Rock Picks: Broken Nobles, Anny Celsi, Seu Jorge, the Killers

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15

The Brunettes: loopy, loopy lovers

Tony Mott

The Drones: cold and sober

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• Hollywood Bowl
• Henry Fonda
• Ace Frehley
• Indie Rock and Indie Pop
• Concerts and Tour Dates

The Brunettes at the Echo
In the wake of the recent cancellation of what would have been a rare local show by the seminal New Zealand post-punk/lo-fi trio the Clean at this same club, we get quite a nice Kiwi consolation prize, a visit from the charming Auckland indie-pop duo the Brunettes. Of course, there are a million indie-pop acts with a surfeit of cutesiness, but guitarist Jonathan and keyboardist Heather’s songs are creatively tuneful and just weird enough to avoid being too cloying. Their music ranges from Jonathan Richman playfulness (“Loopy Loopy Love”) to more recent forays into trippy electronica (“Red Rollerskates”). On the Brunettes’ 2007 Sub Pop full-length, Structure & Cosmetics, Heather sings ethereal melodies over boxy keyboards on “Obligatory Road Song,” while the swelling horns of “Brunettes Against Bubblegum Youth” push the ominous vocal chanting over the baroque-pop cliff into arty psychedelia. (Falling James)

Broken Nobles, Man’s Assassination Man at the Smell
Holy Ghost Revival’s frontman Conor Kiley and band mate Shaky Jakes Bayley have magically incarnated from HGR’s pissed-off, drinks-spilled, disco–garage rock mess to a much different, reined-in incarnation with the slightly more dignified Broken Nobles. The songs are longer than one minute now, and even emit a glow of warm tenderness. Dudes from Seattle’s hairy stoner-rock outfit Wildildlife (which used to be called Wildlife, but had to add an extra “ild” when another band threatened to sue) help with backup and — at least for this show at the Smell — take it down a notch. Maybe it was all the back-and-forth trips between Seattle and London that wore down Kiley and Bayley’s spiny antics, but the essence of the Bro Nobs’ badass kicking and thrashing show remains the same. Man’s Assassination Man is a mix of the Mae Shi’s recently reshuffled members and other mutually related players. Brothers Jon and Bill Gray, Justin Hunter, Residual Echo’s Adam Payne and Of Aire’s Greg Arnold are on hand to mix up the heavy punk-dance flow in a very Smell-like way. (Wendy Gilmartin)

Also playing Tuesday:

VIEUX FARKA TOURÉ, WEAVE at the Echoplex; ARCTIC MONKEYS at the Palladium; YEAH YEAH YEAHS at the Fox Theater (Pomona); SONOS, NINA STOREY, ROBIN SMITH at the Hotel Cafe; KELLIE PICKLER, BOB DIPIERO, CHRIS LINDSEY, AIMEE MAYO at House of Blues; SAVE DARFUR BENEFIT FEAT. KEATON SIMONS, ERNIE HALTER, MANDI PERKINS, OTHERS at the Knitting Factory; THE 88, HANNE HUKKELBERG, JEREMIAH STREETER, SIMON LYNGE at Spaceland.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16

The Killers at the Hollywood Bowl
It took the Killers the better part of a decade to travel from their native Las Vegas to the Hollywood Bowl, but they weren’t born for anything else. These guys started out thinking big and have only thought bigger since, from the Asian-nightclub synth-rock of 2004’s Hot Fuss to the Meat Loaf–style heartland operatics of 2006’s Sam’s Town to the space-station disco-soul of last year’s Day & Age. Fortunately, the Killers’ songwriting gets better (and funnier) as their ideas on sound get more grandiose; nothing inspires frontman Brandon Flowers so much, it seems, as the thought of bellowing his lyrics atop arrangements that require the skills of a conductor. Flowers and his band mates have caught loads of flak lately from the big-city hipsters who “discovered” them, but you can’t really blame them for selling out. How else are you supposed to afford a marching band? (Mikael Wood)

Also playing Wednesday:

MONOTONIX, ANAVAN, TWEAK BIRD, SIGNALS at the Smell; PHOENIX, METRIC at the Greek Theatre; DILATED PEOPLES at the Key Club; CHAIRLIFT, GLASSER, JOHN MAUS at the Troubadour; RICHARD CHEESE & LOUNGE AGAINST THE MACHINE at the Henry Fonda Theater; BIG GIGANTIC, TELEPATHE at the Mint; DOWNTOWN/UNION, FRENCH SEMESTER, RADEMACHER, TEAM ABRAHAM at the Silverlake Lounge; TONY GILKYSON, DOGWEED at Taix.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17

The Drones at the Echo
Something weird and probably wicked this way comes, by way of Melbourne, Australia. Drones singer-guitarist Gareth Liddiard howls torturously soulful rambles like “Cold and Sober,” whose chords rise and fall in volume like a strong sea swell or a sudden mood change. On “Sharkfin Blues,” Liddiard alternately moans and rants like a tearfully angry drunk singing along to a scratchy radio on a cross-country drive through the desert, while “The Locust” limps down an even darker and more desolate highway. Both tracks are from the band’s 2005 album, Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By, whose title more or less summarizes the Drones’ cheerful worldview. There are times, however, when the stern Nick Cave–inspired brooding and foreboding dirges become a bit stodgy and oppressive. The Drones are much more exciting on faster, rocking songs like “I Don’t Ever Want to Change,” where Liddiard seems energized and liberated by bassist Fiona Kitchin and drummer Michael Noga’s unrestrained, galloping punk rock tempo. (Falling James)

Also playing Thursday:

THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT, THE HENRY CLAY PEOPLE, RED CORTEZ at the Fox Theater (Pomona); THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM, MURDER BY DEATH, FRANK TURNER at the Henry Fonda Theater; THE SWAY MACHINERY at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple; GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS, CHRISTINA COURTIN at Largo at the Coronet.