers and company (including Radio Birdman drummer Russell Hopkinson) return to the hook-filled power-pop they’re famous for — at least in that parallel universe — including sing-along anthems like “Friends Like You.” Rogers spits out a quick character sketch on “A Nervous Kid” like an antipodal Jim Carroll, while the insanely catchy “Explaining Cricket” starts off with a jaunty, jangly Kinks stroll (“My words are drowning in amber again/It’s like explaining cricket to an American”) before blowing up into a Who-like psychedelia. Great stuff. (Falling James)

Also playing Sunday:

MARC FORD, KAT MASLICH BODE, LISTING SHIP at the Echo; QUINTO SOL, EL VUH at Knitting Factory; SLUM VILLAGE at Temple Bar; AFTERHOURS at the Troubadour; INSECT SURFERS at Liquid Kitty.

MONDAY, APRIL 2Ratatat, 120 Days at Henry Fonda Theater

Ratatat is the N.Y. duo of guitarist Mike Stroud and electronics/beats man Evan Mast, adeptly diverse dudes whose seemingly simple all-instrumentals on an eponymous first album and the recent Classics (XL) revealed upon further scrutiny some very smart craft and an unlikely array of probable source materials (Neu, Boston), cuing that they were capable of deep thought within this ostensibly electro-rock-like format. Built on Mast’s intricate hip-hop-aligned drum programs, Ratatat songs usually come laden with Stroud’s soaring multitracked guitar rays in superbly melodious haikus that chomp kinda hard while stopping short of full-on dance-punk aggro. Meanwhile, on their Vice label debut of last year, Kristiansund, Norway’s four-piece combo 120 Days dished a frothier blend of Kraftwerk machine beats and tinny New Order synths, dollops of Smiths-y guitar peal and disconsolate vocal warble — overly sensitive stuff that one would pooh-pooh if it weren’t so bloody heart-rending. (John Payne)

Also playing Monday:

WADDY WACHTEL at the Joint; ANAVAN, HEALTH at Pehrspace; ROONEY, BIG CITY ROCK, SCANNERS at the Roxy; AKIL THE MC at Safari Sam’s; MINOR CANON at Spaceland; THE BINGES at King King.

TUESDAY, APRIL 3 Playing Tuesday:

MARS VOLTA at the Orpheum Theatre; SON VOLT, JASON MOLINA at El Rey Theatre; JOHN LEGEND, CORINNE BAILEY RAE at Bren Events Center; DON CARLOS, DIGNITARY STYLISH at House of Blues; TOM BROSSEAU, JOHN DOE at Largo; OZOMATLI at Amoeba Music, 6 p.m.