Rock Picks: Cat Power, Mountain Goats, Chapin Sisters

Donita Sparks & the Stellar Moments at Safari Sam's

Rock & roll is much too predictable and sanitized these days. Even punk rock has been taken over by dopey-cutesy, smiley-faced Jugheads who have nothing new or shocking to say, so it's a big relief that Donita Sparks is back on the scene to dirty things up. The former L7 singer-guitarist wrote many of that band's memorable songs, including the grunge-era anthem "Pretend We're Dead." Now she's back with a new group, the Stellar Moments, and a new album, Transmiticate. She chops up skuzzy riffs on the foreboding "Infancy of a Disaster," warping her vocals through spacy sound effects. She's joined by L7 drummer Dee Plakas throughout, and Gram Rabbit chanteuse Jesika von Rabbit chimes in with robotic vocals on the psychedelic fuzz-fest "Fly Feather Fly." Sparks punks out on the Ramones-y "Need to Numb" and rocks hard and heavy on the midtempo glam love song "He's Got the Honey," but she reveals a newfound pop side on the jangly ballad "My Skin's Too Thin." She's not exactly mellowing out, though, rhyming "If I didn't have so much class" with "what you could shove up your ass." (Falling James)

Wild Don Lewis

400 Blows, 400 decibels

Theo Allen

The Chapin Sisters: From the bottom of their hearts

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More About

• John Payne
• Karin Tatoyan
• Cat Power
• Phill Niblock
• Henry Fonda

Also playing Friday:

Theo Allen

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The Chapin Sisters: From the bottom of their hearts

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Thee Emergency always hate it when Scotty beams them down into a body of water.

Eden Batki

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Magnificent fiends Howlin’ Rain

MSTRKRFT, Z-TRIP at Henry Fonda Theater (see Dance Clubs pick); GREEN JELLO at C.I.A.; SLUM VILLAGE at Crash Mansion; DEVILDRIVER, NAPALM DEATH at House of Blues; DEAD PREZ at the Key Club; PONCHO SANCHEZ, LEON MOBLEY at the Mint; VERY BE CAREFUL, UMOVERDE at Temple Bar.

SATURDAY, MARCH 1 

Robert Rich, Lake of Sleep, Laura Escude, Kathie Talbot at the Goethe-Institut

There aren't a lot of venues for experimental electronic music and visuals in Los Angeles, and now we have the threatened closing of the venerable Beyond Baroque in Venice (because City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo wants to make leasing on the property where it resides competitively priced — hey, thanks, Rocky). The Goethe-Institut steps in admirably to fill the gap with its Partikel Series, the second installment of which features ambient/minimalist texturalists Lake of Sleep, bringing the swirling drone. Laura Escude is a violinist and sound designer who has performed regularly with L.A.-based electronica collective Fateless Flows; she'll be joined by flutist-vocalist Kathie Talbot. And there will be a rare appearance by veteran dark-trance/ambient pioneer Robert Rich, who'll perform a solo concert of instrumental electronics, incorporating flutes and lap-steel guitar. Visuals by Optical Light Pipe and Momo the Monster. 5750 Wilshire Blvd., No. 100, in the Institut's theater space; admission is $15 and parking is stone free! (John Payne)

Grizzly Bear, The Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall

This is when things start getting interesting. It's not just that we have two of the very finest exponents of modern music on the same bill, it's how each denotes presumably polarized artistic realms, that of Brooklyn-based "indie-rock" band Grizzly Bear and the classical mastery of the L.A. Philharmonic. The Phil will commence the proceedings with a set of orchestral pieces that have inspired Grizzly Bear's members in their own musical pursuits, and the Grizzlies will follow with a set of their roughly hewn folkie psychedelia, drawn largely from the wonderful 2007 Yellow House disc and the recent Friend EP. So, the audience may compare and contrast the relationships amid these musical spheres, and immerse in the imagery suggested by that fertile space in between. (You will not be tested on this.) Such a resourceful approach to programming, which has seen the L.A. Phil in collaboration with rock and pop artists in the summer series of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, is so valuable — educational, even — and very enjoyable. Starts at 9 p.m. (John Payne)

Also playing Saturday:

GRIZZLY BEAR, L.A. PHILHARMONIC at Disney Hall (see Music feature); THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES at Avalon; THE LOONS at the Bordello; KRIS DELMHORST, WINTERPILLS at the Hotel Café; PIGEON JOHN at Malibu Inn; KIND HEARTS & CORONETS, BEDROOM WALLS at Mr. T's Bowl; IMAAD WASIF & 2 PART BEAST at Pehrspace; HOLY FUCK, A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS at Spaceland; ACEYALONE at Temple Bar; VON IVA at El Cid.

SUNDAY, MARCH 2  

The Movies, 400 Blows, Oliver Future at Spaceland

Has it already been 13 years since Spaceland opened, giving the Silver Lake music scene a national profile? So many things have changed since then: Even as official validation belatedly arrived when the "Silver Lake Rocks!" banners sprouted from lampposts a few years ago, gentrification and high rents had already driven out many of the musicians who'd started the local scene in the late '80s with backyard parties and impromptu gigs in tiny art galleries. Promoters Nancy Whalen and Mitchell Frank capitalized on the growing musical community — whose disparate bands shared a distaste for the prevailing sexism, muddle-headed metal and grunge derivations of the era — by hosting such musicians as Popdefect, W.A.C.O. and Beck at their Pan nights in the formerly sleepy bar Dreams. After Frank took control in the mid-'90s, Pan was renamed Spaceland and presented touring indie-rock bands. Tonight many of the club's longtime denizens gather, including the Movies, who have a Smiths-style pop-rock formality; similarly British-influenced post-punks the Blood Arm; the contrastingly savage and arty hardcore metal-punk pummelers 400 Blows; circusy indie-rockers Oliver Future; psychedelic-pop revivalists the Tyde and many others. (Falling James)