Rock Picks: Future of the Left, Deerhoof, Ronnie Mack's Barndance, The Urinals

FRIDAY JULY 31

Deerhoof, of San Francisco, makes a newfangled kind of dance music.

Jad Fair: purveyor of found sounds, untuned guitars and random ghost voices

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More About

• Mikael Wood
• Japandroids
• Gibson Amphitheatre
• Punk Rock
• Pop-Punk and Emo

FUTURE OF THE LEFT
Japandroids at Spaceland

Future of the Left, from Wales, feature two dudes who used to play in the hilariously acerbic noise-rock trio Mclusky (sample song title: “Your Children Are Waiting for You to Die”). In their new guise they’ve grown no more enthused about humanity’s miserable existence — the best song from the band’s new album, Travels with Myself and Another, is called “You Need Satan More Than He Needs You” — but they have added some nifty synth licks that make the music even funnier (in a mean-spirited way). Openers Japandroids have been known to cover Mclusky’s “To Hell with Good Intentions” live, so you can imagine that they’re stoked about tonight’s pairing. Of course, Mclusky should be, too, as Post-Nothing — this Vancouver duo’s sweet-and-sour fuzz-punk debut — is one of the summer’s most buzzed-about indie artifacts. (No Age fans hankering for a Nouns follow-up — this should tide you over.) Get here early, or you might not get in at all. (Mikael Wood)

DEERHOOF, BUSDRIVER
at the Echoplex

Offend Maggie, on Kill Rock Stars, is Deerhoof’s latest and is a thing of indefinable power and glory. The band makes a pointy-headedly poignant music, earnest and arty. This is a newfangled, unclinical dance music, punky and pointillistic, very heavy, like King Crimson sometimes (really), and singer Satomi endures like a most-beloved pet robot. Last year’s Friend Opportunity found the group reaching wobbly ground, where their experimental instincts stumbled upon the secret to making the heart go pitapat. The noisy, prog-jazzy Offend Maggie is even grander, funnier, more heartbreaking, and one has to wonder why it sounds unlike anything else on Earth at the present time? Could it be that it’s ’cause they can really play, and that onstage they, yes, they kick major butt? With Busdriver, the glossolalic nongangsta heaping so much healthy damage on hip-hop and the nervous systems of all hardy souls who choose to come along for the ride. (John Payne)

Also playing Friday:

PINK DOLLAZ, GO GO POWER RANGERS at the Key Club; NO DOUBT, PARAMORE, THE SOUNDS at Verizon Amphitheatre; CHIEF, MICHAEL RUNION, MINI MANSION at the Bootleg Theater; NERD, TROUBLE ANDREW at Avalon; STELLASTARR, WILD LIGHT, MASON PROPER at the Troubadour; THE TURTLES, CHUCK NEGRON, FELIX CAVALIERE, MOUNTAIN WITH LESLIE WEST, CORKY LAING at the Gibson Amphitheatre; MOTLEY CRUE, GODSMACK, THEORY OF A DEADMAN, DROWNING POOL, OTHERS at the San Manual Amphitheatre; SKA PIRATES, UPSET STOMACH, THE LUMBERJACKS, POSITIVE APPROACH, OTHERS at Cobalt Cafe; KEVIN ELLIOT & THE BROKEN, INVERSE, SILENT TREATMENT, AFTER, AXIA at the Knitting Factory; DAMION SUOMI, FLOATING ACTION, THE GENERATIONALS, GOLDEN BOOTS, OTHERS at the Hotel Cafe; COMMON SENSE, THE FLYS, THE BONEDADDYS, THE FRINGES, FRANK STALLONE at the Mint; SUSAN MARSHALL, DEAD ROCK WEST at the Redwood Bar; JOGGER, FORMER GHOSTS, QUANGSTUH, MICHAEL NHAT at the Smell.

SATURDAY AUGUST 1

JAD FAIR, THE URINALS
AT EAGLE ROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS
“Hey, Pop Tart, look what the sunshine brings,” Jad Fair announces on “Apple Apple,” a typically bent art-pop spoken-word track set to a soundtrack of squealing noises. “This time it’s magic. ... Better days are now showing/strong and solid as caramel.” The sunshine (liquid or otherwise) brings the Half Japanese madman in from Texas for a concert of pronounced weirdness. It’s been nearly 35 years since Fair and his since-retired brother, David Fair, practically invented lo-fi art-rock in the bedroom of their Uniontown, Maryland, home, and fans and critics have been struggling to make some rational sense out of Half Japanese’s vast and prolific output ever since. As half of Half Japanese and as a solo performer (as well as a noted visual artist), Jad’s collaborated with the likes of Daniel Johnston, Eugene Chadbourne, Fred Frith, Isobel Campbell, Thurston Moore, Yo La Tengo and Velvet Underground drummer Moe Tucker, cobbling together found sounds, untuned guitars, creepy harmonies and random ghost voices, and putting them into all into a pop-music blender. He’s aptly billed with L.A.’s own ongoing art-punks the Urinals, who were considered a joke when they first came out of UCLA in 1978 but have since gained belated critical respect for the way their haikulike S&M lyrics and curiously minimalist chord progressions have influenced everyone from the Gun Club to Yo La Tengo. Far from being a punk nostalgia trip, the Urinals are more interested these days in experimenting with the spacy new songs from their upcoming album. (Falling James)

THE POLYAMOUROUS AFFAIR
at Hear Gallery/Loft 265

As a longtime songwriter and producer, the Polyamorous Affair’s mastermind Eddie Chacon has worked with the likes of Faith No More and 2 Live Crew and Cliff Burton (of Metallica), which seemingly doesn’t make for a résumé that leads to ass-busting, buzzing dance-pop. But realize that Mr. Chacon is the same Eddie who brought you 1992’s worldwide soul hit “Would I lie to You?” (the Charles and Eddie version, not the Eurythmics’ version) and the ease of execution on clubby songs, like “Who Controls the Grove Controls the World” makes a whole lot of sense. The dude knows a thing about reinvention, and the Polyamorous Affair delivers with tense, sensual beats and a Giorgio Moroder moodiness. The crew consists of his sassy wife and partner, Sissy Sainte Marie, their DJ, De Ja Francois, and Mr. Cocoon, on visuals. Tonight’s show will highlight their month-old release Bolshevik Disco, as well as their new Eastern Bloc/East Hollywood look, replete with furry Lenin hats and leather boots. (Wendy Gilmartin)