Music Picks: Dum Dum Girls, Tricky, Leon Russell, OFF!

ROB HALFORD AT THE WILTERN

Legendary, you might call him: Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford is celebrated slack-jawed for his fiendishly facile falsetto , leather 'n' studs 'n' sailor caps and for riding Harleys onstage and all that — in short, for embodying every supermacho fantasy we boys 'n' girls require in our archetypal heavy-metal figureheads. But Halford is these days most interesting as a smasher of stereotypes. The dude's 59 years old, after all, he's famously glad to be gay and, maybe strangest of all, seems to radiate a positivity and excellent humor, which his recent solo album Halford IV: Made of Metal boasts in supercolossally slab-thick loads. No moping about in doom 'n' gloom here, just a lot of righteous ranting and railing like there's no tomorrow over his hairy young band's twintastic guitar leads, monster-ass double-kick tubs and decibels in excess of your doctor's recommended levels. Perhaps Halford will whip out a few Priest covers, but you needn't feel cheated if he doesn't, because Rob Halford is all about doing new things, and doing it His Way. Yes, Rob Halford is The Man. Or one of them, anyway. (John Payne)

PHOTO BY TYSON WIRTZFIELD

Dum Dum Girls. See Tuesday.

Tricky. See Wednesday.

Location Info

Map

The Orpheum Theatre

842 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Category: Music Venues

Region: Downtown

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The Troubadour

9081 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: West Hollywood

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More About

• Chris Martins
• Guy Blakeslee
• Keith Morris
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
• Punk Rock

Also playing Friday: DROP THE LINE, AC SLATER, STAR EYES at the Avalon; LIGHT FM, DANTE VS. ZOMBIES, FUTURE GHOST at Satellite; BEEP!, ELEPHANT AND CASTLE at the Smell; JON BRION at Largo; LUIS & THE WILDFIRES at Webbers; THE MASSES SCREENING WITH DUBLAB DJs at Downtown Independent; LIGHT FM at the Satellite.

SATURDAY/DECEMBER/18

KILLING JOKE AT THE WILTERN

Thanks to the band's latter-day output, it's easiest to remember England's Killing Joke as a post-punk original, but the list of artists heavily inspired by their eponymous 1980 debut speaks more to the group's founding sound: Metallica, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Tool, Faith No More, etc. Jaz Coleman's famous five-piece was practically a metal band. Just, you know, without all that hair (both physically and metaphorically). From the get-go, they specialized in a doom-seething, industrial-flavored, bass-loving style of punk rock that sounds fresh even today. Part of that is due to the fact that Killing Joke have continued to craft their own legacy. In fact, they've taken off only five years in three decades, after the release of one of their strongest, danciest records to date, 1996's Democracy. This year's Absolute Dissent — album No. 14 — reunited Coleman with original members Geordie, Youth and Paul Ferguson to thrash as hard and as loud as the band ever has. The wearing of black is encouraged. (Chris Martins)

ALBERT LEE AT NICK'S TASTE OF TEXAS

Albert Lee is a fast guitarist, but then again so are many whiz kids these days. The difference is that the British country-roots veteran combines manual dexterity with a supreme sense of soul and imagination. If Emmylou Harris wants him to mimic the sound of a train, Lee can do it, fingers barely seeming to move across the guitar's neck as he pries out an intense flurry of click-clacking, onrushing notes. But he also can evoke a desert sunset or a country back road with a bare minimum of effort, filling in the empty spaces through a judicious selection of sounds instead of flashy histrionics. This ability to find the right note — and know when to use it — has served him well, whether he's supporting such traditionalists as Bo Diddley, the Everly Brothers and Earl Scruggs, or tripping out with Marilyn Manson's John 5. Don't miss this relatively rare Southland appearance. (Falling James)

OZOMATLI, CHALI 2NA, LA SANTA CECILIA AT CLUB NOKIA

A Very Special Quinceañera party for NPR-endorsed, Latin fusion institution Ozomatli, featuring Jurassic 5's Chali 2Na (who recently released a remarkable mix tape called Fish Market 2, on the heels of last year's equally remarkable Fish Outta Water), and people's choice perennial La Santa Cecilia. A rare occasion where Los Angeles–with-a-hard-ge will take over the cell phone–branded corporate downtown room. Should be a lot of fun. (Gustavo Turner)

Also playing Saturday: WOUNDED LION, SIC ALPS, TRMRS at the Satellite (see Music Feature); STEVIE WONDER AND FRIENDS at Club Nokia; BACKBITER, MECOLODIACS, FATSO JETSON, BLACK WIDOWS at Café 322; PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN at Origami Vinyl; LUCKY DRAGONS, MY DADS at the MIME; BELA FLECK at the Orpheum; ROONEY at the Bootleg.

SUNDAY/DECEMBER/19

JEFFERTITTI'S NILE, GUY BLAKESLEE, THE CERVINE FURS AT THE BOOTLEG

Jeffertitti's Nile are the kind of (freak)folk that call their EPs things like Hypnotic River of Sound, so they make for a fitting closer for a bill that includes Entrance Band's head shaman (and home decoration porn website The Selby fashionplate!) Guy Blakeslee. It will be interesting to see Blakeslee get his neo-psychedelia on without the bass grounding of Entrance Band partner-in-crime Paz Lenchantin, but he's usually fascinating to watch, particularly when he's in an out soloing mood. (Gustavo Turner)

Also playing Sunday: CROM, IT'S CASUAL at the Echo (early show; see Music Feature); SLITS/ARI UP TRIBUTE (PART TIME PUNKS) at the Echo (late show; see Music Feature); A FINE FRENZY at Largo; MONSTERS OF ACCORDION at the Troubadour; LOS LOBOS, RUBEN GUEVARA at House of Blues.

MONDAY/DECEMBER/20

MICHAEL NHAT AT PEHRSPACE