Rock Picks: DJ Quik, Alejandro Escovedo, Ratatat

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

 
Why? at the Echoplex

It’s hard to imagine a better cross-section of this city’s young and restless than a Why? gig. They all turn out in droves: the lovelorn Romeos and diary Don Juans, the scenester kids in American Apparel monochromes, the hip-hop fans with bouncing hands, the vegan folksters, the slick rockers, the mixtape traders and the occasional goth too — and it’s no wonder. When the Oakland crew’s third LP, Alopecia, dropped this March to rave reviews, it was plenty clear that Why? are the sole owners of their sound, a kaleidoscopic fruit roll-up of Pavement shambolics, Dylanesque imagery, Lil Wayne-y warped rap and Arthur Russell experimentalism (and then some). But this ain’t no po-mo car crash. Experienced in person, the winsome Yoni Wolf and his multi-instrumentalist ’mates become modern art-pop masters — as likely to inspire a sing-along as an impromptu poem scribbled on a ticket stub. (Chris Martins)

 
Also playing Thursday:

THE BAD PLUS at the Catalina Bar & Grill; TOM BROSSEAU at the Smell.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5

 
Nada Surf, the Watson Twins at the Troubadour

New York’s jingly-jangly dream-pop stalwarts Nada Surf gleaned their massive cult following the old-fashioned way, by dint of hard work, a bit of good luck and, mainly, a reliably rocking catalogue of puckishly powerful pop songs. While their latest, Lucky (Barsuk), further refines the band’s polished blend of agitated emo yelping, memorably melodic choonage and seesawingly lite-heavy riffrawking, it does so in a way that typically sounds so indie-familiar that the band is in danger of ... well, being mistaken for another band. But it’d be churlish to deny that when they’re spot-on, they do seem to synthesize history’s most potent rock schemes in one big convenient blast. Openers the Watson Twins, Chandra and Leigh, are two beautiful, tall sisters from Louisville, Kentucky, who twine their neo-trad-folk-countryish harmonies in a most darkly evergreen and elegant way; their debut full length, just out, is called Fire Songs, on the esteemed Vanguard label. (Nada Surf also plays Sat. at the Troub, with Inara George.) (John Payne)

 
The Bad Plus at the Catalina Bar & Grill

Wisconsin trio the Bad Plus understand a thing or two about making jazz in the 21st century, at least the kind that people dig outside of the insular world of Marsalis-ists and traditionalists. To wit: if you want to draw in a new audience, it’s important to redefine what constitutes a “standard.” Yes, “I Loves You, Porgy” and “My Funny Valentine” still matter, but who among the under-50 crowd gets excited when a group interprets them? Over the course of their decade-long career, the Bad Plus have covered everyone from the Aphex Twin (an astounding version of “Flim”) to the Police’s “Every Breath You Take” to Nirvana (“Smells Like Teen Spirit”) to Blondie (“Heart of Glass”). On last year’s Prog, they interpret — get this — Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears. And it’d be one thing if it reeked of novelty, but the threesome are so adept with their instruments (piano, bass, drums) that within a few notes they’ve made the songs their own. Even smarter, the covers serve as a sort of Trojan horse to introduce their own compositions, which, like the incredible “Giant,” ring with an innate familiarity that causes you to wonder whether these, too, are standards. If they’re not now, they soon will be. Also Sat. (Randall Roberts)

 
Also playing Friday:

Jeremy Jay at Pehrspace; Estelle at the Key Club; Kenna at the Viper Room; Kav at Spaceland.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6

 
Ellen Allien, Modeselektor, Matthew Dear at Avalon Hollywood

Attention, ethnomusicologists looking for a thesis to chew on. Someone please figure out why two cities in very different corners of the world have so strongly bonded over the love of rigid but beautiful electronic music, becoming aesthetic neighbors and carrying along a 20-year, across-the-ocean techno conversation. Detroit had the idea first, sure, but in recent times Berlin has expanded on the notion of lockstep four-on-the-floor stomp, the kind with floral, rococo melody lines woven through. The trio gigging at Avalon provide ample evidence: one Detroiter (Matthew Dear) and two Berliners (Ellen Allien and Modeselektor) offer widely varying notions of 21st-century electronic dance music. Dear, who records deep, chaotic instrumental tracks as Audion, in recent years has been singing on his tracks, trying to merge the thump with pop structure (to varying degrees of success). Allien, the founder of the fantastic label BPitch Control, creates epic, heavy tracks with noisy melodies and, usually, massive, transformative hooks. Modeselektor are weirder and prefer a more synthetic, electro-induced sound that is ultra surprising when sandwiched in sets between more minimal tracks. (Randall Roberts)

 
The Menage a Trois Tour, featuring French Cowboy, Papier Tigre, the Solace Bros. at the Scene