Music Picks: Ooh La La Fest, Pavement, Beach House

BETTYE LAVETTE AT LARGO

The recently reappraised '60s-soul vet earned loads of fresh acclaim earlier this year with Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook, on which she offered up slow-and-low R&B renditions of such dad-friendly U.K. jams as Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed," Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and Led Zeppelin's "All My Love." (Related: She just completed a brief run of American shows with Robert Plant.) Now LaVette is set to reinterpret her reinterpretations over two intimate nights at Largo, where she'll be accompanied only by pianist Brian O'Rourke. Expect a letup in the funk factor but not in emotional intensity: LaVette's specialty these days is breaking down a text to its skin-and-bones essentials, then demonstrating how universal a truth it can be. Also Tuesday. (Mikael Wood)

"I am Kris Kristofferson."

Location Info

Map

The Troubadour

9081 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: West Hollywood

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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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The Smell

247 S. Main St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Downtown

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McCabe's Guitar Shop

3101 Pico Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Out of Town

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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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• Chris Martins
• John Payne
• Mikael Wood
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
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Also playing Monday: MUSE, PASSION PIT at Staples Center.

TUESDAY/SEPTEMBER/28

NEVERMORE AT KEY CLUB

Nevermore are gloriously fashion-oblivious metal technicians who, with their new (and

seventh) album, The Obsidian Conspiracy, suggest that song craft and shredding can indeed co-exist. Most of their tunes begin with a traditional post-thrash concoction of almost symphonic fizzy guitars and gurgling bass punctuated with rivet-gun kick drums. But once Warrel Dane's multiple-personality, Middle Earth vocals weigh in, they become progressive, thoughtful things that — in spirit at least — are as much heroic Iron Maiden as mean-spirited Megadeth. The fearsome Seattle foursome (a five-piece onstage) indulge in Queensrÿchian conceptual/conspiratorial lyrics while exploring tempos and colors with an abandon that's kept them interesting for nearly two decades. Despite the lengthy gap since Nevermore's previous studio collection, Conspiracy is a relatively straightforward marriage of frantically precise heads-down grooves, soaring suboperatic hooks and Herculean harmonies. (Paul Rogers)

Also playing Tuesday: PERFUME GENIUS at Hollywood Forever Cemetery; SARA BAREILLES, GREG LASWELL at the Orpheum; BETTYE LAVETTE at Largo

WEDNESDAY/SEPTEMBER/29

DUKES OF SEPTEMBER RHYTHM REVUE AT THE GREEK THEATRE

Ladies and gentlemen, the world's first all-terrain yacht is rolling into Griffith Park with plans to unload its precious contents onto the Greek stage. OK, so maybe S.S. Blue Eyes doesn't exist, but it'd be the perfect prop for this knockout white-soul extravaganza. Dukes of September is the rather odd name for the vocal power trio that is Boz Scaggs, Donald Fagen and Michael McDonald. (What, "the Steel Doobie Band" was taken?) Naturally they'll have a knockout backing band as well, as they work their way through a set composed of not only their own considerable bag of hits — we hear "Lowdown," "Peg" and "What a Fool Believes" are on the menu — but an incredible array of covers as well. Fagen recently told Rolling Stone, "The idea was to play music that we all liked when we were kids," so it should come as no surprise that the playlist is heavy on Stax and Motown classics. (Chris Martins)

DEAKIN, FENNESZ, PRINCE RAMA AT EAGLE ROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Yeah, yeah, Deakin is the totally awesome dude from Animal Collective and he's a beast on the guitar-pedals-soundboard-vocals setup, as well as an ace remixer who's given Ratatat, Phoenix and Goldfrapp the tripped-out beat treatment. And Prince Rama is a currently buzzing Brooklyn trio signed to AnCo's Paw Tracks label, featuring a heavily psychedelic sound that owes a bit to the shimmery soundscapes of new age as well as to Eastern chant. That's all well and good, but what makes this a truly momentous occasion is the presence of Christian Fennesz. The Vienna-based guitarist/producer is a legend in ambient, electronic and found-sound circles, and even experienced an unexpected crossover moment with his 2001 Mego Records classic Endless Summer. The title is indeed a reference to the seminal Beach Boys album, and the tunes may well be the experimental musician's version of surf pop. His music is warm enough and breaks upon the ears like waves, but this is the stuff that boundary-pushing popists like Brian Wilson could take notes from. Bow down or be bowled over. (Chris Martins)

SARAH HARMER AT SPACELAND

The Canadian singer Sarah Harmer specializes in gentle pop-folk tunes about romance that are thoughtful and intelligent instead of mawkish and sentimental. The mainstream musical settings on her new CD, Oh Little Fire (Cold Snap/Zoe Records), aren't especially adventurous, but Harmer has a clear, pretty voice that gives her pop valentines an undeniable charm. "I wanna be held captive/Forget the way I acted/It's just I'm out of practice," she confesses invitingly to a lover. "Hold me to this thing, darling/And bring a ladder, we'll climb to the rafters." She convincingly exudes the joy surrounding a new love, but she tends to dig a little deeper on her sadder songs, such as "Late Bloomer," where her expectations and disappointment are efficiently summed up in the couplet "I showed off my heart/Now there's a scar in the shape of a question mark." Harmer first came to attention with the Toronto country-rock combo the Saddletramps and rocked it up a little more in her next band, Weeping Tile, but her solo albums tend to be more introspective and poppy, as she charts subtle romantic details "from the backs of the comets to the little street mice." (Falling James)