Rock Picks: Pacha Massive, Calexico, Juliana Hatfield
Also, We the People Festival, Temple Bar farewell, Mad Juana and more
Also playing Thursday:
THE RACONTEURS, THE KILLS at Santa Barbara Bowl; THE HIVES, EAGLES OF DEATH METAL, THE WILLOWZ at the Mayan; RICKIE LEE JONES at Cerritos Center; ATMOSPHERE, ABSTRACT RUDE at the Wiltern; JUNO REACTOR at El Rey Theatre; KID ROCK at Gibson Amphitheatre; POP LEVI at Amoeba Music, 7 p.m.; AUTOMATIC MUSIC EXPLOSION at Crane’s; CARLOS GUITARLOS at Eastside Luv; WATKINS FAMILY HOUR, HONEYHONEY at Largo; JON WAHL at Taix; LION OF PANJSHIR, MIA DOI TODD at Tangier.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
Laibach at the Key Club
A state of time, a statement of art, an actual passport-issuing nation-state without boundaries and, most pertinently, a rigorous test of the relationship between Everyman’s totalitarian-worshipping impulse and the universal need to impose will on the receding-chinned weak of the world — Slovenia’s legendary Laibach make a very, very rare manifestation in Los Angeles. Perhaps you don’t need to be told how, in the words of their chief theoretician, “Our public appearance has a purifying, exorcistic and regenerative effect. With a ritualized demonstration of political force, and with other manipulative approaches, Laibach practices collective libido in the form of a systematic psycho-physical terror as a therapy and principle of social organization.” You will fetishize their fodder-stomping four-to-the-floor, airy Alpine horns and vainglorious Valhalla choirs, and feel the triumph of a will — though whose will, exactly, shall and should remain arcane. In essence, you will think about what’s happening, and perhaps why, and how Laibach again and again exploit an enormous, frightening aural power to address the ultimate negation of power . . . ours, and theirs. They will demonstrate, in part, with their cover versions of the national anthems of many countries, as heard to thrillingly evil effect on their latest Mute release, Volk. “Pop music is for sheep, and we are shepherds disguised as wolves.” (John Payne)
Silver Jews at the Echoplex
Silver Jews’ David Berman is one of the most compelling and engaging lyricists in music today, a stylist with dry wit and a drier voice whose output over the past two decades has been consistently inspiring. His turns of phrases are the stuff of legend: “If cars could run on teardrops, I’d be long, long gone,” for example, or “In twenty-seven years/I’ve drunk fifty-thousand beers/And they just wash against me/Like the sea into a pier.” Berman’s music sturdily carries these thoughts along, and the combination is simultaneously toe-tappable and rocking. On his newest album, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea (Drag City), Berman and his Jews weave the sound of Nashville (his home) through those words. Be forewarned: If you’re not a fan of 1970s-style country music sung by a man with a voice flatter than Johnny Cash’s, you will probably hate this music. But that’s silly talk. These musicians aren’t Sarah Palin rednecks; they’re outlaws harnessing language to create rhythm and soul. (Randall Roberts)
Pacha Massive, Federico Aubele at the Ford Amphitheatre
Mother Earth is pregnant for the fourth time, “for y’all have knocked her up again,” but this time it’s a good thing: We’re not talking about George Clinton’s social and environmental warnings; we’re talking about the Bronx collective Pacha Massive (“Pachamama” means Mother Earth), whose Nacional release Don’t Let Go has blown up globally but has found its most enthusiastic audience among Angelenos. Perhaps it’s because bassist-vocalist Maya and producer-guitarist DJ Nova’s proper fusion of everything Latin, everything electronic and everything groovy isn’t some bogus concoction of (fill-in here) electronica; their reggae has roots, their dub gets wicked, and their house shakes all night long. Argentine guitar magician Federico Aubele was last in Los Angeles when he played with Thievery Corporation at the Hollywood Bowl. While Pacha will dance right up to you singing the J.B.’s “I’ll House You,” Aubele is equally eclectic but more romantic in his approach. The evening is a true serving of Pan-Ameradelica, and the proceeds will go to the Ford Theatre Foundation’s Community Bridges Program. www.fordamphitheater.org. (Daniel Siwek)
Also playing Friday:
ALICIA KEYS at Santa Barbara Bowl; ROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BAND at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater; FILTHY THIEVING BASTARDS, LOS MYSTERIOSOS, OLLIN at Alex’s Bar; AMPS FOR CHRIST at Echo Curio; CARMEN CONSOLI at Hotel Café; COUNTRY JOE McDONALD at McCabe’s; WOOLLY BANDITS at Redwood Bar & Grill; DANNY B. HARVEY at Taix.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
Juliana Hatfield at Largo at the Coronet
Juliana Hatfield has come a long way since her days in the Blake Babies. The Boston band’s 1989 version of the Stooges’ “Loose” may not have been all that shocking to jaded punk rockers used to such gender role reversals, but meek indie-rock fans were stunned (and charmed) by the sweetly innocent way Hatfield sang, “I’ll stick it deep inside.” She’s since gone on to a creatively rewarding solo career (despite various predictable pitfalls in the mainstream music industry), taken musical side trips with Some Girls and Frank Smith, and collaborated with Giant Sand, Mary Lou Lord and her longtime pal Evan Dando’s Lemonheads. (She’s even written a memoir, When I Grow Up, which was published earlier this week.) There’s nothing remotely punk about Hatfield’s new CD, How to Walk Away, but it’s a pure-pop pleasure with such winsome tunes as “Remember November” and “This Lonely Love,” where her serenely melodic singing brushes against the low burr of the Psychedelic Furs’ Richard Butler. She coolly puts a drunken lover in his place on “Just Lust” (not the Buzzcocks song) and ruminates vulnerably on the pitfalls of romantic intimacy over the bubbling keyboard tones of “My Baby.” (Falling James)
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