Rock Picks: Rooney, Lili Haydn, Dizzee Rascal

THURSDAY, JULY 17

Courtesy Geffen Records

Courtesy Geffen Records

Rooney: We are the world.

Lili Haydn fiddles about.

Related Content

• The Best Concerts in L.A. This Week
  February 25, 2013
• The Best Concerts to See In L.A. This Week
  April 1, 2013
• Music Picks: Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge, and Anthrax
  March 21, 2013
• Music Picks: The Weeknd, That '70s Soul, Power of the Riff
  December 13, 2012
• The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend
  December 14, 2012

More About

• Dizzee Rascal
• Rooney (Musical Group)
• Lili Haydn
• Peter Walker
• The Duke Spirit

(Click to enlarge)

Rooney: We are the world.

(Click to enlarge)

Lili Haydn fiddles about.

(Click to enlarge)

The Duke Spirit shakes a tail feather.

 The Duke Spirit at the Hammer Museum

“No one wastes time quite like I do,” Liela Moss sings charmingly somber over Toby Butler’s lulling bass in a quiet interlude before the incoming fuzz storm of “Wooden Heart,” from the Duke Spirit’s recent album, Neptune. She’s a mesmerizing time waster, maintaining a cool Mariska Veres/Grace Slick serenity even when she’s banging sinuously against her tambourine, blowing occasional harmonica and stalking around the stage like a natural-born rock star. Guitarists Luke Ford and Daniel Higgins come up with some interesting sonic swells without noodling or resorting to typical solos, while Butler and drummer Olly Betts are strong and non-flashy, keeping everything moving with a compulsively throbbing drive on such midtempo rockers as “The Step and the Walk” and a lighter touch on more spectral pop tunes like “My Sunken Treasure.” There’s something unique and organic about this British band even as there’s something instantly classic and familiar about them. There’s something momentous about them as well — one gets the feeling they’ll be playing much bigger places very soon. 10899 Wilshire Blvd. (Falling James)

Also playing Thursday:

GIRL IN A COMA at Alex’s Bar; RAUL MALO at the Canyon; BODIES OF WATER, HENRY CLAY PEOPLE at the Echo; WATKINS FAMILY HOUR at Largo at the Coronet; BUSHWALLA, ZACH BROOCKE at the Mint; MISS DERRINGER at Safari Sam’s; JASON FALKNER at Spaceland; HARRY & THE POTTERS at the Troubadour.

FRIDAY, JULY 18

Rooney at House of Blues

When Rooney’s self-titled debut appeared five years back, this young, well-connected (singer Robert Carmine is the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola) and well-groomed (drummer Ned Brower is a former Gap model) L.A. quintet looked like a label-created, garage-rock boy band: a kind of Cobrasnake take on the guitar-driven “The” outfits then swaggering in from the East Coast and England. They’ve proved to be almost the opposite: a hard-touring group of musical mates who cared enough to scrap their crucial second album twice (it eventually appeared last year as Calling the World) while earnestly pursuing harmony-hooked Cali pop. The silver-spoon circumstances that hurt Rooney’s cred help their music, their dearth of desperation allowing them to patiently hew their Blur-y Beach Boys/Beatles/new wave brew into a focused guilty pleasure. While their “people” may be clueless — tour-pairing them with the likes of the Jonas Brothers, Kelly Clarkson and Fergie — Carmine & company know exactly what they’re doing. (Paul Rogers)

Wolf Parade at the Henry Fonda Theater

This Montreal-based indie-rock quartet just released its sophomore set, At Mount Zoomer, three years after Wolf Parade first caused an underground commotion with Apologies to the Queen Mary, its appealingly ramshackle debut. Three years is a fairly long wait by blog-scene standards, but you can understand the delay when you take into account the fact that these guys have spent that time playing in a panoply of well-regarded side projects, including Swan Lake, Sunset Rubdown, Handsome Furs and Frog Eyes. Perhaps because the members’ attentions were divided during the run-up to its creation, Zoomer isn’t quite as bracing — or as tuneful — as Queen Mary (whose title is a nod to some damage Wolf Parade caused aboard the ocean liner during the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Long Beach a few years ago). But this is still one of indie’s most electrifying live acts; expect Zoomer’s boring bits to accrue some kick tonight. Also Sat. (Mikael Wood)

Powder at the Key Club

With onstage high jinks that include synchronized dance moves with blow-up dolls and impressively athletic aerialist feats, Powder are a fun group of goofy cutups who don’t claim to be making any profound musical statements. But it would be unwise to underestimate this popular local band or become distracted too much by the theatrics of singer Ninette Terhart and her high-flying dancers, because they put a lot of hard work and professionalism into their lively three-ring-circus spectacles. Powder’s humbly titled new CD, Nothing (which comes with an entertaining behind-the-scenes DVD), reveals the band’s commercial potential, thanks in part to the tastefully crazed embellishments of guitarist Phil X. Like a naughty Barbie doll come to life, Terhart coos energetic anthems that range from punky hard rockers like “Watch Me Fly” to such gauzy new-wave tunes as “Underneath Me” and the aptly titled “Funny Girl.” She’s a persuasive pop thrush on “Wonderful World,” which is colored by Phil X’s swirling, Hendrixy guitar, and the soulful ballad “I Don’t Believe in Your Smile,” which surprises with laid-back acoustic guitars and a stately string section. (Falling James)