Rock Picks: GZA, the Ettes, A.A. Bondy, Mose Allison
Also, the Kris Special, Jesse Sykes, Mamak Khadem and others
JESSE SYKES AT McCABE’s
The Seattle singer Jesse Sykes’ gently lulling folk-country tunes are layered with clouds of moody atmosphere and suffused with an electric, radiantly glowing sparkle by her longtime backup band, the Sweet Hereafter. Over the course of three albums produced by Tucker Martine (Bill Frisell, the Decemberists, Mudhoney) — most recently, 2007’s Like, Love, Lust and the Open Halls of the Soul (Barsuk Records) — she and her gang conjure languorous, morbidly enchanting spells with such aptly evocative titles as “The Dreaming Dead” and “Spectral Beings.” However, on this short West Coast tour, Sykes will be accompanied only by her Sweet Hereafter collaborator (and former Whiskeytown guitarist) Phil Wandscher. Although Sykes says that the band’s upcoming release will be a “full-on rock album,” she and Wandscher are likely to strip the songs down to their bare essentials at these intimate, relatively rare shows as a duo. They also might perform selections from a recent limited-edition EP with their contributions to the soundtrack for the Seattle Shakespeare Company’s version of The Tempest, which even features a few vocal turns from Wandscher. (Falling James)
Also playing Saturday:
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The Getty Center
1200 Getty Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Category: Museums
Region: Out of Town
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Bootleg Theater
2200 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90057
Category: Bars and Clubs
Region: Out of Town
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HOUSE OF HOUSE, SSION, GODDOLLARS at El Cid; ASOBI SEKSU, COBY BROWN, YELLOW RED SPARKS, OTHERS at the Hotel Cafe; LEO NOCENTELLI, STANTON MOORE, BILL “BUDDA” DICKENS, OTHERS at the Mint; MAZE, KENNY G at the Nokia Theater; BEHEMOTH, SEPTICFLESH, LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH at House of Blue; MILES MOSELY, DANCE HALL PIMPS at Boardner’s; GUTTERMOUTH, VOODOO GLOW SKULLS, MAJORITY LOST, OTHERS at the Canyon; FOOT FOOT, THE FINCHES, ASH REITER, LOYAL SONS & DAUGHTERS at the Echo Curio; MIKE WATT & HIS SECOND MEN at the Redwood Bar; MERRY CHRISTMAS, LES BLANKS, ROMAN CANDLES at L’Keg Gallery; HOCKEY, ASA RANSOM, EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS at Spaceland.
Sunday/January/17
Mose Allison at Largo
This piano-tinkling quirk-jazz hero is the latest in a string of roots-music legends to sign up with L.A.’s Anti- Records for a stab at some renewed twilight-years glory; see also recent releases by Mavis Staples, Porter Wagoner and Bettye LaVette, the last of which was produced, like Allison’s Anti- debut, by local old-school revivalist Joe Henry. With its tidy chamber-blues arrangements and its bemused ruminations on faith and the casual cruelties of age, the fruit of Allison and Henry’s collab, The Way of the World (due out March 23), reminds me quite a bit of Randy Newman’s 2008 Harps and Angels — and not just because one of the album’s highlights is “Everybody Thinks You’re an Angel,” a quietly outraged small-combo shuffle penned by Allison’s country-songwriter daughter Amy. World is the singer-pianist’s first new studio disc since the late ’90s, so hopefully he’ll be in the mood to provide a preview at these two solo gigs, both part of the Jazz Bakery’s Movable Feast series. Also Sat. (Mikael Wood)
Also playing Sunday:
CASTANETS, TIGER SAW, ALPS OF NEW SOUTH WALES, OTHERS at the Bootleg Theater; YUMMY FUR, NEVEREVER at the Echo; REPEATER, DEEP SLEEP OPSM, SCATTERED LIKE BIRDS at the Dakota Music Lounge; DOLPHINS INTO THE FUTURE, ORPHAN FAIRYTALE, SPENCER CLARKE at L’Keg Gallery; ADAM FRANKLIN at Spaceland.
Monday/January/18
THE KRIS SPECIAL AT SPACELAND
Tonight’s free show is indeed special for the Kris Special, as the local duo of singer-guitarist Anne Pointer and drummer Nick Schutz are each celebrating their birthdays. There’s kind of a schizophrenic duality with the Kris Special. One band purveys sleepy, peaceful country-folk idylls like “I Sleep Alone Sometimes” (from their excellent 2008 CD, Alone Feels Like a Hotel Room) and the Wilco cover “Was I in Your Dreams?” (from the tribute comp I’m the Fan Who Loves You, Volume 2). Such hazy, windswept reveries come off like Mazzy Star or perhaps a more downbeat Leslie & the Badgers, as Pointer confesses her darkest fears against a backdrop of lonely pedal-steel guitar. The other band churns out rootsy punk rock ravers like “Shadow Smart” and “Little Red Song,” which rattle along rusty railroad tracks like X or the early Gun Club. Despite their opposing styles, both sides of the Kris Special are equally fascinating. Pointer and Schutz are working on a new live album, and they go on early tonight, opening a bill that includes hard-rocking headliners Year Long Disaster. (Falling James)
Also playing Monday:
OREN LAVIE, SLANG CHICKENS, DIOS, THE WEBB SISTERS at the Hotel Cafe; THE NORTHSTAR SESSION, POPULATION GAME, SHADES OF DAY at the Bootleg Theater; THE FRENCH SEMESTER, MOVING PICTURE SHOW, LIGHT FM, DOWNTOWN-UNION at the Echo; KNIGHT RIDER, PENNY SLEDGE, THE SYMBOLICK JEWS, THE DEEPSEA GOES at Pehrspace; THE STEELWELLS, AUSHUA, WAKE UP LUCID, THE MONTHLIES at the Silverlake Lounge.
Tuesday/January/19
The Ettes at Steve Allen Theater
What would Steve Allen have thought about the Ettes? The stodgy late comedian was kind of a snob when it came to rock & roll, going out of his way to make such guests as Elvis Presley not feel at home when they visited his television variety program The Steve Allen Show in the late 1950s. For all of the Ettes’ charming blend of Billy Childish–style garage rock and femme-fronted, Oblivians-influenced punk, it’s likely that Allen would have still looked down his nose at them. However, the Ettes have a long connection to Steve Allen Theater booker Amit Itelman, who plays guest harmonica on the Nashville trio’s recent CD, Do You Want Power. Itelman’s enlisted them to perform tonight, following a screening of the Grindhouse “psychedelic classic” film An American Hippie in Israel. Such kitschy cult-film distractions aside, the real thrill is the Ettes’ music, as singer Coco Hames expands on the promise of her early records with a fuller range of expression of Do You Want Power, which was produced by the Oblivians’ Greg Cartwright (along with one track recorded by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach). Driven by bassist Jem Cohen’s rumbling power-trio bass lines, songs like “I’ll Be Your Lover (But I Can’t Be Your Baby)” have much more hard-rock force, and there are newfound touches, such as the T. Rex–style backup harmonies that frost “Modern Game.” Also at the Echo, Wed. (Falling James)
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