Rock Picks: Stagecoach, Alicia Keys, Vetiver

 The Ugly Beats at the Bordello

The self-deprecatingly named Ugly Beats are on the garage-rock label Get Hip Recordings, and their music is heavily inspired by pre-psychedelic ’60s rock & roll, but they’re not your typical retro band. The Austin quintet trots out the obligatory jangly guitar and circusy keyboards on original tunes like “(I Don’t Wanna Be the One to) Bring Her Down” and “Light Comes On” and requisite covers of such obscure nuggets as the Remains’ “Let Me Through” on their 2007 CD, Take a Stand, but the Beats have a brooding tunefulness that stands apart from generic caveman howlers. A hazy-dreamy acoustic-guitar ballad like “Get in Line” sounds closer to the melodies of the Beau Brummels and the Beatles than it does to, say, the Seeds or the Music Machine. Singer-guitarist Joe Emery ruefully croons the moody-blue pop songs “Last Stop” and “Ain’t That Old” draped in sheets of Jeanine Attaway’s artfully groovy ballpark organ before rocking it up persuasively on “You’re the One,” a rare Nikki & the Corvettes cover sung from a male perspective. Ugly is the new beautiful. (Falling James)

Bostich + Fussible: Tijuana still makes them happy.

Forever changing: The Ugly Beats.

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Peter Morén, Tobias Froberg at the Troubadour

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Forever changing: The Ugly Beats.

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Two Sheds, four eyes

Dan Monick

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Lemony snickers: Atmosphere

Swedish soulmates Peter Morén (of Peter, Bjorn and John) and Tobias Froberg have been helping each other out recently, what with Froberg producing singer-composer Morén’s upcoming solo debut, The Last Tycoon, and Morén guesting on multi-instrumentalist Froberg’s excellent third album, Turn Heads. Both Peter and Tobias favor a seemingly simple folk rock liberally sprinkled with a sparkling, yearning air, such as Froberg’s ace new single, “Slipping Under the Radar.” What they’ll bring onstage tonight will likely entail more of the genially melancholic melodic folk that they’ve pulled off in a recent collaborative single, “Just Behind a Brick Wall.” These two guys are remarkably sympathetic musicians, each particularly gifted in the melodic stakes, boasting tons of clever ideas about building a sweet modernity into the perfect new pop. (John Payne)

 Also playing Saturday:

AGENT ORANGE, UNKNOWN HINSON at Mission Tiki Drive-In Theatre, Montclair, noon; JAKE SHIMABUKURO at Marsee Auditorium; GUILTY HEARTS at the Airliner; PONCHO SANCHEZ at Harvelle’s (Redondo Beach); MANIC HISPANIC, THE JOHNS at Knitting Factory; JOHN DOE at McCabe’s; SQUIDDO at Mr. T’s Bowl; DIRTY SANCHEZ at Safari Sam’s; THE WARLOCKS, DAVID SCOTT STONE at the Smell.

SUNDAY, MAY 4 

Two Sheds at Spaceland

The name Two Sheds reminds me of the Monty Python sketch about the fictional composer Arthur “Two Sheds” Jackson (who, it turns out, owned only one shed). The Sacramento band Two Sheds are no joke, however. Guitarist Caitlin Shed sings with a languidly moody delivery that’s somewhere between Jesse Sykes and Cat Power, while drummer Rusty Miller and bassist John Gutenberger kick out a subdued backing that’s quietly engrossing. “I move through a different sort of space,” Caitlin discloses on “You,” from Two Shed’s self-titled CD EP, which comes out on iTunes this week. “A day takes years for me to trace, while age redecorates my face.” Each slowly, achingly delivered word is framed with Caitlin’s sparkling guitar plucking and some eerie spectral keyboard chimes. A weeping violin consoles her on the waltzing reverie “Perfect,” and the acoustic version of their previously hard-rocking “Undertow” effectively reduces the song to its bare-bones melody. The EP’s one rocker — “WTF?” — chugs along with a surging guitar while Caitlin sings “What the fuck?” with a sweetly charming directness. (Falling James)

 Also playing Sunday:

DURAN DURAN at Nokia Theatre; MARTHA DAVIS & THE MOTELS at Crash Mansion; PO’ GIRL at Hotel Café; LYRICS BORN, CASXIO at the Key Club; VIERNES 13, UNION 13 at the Knitting Factory; GIRLYMAN at McCabe’s.

MONDAY, MAY 5

 Alicia Keys, Ne-Yo, Jordin Sparks at Staples Center

The spring’s biggest R&B tour has gotten off to a rocky start, with American Idol champ Jordin Sparks sitting out the first run of dates thanks to a vocal hemorrhage and Alicia Keys canceling two shows last week as a result of swollen vocal cords. That said, these kids are total pros: Provided the tour rights itself by the time it reaches Southern California, you probably won’t even detect the trouble they’ve seen. Keys is out in support of last year’s triple-platinum As I Am, one of the record industry’s few full-on success stories at the moment; heard as a whole, the CD can drag a bit, but tonight its hits (including the deathless “No One”) will no doubt delight. Ne-Yo’s promising a change in direction on his upcoming Year of the Gentleman, a claim backed up by the house-tastic lead single, “Closer.” Sparks’ record is a hell of a lot better than Taylor Hicks’. Also at the Honda Center, Sun. (Mikael Wood)