Music Picks: Tift Merritt, Clinic, Microscopic Septet

CLINIC AT THE TROUBADOUR

In its 13 years of existence, Liverpudlian foursome Clinic has been remarkably reliable. Every two years, without fail, the band delivers a brand-new slab of spiky and dangerously off-balance post-punk — typically fast and more or less furious. But 2010 brought a change. Unironically titled Bubblegum, the group's sixth album is its easiest yet to love, and rather than barrel through 13 tracks guitars a-blazin', it does indeed invite the listener to sit down and chew things over. That's not to say a song like the dreamy, acoustically driven single "I'm Aware" is a complete departure. Even Clinic classics like "Walking With Thee" displayed an off-kilter brand of beauty — and new ones like "Love Is All Around" are plenty disturbed — but the guys have never slowed it down like this. Whether that bodes well for the live show remains to be seen. (Will they don their surgical masks only to sit down on stools and strum?) But there's only one way to find out ... (Chris Martins)

PHOTO JASON FRANK ROTHENBERG

Tift Merritt

Black Mountain

Location Info

Map

Roxy Theatre

9009 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: West Hollywood

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The Troubadour

9081 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: West Hollywood

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The Redwood Bar & Grill

316 W. Second St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Downtown

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Key Club

9039 W. Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Out of Town

Cinefamily/Silent Movie Theatre

611 N. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Category: Movie Theaters

Region: Melrose/ Beverly/ Fairfax

Photos

Bootleg Theater

2200 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90057

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Out of Town

Photos

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More About

• Chris Martins
• EISLEY Rey
• Tift Merritt
• Punk Rock
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

J. COLE AT THE KEY CLUB

To pluck from the lyrics of Jay-Z, the mastermind who's priming him, J. Cole's "not a businessman — he's a business, man!" The magna cum laude St. John's University graduate and 2010 XXL Freshman seems to have adopted a tried-and-true, old-school approach in this oversaturated new-media world. Instead of flooding the internet with every rap he's ever recorded, the Fayetteville, N.C., native has put out just three mixtapes, the third of which, Friday Night Lights, was released not even a week ago. The strategy's working: As the first artist signed to Jay-Z's label, Roc Nation, his yet-to-drop debut album has the entire (online) gymnasium chanting. Co-opting the New Orleans Saints' co-opted catchphrase, "Who Dat," for the first and only single so far, J. Cole sounds worthy of the hype. Over a slightly menacing beat punctuated with hand claps and overlaid with horns that wobble like a high school marching band's, he raps with the confidence of a first-round draft pick: "The mind state of a winner: When you thinkin' 'bout summertime, I'm thinkin' 'bout the winter/When you thinkin' 'bout breakfast, I'm heatin' up my dinner/I was plottin' this moment back when y'all was ridin' spinnas." Most anticipated rookie rap release of the year? If you build it, they will come. (Rebecca Haithcoat)

YACHT AT MONDRIAN/SKYBAR

Yacht mix mysticism with fashion sense to produce a kind of music that's a little headier than the usual fare from DFA. That they're playing Skybar comes as no surprise, however. Yes, it's a great place to be seen, and it carries with it a subtext amusingly at odds with the disclaimer that precedes their video for "Psychic City (Voodoo City)": "Due to our strong personal convictions, we wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult." These personal convictions remain unrevealed, doubly surprising seeing as Yacht are, first and foremost, a "Band, Belief System, and Business conducted by Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans of Marfa, Texas, and Portland, Oregon." They're also an Experience, clean, danceable audio and even cleaner visual lines converging to remind you that there is in fact a very primal, occult reason for Skybar to exist in the first place: community and ceremony, centered on the symbology of the chalice, aka the martini glass with which you just toasted Yacht. (David Cotner)

Also playing Saturday: PETER KOLOVOS at Dem Passwords; NITE JEWEL and HOLY SHIT at Central Social Aid & Pleasure Club; BOB MOULD at the Bootleg Theater; TOMMY SANTEE KLAWS at HM157; PIZZA! at the Smell; JON BRION at Largo.

SUNDAY/NOVEMBER/21

MICROSCOPIC SEPTET'S JOEL FORRESTER & PHILLIP JOHNSTON AT CAFÉ METROPOL

The key to really hearing and feeling the late, great Thelonious Monk is getting inside the man's message that his music must be very serious and very crazy all at the same time. Everyone knows about Monk's tendency toward wild harmonic and rhythmic leaps within his pieces; in fact, they bopped so fugging powerfully because you could hear him chewing his way out of the restraints and conventions of the crusty-musty jazz tradition, which he in fact revered. Understanding that "something old + something new" equation is what New York's venerable Microscopic Septet have got down like muscle memory, and now dig their new Friday the 13th: The Micros Play Monk on the ace Cuneiform label, which features this insanely inventive band in wickedly modern interps of Monk's farsightedly skewed visions. The Micros are co-led by composer-arranger-saxophonist Phillip Johnston and composer-arranger-pianist Joel Forrester, who'll perform their spare 'n' spiky duo versions of Monk's masterpieces, as well as other Microscopic faves. Note that this will be an early performance, noon-2 p.m. (John Payne)

DESTROY ALL MOVIES!!! AT CINEFAMILY

This weekend, Cinefamily is presenting "DESTROY ALL MOVIES!!!: The Complete Guide to Punks on Film," a two-day film festival in support of Fantagraphics' new guidebook to almost every punk rock film ever made. While you'll get plenty of Mohawked youths wreaking havoc on film starting Saturday, Sunday's program is a particularly special peek into punk celluloid history. First up at 2 p.m. is the classic concert film Urgh! A Music War, directed by Derek Burbidge and featuring now-legendary punk and new wave bands like X, Oingo Boingo, the Go-Gos, Dead Kennedys, Gary Numan, the Cramps, Devo, Klaus Nomi and others. This screened during Cinefamily's "Post-Punk Junk" series last year — by far the most exciting and tightly curated of the Music Thursdays screenings they've done so far. As a bonus, Cinefamily's also throwing in deleted footage found in the international version of the film. After Urgh! at 4:30, they've got La Brune et Moi and Shellshock Rock, two fantastic and rare films documenting the French and Irish punk scenes. Both also screened at last year's Post-Punk Junk festival, so if you missed out last time, here's your chance to make up for it. The third program of the evening is The Slog Movie with Desperate Teenage Lovedolls, a Dave Markey double feature highlighting West Coast punk, with director and star in person! After party with Part Time Punks at the Echo, where your ticket stub will get you in for free. Cinefamily is the last stop on the "DESTROY ALL MOVIES!!!" book tour, so expect very special guests on Sunday for the grand finale, too. See GO LA. (Lainna Fader)