LIZ PAPPADEMAS & THE LEVEL AT THE ECHO CURIO
"One of these days I'm going to rewrite your cue cards," Liz Pappademas sings slyly on her upcoming album, Television City. "One of these days I'm going to write for the big leagues." The local singer-pianist and former member of the Austin band Hurts to Purr should be in the big leagues already. Despite its plain title, her 2007 debut album, 11 Songs, was a mesmerizing assortment of passionate ballads that deftly combined Neil Young's gentle introspection with Fiona Apple's forceful piano pop. Even more impressive, Pappademas proved to be a masterful lyricist, playfully invoking Robert Rauschenberg, Jackson Pollock and Harry Houdini as she spun dreamily poetic fantasies about soldiers' wives and earthquakes in Loma Prieta. "You'll look like Sean Connery/and I'll get to be all the Bond girls," she promised a lover during "Vacation Romance." After performing solo or with minimal backing for the past few years, Pappademas appears tonight with her new band, the Level, debuting songs from Television City, which she describes as a concept album about a mythical game show called Who's Your Neighbor? (Falling James)
Also playing Wednesday: THEM CROOKED VULTURES at Club Nokia; HOLLY GOLIGHTLY & THE BROKEOFFS at Spaceland; NORTEC COLLECTIVE at Bootleg Theater; RUBY SUNS, TORO Y MOI at the Echo; JOHN JASPERSE CO., ICE ENSEMBLE at REDCAT; DELTA NOVE at Alex's Bar; DEATH ANGEL, ARSIS at Roxy; RUN THROUGH THE DESERT, KINGSIZE, ADRENALIN TRAFFIC at the Troubadour; BRAIN DEAD BUREAUCRACY, GAX, ROCKET CHIRCA, BLACK VELVET DELUXE at Good Hurt; CHAMBER MUSIC AT UCLA at Schoenberg Hall; SAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA at Disney Hall; MOVING PICTURE SHOW, IMAGINE DRAGONS at Viper Room; "NO CULTURE" at the Echo.
Liars in the woods
"I ... wanna beeeee ... at Nokia!"
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BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE AT THE BOOTLEG THEATER
Coming out of the same Toronto coffeehouse scene as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young in the early '60s, Buffy Sainte-Marie was an impressive songwriter from the start, composing several notable tunes — such as the harrowing but beautifully chilling ballad "Codeine" — that were covered by Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, Bobby Darin, Gram Parsons and Cher. But she also had a distinctive voice with a mesmerizing vibrato, as she sang fiery, contrarian anthems about Native American identity. Given her musical importance and considering how rarely Sainte-Marie tours, it would be a big event any time the Hawaiian-based singer comes to town. But the fact that she's still creatively thriving makes this more than a nostalgia fest. Her latest album, Running for the Drum (Appleseed Recordings), a transcontinental collaboration with the French musician-producer Chris Birkett, is a fascinating collision of genres and eras, juxtaposing unabashed love songs with politically defiant protest. "Blue Sunday" is a fast-stepping original that authentically evokes early rockabilly, while "No No Keshagesh" sounds like trip-hopping space disco. "Working for the Government" weaves together Sainte-Marie's banshee wails, psychedelic dub bass and traditional tribal chanting into a punk-funk frenzy. The acoustic folk ramble "Little Wheel Spin and Spin" is less elaborately arranged, but it's even more spellbinding. Also at Topanga Community House, Sat., April 17. (Falling James)
DAVID ALLAN COE AT BRIXTON SOUTH BAY
Equal parts rampaging wild man, sensitive/introspective poet and taboo-flouting rebel, country star David Allan Coe is a perpetually fascinating cluster of contradictions. The veteran singer-songwriter — always decked out like an interstellar 25th-century pimp and brandishing his stars-and-bars Flying V like a kill-crazy Hutaree — is as famed for his outrageous bluster (claiming he murdered a fellow inmate during his decade of incarceration, or that a Mormon conversion resulted in nine Mrs. Coes) as he is for his undeniable talent as a writer. Coe is the composer of "Take This Job (and Shove It)," "Would You Lay With Me (in a Field of Stone)" and scores of first-class numbers like "Now I Lay Me Down to Cheat," "Jack Daniel's, if You Please" — not to mention several stunningly vulgar albums of XXX-rated material — and his flexibility, depth and deft employ of metaphor rank him alongside country music's greatest lyricists. A mad-dog, longhaired redneck, sure, but Coe (who can also deliver an intense, showstopping version of Prince's "Purple Rain") is one of the most riveting performers you'll ever encounter. (Jonny Whiteside)
TAYLOR SWIFT AT STAPLES CENTER
It's kind of a shame that Taylor Swift and John Mayer already recorded a duet ("Half of My Heart," from his recent Battle Studies), because the past few months have provided plenty for the two stars to bond over. Each has been trying to live down a public-relations snafu (her off-key Grammy performance, his off-color Playboy interview) via a dramatic reduction in new-media face time, regarded by many industry pundits as the only way to maintain one's fan base these days. Should be interesting to see if the radio silence extends to Swift's onstage banter. Onstage banter, though, is ditzy American Idol alum Kellie Pickler's specialty; she's way more entertaining between songs than during them. Openers Gloriana are Lady Antebellum minus all the moody bits. Also Fri., April 16. (Mikael Wood)
CAETANO VELOSO AT: See Gustavo Turner's The Beat column.
THE SPECIALS AT CLUB NOKIA: See Music feature.
