Rock Picks: Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro, Elvis Costello, Rock & Roll Summer Circus

The Muffs at Alex’s Bar
Somewhat lost in the excitement surrounding that rare reunion gig by the Zeros at the Troubadour a few weeks ago was the abbreviated preceding set by the Muffs, who also don’t perform all that often these days. But the Muffs are back again this weekend with their own headlining show, which should provide a better opportunity to revel in singer-guitarist Kim Shattuck’s riotous collision of winsome pop melodies and slam-tastic power chords. With a malicious Ray Davies–like wit and one of the best howls in rock & roll, Shattuck specializes in such acidic, thinly disguised character studies of local scenesters and musical rivals as “Red-Eyed Troll,” “Big Mouth” and “Right in the Eye,” which are some of the rudest putdown songs this side of Bob Dylan’s “Positively 4th Street.” Although she and her band mates — bassist Ronnie Barnett and former Redd Kross drummer Roy McDonald — have occasionally lent their distinctive twists to classics by said Zeros (“Beat Your Heart Out”), the Saints (“Do the Robot”), the Small Faces (“My Mind’s Eye”) and Kim Wilde (“Kids of America”), they’re even better when they’re bashing through Shattuck’s catchy originals. It’s been a really really long time since the Muffs released Really Really Happy in 2004, but they’re reportedly working on a new album. (Falling James)

Photo by Chris Becker

The New York Dolls had a secret weapon: Sylvain Sylvain, who gigs the Knitting Factory.

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Also playing Saturday:

PISSED JEANS, LAMPS at the Troubadour; WHODINI, NAUGHTY BY NATURE, 2 LIVE CREW, DOUG E. FRESH, BIG DADDY KANE, SLICK RICK at the Nokia Theatre; DOWN, MELVINS, DANAVA, WEEDEATER at the Wiltern; THE MUFFS, KEPI ELECTRIC, THE DOLLYROTS, LITTLE MEDUSAS at Alex’s Bar; THE MOTELS at Pershing Square; BLOODY BRAINS, THE LIVING SICKNESS, DICK & JANE at American Legion Post 206; HOP FROG KOLLECTIV, AIN SOPH AUR, BLIPVERT, MOTHER OF FIRE at the Echo Curio; GHOSTFACE KILLAH, METHODMAN, REDMAN, DUO LIVE at House of Blues; C.W. STONEKING, FRANK FAIRFIELD, THE BONEBRAKE SYNCOPATORS at the Redwood Bar.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 16

Silk Flowers, Nite Jewel at the Echo
Occidental philosophy student and performance artist Ramona Gonzalez, a.k.a. Nite Jewel, may be better known in L.A. art gallery circles than on the venue scene, but her connection to L.A.’s Human Ear Music Collective — where the messy strands of electronic music, visual art and multimedia coalesce — has given her (and others) the opportunity to expand the emerging field of art/pop performance in the city. Gonzalez blends occasionally disorienting but equally laid-back ’80s dance pop within layers of sonic ephemera (cobbled together from keyboards, samples and found sound), and she’s cited influences as diametrically opposed on the high-to-low cultural meter as Julianne Swartz and El DeBarge. Brooklyn’s Silk Flowers play raw, minimal pop on an assortment of machines and instruments, but unlike other groups of guys who stand around tables of computers and racks of gear, Silk Flowers shuffle along with a joyfully textured and beat-filled flair, thanks to Peter Schuette’s nimble, melodic riffs, Ethan Swan’s timing and Avi Cohen’s guttural delivery and bouncing dance contortions. (Wendy Gilmartin)

Also playing Sunday:

MONOLATORS, SCARLET SYMPHONY, TANDEMORO, ALASKAN SUMMER at Spaceland; DEPECHE MODE, PETER, BJORN & JOHN at the Hollywood Bowl; LOS LONELY BOYS, LOS LOBOS at the Greek Theatre; THE HEREAFTER, BASKERY at the Hotel Café.

MONDAY, AUGUST 17

Flaming Lips at the Greek
Without a doubt the highest-profile art-rock outfit ever to come hurtling out of Oklahoma City, the Flaming Lips, it seems fair to say, have been treading water for the past decade or so. Ever since The Soft Bulletin blew minds in 1999 with its bighearted (and big-beated) nü-wave psychedelia, all we’ve really gotten from frontman Wayne Coyne and his band mates have been variations on a once-novel theme; their last album, 2006’s At War With the Mystics, smelled as much like desperation as it did like Vicks VapoRub. So it gives me no small pleasure to report that Embryonic, the Lips’ upcoming double-disc set (due out this fall), is a genuinely out-there slab of future-pop freakiness, with liberal amounts of lonely-robot vocal melodies, in-the-red free-jazz drums and minimal-metal guitar lines. No word, alas, on how much of Embryonic they’ll play at the Greek; bet on at least the three tracks featured on the slyly titled Songs From the Future Album Embryonic EP, out now on iTunes. With Ghostland Observatory and Stardeath & White Dwarfs, the latter of which features Coyne’s nephew Dennis. (Mikael Wood)

Clipse, the Cool Kids at House of Blues Sunset Strip
The House of Blues leaves a lot to be desired, but it’s hard to imagine a more fitting locale (the Sunset Strip) to host this bill, nor a pair of performers better equipped to make us believe in the glorious excess that the Strip purports to represent. Virginia siblings Malice and Pusha T, collectively Clipse, have made their name spinning darkly detailed rhymes about cooking crack and dodging the consequences, often accompanied (as on 2006’s incredibly good Hell Hath No Fury) by some of the sparest beats the Neptunes have ever created. Clipse’s winning mix of creepiness and glitz is well-complemented by the guileless commercialism of Chicago’s The Cool Kids’ oft–fashion obsessed raps. But with this duo, Chuck Inglish and Mickey Rocks, it’s more than style over substance — on tracks like those gathered for a recent mixtape, Gone Fishing, style runs right over substance with fabulous aplomb. Bullies of L.A. take note: Expect hundreds of bespectacled kids to show, all wearing incredible sneakers. (Chris Martins)