Also playing Tuesday:
Alicia J. Rose
Thao With the Get Down Stay Down: Feeling like shit never felt so good.
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JIMMY WEBB at Largo at the Coronet; OWL CITY, THE SCENE AESTHETIC, BROOKE WAGGONER at the Troubadour; DARIUS RUCKER, JYSI at Club Nokia; ROB THOMAS, ONE REPUBLIC at Gibson Amphitheatre; THE SUBJECTS, BAD VEINS, COBRA LILIES at the Echo; WHY?, AU, SERENGETI, POLYPHONIC at the Echoplex; ADAM MARSLAND at El Cid; NOAH & THE WHALE, ROBERT FRANCIS at the Roxy.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21
Michigan and Smiley at the Echoplex
Freewheeling vocal twosome Papa Michigan and General Smiley — reggae’s first male duo — have always been distinguished by their ebullient, conversational exchanges, sunny spirituality, sophisticated rhyming schemes and a use of language that operated at a level high above many of their mike-slinging contemporaries. Their smasheroo debut, “Nice Up the Dance” (chanted on top of Willie Williams’ apocalyptic “Armigideon Time” riddim), smartly showcased all of those attributes, became a staple on sound systems across Jamaica and set the pair on the express line to international stardom. Their notoriety increased further when 1982’s “Diseases” was actually followed by the island’s first polio outbreak. (“Let me set the record straight,” Michigan later said. “I had nothing to do with it ... it was just prophetic.”) Having gracefully maneuvered the shift from the late-’70s hard-roots sound into the manic dance-hall era, Michigan & Smiley still deliver. So, as they sang back in ’79, “Pop it in gear and have no fear — the time to be happy is now.” (Jonny Whiteside)
Also playing Wednesday:
GORDON LIGHTFOOT at the Canyon; THE SOUNDS, SHINY TOY GUNS, DESTRUCTO, SEMI PRECIOUS WEAPONS at the Wiltern; THE HEAVY, SWEATERS, SHIRLEY ROLLS at the Echo; THE EMMITT-NERSHI BAND, ASSEMBLY OF DUST, JERRY HANNAN at the Mint.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22
Meshell Ndegeocello, J*DaVeY at El Rey Theatre
Once an appealingly unlikely figure on the mainstream pop scene — remember her hit cover of Van Morrison’s “Wild Night” with John Mellencamp? — Meshell Ndegeocello has spent the past few years weirding up her stuff to intriguing (if totally uncommercial) effect: You don’t title a record The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance of the Infidel, as Ndegeocello did her jazzy 2005 disc, unless you’re prepared to get a little loose. The singer-bassist’s new one, Devil’s Halo, is slightly more structured than Spirit Music or 2007’s avant-cabaret The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams. In “Lola,” for example, she rides a brisk rock beat by drummer Deantoni Parks that you could reasonably tap your toe to. But it’s still plenty out there. At El Rey Ndegeocello will front a quintet that includes T Bone Burnett’s keyboardist, Keefus Ciancia; reports from the road promise a cover of Prince’s “Dirty Mind.” With local future-soul eccentrics J*DaVeY. (Mikael Wood)
Rykarda Parasol at the Viper Room
“Life is short, and life is sad/So let’s carouse, we’ll pretend we’re glad,” Rykarda Parasol croons grandly over the circling “Peter Gunn” guitar riffs and decadently swanky sweep of horns on “A Drinking Song,” from her upcoming album, For Blood and Wine. The “rock noir” chanteuse from San Francisco is all about shadowy atmosphere, but rueful ballads like “Widow in White” possess a melodicism and elegance that’s more affecting than most goth-cabaret dirges. The gigantic introductory chords of “Maggie” slam like Link Wray’s iconic “Rumble,” before melting into a funereal procession that sounds like Siouxsie Sioux fronting the Gun Club — it’s weirdly gorgeous. “Covenant” has an incantational, Patti Smith–style momentum, and “No Sir (Ain’t No Man Gonna)” is defiantly moody. Parasol, who created the “secret location art salon” the Hive and has worked with the Bad Seeds’ Blixa Bargeld, is obviously kind of intense, finding great beauty in great sadness. For her, every day is gloomy Sunday. (Falling James)
Also playing Thursday:
HOPE SANDOVAL & THE WARM INVENTIONS, DIRT BLUE GENE at the Mayan; MICHAEL SHOWALTER, MICHAEL IAN BLACK at the Orpheum Theatre; LLOYD COLE at the Troubadour; SUPERHUMANOIDS, EZRA REICH, THE ROYALTIES at the Bordello; BELA FLECK, ZAKIR HUSSAIN & EDGAR MEYER at Royce Hall; THE STEVE MILLER BAND at USC (Bovard Auditorium); SWOLLEN MEMBERS, BOOMBOX NINJAS at the Key Club; THOSE DARLINS at Silverlake Lounge; THE SOUNDS, SHINY TOY GUNS, DESTRUCTO, SEMI PRECIOUS WEAPONS at the Wiltern; THE WANDERING MARIONETTES at the Bootleg Theater; THE OH SEES, FRESH & ONLYS, DAN MELCHIOR at the Echo; BEN GIBBARD & JAY FARRAR at Largo at the Coronet.
