Music Picks: Cobra Lilies, Gaslight Anthem, Shelby Lynne, Die Antwoord
Also, The Dead Weather, New Pornographers, the Swell Season and others
WEDNESDAY/JULY/21
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The Greek Theatre
2700 N. Vermont Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Category: Community Venues
Region: Los Feliz
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Museum of the American West
4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Category: Community Venues
Region: Los Feliz
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GASLIGHT ANTHEM AT THE WILTERN
The Gaslight Anthem sound harks back to the Jersey Shore of yore — a place that's about as far away as you can get from the grotesque excesses displayed by MTV's Jersey Shore and, um, Pauly D's hair. For ever-earnest singer Brian Fallon and his band, it's a blue-collar thing, just as it was for Bruce Springsteen and Willy DeVille before him. And rather than peddle the sort of generic Balearic beats that the guidos prefer, the Gaslight Anthem makes rock & roll roughed up by punk gruffness and occasional Americana twang. Lyrically speaking, Fallon's songs drip with working-class signifiers — references to "Blue Jeans and White T-Shirts," tattoos and Tom Petty — while the band's latest album is aptly titled American Slang. He delivers the latter in a Jeremy Enigk–grade growl that's offset by his between-song banter. A self-deprecating prole to the bone, Fallon could easily open for his own band as comedic support. (Chris Martins)
THE DEAD WEATHER AT THE HOLLYWOOD PALLADIUM
You have to suspend your disbelief a little when it comes to the Dead Weather. Singer Alison Mosshart and her foil, Jack White, sound like they've been to hell, and not necessarily back, with all of the doom and gloom and pain and suffering they sling at each other on the band's second album, Sea of Cowards. Romance only leads to madness, and every heartbreak is apocalyptic, to the point where the nonstop bluesy dread starts to seem more mannered than real. Still, Mosshart's witchy imprecations feel impressively menacing when they're backed by the group's Led Zeppelin–style riffing, especially on "Gasoline" and "The Difference Between Us." Too often, though, promising opening lines are followed by throwaway rhymes, and the overall songwriting isn't as strong as it was on their first album, Horehound. With other bands, such a slowdown might be a problem, but the Dead Weather exude so much attitude, it almost doesn't matter. (Falling James)
Also playing Wednesday: JAMIE CULLUM at Ford Amphitheatre; KEANE, INGRID MICHAELSON, FRAN HEALEY at the Greek Theatre; LEE RITENOUR & DAVE GRUSIN feat. TAJ MAHAL, KEB' MO' and JOHN SCOFIELD, DIANNE REEVES at the Hollywood Bowl; GUGGENHEIM GROTTO at the Hotel Café; BRIAN VOGAN at Levitt Pavilion Pasadena; HALLOWEEN SWIM TEAM, EYES, JESUS IS ANGRY, BESTIAL MOUTHS at the Smell; RIHANNA at Staples Center; GRAM RABBIT at the Troubadour.
THURSDAY/JULY/22
TEARIST, THE CYSTS, HAWNAY TROOF, BRO-MAGS AT THE SMELL
It's unclear what sort of music the Bro-Mags make, but with a band handle that clever, it's got to be good. Or at least extremely ironic. What precious little help The Smell's home page offers is promising: The group includes members of the spazz-punk crew XBXRX and local "grunge-gaze" outfit Bipolar Bear, while clicking on the newly minted band's name sends you to a live clip of Pennywise doing their also well-named frat fave, "Bro Hymn." Considerably more is known about Oakland's Hawnay Troof, a love-him-or-hate-him type who openly raps about his feelings over clangy, sometimes dancey electronic beats (he's also the lead screamer in XBXRX). Meanwhile, headliners Tearist are famous for their wild live shows. Whether stationed at a skuzzy downtown club or a house party in Bel Air, these typically involve keyboardist and beatsmith Will Menchaca banging out the noisy disco, while singer Yasmine Kittles jerks, writhes, coos, yelps and otherwise displays a healthy love for spectacle and a general distrust of pants. (Chris Martins)
JOVANOTTI, ANA TIJOUX AT THE SANTA MONICA PIER
Since the late 1980s, Jovanotti has been a superstar in Italy, where he was one of the first homegrown rappers to have commercial success. The former Lorenzo Cherubini hasn't caught on much in America, in part because he usually sings in Italian and in part because he's closer to Pat Boone than Little Richard in the scheme of things. Even when Jovanotti raps in English, as he did on "The Rappers," he comes off as earnestly dorky instead of menacing to society. After all these years, he still sounds a little stiff on his new live CD, O Yeah, where a slick, Vegas-y backup band ushers him through breezy renditions of his old Italian hits "L'Umbelico del Mondo" and "Serenata Rap." However, it's his unintentionally campy versions of the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" and Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' " that should provide the most amusement for English-speaking listeners. The title of Chilean-French rapper Ana Tijoux's new CD, 1977, is a reference to the year of her birth and not punk rock, but her music takes a similarly adventurous look at the collision of two cultures and two continents. She also opens for Jovanotti on Wednesday at the Viper Room, where he'll make his L.A. debut. (Falling James)
Also playing Thursday: MAPS & ATLASES, CULTS at the Bootleg; SONORA CARRUSELES at the Conga Room; CYNIC, INTRONAUT, DYSRHYTHMIA at El Rey; DROP DEAD GORGEOUS, FROM FIRST TO LAST, SLEEPING WITH SIRENS, ATTILA at the Glass House; BARENAKED LADIES, KRIS ALLEN, ANGEL TAYLOR at the Greek Theatre; VOXHAUL BROADCAST, CHASING KINGS at Hammer Museum (courtyard); ALL-MOZART: LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC with NICHOLAS McGEGAN, KATIA & MARIELLE LABÈQUE at the Hollywood Bowl; JOEY RYAN, LELIA, JAKE NEWTON, GARRISON STARR at the Hotel Café; VICTIMAS DEL DR., CEREBRO at the Key Club; MARTINA MCBRIDE at Pacific Amphitheatre; PARNO GRASZT at the Skirball; OFF WITH THEIR HEADS, OLD MAN MARKLEY at the Troubadour; MIGUEL GARCIA AND THE VAQUETONES at Weber's Place.
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