Rock Picks: Built to Spill, Meat Puppets, Julia Fordham

Also playing Monday:

GEORGE THOROGOOD at Ventura Theatre; KILLSONIC, LIZ PAPPADEMAS at the Bordello; SMASH FASHION, RANDIES at Crash Mansion; WHAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS at the Echo; RICKIE LEE JONES at the Echoplex; METAL SKOOL, BURNING BRIDES at Key Club; MIKE KENEALLY BAND at Paladino's; PITY PARTY, ROLLING BLACKOUTS at Spaceland; CASXIO, ELECTROCUTE at the Viper Room.

Simon Gluckman

Kind of blue: Julia Fordham

Taken by Trees’ Victoria Bergsman finds herself “Under Your Leaves” again.

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 TUESDAY, FEB. 26

Ladysmith Black Mambazo at USC's Bovard Auditorium

A cappella gets a bad rap, attributable to aggressively embarrassing shit like Yale University's Whiffenpoofs and the early days of Boyz II Men. When the convergence and harmony of unaccompanied human voices inspires the hearts of the toughest cynics to flinch, it's a rare achievement. Of those most capable, for the generally secular audience anyway, is the renowned men's choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Singular in the so-called world-music community, the long, long-running group (which originated in 1960) sings in the Zulu style of Isicathamiya, a gorgeous and hushed brand of a cappella. The group's contribution to Paul Simon's beyond-seminal record Graceland, and their acutely haunting tracks like "Hello My Baby" and the classic "Homeless," launched the band into huge tours and spots on Sesame Street. Never has the alphabet sounded so profound. (Kate Carraway)

Also playing Tuesday:

ON THE SURFACE at Hotel Cafe; ANNA WARONKER at Largo; HELIO SEQUENCE at Spaceland; MONDO GENERATOR at the Viper Room.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 27

Julia Fordham at the Roxy

Julia Fordham is a British singer and longtime Angeleno who first came to attention in the late '80s with such languidly elegant mainstream pop songs as "Falling Forward," "Manhattan Skyline" and "Happily Ever After." Like so many other social-climbing pop divas, she's decided to dabble with jazz on her latest CD, China Blue, although she should be given credit for writing her own material instead of trotting out the usual hoary standards. Of course, her version of "jazz" isn't anything daringly bent or adventurously experimental; instead, the musical settings provided by co-songwriter/arranger Grant Mitchell are safely conservative and retro, if tastefully performed. The real thrill here is the way her rich, liquid-y voice sails over the songs, trailing off divinely into the spaces left behind by Mitchell's piano. She's at her best on the somber ballads "Funny Guy" and "My Only Valentine," where her quivering, shivering voice trembles magnificently against the laid-back instrumentation (although perhaps she should just split the difference and cover "My Funny Valentine"). She's generally enchanting, apart from an ill-advised duet with Michael McDonald on a soggy, non-jazzy, elevator-music remake of "I Keep Forgettin'." (Falling James)

Also playing Wednesday:

BRITISH SEA POWER, COLOUR MUSIC, CASTLEDOOR at the Echo; RANKING TREVOR at the Echoplex; CARINA ROUND at the Hotel Cafe; STELLASTARR, THE OOHLAS at the Troubadour.

 THURSDAY, FEB. 28

Taken by Trees at the Roxy

Much has been made of the stylishly somnolent way that Cat Power reinvented the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" as a glacial, funereal ballad, but Swedish band the Concretes were just as clever in slowing down the Stones' "Miss You" in 2005 and dragging it out until it was an achingly haunting ode to loneliness. Former Concretes chanteuse Victoria Bergsman is now flying solo with her new project, Taken by Trees, but she's up to her old tricks with a version of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine," which she's transformed into a pretty piano-pop ditty. The title track of Taken by Trees' 2007 Rough Trade debut, Open Field, sallies forth with a soothing string-section instrumental, setting the stage for the gently shimmering pop of "Lost and Found," where she coos with a childlike innocence over candy-cane chimes. She's contrastingly haunting on the spare, chilling piano ballad "Julia." Bergsman was just as engaging when she sang with Peter, Bjorn & John on "Young Folks," from their 2007 CD, Writers Block. She doesn't need to belt it out loudly to make a deep impact. (Falling James)

Phill Niblock, Tom Recchion, Thomas Ankersmit at Beyond Baroque

Here we have a rare opportunity to hear high-quality "experimental" music by three veteran exponents of its varied gripping strands. Phill Niblock is a New York-based "forgotten" minimalist composer and multimedia musician, a hugely influential figure (on Glenn Branca, for one) whose recent work has involved 24-track digitally processed microtonal drones, often via sampled voice, resulting in glacially slow-moving monoliths of sound without easily perceptible melody or rhythm. Niblock was a founder of Experimental Intermedia in 1968 and has been its director since 1985; a heavy presence in the N.Y. downtown new-music scene, Niblock has also put on more than 1,000 concerts in his loft space by the likes of Ryoji Ikeda, Zbigniew Karkowski and Jim O'Rourke. Dutch-born Thomas Ankersmit is an improvising saxophone and electronics maestro working from a distinctly non-free-jazz sphere, preferring post-minimal electro-acoustic explorations in microscopic density and detail. The invaluable Tom Recchion is a Los Angeles Free Music Society founder whose recent work offers exquisitely sampled and orchestrated exotica via laptop. 681 Venice Blvd., Venice; 7:30 p.m. (310) 822-3006. (John Payne)

Funland at the Knitting Factory

While Jello Biafra has been busy further marginalizing himself through a series of asinine statements about his former bandmates, Dead Kennedys co-founders East Bay Ray and Klaus Fluoride have been quietly doing what they always have: exhibiting impeccable musicianship and exploring new avenues of creative expression. Ray, of course, possesses one of the most distinctive and intoxicating guitar styles in rock & roll history, and Klaus has his hands full trying to keep pace as bassist for the Legendary Stardust Cowboy (no easy task, that). While maintaining their much-assailed dignity in the face of Biafra's illimitable hysterics, they've also formed Funland, a new band that Ray guardedly describe as "a work in progress." They're fronted by ex-Wynona Riders vocalist Skip, with former Translator drummer Dave Scheff on the riser. The deliberate air of mystery ups the intrigue ante, but, truth to tell, anywhere that East Bay Ray breaks out that action-packed ax is the place to be. (Jonny Whiteside)

Also playing Thursday:

MISSY HIGGINS at El Rey Theatre; DIPLO, BLAQSTARR at Crash Mansion; SON DE LA FRONTERA at the Echoplex; WHAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS at Silverlake Lounge; RUN RUN RUN, THE VACATION at the Viper Room.