Rock Picks: Tegan & Sara, Patti Smith, Stereolab

 
Also playing Friday:

JON BRION at Largo at the Coronet; LEO NOCENTELLI at the Mint; EXIT MUSIC, THE BLACK PINE, VOICES VOICES at Pehrspace; KEVIN K, THE BLACK WIDOWS at Redwood Bar & Grill; SUPERSUCKERS at the Roxy; HEROINE SHEIKS, QUI at Spaceland; YAEL NAIM at the Troubadour; FIREBALL MINISTRY, THE KNIVES at the Viper Room; LAIKA & THE COSMONAUTS at the Purple Orchid, El Segundo; VERY BE CAREFUL at El Cid; POPRAVINAS, NEIGHHBORHOOD BULLIES at O’Brien’s Pub; LADYKILLERS, PRIMA DONNA at VU Ultra Bar, Newhall; THE BLOOD ARM at Silver Factory Studios.

Polysics: We are Devo.

Sascha Knopf

Amy Kuney listens through imaginary headphones.

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18    

 
Patti Smith at the Orpheum Theatre

With Patti Smith, it all began with the word. Her early-’70s poetry and rock criticism were infused with so much spirit and palpable fire, it wasn’t difficult for her musical partner Lenny Kaye to tap into the inherent melodies and rhythms pulsing in her stanzas and invent something that would later be called punk rock. Smith took a break from her own wordplay with her 2007 all-covers CD, Twelve, where she reinterpreted songs by Hendrix, Rolling Stones, the Doors and (yikes) Tears for Fears to wildly varying effect. She returned to poetry with a vengeance on her recent double live CD, The Coral Sea, a collaboration with My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields that’s based on her 1996 book of the same title, a suite of poems dealing with the loss of her old pal Robert Mapplethorpe. “The arm of the sea curves and cradles, subduing all passion, and is a comfort and a lure,” she declaims during the prologue. Shields stirs up some chillingly beautiful sounds with his volume-knob manipulations — making guitars sound like shimmering violins, and shimmering keyboards sound like outer space — while Smith intones her abstract imagery with perhaps a bit too much funereal seriousness. She’s the subject of a new documentary, Patti Smith: Dream of Life, but let’s hope that the inevitable creep of nostalgia won’t stop the free flow of her musical words. (Falling James)

 
Polysics at the Roxy

I know what you may be thinking: “Can someone please wake me up when the ’90s revival finally kicks in? Will the ’80s ever end? I love Ghostbusters and Weird Science as much as anybody, but this is ridiculous!” And you’re totally right, but if there’s room for just one more jump-suit-, asymmetrical-haircut- and Polymoog-sporting band in your fanny pack, then I would nominate Japan’s Polysics, whose founder Hiroyuki Hayashi (vocals, programming and guitar) was so mad for Devo that he started this awesome foursome. But this isn’t just karaoke; they’re six albums deep, and their MySpace Records release, We Ate the Machine, takes our herky-jerky Americana and introduces it to Black Rain and Dance Dance Revolution on a taurine drip. With a Sigue Sigue Sputnik–like predilection for mixing techno-logy and punk, they’re a post–Daft Punk band (dance-rock Vocodors) who can sound like ZZ Top’s Eliminator and Loudness at the same time. Just listen to “Moog Is Love” (www.myspace.com/polysicsna) for proof. (Daniel Siwek)

 
The Quarrymen, Laurence Juber at the Writers Boot Camp Auditorium

In July, 1957, a band called the Quarrymen played a church social in Liverpool. Led by 16-year-old John Lennon, they played skiffle — raucous folk songs then popular in Britain — as well as rock & roll. In the crowd was another budding guitarist named McCartney. John met Paul that day, and you know the rest. No single musical act has inspired more kids to pick up guitars than the Fabs. Young people were also encouraged to study music in U.S. schools until Republican budget cutters deemed this wasteful. In an effort to ensure that no child is truly left behind, the nonprofit Guitars in the Classroom prepares teachers to instruct young ’uns in 25 states. Three of the original Quarrymen, singer-guitarists Len Garry and Rod Davis and drummer Colin Hanton, joined by guest bassist J B Fonfrias, perform tonight to benefit this magnificent program. Laurence Juber, former Wings guitarist and fingerstyle champ, opens, and Chris Carter (Breakfast With the Beatles) hosts. Bergamot Station Arts Center, 2519 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica; 7:30 p.m. (310) 998-1199. Tickets are available at Westwood Music and www.guitarsintheclassroom.org. (Michael Simmons)

 
Also playing Saturday:

TEGAN & SARA, GIRL IN A COMA at Henry Fonda Theater; LAIKA & THE COSMONAUTS, BIG SANDY at the Bordello; RANDOM PATTERNS, BBVV at Echo Curio; THE MUSLIMS, AM at Pehrspace; BRIAN LONBECK, THE DAVE & DEKE COMBO at Safari Sam’s; JAIL WEDDINGS, WOUNDED LION at the Smell; KINGSIZEMAYBE, PAT TODD & THE RANKOUTSIDERS at Taix; BABYSTONE at Cafe Z, Skirball Center; noon; FATSO JETSON, JOE BAIZA at American Legion Post 206, Highland Park.

 
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19     

 
Amy Kuney at the Hard Rock Café

It’s hard not to like the young singer-songwriter Amy Kuney. She doesn’t put on a lot of airs or stomp around the stage with a diva’s self-importance. Instead, she sings her straightforward pop songs with a lot of charm and a minimum of coffeehouse narcissism. “We take pleasure in the simple things,” she announces at the outset of her new CD, Bird’s Eye View. “It’s a beautiful morning, dressed up in summer and tied with a bow.” And yet her love of simplicity doesn’t make her a simpleton. Even within the album’s mainstream style, Kuney flashes more wit and intelligence than most pop starlets of her generation. “There’s life beyond the razor wire that you’ve strung around your mind,” as she softly reminds her lover. She finds herself swimming dreamily through the air, looking fancifully for that imaginary nexus where city rooftops end and true love begins on “Angel Tangled in the Telephone Lines,” which is made more elegant by its weaving violins and honeyed piano accents. She’s simultaneously sad and funny on “Love Is Trippy” when complaining about a treacherous (and creatively bankrupt) former lover: “All the love songs you wrote for me/Stuck her name where mine used to be/But my name in them fit the rhythm better.” Just back from a tour of Iceland with Damien Rice, she performs a noontime set as part of the Pinktober campaign against breast cancer. 1000 Universal Studios Blvd., No. 99, Universal City. (Falling James)