Rock Picks: Coachella, Lynda Carter, Hot Chip

Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival at Empire Polo Field

In last week’s cover story, L.A. Weekly music editor Randall Roberts methodically broke down the data about the legion of performers at this weekend’s Coachella traffic jam, definitively quantifying them on the basis of gender, ethnicity, productivity and geographic origin. Statistics don’t lie, but I’m a terrible mathematician, so here, then, is a messily subjective list of potential highlights away from the numbers. The Raconteurs’ new album, Consolers of the Lonely, is more full-bodied (i.e., there’s bass) than Jack White’s minimalist garage-rock scrapings with the White Stripes. British duo Goldfrapp have moved away from the souped-up John Lee Hooker electronica of their throbbing 2005 hit “Ooh La La” into an airier, more pastoral folk-pop sound on their new CD, Seventh Tree. Local glam-punk-pop heroes Redd Kross will kick out the jams and perhaps fill some of the shock-rock void caused by Turbonegro’s cancellation. Kraftwerk won’t sound dated since the Western world is still catching up to their soothingly hypnotic futurama. Mick Jones’ Carbon/Silicon should carry on convincingly where his old band the Clash left off, while Gogol Bordello’s frantic, frenetic Gypsy punk might cause a riot. The Love & Rockets reunion could be exciting, if only to hear Daniel Ash carve up that majestically transcendent solo on “Kundalini Express” again. All aboard. Also Sat.-Sun. (Falling James)

Mat Dunlap

From on high: Kate Maki

Bevis Martin and Charlie Youle

Hot Chip wait for Andrew Bynum.

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More About

• Mr. T
• Kate Maki
• Howe Gelb
• Choking Susan
• Rose Rossi

Also playing Friday:

Bevis Martin and Charlie Youle

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Hot Chip wait for Andrew Bynum.

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Mojo rising: Etran Finatawa

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The days of wine & roses: Scotland Barr & the Slow Drags

NEKROMANTIX at L.A. Convention Center; ROBBIE RIST, THE UNKNOWN COMIC at the Cat Club; VICTOR WOOTEN, MIKE PETERS at Crash Mansion; 2MEX, HUMANBEINGS at the Echo; THE GEARS, CONTROLLERS, THE CROWD, THE DEADBEATS at the Scene; THE THINGZ, THE FLEAGLES at Fern’s Cocktails; LYNDA CARTER at Fred Kavli Theatre.

SATURDAY, APRIL 26

Rose Rossi at the Whisky

Does the world really need another precocious, pretty and self-absorbed pop singer? Not really, but, then again, when it comes to the young Los Angeles native Rose Rossi, what’s the harm? She’s still straddling the line between making cloying mainstream pop and evolving into a more distinctively personal songwriter on her new debut CD, Hello to You, but she’s a talented singer with a ton of commercial potential. Rossi should evolve eventually beyond the facile settings of such songs as “Fade” and occasionally awkward, overreaching lyrics like “Beheaded by the pause, loving all that’s lost.” She’s already approaching the pop savvy of her inspiration Gwen Stefani on tracks like “My World” and “The Fool,” and the musical backings laid down by her Svengali producer Cliff Brodsky are well crafted, although one wonders if it’s a potential conflict of interest that he serves not just as her pianist and co-songwriter but also as her publisher and label head. His swirling keyboards drive the album’s catchiest song, “There Is a Girl,” where Rossi wakes up sadder but wiser after yet another romantic heartbreak. (Falling James)

Sly & the Family Stone at House of Blues

“Ever catch a falling star?” Sly Stone once wrote. “Ain’t no stopping ’til it’s in the ground.” After his magnificent coed multiracial psychedelic funk-pop band the Family Stone broke up in the ’70s, Sly Stone kept falling into a black hole of drug addiction and seclusion, despite various aborted reunion attempts over the past three decades. Word is that he’s finally ready to perform again, following his frustratingly brief and somewhat bizarre cameo at the Grammy Awards in 2006. Tonight — should he actually show up —Sly will be backed by several members of the original band, including his sister Rose Stone, sassy trumpeter Cynthia Robinson and trumpeter Jerry Martini. Longtime fans might be frustrated by Sly’s past no-shows, but the possibility that he’ll actually rummage through those classic songs again (and perhaps even debut some of his reportedly hip-hop-flavored new tunes) makes this high-stakes gamble very, very tempting. Also at House of Blues Anaheim, Fri. (Falling James)

 Also playing Saturday:

THE SPINNERS at Marsee Auditorium; J. ROCC, JAMES GADSON, THE BREAKESTRA at the Echoplex; THE LAST, OLD HAUNTS, MIKE WATT & THE MISSINGMEN at La Conga Mexican Cantina; PETER CASE at McCabe’s; BACKBITER, THE URINALS, BIBLICAL PROOF OF UFOs at Mr. T’s Bowl; MARY COPPIN & HELEN SLATER at Room 5 Lounge; SCREAMS FOR TINA, EX VOTO, DEEP EYNDEat Safari Sam’s.

SUNDAY, APRIL 27

Howe Gelb, Kate Maki at McCabe’s

We’re going to have fun sorting out Howe Gelb’s abundant output over the next 25 years, because lord knows we can’t really keep pace now. Like fellow expertly prolific creatives Sun Ra, Duke Ellington, Woody Guthrie, Dr. John and Jandek, Gelb is a working musician and treats his job, and his gift, seriously: 38 records (solo, with his band Giant Sand, or oddball side projects) over 23 years. There will be dissertations. And the Arizonian (who has also lived in Hollywood and the Mojave Desert) keeps delivering, releasing slightly askew avant Southwestern country & Western rock drawn from the deep well of America. His production work is equally inspired, the best of which is his recent collaboration with Kate Maki, a Canadian neuroscientist-turned-teacher-turned-songwriter whose great third album, On High, overflows with guitars, pianos, optigons, Wurlitzer organs, whistles, guitars and thrills. Her voice is warm and conversational, her songs contain structure but with secret spaces for wandering, and most arrive in lyrical and melodic destinations a few blocks away from where they started. (Randall Roberts)