MUSIC PICKS: Ruben Guevara, Buika, Bill Frisell's Beautiful Dreamers

TOO $HORT AT THE KEY CLUB

Of course Too $hort would merge again into the mainstream lane on an E-40/50 Cent track that immediately had to be censored for radio. Why? The original title of the single is the rapper's self-professed "favorite word," bitch. (Pronunciation for the uninitiated: bee-itch, hurled like a curveball.) Even though Short Dog's career highs have been anthems like "Freaky Tales" and "Blow the Whistle," which feature prominently in strip clubs and clubs that encourage girls to act like strippers, he's also a member of that generation of rappers who threw in a warning tale or two with his raunch. "The Ghetto" and "Gettin' It" surely played no small part in landing the Oakland MC on VH1's Hip-Hop Honoree roster. In 2006, a guest spot on Kelis' mack-missus theme song "Bossy" allowed him to shout his favorite word and still gain high approval ratings from all the next-wave hip-hop feminists who'd decided to reclaim the epithet. If that dirty drawl of his weren't so luring, they might buck at his latest effort. As it is, though, they'll just bounce. (Rebecca Haithcoat)

Location Info

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UCLA Royce Hall

340 Royce Drive
Westwood, CA 90024

Category: Music Venues

Region: West L.A.

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More About

• Chris Martins
• Paul Rogers
• MACHINE Rey
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
• Punk Rock

Also playing Saturday: JOHNNY FLYNN at Hotel Cafe; KEVIN GREENSPAN, TUJUNGA, NICOLE KIDMAN, COUP PIGEONS at the Smell.

SUNDAY/NOVEMBER/7

L.A. WEEKLY PRESENTS L.A. 101 AT GIBSON AMPHITHEATRE

Both Massive Attack and Thievery Corporation are duos fleshed out with as-needed revolving doors of guest musicians. For them this approach offers flexibility, efficiency and constantly refreshed creative stimulation; for us it means an attention-holding variety of voices, versions and never-the-same-twice touring incarnations. Massive Attack's cinematic, sample-strewn stitching of soul, dub and hip-hop reshaped dance music in the '90s. Even if this year's Heligoland, their fifth album, is more evolution than revolution, it remains (with help from Hope Sandoval, TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe and Elbow's Guy Garvey) a beautifully ominous opus. Thievery Corporation are the arch (and perhaps only) exponents of oxymoronic "protest lounge," lyrically wringing the necks of the greedy in velvet gloves of globally inflected ambient electronica on their most recent full-length, 2008's Radio Retaliation. With bold beats and a veritable United Nations of collaborators, the album laments the world's evils — and goes great with a late-night latte. Come early for local tipped-for-the-toppers Red Cortez, Saint Motel and Voxhaul Broadcast on the outdoor CityWalk stage. (Paul Rogers)

XENAKIS: ORESTEIA AT CALARTS

The late composer and architect Iannis Xenakis' strange and powerful Oresteia is based on the plays by Aeschylus revolving around the Trojan War, Agamemnon's murder by his wife, Clytemnestra, and the cycle of vengeance ensnaring their son, Orestes. Xenakis' ambitious ballet-on-steroids is a hair-raising superspectacle whose pounding rhythms and churchy/modernist vocal melodies are aided at CalArts by a 13-piece ensemble of wind instruments, brass and amplified solo cello, CalArts faculty baritone soloist Paul Berkolds and conductor Mark Menzies. Thankfully, hordes of dancers will enact the story, which gets pretty complicated, and there'll be men's, women's and children's choruses roaming CalArts' grounds, with audience members adding to the noise with their own slew of percussion. Performed at CalArts' new Wild Beast music pavilion, this free show is one of a series of Xenakis events at venues throughout L.A. planned for November 2010 through February 2011, including the opening of MOCA Pacific Design Center's exhibition "Iannis Xenakis: Composer, Architect, Visionary." (John Payne)

FRONTIER RECORDS' 30TH ANNIVERSARY AT THE ECHOPLEX

Of all the influential late-'70s SoCal punk labels (Slash, Dangerhouse, What Records), only Frontier Records has managed to remain vital over the ensuing decades. The imprint first came to attention with crucial releases by early punk and hardcore bands like T.S.O.L., Suicidal Tendencies and the Adolescents, but eventually expanded its frontiers (so to speak) outward to encompass goth pioneers Christian Death and mid-'80s Paisley Underground outfits like the Three O'Clock, Thin White Rope and Redd Kross and such harder rockers as Naked Prey and the Pontiac Brothers. While this massive anniversary show includes some ringers who weren't actually on the label (including the savage E.L.A. sonic reducers the Stains, art-punk-spazz-jazz misfits the Deadbeats and legendary S.F. radicals the Avengers), the lineup features many of Frontier Records' most iconic acts, such as ongoing O.C. punk brats the Adolescents and their former lead guitarist Rikk Agnew (who also played with the early incarnation of Christian Death). Guitarist Ward Dotson, who conjured those memorably eerie slide-guitar runs on the classic first two Gun Club albums, reunites his Stones-y '80s group the Pontiac Brothers, and the Flyboys reprise their sparkling blend of pop, punk, new wave and surf one more time. Even more thrilling, Middle Class — who literally invented the hardcore genre with their landmark "Out of Vogue" single before stubbornly pursuing a less popular, funky post-punk Gang of Four style — perform for the first time in 30 (!) years. Don't dare miss even a minute of this historic, all-ages, Part Time Punks–sponsored assemblage, which commences at the decidedly un-punk hour of 4 p.m. (Falling James)

LEDISI AT EL REY

Like any good gospel-soul singer, Ledisi's traveled a long road. Originally from New Orleans, she moved to Oakland, studied piano at UC Berkeley and, in 1995 formed a jazzy soul outfit that failed to garner any major-label attention. Pulling herself up by her bootstraps, she released her first album on her own label in 2000, but it wasn't until seven years later, when she signed with Verve and dropped the prophetically titled Lost and Found, that a mass congregation started paying attention. The album, which reveals the kind of calm confidence only a tested-and-tried woman can convey, earned her two Grammy nominations, including the feared Best New Artist nod. Fortunately, the curse of that recognition doesn't seem to have touched Ledisi, whose latest album, Turn Me Loose, has only served to increase her reach. The plaintive altar call "Goin' Thru Changes" continues the saga of Lost and Found's "In the Morning," but bet the collection-plate money on the exuberant "Higher Than This" as being more indicative of her state of mind these days. Produced by R&B heavy hitters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, it's the victory shout of a woman who finally has seen the mountain peak. (Rebecca Haithcoat)