Rock Picks: The Little Ones, Eagle and Talon, Elliott Murphy

Zomby at the Echoplex

The latest anonym to surface from England’s rich and murky electronic periphery, Zomby forgoes dread for DayGlo wonder on his debut album and, like his namesake, feeds on the animate to sustain the living dead. Where Were U in 92? is a shock of phosphorescent early techno cheez from a member of its seemingly opposite scene (dubstep), where sullen tones and sluggish rhythms dominate. Drippy piano stabs gurgle around the impossibly propulsive clutter of overstuffed beats (skitter-atop-stutter-amid-throb-and-shimmer) on nigglingly short loops. Bits bob in and out of the mix: divas whipped up into trebly sprites, sirens smeared like lysergic neon trails, and spurts of gelatinous bass. Historically speaking, rave’s star burst of mechanized ecstatics led to the metallic flux of jungle and drums-&-bass, which was then compartmentalized into the bustling soul-pop of garage and later melted down into lesions of radioactive gunk for MCs to sling hoarse rhymes over (grime). Dubstep, grime’s antisocial twin, eschews the communal pass-the-mic ruckus for downcast headphone excursions in dank atmospherics. Born from the junkyard of rave dreams, Zomby’s pastiche is beyond convincing; it’s an uncanny reanimation. (Bernardo Rondeau)

Backbiter: Paging Doctor Robot

Eagle and Talon: Bartering fingers

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• CHELSEA SMILES Alex
• Mikael Wood
• Pop Levi
• Ida Maria
• Sara Lov

Also playing Friday:

ART GARFUNKEL at James Armstrong Theatre, Torrance Cultural Arts Center; TOWER OF POWER at the Canyon; JON BRION at Largo at the Coronet; INSECT SURFERS, DEL REYS at the Redwood Bar & Grill; GORT at Relax Bar; AFTERNOONS, XU XU FANG at Spaceland; DANNY B. HARVEY at Taix.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10

Elliott Murphy, Jann Klose at the Hotel Café

Here’s a pretty rare chance to check out a legendary folk-rocking singer-songwriter in the confines of an intimate club, an up-close-and-personal look at one of the greats. In his first U.S. tour in eight years, Elliott Murphy, long based in Paris, brings songs from his very fine new Notes From the Underground album, his 30th (!) in a 35-year career. Most likely, he’ll include selections from his hugely regarded debut album, Aquashow, and its even better follow-up, Generation, and a performance of his even-weightier 1966 meisterwerk, “Selling the Gold,” on which he originally dueted with Bruce Springsteen. Opening is “multicultural” singer-songwriter Jann Klose, who was born in Germany and raised in Kenya, South Africa and Hamburg, and who first came to the U.S. as an exchange student in Cleveland. His recent album Reverie is something of a minor hit on more than 90 radio stations in North America. (John Payne)

Backbiter, Saccharine Trust at American Legion Post 206

Sure, Saccharine Trust made a major dent in early-’80s rock history with songs that have been covered by Sonic Youth and praised by Kurt Cobain, but these longtime Wizards of Wilmington are a still a major creative force in the here and now. If anything, society still hasn’t caught up to the wicked insights of recent tunes like “Water on the Dance Floor,” much less the incantational power of such oldies as “We Became Snakes,” where word-besotted/-enraptured poet-singer Jack Brewer probes/prods/p(rov)okes various gods amid the relentless slings-&-arrows of Joe Baiza’s barbed jazz-funk guitar. Intense drummer Brian Christopherson and the fantastically propulsive bassist Chris Stein anchor things firmly to some version of reality, no matter how fanciful and philosophical Brewer’s Olympian wordplay and Baiza’s galaxy-scouring explorations get. Saccharine Trust’s “transcendental riots” are heavier than jazz, freer and more rambling than rock, and louder and ruder than fusion. (Check out Brewer’s comparatively hard-rocking/punk Reunion Band, who are playing Thursday at Harold’s Place.) Meanwhile, the local trio Backbiter are simply one of L.A.’s best-kept secrets. Not only is Jonathan Hall one of this city’s most tastefully wild punk/hard-rock guitar heroes, but he, bassist Heath Seifert and drummer Bob Lee write seedily stomping glitter-rock anthems (“Looking in the Mirror,” “Nova,” “Blood and Broken Glass Blues,” “Dr. Robot”) that seriously approach the level of their collective inspirations (the Stooges, Roky, Velvet Underground, the Who, Dylan). That’s no small feat. It’s ironic that bands like Howlin’ Rain are currently getting more attention with less-interesting approximations of Backbiter’s punk-meets-the-classic-rock-godfather sound. 227 N. Avenue 55, Highland Park. (Falling James)

Also playing Saturday:

THE DICKIES, THE BILLYBONES, CHELSEA SMILES at Alex’s Bar; DAVID LINDLEY at Brixton South Bay, 7 p.m.; SHITN-A, KEVIN LITROW, HALLOWEEN SWIM TEAM at Echo Curio; SCHOOL OF ROCK HOLLYWOOD at Fais Do-Do, 5:30 p.m.; GORT at Relax Bar; RUFUS at the Roxy; B-SIDE PLAYERS at Saint Rocke; AFTERNOONS, FLYING TOURBILLON ORCHESTRA at Spaceland.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 11

Eagle and Talon at Que Sera

Eagle and Talon are a local duo who assemble some fascinating combinations of noise and melody on their upcoming CD, Thracian. They start with post-punk disco beats and expansive Sonic Youth guitars, or maybe a little new-wave keyboards. Then they throw in some nicely impressionistic lyrics, sung with deceptively simple pop melodies, which inevitably dig deeper the more you hear them. The way guitarist Kim Talon’s and drummer Alice Talon’s harmonies and sparkling riffs spiral together and culminate with intertwined momentum on such songs as the circusy “The All Best” and “Georgia” is positively entrancing. Lyrics like “They’ll trade a finger for a fur coat” and “You can’t operate on me” make for great hooks, with a riot-grrl sarcasm that transforms itself into a lulling pop mantra as the harmonies cycle and twist like a kaleidoscope. Moods range from the gray glow of “Coast That’s Closest” and the woozy jangle “We Were Figs” to the darker physical mysteries of “It’s a Fortress,” all of it ringed by those spectrally childlike harmonies. (Falling James)