Rock Picks: The Hives, Buck 65, Redd Kross, Yo La Tengo

Also playing Tuesday:

TUUNG at the Echo; STARS OF TRACK & FIELD, ESKIMO JOE at the Roxy; VIRGINIA CITY REVIVAL, ORANGE at Safari Sam’s; DOWNTOWN-UNION, THEE L.A. GENTLEMEN CALLERS, THE UV’s at the Scene.

Wednesday, Nov. 7 The Hives at Avalon

Mainstream press coverage of the Hives’ new CD, The Black and White Album, is centering around the fact that, thanks to the commercial disappointment of 2004’s Tyrannosaurus Hives , these Swedish garage rockers need a hit if they’re to continue living in the style to which they’ve become accustomed. That may be true — after all, Interscope chief Jimmy Iovine probably didn’t bankroll the band’s left-field collaboration with Pharrell Williams out of the goodness of his heart. But Black and White doesn’t sound like the cash-grab you might expect: Beyond a handful of shiny beats and some stray keyboard action — and one midtempo saloon-blues joint that doesn’t exactly have Top 40 written all over it — the new disc finds the Hives sticking to the supercharged guitar pop they’ve been making since the turn of the century. Yay! Also at Staples Center, Thurs. (Mikael Wood)

Also playing Wednesday:

HOLD STEADY, ART BRUT, BLOOD ARM at Henry Fonda Theater; DNTEL at the Airliner; DOS, JOE LALLY at Alex’s Bar; BARRINGTON LEVY at Crash Mansion; WELTON IRIE, NATTY KING at the Echo; ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI at the Troubadour; SLASH at the Whisky.

Thursday, Nov. 8 Ween at the Wiltern

While Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo staked their original claim as the premier ironic parodists of the early ’90s indie-rock era, it’s been overlooked what an actually brilliant couple of songwriters/arrangers these fellas are. Cleverly disguised as ’shroom-addled snarky frat-boys, the duo have a stinkily fertile gift for the potentialities that result when you grind into a fine powder the myriad dumb-ass musical genres you never could help but love and which made you the big American dickhead music lover you are today. On Ween’s fantastic new La Cucaracha album on Rounder, all the electro-disco, reggae, sappy Nashville songs, cheesy party-rock, insightful new-age folkie doo-doo, savage metal Nugeness, new-wave literary-geek pop, Philly soul and ’70s-style smoooooth jazz-pop (with non-ironic guest Dave Sanborn) get sawn apart and put back together, with loads of brains — and a kind of love. “Ween: It’s all about the music.” Seriously. Just kidding. No, seriously. (John Payne)

Of Montreal, Grand Buffet, MGMT at Avalon

Of Montreal’s transformation over the past few years from a cuddly twee-pop band into a hedonistic glam-rock unit hasn’t just been a good creative move — it’s also dramatically increased the Elephant 6–associated outfit’s CD and ticket sales and expanded its audience beyond the realm of record-store clerks and college-radio DJs. On Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? , Of Montreal’s latest, front man Kevin Barnes leads his merry mates through an homage to Prince’s psychedelic side. Grand Buffet, from Pittsburgh, make goofy hip-hop tracks that should appeal to anyone who thinks Beck has never topped Midnite Vultures . Brooklyn’s MGMT splash around in a denatured home brew of synth-pop keyboards, folk-rock guitars, and high-flying vocals inspired by Marc Bolan. They just scored a deal with Columbia, which says something about the blogosphere’s A&R acumen. (Mikael Wood)

Also playing Thursday:

GOV’T MULE, GRACE POTTER & THE NOCTURNALS at Henry Fonda Theater; BEN HARPER, PIERS FACCINI at Orpheum Theatre; MAROON 5, PHANTOM PLANET, THE HIVES at Staples Center; MADLIB, PEANUT BUTTER WOLF, J-ROCC, PERCEE P at El Rey Theatre; CULVER CITY DUB COLLECTIVE at the Bordello; DAVID ALLAN COE, DOS, JOE LALLY at Knitting Factory; LLOYD COLE at Largo; VALIENT THORR, YEAR LONG DISASTER, SUPAGROUP at Spaceland; DAN JANISCH at Taix; FISHTANK ENSEMBLE at Tangier.