Rock Picks: Van Dyke Parks, Chicago Underground Duo, Rickie Lee Jones
Also, Clipse, Imaad Wasif, Josh Charles and others
Clipse, Gift of Gab at the Roxy
The Virginia hip-hop duo Clipse expand their sound further on their new CD, Til the Casket Drops. Although more than half of the tracks were recorded by their longtime producers the Neptunes, for the first time brothers Malice and Pusha T used other producers, including Sean C & LV and DJ Khalil & Chin. Such guests as Pharrell, Keri Hilson, Cam'ron and Yo Gotti also drop by for further flavoring. For all of the confident, sunny bounce of "I'm Good" (featuring Pharrell), more mesmerizing tunes like "There Was a Murder" and "Showing Out" bear out the urgency and immediacy of the album title. You might already know Gift of Gab from the Bay Area hip-hop duo Blackalicious and his work with the Quannum Projects label. If not, you should. A few years ago, Timothy Parker, aka Gift of Gab, served notice that he not only had something to say, but he had a lot to say, with raps like "Flashback," a soulfully engrossing blast of purposeful nostalgia from his first solo CD, 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up. Mr. Gab's literally out of this world on 2009's Escape 2 Mars, where his poetic declarations are backed by exotically funky, thoughtfully party-friendly grooves. (Falling James)
Rickie Lee Jones at the Vista Theatre
Singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones got a bit Jesus-freaky on her 2007 album, The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard, but in a good way. Rather than coming off preachy or blandly reverential, she used her friend Lee Cantelon's collection of Christian themes The Words as a launching point for her own free-ranging updating of the New Testament, which made it interesting even to devout nonbelievers. Jones placed the story smack into the middle of modern-day Los Angeles, with music that alternately sounded like bluesy Creedence Clearwater Revival–style swamp rockers and celestially glowing Velvet Underground balladry. Last year's Balm in Gilead, with such guests as Ben Harper, Alison Kraus, Jon Brion and the late Vic Chesnutt, was mellower and more subtly moving, with a gentle undercurrent of romanticism as Jones got back into more personal themes, such as family, longing and the passage of time. (Falling James)
Location Info
Map
Bootleg Theater
2200 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90057
Category: Bars and Clubs
Region: Out of Town
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Space 15 Twenty
1520 N. Cahuenga Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Category: Art Galleries
Region: Hollywood
El Rey Theatre
5515 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Category: Bars and Clubs
Region: Mid-Wilshire/ Hancock Park
Three Clubs Cocktail Lounge
1123 Vine St.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Category: Bars and Clubs
Region: Hollywood
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Also playing Tuesday:
MIA DOI TODD, BECKY STARK, F.D. SCHER, DJ FROSTY at Spaceland; STS9, NALEPA DUB ORCHESTRA at the Wiltern; MAGIC KIDS, PEARL HARBOR, DUNES at the Echo; DIOS, THE HENRY CLAY PEOPLE, SIGNALS at the Troubadour.
Wednesday/February/17
Alkaline Trio, Cursive at House of Blues
Alkaline Trio have been pumping out goth-inflected pop-punk records for over a decade, and judging by This Addiction, their new one (due out February 23), they'd be perfectly happy spending the next decade pumping out several more. Their debut on Epitaph following a single-album stint on Epic, Addiction sounds as fresh and energized as early Alk Trio discs like Maybe I'll Catch Fire and From Here to Infirmary. (You're probably picking up on a lyrical theme here, one that front-man-slash-punmeister Matt Skiba extends in clever new jams like "The American Scream" and "Dine, Dine My Darling.") In a sign of the band's devoted SoCal fan base, this show marks the second date of a lengthy North American tour that hits the same venue April 2. Omaha-based openers Cursive play a brainy yet pummeling brand of punk rock that suggests Conor Oberst fronting Hüsker Dü. (Mikael Wood)
Also playing Wednesday:
MATA LEON, SOCADIA, THAT NOISE, CASIO at Boardner's; THE WATSON TWINS, DAISY McCRACKIN at the Bootleg Theater; OLD MAN MARKEY, PINE BOX BOYS at the Echo; FASTER PUSSYCAT, LOGAN'S HEROES, PRETTY BOY FLOYD at the Key Club; MARK GROWDEN at the Redwood Bar; BOB SCHNEIDER, SMILE SMILE at the Troubadour.
Thursday/February/18
Imaad Wasif & Two Part Beast, Lou Barlow & The Missingmen, Avi Buffalo at Spaceland
Current Spaceland resident Imaad Wasif got his big break opening for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the band's largely sold-old 2006 tour — a cherry spot secured by Wasif's double-dipping as the second ax-wielding madman in the headliner's arsenal. As it turns out, Wasif was quite established already, his track record far more informed by lo-fi folk than scrappy art-punk. Before releasing his first solo album, in 2006, the guitarist put in work with the Folk Implosion, the third highly influential band started by indie-rock originator Lou Barlow (following, of course, Dinosaur Jr and Sebadoh). But on this particular night, Wasif will appear with Two Part Beast — turning his psychedelic, raga-influenced drone compositions into hard-rocking, stratospheric prog epics — and Barlow plays with the Missingmen, a San Pedro–based punk group assembled by none other than Mike Watt. Youthful opener Avi Buffalo, hailing from Long Beach, will fit right in with its winning mix of spiraling folk and weird, white blues. (Chris Martins)
Josh Charles at the Mint
Soul went into hiding in the arid decade that has thus far made up the 21st century. No grease, no gris-gris, no grits, no groceries, no nuttin'. Okay, there've been exceptions, and here's one. Brooklyn boy Josh Charles calls his blue-eyed soul "Notown music," blending New Orleans and Motown, and he's a welcome respite from the flat and honkified. At age 14, the terrific songwriter and pianist scammed an audience with his hero Dr. John — aka Crescent City icon Mac Rebennack — and showed off his mastery of N'awlins ivory pounders James Booker, Professor Longhair and Allen Toussaint. Rebennack was suitably jacked and Charles' just-released debut, Love, Work, & Money, was more recently tracked with Rebennack's band at the legendary Piety Street Studios. One can imagine Aretha or Aaron Neville singing Charles originals like "It Ain't Easy" or "Healing Time." Soul is not just a genre of music, it's a way of life. It's been known to be contagious, and if we're lucky, the spirit that found its way into Charles will animate other young 'uns and cause outbreaks of humanity. (Michael Simmons)
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