Mogwai
@ THE MAYAN
PHOTO BY SARAH WILSON
Carrie Rodriguez: See Sunday.
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Loudest exponents of post-rock, the cosmic instrumental band from Glasgow is known for booming sonic extremes and cinematic noise and infiltrating film and TV shows. Featured on countless soundtracks ranging from Zidane: A 21st-Century Portrait to The Fountain and Sicko, their epic, apocalyptic rock also is at home on CSI: Miami. "Maybe we are the perfect soundtrack for murder. Maybe we're on all the murderers' iPods as they go about their daily killings," guitarist and co-founder Stuart Braithwaite once mused. Smug song titles like "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead," "I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School" and "Thank You Space Expert" show they've got a sense of humor unmatched by their instrumental post-rock brethren (Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky, we're looking at you!). —Lainna Fader
Andrew W.K., Wavves, Trash Talk
@ THE ECHOPLEX
As a preternaturally gifted pianist, acclaimed self-help guru and world-class party animal, Andrew W.K. (not to be confused with comedic genius Louis C.K.) represents the best of a few worlds that had never bothered colliding before. The weird part is how well the man's music embodies this odd amalgam. Virtuosic, high-energy and motivational in the sense that you can't not thrash wildly to it, W.K.'s sound is a rare, intensely bright thing — power punk meets hard rock meets synth-pop, in a basement where the PBR flows freely, it's always Sept. 10, 2001, and Vice magazine is still fairly decent. He's dubbed this a "Special Party Hard Solo Show," which suggests he'll be dipping into his cult-revered debut, I Get Wet, which includes songs like "Party Hard" and "Party Til You Puke." That said, he recently let slip via Twitter that he's recording a "new full-length party album," so new festive material could be on the menu. —Chris Martins
Also playing Tuesday:
PINBACK, KENSETH THIBIDEAU at El Rey Theatre; AARON BEAUMONT, RACHEL GOODRICH at Bootleg Theater; ALBERTA CROSS at the Satellite.
wed 5/11
Coheed and Cambria
@ CLUB NOKIA
When these hairy New Yorkers introduced prog rock to the PlayStation generation with The Second Stage Turbine Blade, they set themselves apart from their post-hardcore peers with the album's sheer breadth of vision and shamelessly nerdy lyrical concepts. To celebrate 10 years as a band, they're revisiting this debut disc in its entirety on this tour (as well as performing acoustic sets and career-spanning encores), offering a reminder of why it was such a stylistic slap in the face then. Though indebted to fellow turn-of-the-millennium freethinkers like At the Drive-In, C&C owe more to their parents' cassette collections than their buddies' shared files: Thin Lizzy's folk-tinged romanticism; Led Zeppelin's articulate pomp; and the clanky, heroic bombast of Iron Maiden. —Paul Rogers
Elvis Costello & The Imposters
@ THE WILTERN
Out on the road behind last year's appealingly acerbic National Ransom — his second straight collaboration with producer T Bone Burnett — the New Wave legend won't necessarily emphasize cuts from that album tonight. He and the Imposters will hit the Wiltern with the so-called Spectacular Spinning Songbook in tow; it's a giant Wheel of Fortune–style contraption that audience members are invited to spin in order to determine Costello's set list. A press release promises a pool of 40 titles, "including hits, rarities and very unexpected covers." We're holding out hope for "I'm in Miami, Bitch." [Ed.'s note: L.A. Weekly Music does not condone further encouragement of LMFAO or their "repertoire."] Also Thurs. —Mikael Wood
Also playing Wednesday:
THE GREENHORNES at the Echo; LOUDNESS at Key Club; LE BUTCHERETTES at Bootleg Bar; CODY SIMPSON, GREYSON CHANCE at House of Blues.
thu 5/12
The Knitters
@ THE AUTRY
The Knitters may be country, but they have the heart, soul and guts of a punk band. In 1985 foundational L.A. punk band X (Exene, John Doe) and the Blasters (Dave Alvin) spawned a side project that in many ways foretold the birth of a new subgenre of rock & roll: Their Poor Little Critter on the Road consisted primarily of X songs reinterpreted as country, roots or acoustic tunes. Still, a raw, bohemian energy pulsed beneath the Merle Haggard and Carter Family covers to make what could arguably be called one of the first alt-country albums. A punk band? Doing country? Indeed, a punk band was doing country, and doing it well. Not just a faded Xerox of X, but rather a full-fledged organism with a life of its own. —Kristina Benson
Femi Kuti
@ EL REY THEATRE
The son of Nigerian Afro-beat legend Fela Kuti is renowned for live performances that feature exultant saxophone and even more celebratory dancing adding up to a sweaty spectacle of funk. —Kevin Bronson
B-52s
@ THE CANYON
This obscure new wave band, believe it or not, has never toured Idaho, private or otherwise. —Dave Parkman
The Goldberg Sisters, Corridor, Hands
@ BOOTLEG THEATER
Does the name Adam Goldberg ring a bell? Star of cult projects The Hebrew Hammer and The Unusuals [Ed.'s note: Ed.'s favorite weird TV show of the last few years], though better known for his more mainstream turns in Saving Private Ryan, Dazed and Confused and Entourage, Goldberg is also an avantish pop auteur whose latest album is chock fulla sweet surprises. Through the sisterly alter ego, Flaming Lips (known associates of his), Burt Bacharach and Sonic Youth are casually ripped up, lovingly reassembled and lightly drizzled with some really intriguing audio detail. Corridor is multi-instrumentalist Michael Quinn's head-dive into obscure psychic worlds via expertly orchestrated guitar, cello and sampler loops and digital effects. —John Payne
Also playing Thursday:
SILVERSTEIN at House of Blues; THE CARS at Hollywood Palladium; CALLE 13 at Nokia Theatre; HAYES CARLL at the Troubadour; PURPLE MELON at Bootleg Theater.
