FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20
Paige Lacombe
Symbol Six look for evidence of lost punk civilizations.
Mike Wilson
Kronos Quartet
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THE JOE KROWN TRIO, KIRK JOSEPH AT THE MINT
Any roundup of Crescent City talent guarantees an estimable earful, and tonight’s brawl, with the sweet-hot jazz-funk wallop of sousaphone paragon Kirk Joseph, is more than enough to send you into orbit. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band co-founder’s gift for exploding the recognized role and limits of that marching-band tuba is revelatory, and his employ of dynamics, tonal nuance and sheer creativity all but beggars description — even the oh-so-finicky Elvis Costello rates Joseph as “a million-in-one player.” But that appetizing load of “sousafunk” is just a tantalizing starter: When the direct-from-NOLA outfit the Joe Krown Trio hits the bandstand, the atmosphere is going to get even hotter, thicker and way bluer. The trio features the powerhouse singer-guitarist Walter “Wolfman” Washington (who made his bones touring in the early 1960s with none other than R&B titan Lee Dorsey, backed Irma Thomas and spent decades beside peerless vocalist Johnny Adams), piano boss Joe Krown and Funky Meters traps man Russell Batiste Jr. It’s going to be a gritty, freewheeling session of lowdown magnificence. (Jonny Whiteside)
SYMBOL SIX AT THE REDWOOD BAR & GRILL
As punk rock scenes spontaneously erupted around the world in the late 1970s in such disparate places as Brisbane, Akron, London and the Lower East Side, punk bands simultaneously sprouted up all over Southern California, from Hollywood, East L.A. and the San Fernando Valley to the South Bay, Fullerton and Chula Vista. Everywhere, it seemed, except West Los Angeles. Sure, the Urinals were scratching up their Wire-like, insectoid art-punk in the UCLA parking garages as far back as 1978, but it would be several more years before other Westside hard-core groups like Youth Brigade, Sin 34 and Suicidal Tendencies made an impact. One of the best and most underrated of the early West L.A. punk bands, Symbol Six, who started in 1980, were soon signed by Posh Boy and got airplay on Rodney on the Roq before crashing and burning just two years later. Symbol Six were similar in style to Orange County bands like T.S.O.L., the Adolescents and Agent Orange, with leader Eric Leach shouting out such sarcastic, contrarian rants as “Taxation” and “Beverlywood” while incendiary lead guitarist Taz Rudd, rhythm guitarist Mark Conway, drummer Phil George and the fluid ex-Necros bassist Donny Brook carved out an aggressively sinister yet melodic attack. All four original members recently reunited for the first time in 27 years (!) and have already recorded stomping new tracks like “Go” and “Concrete Garden.” (Falling James)
A TRIBUTE TO NEIL YOUNG AT THE BOOTLEG THEATER
The folk and country-music blog When You Awake has been a stellar supporter of the classic-country and indie-roots scenes for a while — they put on shows, sell mixtapes, give away tickets and spot vintage clothes for rabid collectors — but these folks are also good-deed doers who promote and support the Children’s Music Fund, a local nonprofit organization that provides instruments and performances to children with chronic illnesses. Tonight they’ve rustled up some of the most talented players west of Pioneertown to cover all eras of Neil Young’s catalog, with proceeds going to the fund. Breaking down a heap of wide-ranging covers from the one-note-wonder’s hits (and some obscure ones, for sure) are Leslie Stevens of Leslie & the Badgers, with her Emmylou-style pipes; the ever-lovely and haunting Chapin Sisters; a set by hillbilly-disco rabble-rousers Restavrant; and psychotropic, sun-shiny grooves from the Parson Red Heads, plus many others. (Wendy Gilmartin)
NEON INDIAN AT THE ECHOPLEX
Austin’s Alan Palomo is both young and restless. He’s just made drinking age, and in the interim that’s passed since he’s been able to legally buy smokes, he’s successfully launched three distinct outfits. While his now-defunct band Ghosthustler and ongoing VEGA project hew closer to traditional synth-pop, the Neon Indian name has come to mean something far more kaleidoscopic, and incredibly promising. A hazy, dazed mix of guitar fuzz, synthesizer tones, vinyl samples and field recordings, Neon Indian’s acclaimed LP debut, Psychic Chasms, sounds like a cross-section of ’80s music recorded to tape, then left to bake in the sun. Song titles like “Terminally Chill” and “Deadbeat Summer” go a long way toward describing their own sound, but, more than that, that sound goes a long way toward defining a distinct movement of lo-fi noisemakers who’ve been discovering unlikely beauty this past year. Live, Palomo’s music is accompanied by fittingly trippy visuals and a freshly assembled four-piece band. (Chris Martins)
Also playing Friday:
DETHKLOK, MASTODON, HIGH ON FIRE at Hollywood Palladium; RAPHAEL SAADIQ at the Wiltern; DEFTONES at Avalon; JULIAN CASABLANCAS at the Palace Theatre; RAY LAMONTAGNE at the Orpheum Theater; WAYNE KRAMER at Ivy Substation Theater; SWINGIN’ UTTERS, LOS MYSTERIOSOS at Alex’s Bar; SAUCY MONKY, 50 CENT HAIRCUT at Farmers Market; STORM LARGE at Genghis Cohen; DIR EN GREY at House of Blues; ERIN McKEOWN, JILL SOBULE at McCabe’s; MOONRATS, JAGUAR LOVE at the Smell; GINA VILLALOBOS, PAT TODD & THE RANKOUTSIDERS at Taix; DOUBLE NAUGHT SPYCAR at Cafe 322.
