Music Picks: Gary Numan, Ana Moura, Mark Sultan, XBXRX

SUNDAY/APRIL/18

No passing fado: Ana Moura

Location Info

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Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk

100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608

Category: Attractions/Amusement Parks

Region: Out of Town

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4 user reviews	Write A Review

Nokia Theatre

777 Chick Hearn Court
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Category: Music Venues

Region: Downtown

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More About

• Chris Martins
• The Viper Room
• Mikael Wood
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
• Music Festivals

DUM DUM GIRLS, RAMONA GONZALEZ, TAN DOLLAR AT ECHO CURIO
Singer Kristin Gundred (aka Dee Dee) and her Dum Dum Girls are all leather jackets, major hair and tuff-titty 'tude, ripping through '60s-style rock & rebel melodramas like chain-saw–wielding punks while also crooning like heartbroken angels. Produced by "My Boyfriend's Back" co-writer Richard Gottehrer, the Girls' recent Sub Pop debut, I Will Be, comes fully loaded with Brill Building–worthy tunes of craft and is built solid and classy, like a '57 Chevy. Prone to lo-fi party sounds with a brainy twist, Ramona Gonzalez of Nite Jewel makes with the funky teen beats and itchy-hummy synth melodies. Straight outta Irvine, Tan Dollar call themselves "experimental" pop, though their two-sheeny-synths-'n'-drummer trip comes off like New Order redux — a bit shaky thus far, but ambitiously larger than life. (John Payne)

Also playing Sunday: Also playing Sunday: COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL (see feature); ARCTIC MONKEYS at Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace; OLETA ADAMS at Catalina Bar & Grill; LOVE IS ALL, WEAVE, LOVE GRENADES at the Echo; DOÑA NICHA at Alex's Bar; ROB MICHAEL at the Roxy; PARADE OF LIGHTS at Spaceland; RIDIKULE at the Viper Room; L.A. JAZZ COLLECTIVE at Vitello's; SOPHIE-VÉRONIQUE CAUCHEFER-CHOPLIN at Disney Hall; IT'S CASUAL at the Dragonfly; CASEY HURT at the Mint; PATT BRITT & THE ALL-STARS at the Cat & Fiddle; MALE BONDING at the Smell; "BANANA SPLIT SUNDAES" at LAX; L.A. OPERA at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion; LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC at Disney Hall.

MONDAY/APRIL/19

XBXRX AT PEHRSPACE
Spiky, spazzy left-field punk crew XBXRX got its start in Mobile, Alabama, but its identity has fully merged with the group's current Bay Area digs. Not only does XBXRX draw strength from Oakland's rich, frenetic punk history, but the band is actually a collective of artists exploring a hugely diverse field of music across its oeuvre. Lead screecher Vice Cooler is, in his other life as Hawnay Troof, an accomplished emo-rapper and electronic producer. Contributor Weasel Walter once led cult avant-garde jazz outfit the Flying Luttenbachers and now splits his time between XBXRX and a new hardcore-metal band. Guitarist Steve Touchstone moonlights in garage-rock band Kit. All of that cross-pollination goes a long way to explaining why XBXRX's own music is so unique. Sounding like an amalgam of the Blood Brothers, Deerhoof and Sonic Youth, the group presents a perfect storm of fucked-up futurism and old-school experimentation. Don't believe us? Check it out yourself: XBXRX is offering its latest album, Un Usper, as a free download. (Chris Martins)

Also playing Monday: NOFX at Saint Rocke; FIREBALL MINISTRY at the Troubadour; STEEL ROD at Cinespace; HELEN STELLAR, TWILIGHT SLEEP, MEETING PLACES at Spaceland; STEEL PANTHER, PAPERBACK HERO, BLACKPOOL at House of Blues; WAKING SLEEP at the Echo; LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH at the Whisky a Go Go; PHIL ALVIN at the Redwood Bar & Grill.

TUESDAY/APRIL/20

EARTH, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, LORI GOLDSTON AT THE ECHOPLEX
Seattle's Earth are as well-known today for their connections to other bands as they are for their music: Leader Dylan Carlson was one of Kurt Cobain's closest friends, while the celebrated underground outfit Sunn O))) reportedly named themselves after the brand of amplifier Carlson favors. But there's no denying the impressive power of Earth's music, which tends toward the more thoughtful, atmospheric end of the doom-metal spectrum; on their most recent full-length, 2008's The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull, no less a guitar legend than Bill Frisell showed up in a guest spot. The band's current incarnation includes Olympia indie-scene staple Karl Blau on bass and cellist Lori Goldston, whose deep résumé includes Nirvana's MTV Unplugged. Goldston will open tonight's show along with Wolves in the Throne Room, a well-regarded young group with an outspoken environmentalist agenda. (Mikael Wood)

CALIFORNIA E.A.R. UNIT AND SONIC BOOM PERFORM METAL MACHINE MUSIC AT REDCAT
Lou Reed's 1975 Metal Machine Music has long been the subject of one of the more humorous debates in the rock book. Widely assumed to be a cynical hack job dashed off to put the coffin nail in Reed's record-label deal, the album's indisputably (in hindsight) complex masses of gargantuan amplified guitar feedback and overall nihilistic tone-mangling have come to be regarded as a masterpiece of new music. Sonic Boom (Ulrich Krieger) has made a career out of demonstrating MMM's deeply hidden sonic wonders, which he will attempt to prove again in collaboration with L.A. new-music ensemble the California E.A.R. Unit. Starts promptly at 8:30 p.m. (John Payne)

MR. GNOME AT SILVERLAKE LOUNGE
For a band with just two members, Mr. Gnome sure crank up a lot of sound. Drummer Sam Meister powerfully hammers down loud, heavy rhythms as singer-guitarist Nicole Barille churns out distorted chords while floating her ghostly vocals over everything. The Cleveland duo are too weird and arty to be considered metal, but sonic landslides like "Slow Side," from their 2009 album, Heave Yer Skeleton, are too cathartically pulverizing to be lumped in with the work of lightweight indie rockers. And yet, for all of the sound and fury of tracks like "Plastic Shadow," Mr. Gnome have a distinctly pretty, softer side as they mix in dreamily febrile interludes among the savage riffage. This particular juxtaposition of light and darkness is quite unusual, especially the way such songs as "Spain" unfold with interstellar echoes bouncing among the hazy corridors of Meister's keyboards and Barille's trapped-at-the-bottom-of-a-well vocals. Mr. Gnome are still fairly obscure on this coast, but Heave Yer Skeleton was one of last year's most impressively original releases. (Falling James)