Also playing Wednesday: MEN at Amoeba; GRAM RABBIT, SPINDRIFT at Bordello; THE DOLLYROTS at the Troubadour.
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THURSDAY/FEBRUARY/3
WAR TAPES AT SILVERLAKE LOUNGE
War Tapes hit the ground running in 2006: With their drainpipe jeans and angled hair, their elegantly melodramatic, '80s-informed "doom pop" made them the perfect after-Interpol tipple and they shared stages with everyone from Smashing Pumpkins to She Wants Revenge. But following their debut album, 2009's The Continental Divide, they seemed to step back. Returning with their Fever Changing EP in October, the local foursome now lend equal weight to style and content and are allowing themselves a little more joy (and a lot less Joy Division). The melodies are purer and less self-conscious now, especially when bassist Becca Popkin takes the mic (as she increasingly does), and the beats are more flamboyant. To re-create their more gregarious studio approach, War Tapes have expanded to a five-piece onstage, and though some fans feel their evolved outlook is a bid for bigger crowds, it sounds more like a savvy pop group simply moving with the times. (Paul Rogers)
"HEARING VOICES" WITH BRAD DUTZ, TIMUR BEKBOSUNOV, DZOVIG MARKARIAN, ANET RIS-KELMAN AT CENTER FOR THE ARTS, EAGLE ROCK
The mighty Open Gate theater/music group comes through again with a performance in movement and sound of four sections from Peter Maxwell Davies' monodrama Eight Songs of a Mad King. The songs, with a libretto by Randolph Stow derived from the words of George III, are based on the tunes played by a mechanical organ owned by Mad King George, which he used to try to train bullfinches to sing. The onstage action is quite crazy, including a mad soliloquy by the king and the players trapped in large birdcages. This performance features dancer Anet Ris-Kelman and a large instrumental ensemble composed of a slew of the very best new thing/new-genre players on the L.A. scene. There'll also be puppetry and extended-vocal pieces. Tickets are a paltry $10; half-price for seniors, students and previous Open Gate performers. (John Payne)
LIZ PAPPADEMAS & THE LEVEL AT THE MINT
When Liz Pappademas released her debut solo album, Eleven Songs, in 2007, its deceptively plain title gave no hint of the lush, restlessly poetic imagery that made her Fiona Apple–style pop ballads so incisive and multilayered. But now the local singer-pianist has changed things up in an even more dramatic fashion, backed by a full band on her second release, Television City. The ambitious album is a cycle of interconnected songs about a fictional game show called Who's Your Neighbor? The concept allows her to explore the inner lives of a fascinating set of characters. Pappademas' forceful piano accents frame the action stylishly on such sly, melodically rich pop gems as "Your Favorite Game Show" and "Grand Prize Winners," while the album-closing "Parting Guest" is a trippy sound collage of mesmerizing echoes. (Falling James)
Also playing Thursday: FANCY SPACE PEOPLE, THE SWEET at the Echoplex; WE BARBARIANS at the Echo; SHADOW SHADOW SHADE at the Satellite; BOBBY LONG, HE'S MY BROTHER SHE'S MY SISTER at the Troubadour.
