Rock Picks: Erykah Badu, Peaches, The Church, Camera Obscura

SATURDAY, JUNE 6

Peaches at the Henry Fonda Theater
The world has changed in the three years since Peaches challenged prevailing sociopolitical and sexual mores with Impeach My Bush, but the Canadian electroclash chanteuse hasn’t exactly mellowed out on her latest CD, I Feel Cream (XL), co-produced by Simian Mobile Disco, with additional mixes by Soulwax, Digitalism and Shapemod. “Some call me trash/Some call me nasty, call me crass/but you can’t match me,” she announces on the opening track, “Serpentine (I Don’t Give a ... , Pt. 2).” With Peaches, the political is always personal — and overtly sexual. Jaggedly sinister synth lines bump up against slogans like “Never go to bed without a piece of raw meat” on “Trick or Trick,” as airy harmonies ride over funky electro-disco beats. She teases that she’s “comin’ up to see you like I was Mae West” on “Mommy Complex,” which works as sort of a thematic complement to her 2003 CD, Fatherfucker. Throughout the album, the rhythms are rude, bracing and inexorably compelling — just like the former Merrill Nisker herself. Also Sun. (Falling James)

L.A. Acoustic Music Festival at Santa Monica Pier
For most of human history, music was an activity performed by many members of a community, not just designated “stars” represented by commercial interests. That changed with the advent of recordings, when music became a spectator sport. You could argue that the pervasive dumbing down of America was encouraged by the dismantling of arts and music programs in schools; we know that intelligence increases when one learns how to play a musical instrument (save the drummer jokes, please). The California Acoustic Music Project (CAMP) pays musicians for in-school residencies, as well as for the instruments for kids to play. To benefit this program, CAMP is sponsoring a first-annual festival featuring talented members of the North American “acoustic music” community. Saturday’s lineup includes folk icons the Kingston Trio, Canadian songwriter Bruce Cockburn, Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster and Richard Thompson, the legendary singer/songwriter/guitarist who blends Celtic traditions and kick-ass rock & roll. Sunday’s bill includes two of the past half-century’s hottest pickers, David Lindley and David Bromberg, and is headlined by the extraordinary Texas songstress Nanci Griffith, whose new album, The Loving Kind, offers further proof that one can merge beauty and subversion. (Michael Simmons)

The Chelsea Girls at the Roxy
Tweaking the cover-band concept from campy to vampy, the superskilled, supersexy musicians who comprise the Chelsea Girls should never be on the receiving end of condescending jabs like the ol’ “They’re good . for girls.” The fact that drummer Sam Maloney (Hole, Mötley Crüe, Peaches), bassist Corey Parks (Nashville Pussy, Die Hunns), guitarist Allison Robertson (the Donnas) and singer Tuesdae are foxy femmes is definitely part of their appeal onstage, but as they’ve proven with previous bands, each is an imposing and instrumentally relentless individual. Together, their chemistry is pure (cherry) bombast. Doing monster rock anthems like Heart’s “Barracuda” and Pat Benatar’s “Heartbreaker,” and inviting famous pals onstage to jam (so far they’ve had Lemmy, Stephen Pearcy, Macy Gray, to name a few) might not be a new idea, but CG have a wild camaraderie the all-star dude bands lack. More important, their covers are tighter than Pat Benatar’s ’80s-era butt. (With the Dreaming and Darling Stilettos.) (Lina Lecaro)

Also playing Saturday:

MATTHEW DEAR at Avalon; HOLY FUCK, CROCODILES at the Troubadour; DONOVAN LEITCH, LANNY CORDOLA at Largo at the Coronet; ZIGGY MARLEY FAMILY at Club Nokia (kids’ show, 10 a.m.); GAVIN ROSSDALE, NICO VEGA at El Rey Theatre; THE STYLISTICS, THE DRAMATICS, THE CHI LITES, BLOODSTONE, HEATWAVE, THE MANHATTANS, BLUE MAGIC, THE MAIN INGREDIENT at the Greek Theatre; CHITA RIVERA at Walt Disney Concert Hall; RALPH’S WORLD, LISA LOEB at the Echoplex (kids’ show, 10:30 a.m.); JANIVA MAGNESS at McCabe’s.

SUNDAY, JUNE 7

Fortress of Amplitude, Mincemeat or Tenspeed, Nero’s Day at Disneyland at the Smell
Skeleton mittens, plastic, pink toy rattles, a billowy Grim Reaper robe and eardrum-peeling shreds of metal pedal-fed guitar madness can only mean one thing: You’ve entered the lair of the Fortress of Amplitude. Extreme Animals collaborator and post-medieval, doom-drone stagecrafteur David Wightman rendered a crowd of 100 Silent Movie Theatregoers stone-faced and, fittingly, silent in February at Extreme Animals’ “Cinefamily” night there, after a set of mock Druidic theater, including his usual sonic barrage of nimble finger playing and one-note noodling (yes, it’s possible). Mincemeat or Tenspeed, on the other hand, do their noise in a panicky yet minimal way — layering tinny, Dan Deacon–like fuzz over more scrambled samples, frantically trying to keep up with their chug-a-chug drone. Nero’s Day at Disneyland channels Nina Hagen and Diamanda Galas, offering up atonal, operatic contortions set to booming beats and swirling symphonic samples. (Wendy Gilmartin)