Music Picks: Duran Duran, Jessie Evans, k.d. lang, The Dodos, Swahili Blonde,

sun 4/10

PHOTO BY BILLY AND HELLS

Jessie Evans: See Sunday.

Location Info

Map

The Echoplex

1154 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Out of Town

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El Rey Theatre

5515 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Mid-Wilshire/ Hancock Park

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The Troubadour

9081 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: West Hollywood

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Nokia Theatre

777 Chick Hearn Court
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Category: Music Venues

Region: Downtown

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More About

• Walt Disney Concert Hall
• Toby Dammit
• Jessie Evans
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
• Hip-Hop and Rap

Jessie Evans & Toby Dammit

@ THE ECHOPLEX

Like so many other musicians, singer-saxist Jessie Evans and drummer Toby Dammit reinvented themselves in Berlin, where they met and began a series of beat-heavy electronica collaborations. The classically trained percussionist Dammit has worked with Iggy Pop, the Swans and Rufus Wainwright, and he has an inventive, sure-handed approach that helps firmly anchor the free-spirited Evans. She purrs seductively on the swanky cabaret chanson "Golden Snake," from new album Is It Fire?, as its serpentine melody coils tightly around her. Produced by Nortec Collective's Pepe Mogt, the album is pumped up with Latin dance-pop rhythms. Evans and Dammit's exotic, globe-trotting grooves are simultaneously worldly and otherworldly. —Falling James

Also playing Sunday:

CALIFORNIA E.A.R. UNIT at REDCAT; LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

mon 4/11

k.d. lang & the Siss Boom Bang

@ THE TROUBADOUR

The Canadian-born roots-music great releases her new album, Sing It Loud, on April 12, and to celebrate she's playing the whole thing at the Troubadour for the amusement of approximately 1/1,000th the number of listeners she'll play before in May at Indio's Stagecoach Festival. (Tickets are long-since sold out, so pull those strings if you got 'em.) The Siss Boom Bang is her new five-piece backing band, the first regular one she's put together since her early-'80s combo the Reclines. They don't shake up her refined chamber-country sound much, though Sing It Loud does give you the impression that lang's live show might've gotten (slightly) rowdier. We shall see. With ascendant retro-pop locals the Belle Brigade. —Mikael Wood

Also playing Monday:

THE JANKS at Hotel Café; AMANDA JO WILLIAMS at the Echo; RUMSPRINGA, HANNI EL KHATIB, MOSES CAMPBELL at Bootleg Theater.

tue 4/12

Moon Duo

@ THE ECHO

Less scuzz, more boogie. That's the M.O. of San Francisco's Moon Duo on their new second album, Mazes. While Ripley Johnson (also of psych-rock band Wooden Shjips) still shreds his guitar and sings in a blues-fed continual sigh, keyboardist Sanae Yamada has picked out some bright organ tones and catchy melodies to lay overtop. This simple yet vital change gives their dark riffage the undeniable pop it was heretofore missing, meaning this young pair — minted in 2009 — has been reborn. In person, it's impressive to see how much they can do with so little. Catch 'em now while the appropriate audience response includes dancing, rather than the itchy navel-gazing Moon Duo shows used to inspire. —Chris Martins

Queens of the Stone Age

@ THE WILTERN

The mighty Queens of the Stone Age have always been stranger than most of their stoner-rock brethren. Singer-guitarist Josh Homme and guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen are masters of hard-rock riffology, but the Palm Desert crew's songs also have many expectedly arty twists and turns, juxtaposing sonic brutality with spacey tangents. You've got to give credit to former Kyuss leader Homme for expanding his style instead of just retreating into nostalgic rehashes of old heavy metal. In recent years, QOTSA have experimented with electronica and employed varied instrumentation, including horn sections. At the heart of their sound, though, are Homme's gruff, unsentimental vocals and the driving, militantly repetitive riffs that inspire him to call their music "robot rock." Also Wed. —Falling James

Also playing Tuesday:

MX. JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND: DENDROPHILE at REDCAT.

wed 4/13

The Crystelles, The Swords of Fatima

@ FIVE STARS BAR

The Crystelles are a blues band, but their sound is bloodier, messier and a hell of a lot more unpredictable than, say, the Blues Brothers or George Thorogood. Former Christian Death wraith Gitane DeMone howls raw, gloomy dirges like "Ship of the Unforgiven" and "Black Water." "They think that I'm a whore," DeMone rants on "Outcast of Society," as her rusty garage-rock guitar jangles against daughter Zara Kand's elemental percussion. The Swords of Fatima are another lo-fi duo, with singer-guitarist Buko Pan Guerra cooing febrile melodies over former Popdefect drummer Nick Scott's surf-garage beats. What makes the Swords of Fatima so unusual, however, is the way Guerra's blurry guitar and foreboding lyrics move beyond punk formula into something more unsettling and much less familiar. —Falling James

Yuck

@ THE ECHO

A new alt-rock band from England, who, despite their name, really aren't all that yucky. Daniel Blumberg and Max Bloom sing hazy melodies as their guitars stir up a contrastingly loud and fuzzy drone behind them. This combination of slacker tunefulness and guitar-rock frenzy recalls Dinosaur Jr., but Yuck have other sides to them. An atypically ponderous midtempo track like "Rubber" unwinds slowly, like taffy being pulled through a tar pit. But before the song gets too sludgy, angelic harmonies and subtle string bends float over the mire like a psychedelic aurora. "Rubber" is contrasted by the cotton-candy daydream of "Georgia," as bassist Mariko Doi sets the mood with childlike, innocently hopeful pop harmonies. —Falling James

Greg Laswell, Lenka

@ THE TROUBADOUR

Greg Laswell has never been one for standard singer-songwriter fare. As far back as the San Diego–via-L.A. artist's 2006 breakthrough, Through Toledo, he's made a point to put meat on the bones of his heartfelt, often heartbroken tunes. Via distorted guitar, layers of piano, a persistent beat and hooky choruses, he gussies up his tracks into dynamic pop gems. Laswell's latest, 2010's Take a Bow, finds him a little less miserable than before, though still acceptably lovelorn. Aussie popstress Lenka opens, delivering her upbeat combination of radio romp, light R&B and sultry electro pulse. With bubbly album Two due out April 19, she should be the perfect airy counterpart to Laswell's inherent earthiness. —Chris Martins