Music Picks: Tift Merritt, Clinic, Microscopic Septet

Also playing Sunday: ZS at the Smell; EISLEY at El Rey; JOHN WESLEY HARDING at McCabe's; THE SATIN PEACHES and WEREWOLVES at Spaceland.

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

MONDAY/NOVEMBER/22

DIRT DRESS, THEM HILLS, ZIG ZAGS, WONDER WHEEL AT SPACELAND

L.A.'s own Dirt Dress offers an off-the-cuff alternative to those who appreciate the retro rock & roll & blues of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club but who can't stand that band's self-important bluster. The members of this band — Noah, Jose and Raymond — probably would ride motorcycles if they could climb out of their druggy haze, but we're not asking them to. Noah's opiate drawl brings to mind Iggy at times (see the MySpace demo "Religion/Drugs") and Mick at others (check out upbeat jangler "Sonic Death" from their Perdido en la Suciedad 2 EP), and the spare backing skronk and fuss are just enough to keep feet stomping and heads bopping. Not that we know anything about their extracurricular activities, but we have a feeling there's a bit of personal truth in the lyric, "For some people, drugs can be the answer." The grungy slowcore downer pop of Nevada City's Them Hills will make for a good pairing. (Chris Martins)

Also playing Monday: GWAR at the Glass House; MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE at House of Blues; SASSAS SOUNDSHOPPE OPEN IMPROV SESSIONS at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts; DAR WILLIAMS at the Hotel Café.

TUESDAY/NOVEMBER/23

UNSANE, 400 BLOWS AT SPACELAND

Tonight's lineup is perfect for clearing out the cobwebs in what's left of your brain. New York City scum-rock veterans Unsane crank up an unholy din that's so heavy, loud and sludgy, it's almost cathartically pure and certainly scarifying. Unlike other noisemakers, the trio comes from two different directions at once, embodying the experimentation and art-rock doom and gloom of early Swans and Sonic Youth, as well as Lower East Side peers like the Reverb Motherfuckers and Cop Shoot Cop, while also drawing upon the more elemental influences of extreme punk and heavy metal. If you've ever wondered what a buzz-saw factory might sound like as it sinks into a tar pit during an earthquake, Unsane is your band. 400 Blows might be named after the film by French director François Truffaut, whose work often dabbled in poignant coming-of-age stories, but there's nothing sweet and endearing about the local trio's pummeling attack. This "band apart" (to paraphrase a title by another French New Wave director, Jean-Luc Godard) is more interested in tearing things down via such scabrous rants as "The Average Guy" and "The Beauty of Internal Darkness." Prepare to turn on, tune in and drop off the face of the earth. (Falling James)

BELLERUCHE AT THE BOOTLEG THEATER

It's no secret that soul is back, so rather than simply celebrate the past or lament another throwback trend, let's look at someone who's pushing the sound forward. London's Belleruche have been a KCRW favorite from the beginning, and it's not hard to understand why: The trio's electronic-steeped brand of sultry groove is incredibly easy to engage with. But it also has gravitas, partly owing to the fact that vintage soul isn't the only blast from the past that appears on record. (Check out their recently released 270 Stories.) While Katherine deBoer's vocals glide and vamp, and Ricky Fabulous' bass and guitar work leave little to be desired, the most vital and unexpected ingredient comes from the in-band turntablist. Yes, DJ Modest mans the decks, and he has a touch that brings to mind Kid Koala's additions to Dan the Automator's circa 2000 output (Deltron 3030, Lovage). Turntable Soul Music was the name of the group's 2009 debut, and it's hard to imagine a more apt descriptor. (Chris Martins)

VINCENT GALLO'S RRIICCEE AT EL REY

He courts it, yeah, but Vincent Gallo does seem to invite a bit of reflexive aggro with whatever he does, whether as a movie actor, director of films like Buffalo 66 and The Brown Bunny or model with the moody mug in all those high-fashion spreads. So guess what? He's a musician, too, but an accomplished one, going by the subtle folkie-electronic charms of his solo albums on Warp, When (2001) and Recordings of Music for Film (2002). Way back when, he also collaborated with artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in the New York no-wave combo Gray. Gallo will, of course, get cynical flak for his new musical project, RRIICCEE, wherein he and a rotating cast of players (which tonight will consist of multi-instrumentalists Woody Jackson and VOICEsVOICEs' Nico Turner) attempt spontaneous composition live onstage. Nothing's written or rehearsed, and it's not, says Gallo, to be confused with the endless tedious solo noodling of hairy old jam bands. Gallo has no plans to record and release this music; you've gotta go hear them do it live, if you wanna hear it at all. (John Payne)

Also playing Tuesday: BARRIO TIGER at the Redwood Bar and Grill; KITTEN at the Echo; MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS at the Echoplex.

WEDNESDAY/NOVEMBER/24

TAKE, AUSTIN PERALTA, STRANGELOOP AT THE AIRLINER

It can be difficult to keep up with L.A.'s prolific electronic scene, mainly because the quality of the output is so consistently high. But even amidst the year's fantastically strong crop of releases — from Flying Lotus, Baths, Teebs and Lorn — Take's Only Mountain is a peak to be sure. The album is moody but a burner — propulsive but great for headphones, too, as it effortlessly cycles through dubby rhythms, clattering turntable samples, cascades of synthesizer melody, digital effects and rich textures. Austin Peralta is one to look for in 2011. The son of legendary Z-Boy skater and director Stacy Peralta has been composing and performing piano-based jazz since a very young age (Sony Japan released two of his LPs before he was 17), and he has a presumably electronics-oriented album due out on Lotus' Brainfeeder label in the near future. Among the collaborators thereon is Strangeloop, a visuals expert and ace beat manipulator in his own right. (Chris Martins)