Rock Picks: Rupa & the April Fishes, Gnarls Barkley, Emmylou Harris

Gary War, The Super Vacations, Teeth Mountain at the Smell

Baltimore’s new SHDWPLY imprint touches down in Los Angeles with a triple-header of delectable weirdness. Top slot goes to Gary War, a one-man phantasmagoria of swooshing spectral pop. Somewhere over the Black Moth Super Rainbow, he spins gaseous cobwebs of eldritch bubblegum. While the hauntology’s ghost hunters in the U.K. look to library music and vintage soundtracks, he pinches from the “dense, ponderous soporific mass” of ’70s FM sound, to borrow Howard Hampton’s description. Like Ariel Pink, War drenches exaggerated melodies in a glutinous bath of effects, melting them to crumbs afloat in the balmy breeze. He also plays in the Super Vacations, whose slimmed-down, straight-cut jingle-jangle shimmies where his tunes waft. Teeth Mountain round out the bill with radiant, rumbling jams built from manifold drums clacking and cracking in communal contemplation. Cellos whine, live-wire guitars bristle and fuming smokestacks of shrapnel-flecked organ panic over the crazy rhythms palpitating from the group’s three drummers. (Bernardo Rondeau)

Earache Records

At the Gates dazzle with the wonders of backlighting.

Matt Barnes

Chromeo head back into the future.

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• Mr. T
• Hollywood Bowl
• Emmylou Harris
• Dizzee Rascal
• Hip-Hop and Rap

Also playing Saturday:

Matt Barnes

(Click to enlarge)

Chromeo head back into the future.

Mick Rock

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Alejandro Escovedo: Animal boy

DIANA ROSS at Hollywood Bowl; DORIAN WOOD, RUTHANN FRIEDMAN at Echo Curio; THE PROBE, PAT TODD, BACKITER, MOTORCYCLE BLACK MADONNAS, JON WAHL at Mr. T’s Bowl; HOWLIN’ RAIN at Spaceland; THE BLACK WIDOWS at Taix; URINALS, BIBLICAL PROOF OF UFOs, KIDS OF WIDNEY HIGH at Zen.

SUNDAY, JULY 27

At the Gates at Henry Fonda Theater

With their wonderful welfare state, photogenic compatriots and, well, ABBA, you’d think Swedes would be lounging in their saunas singing thankful folk or celebratory show tunes. Yet, despite (or perhaps in reaction to) its placid rep, Sweden has spawned angrily articulate metal muthas like In Flames, Meshuggah and At the Gates. ATG are rock without the roll: a dementedly regimented machine of pump-action twin-ax riffing, all-as-one rhythmic bonding, tempo-change ambushes and occasional glacial (geddit?) interludes. Oh, and front grunter Tomas Lindberg sounds like some veins-bulging neighbor yelling “Turn it down!” for the hundredth time during your loudest party ever. At the Gates pioneered the (relatively) melodic death metal Gothenburg sound and even enjoyed some incongruous MTV rotation in the mid-’90s before an appallingly timed split. By last fall, they’d seen sense and, having been cited as influences by other crunching acts for a decade, are rightfully cashing in some credibility chips. (Paul Rogers)

Gnarls Barkley, Deerhoof at the Hollywood Bowl

In a development that probably hasn’t surprised a soul, The Odd Couple — the recently released sophomore set by Cee-Lo Green and Danger Mouse’s art-pop duo, Gnarls Barkley — has so far failed to produce a hit on the order of “Crazy,” their all-format smash from 2006. But, as someone who gave the album a lukewarm review upon its release, I must admit: With its spooky R&B licks and narcoleptic go-go beats, The Odd Couple has a way of growing on you­ — a way that can’t be measured in the quick-draw currency of record sales or radio spins. Peep these freaks at the Bowl tonight, and you’ll likely get a more immediate demonstration of their still-potent vibe. Providing extra bang for your buck, San Francisco’s Deerhoof open the show. They’ve got a new one out in October called Offend Maggie that so far hasn’t convinced me to take back my assertion in these pages last year that they’re the most creative band in indie rock. (Mikael Wood)

Also playing Sunday:

BIG ELF, THE BINGES at Alex’s Bar; HOWLIN’ RAIN, MARK FOSSON at McCabe’s.

MONDAY, JULY 28

Playing Monday:

JAIL WEDDINGS, DEVON WILLIAMS, STARLITE DESPERATION at the Echo; THE DANBURY SHAKES at Mr. T’s Bowl; FINLAND STATION, DIE ROCKERS DIE at the Scene; HEALTH at the Smell; THE DUKE SPIRIT at Amoeba Music, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY, JULY 29

Emmylou Harris at Pacific Amphitheatre

Emmylou Harris? You might’ve heard of her. She was once Gram Parsons’ muse, collaborator, duet partner — there weren’t too many of those. A fair enough singer that Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton had to be in a trio with her. Such a sturdy songwriter and supple guitarist that her ghostly songs will still be ricocheting around these and many other lonesome hills long after we’re all gone. She’d say that she’s just been extremely lucky to get to play with folks like James Burton, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Gillian Welch, Neil Young, Rodney Crowell, Albert Lee, Chrissie Hynde, Willie Nelson and Ryan Adams — you might have detected a trend by now. Just last year, she released the lovingly assembled quadruple-CD (plus DVD) box set, Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems — a magnificent collection of crumbs that any other singer would kill for. But what has she done lately? Harris’ voice is typically graceful throughout All I Intended to Be (Nonesuch), her new album with longtime producer Brian Ahern. She’s achingly somber on such contemplative originals as “Gold” (frosted with Dolly Parton’s divine high harmonies) and “Broken Man’s Lament,” and she’s backed by a subtly bewitching blur of guitars, accordion and mandolin on an eerie cover of Merle Haggard’s “Kern River.” (Falling James)