Music Picks: Buzzcocks, Diana Ross, Isis, the xx

KROQ WEENIE ROAST AT VERIZON WIRELESS AMPHITHEATER
Does the extraordinarily high number of reunion acts here — Stone Temple Pilots, Hole, Devo and the Bradley Nowell–less Sublime — say something bleak about the current state of America's Alternative Nation? Yeah, probably. (That STP record's not bad, though.) Still, don't let the preponderance of oldsters blind you to some of the fresher talent at KROQ's annual start-of-summer blowout: Tennessee's Paramore, for example, are the single finest pop-punk band currently working in America; their Brand New Eyes, from last year, is emo with a point. Against Me! make similarly vital use of loud guitars on their new White Crosses, while Deftones turn their noise inward on the typically thoughtful Diamond Eyes. And Spoon are pretty much always worth seeing (even if this year's Transferencecould do with a few more catchy tunes). Also on the bill: L.A.'s own Silversun Pickups, as well as Chevelle, Cage the Elephant, the Dirty Heads, the Temper Trap and Passion Pit. (Mikael Wood)

Also playing Saturday: LOCAL NATIVES, VOXHAUL BROADCAST at the Bootleg Theater; THE MIDDLE EAST at Detroit Bar; BODY PARTS, THE PRESERVATION, OH YEAH, THE FUTURE at Echo Curio; LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, HOLY GHOST! at Fox Theater Pomona; THE XX (also see Sun.) at the MUSIC BOX; SCREAMING FEMALES at Spaceland; SUBHUMANS, AHEAD at the Glass House; DAN BLACK at the Roxy; GRACE WIDOW, MIKE WATT at the Smell; RITA MORENO at Catalina Bar & Grill; MAXWELL, JILL SCOTT at Staples Center.

What do they get? Better with age: Buzzcocks.

Stripped: Thao and Mirah unplugged

Location Info

Map

The Smell

247 S. Main St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Downtown

Photos

1 user reviews	Write A Review
Save to foursquare

The Troubadour

9081 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: West Hollywood

Photos

Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

8800 Irvine Center Dr
Irvine, CA 92603

Category: Music Venues

Region: Out of Town

Photos

Related Content

• Take The Bike Train to Work, L.A.
  May 21, 2013
• Silver Lake Has Always Been Gay, Readers Say
  April 25, 2013
• Move Over, West Hollywood -- Silver Lake Is the True Gay Mecca
  April 19, 2013
• The 10 Best Restaurants in Silver Lake: A Neighborhood Grub Crawl
  May 7, 2013
• Happy Hour: Hyperion Public in Silver Lake Happy Wings!
  April 24, 2013

More About

• James Murphy
• John Payne
• Mikael Wood
• Punk Rock
• Celebrity News

SUNDAY/JUNE/6

THE XX AT THE WILTERN
Earlier this year, in an essay for the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll, I lamented the fact that a great many of America's rock critics found this arty English trio a more satisfying source of soul music than the-Dream or R. Kelly. Well, joke's on me: Last month Maxwell told Billboard that for the follow-up to 2009's BLACKsummers'night he's taking influence from the xx. In fact, he could do worse: In sleekly minimalistic jams like "Crystalised" and "Islands" (a sample of which recently turned up online in a new Shakira song), the xx forge a fresh sound that seems to pull as much from Timbaland's space-age R&B as it does from the clean-channel guitar tangle of Washing Machine–era Sonic Youth. I'm unsure why so many of my peers find that sound so passionate, and I'm not at all certain that the band's trademark delicacy will survive their growing buzz. But I'm definitely interested in seeing where they go. Also Sat. at the Music Box. (Mikael Wood)

Also playing Sunday: VETIVER at Spaceland; SUBHUMANS at the Echo; HATCHET WOUND, DUNES, BIPOLAR BEAR, NEONATES at the Smell; PLAYBOY JAZZ at Warner Center Park.

MONDAY/JUNE/7

THAO & MIRAH WITH THE BEST OF ALL AT THE BOOTLEG THEATER
What happens when you combine two of the smartest and most adventurous American indie-pop singers into one big, brand-new collaboration? We're not sure exactly what Thao Nguyen and Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn have planned tonight, but, considering their separate track records, it doesn't seem to be an exaggeration that their new project is titled the Best of All. Based in Portland, Oregon, Yom Tov Zeitlyn has already had a wild and varied career, combining introspective pop songs with electronic experimentation and working with Spectratone International and members of the Black Cat Orchestra when she examined the secret life of insects on the marvelously inventive album Share This Place. Kill Rock Stars' Nguyen is coming off an unusual album of breakup songs, Know Better Learn Faster, where her clever, self-deprecating lyrics were dressed up with elaborate orchestration. For this tour, Thao & Mirah are performing in a stripped-down format, backing each other acoustically while dipping into each other's estimable song catalogs. (Falling James)

Also playing Monday: DELTA SPIRIT at Amoeba; PU$$Y COW, PRIZZY PRIZZY PLEASE, OH BARRACUDA at Echo Curio; NORA KEYES, NO BABIES at Pehrspace; EVEN VOYTAS at Silverlake Lounge; WE BARBARIANS at Spaceland; RAINBOW ARABIA at the Echo.

TUESDAY/JUNE/8

HENRY CLAY PEOPLE AT SPACELAND
They were working part time, all the time, to paraphrase one of the stellar Henry Clay People songs that'd been kicking around the L.A. underground for a few years. There was a minute there when it seemed like the band's moment would never come — that all of those excellent, Americana-tinged, punky rock ditties would go the way of the dodo as national focus moved from the Silver Lake songwriters to the downtown noisemakers. But then, in what outwardly seemed sudden (and what inwardly must've been a long time coming), TBD Records announced it'd signed HCP, making them label mates with — wait for it — Radiohead. Somewhere on the Golden Coast, which is out the day of this show, will be the band's third LP and should be chock-full of the edgy, upbeat energy that sets the People apart from L.A.'s also-rans. Catch them now before they embark on a massive national tour opening for an apt pair of headliners: Silversun Pickups and Against Me. (Chris Martins)

HEALTH, BEST COAST, INDIAN JEWELRY, GOLD PANDA AT THE ECHOPLEX
Despite the natural tendency to assume otherwise, the L.A. noise scene is about as diverse as the city that's nurtured it. This night's stars hail from nigh-opposite ends of that spectrum. HEALTH uses electronics to garble its sound; Best Coast relies upon old-fashioned guitar fuzz. HEALTH singer Jabob Duzsik chooses to express himself through a series of spine-chilling hisses and screams; Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino prefers oohs, aahs and candy-sweet melodies delivered with slackerly aplomb. The former's band attracts words like "terrifying," "aggressive" and "dark"; the latter's collects descriptors like "warm," "swooning" and "beachy." You get the idea. So where's the common ground? Aside from a general commitment to large amounts of distortion, the connective tissue lies in the fact that both acts are damn good at what they do. HEALTH's Get Color was one of the finest L.A. releases of 2009, and Best Coast's series of seven-inches has inspired eBay shoppers to pay as much as $50 for two songs at a time. (Chris Martins)