Music Picks: Neil Innes, Korean Music Festival 8, Avi Buffalo, Lupe Fiasco, Coheed and Cambria

MONDAY/MAY/3

Let's do the "butt-dance" again: K-pop's Kara

Head Cat(s)

Location Info

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McCabe's Bar & Grill

2455 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Category: Bars and Clubs

Region: Santa Monica

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Key Club

9039 W. Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Bars and Clubs

Region: Out of Town

The Troubadour

9081 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Bars and Clubs

Region: West Hollywood

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Hollywood Bowl

2301 N. Highland Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90068

Category: Music Venues

Region: Out of Town

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House of Blues Sunset Strip

8430 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90069

Category: Bars and Clubs

Region: Out of Town

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The Conga Room

800 W. Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Category: Bars and Clubs

Region: Downtown

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REDCAT: Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater

631 W. Second St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Category: Bars and Clubs

Region: Downtown

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SWEETHEAD AT SPACELAND
Sweethead are kind of an all-star band that features Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, Plexi drummer Norm Block and bassist Eddie Nappi (the Mark Lanegan Band). Yet the member with the most potential star power might be the previously unknown singer Serrina Sims. The modelesque blonde front woman stalks the stage fearlessly as if she's been doing this her whole life, bumping and grinding and falling to her knees while Van Leeuwen buries her in a hail of jagged hard-rock riffs. Sweethead just released a self-titled full-length CD, which nicely fulfills the promise of their tantalizing 2008 debut EP, The Great Disruptors. Songs like "P.I.G." and "City of Dirt" are hard and heavy with a trace of stardust glitter, and they reveal a more restless intelligence than most of the rock careerists currently clotting the Sunset Strip. The quartet rip it up at a punk tempo on "Sinkhole International," and they trip out on weirdly melodic soundscapes like "The Other Side" and "Amazing Vanishing Conquest." Even stranger is the dreamy groove of "Traumatized and Dumb," where Sims swims languidly in the dark whirlpool of Van Leeuwen's swirling guitar. Taking a chance on Sweethead shouldn't cost you anything more than time, as the group begins a free weekly residency tonight. (Falling James)

Also playing Monday: LUPE FIASCO, B.o.B. at the House of Blues; LISA PAPINEAU at the Echo; THE HOLD STEADY at the Grammy Museum; BOBBY WERNER at the Mint; THE STANLEY BLACKS at Molly Malone's; BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE at the Henry Fonda; CONCERTO KOLN at Park Plaza Hotel.

TUESDAY/MAY/4

GREG LASWELL AT THE TROUBADOUR
This local singer-songwriter is a favorite of Hollywood music supervisors, who've licensed his atmospheric folk-rock tunes to underscore moments of emotional revelation on Grey's Anatomy, True Blood, The Hills and 90210. But don't let Laswell's success as a scene-setter convince you that his stuff isn't worthy of your full attention. On his brand-new Take a Bow — which includes guest spots from fellow prime-time regulars Ingrid Michaelson and Cary Brothers — Laswell tricks out his precisely crafted melodies with all kinds of ear-candy detail; songs like "In Front of Me" and the title track are recommended to anyone who wishes Elliott Smith had lived to take advantage of recent leaps in digital-recording technology. At the Troubadour Laswell will appear with his backing band and concentrate on new material. Ask nicely, though, and he may do his dreamy version of "This Woman's Work." (Mikael Wood)

COHEED AND CAMBRIA, TORCHE AT FOX THEATER POMONA
Look, I won't front: If I hadn't been told about it, it's unlikely I'd have known that Year of the Black Rainbow, the latest from Coheed and Cambria, serves as a prequel to the complicated sci-fi tale laid out across the New York emo-prog outfit's four previous full-lengths. (And now that I do know, I can't say I really care.) So consider it a testament to Coheed's flair for fist-pumping bubble-grunge jams that Rainbow still kind of rules. At Coachella earlier this month they kicked out their song "Welcome Home" with help from the USC marching band, and though a repeat performance seems improbable tonight, you should expect something nearly as triumphant. Sludge-metal openers Torche, from Miami, sound like Foo Fighters covering Sleep (or maybe vice versa); their upcoming split 10-inch with Japan's Boris is exceedingly awesome. (Mikael Wood)

Also playing Tuesday: THE KACEY CUBERO BAND at the Mint; DANIEL FRANCIS DOYLE, I.E., RARE GROOVES at the Smell; HUCK, JUSTINE BENNETT at the Hotel Cafe; THE MOOG at the Viper Room; REBELUTION, ZION I, TRIBAL SEEDS at House of Blues; JOE SIB, CHRIS SHIFLETT at Largo at the Coronet; LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC NEW MUSIC GROUP at Disney Hall.

WEDNESDAY/MAY/5

SHEILA E & THE ESCOVEDO FAMILY AT THE CONGA ROOM
Talk about a gene pool. It's difficult to think of the Escovedo family as a single unit, since the get-around clan is so pervasively talented and well-connected that their musical reach verges on the monopolistic. After all, their collective roster of achievement has made an impact on virtually every type of North American music — salsa, Latin jazz, pop, soul, rock & roll, even punk. And none of this is exactly half-baked: Percussion patriarch Pete, who got his start (with hermano Coke Escovedo) in San Francisco jazz clubs circa 1960, distinguished himself as a spearhead who fused salsa and Latin jazz, moved on to a long stint with Santana (at their mid-'70s peak) and subsequently enhanced the shows and records of innumerable luminaries (Barry White, Tito Puente, Poncho Sanchez, Al Jarreau, etc.). Daughter Sheila E, of course, is the renowned timbales temptress who collaborated with Prince on his breakout album, Purple Rain, and later hit the road as his musical director, also managing to jolt a few hits of her own onto the pop chart ("The Glamorous Life," "A Love Bizarre"). History aside, serious alchemy occurs when you get 'em all together, and this Conga de Mayo special is certain to provide mesmerizing wall-to-wall rhythmic explorations, each meticulously taken to undreamt-of expressive — and arousing — heights. (Jonny Whiteside)