FRIDAY JULY 17
Brian Cross
Ceu: breakout electronics and old, acoustic Brazil
Michael Rubenstein
Girl In A Coma delivers restless explorations and a variety of melodic styles
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CEU
AT THE ROXY
Amid the seeming plethora of Brazilian singers of recent vintage, the one called Ceu — a.k.a. Maria do Ceu Whitaker Pocas — flies way above for her startling clear tone and persuasive technical finesse, a subtly inventive sort of phrasing that adds depth to an intriguing and very catholic taste in repertoire. While her new Vagarosa album on Six Degrees is rife, as per the rest of the pack, with the breakbeat electronics and other nods to jazzy funk-soul familiarity, she’s woven in strands of the old, acoustic Brazil in darker explorations that rewrite the burnished inner rhythms and harmonies of samba, bossa nova and the bittersweet fado. There’s a satisfyingly intelligent yet relaxed vibe about the album, and about Ceu: She’s got nothing to prove, and she’s proving it. (John Payne)
GIRL IN A COMA
AT ALEX'S BAR
Girl in a Coma are named after a Smiths song and have opened for Morrissey, and they’re signed to Joan Jett’s estimable Blackheart Records, but the San Antonio trio’s music doesn’t really sound like either of their champions. Singer-guitarist Nina Diaz’s songs share some of the romantic frustration of Morrissey’s worldview, but her lyrics are more direct and less self-conscious. Girl in a Coma can rock it up with a churning punk rock attack, but there’s more of a restless exploration and a wider variety of melodic styles on their latest CD, Trio B.C., than in Jett’s primal rock declamations. The truth is, GIAC sound like no one but themselves. They’re distinguished by Diaz’s powerful yet soothingly tuneful vocals, but her soaring lamentations are pushed farther into the heavens by her sister Phanie Diaz’s stomping drums and Jenn Alva’s exhilarating bass lines. Moods swing from the dreamy girl-group languor of “Vino” and the cottony pop perfection of “Ven Cerca” to the heated neo-rockabilly rush of “Slaughter Lane” and the hard-charging “Baby Boy.” With the retro noir–pop of Miss Derringer. Also at the Knitting Factory, Sat. (Falling James)
C.J. RAMONE
AT THE WHISKEY
Christopher Joseph Ward was in an unenviable position when he joined the Ramones in 1989. Not only was he replacing the band’s main songwriter, bassist Dee Dee Ramone, but he was forced to dress and look like Dee Dee, in keeping with the group’s militantly cartoonish image. C.J. Ramone gamely played his role with the commitment of a true Method actor, and his positive attitude helped to keep the notoriously combative outfit together during the next decade of stressful touring. He ended up singing a few lead vocals when Joey Ramone was dealing with medical problems, and some of those songs, such as “Makin’ Monsters for My Friends” and “R.A.M.O.N.E.S.,” are among the catchiest tracks on the Ramones’ final studio album, Adios Amigos. It didn’t hurt that Dee Dee — far from being jealous of the young man who replaced him — continued writing songs for the Ramones until the band’s breakup in 1996. Like an actor trying to distance himself from his most famous role, C.J. looked almost unrecognizable as a bearded biker dude in the Ramones’ documentary We’re Outta Here. In subsequent interviews, he revealed himself to be a deeper and more thoughtful individual — interested in things like the plight of the Lakota Sioux tribe — than he was caricaturized in the Ramones. As with former drummer Marky Ramone, C.J. seems to be struggling to establish his own musical identity, and tonight he intends to perform a set of the old hits. (Falling James)
Also playing Friday:
THREE MILE PILOT, OPTIGANALLY YOURS at the Echoplex; PETER HOLSAPPLE & CHRIS STAMEY at McCabe’s; BUBBA SPARXXX at the Knitting Factory; SLEEPY BROWN at the Galaxy Theatre (Santa Ana); TORI AMOS, ONE ESKIMO at the Greek Theatre; TOADIES, WILDHEART, THE WILLOWZ, ROLL THE TANKS at El Rey Theatre; CHARLIE WILSON, KEITH SWEAT, JUPITER RISING at Club Nokia; DEMI LOVATO, DAVID ARCHUETA, KSM at the Nokia Theatre; THE HAPPY HOLLOWS, THE VALLEY ARENA at the Echo; TEARS FOR FEARS at the Pacific Amphitheatre; COCO LEE at Walt Disney Concert Hall; RATT, EXTREME, SWIRL at the Wiltern; GIRL IN A COMA, MISS DERRINGER, NORMANDIE, SHOTGUN SHOWDOWN at Alex’s Bar; CRATER FAMILY at Echo Curio; ANDERS OSBORNE, CLARENCE BUCARO, JOHNNY SANSONE at the Mint; MIKA MIKO at the Smell; NITE JEWEL at Space 15 Twenty; THE DONNAS at the Troubadour; MISSING PERSONS, ANKHESENAMEN at Universal Citywalk.
SATURDAY JULY 18
COLDPLAY, AMADOU & MARIAM
AT HOME DEPOT CENTER
Singer Mariam Doumbia and singer-guitarist Amadou Bagayoko are a blind couple whose positively bewitching music has expanded wildly since their minimalist beginnings in Mali in the 1980s. In recent years, their curiously timeless blend of blues, pop and traditional Malian folk styles has encompassed psychedelic rock, jazz, funk, reggae and exotic world-music flourishes that transcend international borders. French-Spanish superstar Manu Chao collaborated on the songwriting and produced the duo’s amazing 2005 album, Dimanche à Bamako, infusing it with his uniquely febrile-dreamy touches. Although Chao didn’t work on Amadou & Mariam’s most recent CD, 2008’s Welcome to Mali, it’s still a wonderfully engaging blur of unexpected influences, with newfound orchestral grandeur juxtaposed against funky horn retorts, sinuously mesmerizing guitars and the pair’s eerily evocative vocals. The French tunes are augmented by forays into occasional English-language tracks like “Africa,” where guest K’naan’s raps are deftly twined with Amadou’s soulful French rejoinders into an ebulliently sunny hook. Coldplay certainly deserve credit for exposing the couple to bigger audiences on this tour, but hardcore Afro-blues fans who don’t want to sit through the narcissistic British band’s incompatibly bombastic rock might prefer to wait for Amadou & Mariam’s own headlining tour, when they perform at the Henry Fonda Theater in October. (Falling James)
