sun 5/15
PHOTO BY SHAWN BRACKBILL
The Kills: See Friday.
Kristeen Young: See Monday.
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Eisley
@ THE TROUBADOUR
This sound could only be born of siblings (OK, and a cousin): the telepathic vocal interplay, spooning harmonies and quaint quirks that speak to lifelong familiarity. With an image equal parts Vans, Vogue and Deliverance, this East Texas quintet offers an apparently impossible marriage of youth and sonic wisdom. Even after 15 years as a band, keyboardist/vocalist Stacy DuPree is only 22, and the whole gaggle clocks in under 30. For all their waifish looks and gauzy production, there's a fierce musicality and sense of self-empowered lyrical purpose here: supertuneful without spoon-feeding sentiment; sad (especially on newbie The Valley) but seldom sorry for themselves. The sensitive side of the Warped Tour generation and, in truth, harder-hitting than any of those leap-around guitar bands could ever be. —Paul Rogers
Sofia Gubaidulina
@ REDCAT
The 80-year-old Russian composer makes a rare U.S. appearance in this series of performances spread over three nights. The programs include an animated film scored by Gubaidulina, The Cat Who Walked by Herself; a concerto for bassoon and low strings; the concertos Introitus for piano and chamber orchestra and Detto II for cello and chamber ensemble; and several other pieces. This will be a showcase for her tough-minded, often very percussive sound and uniquely colored melodic/harmonic language. The intensity (to understate it) and high idiosyncrasy of these compositions, often based on traditional musical forms, is remarkable, but their greatest achievement might be their ability to plunge one into relatively unknown emotional states. Soloists are Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, cello; Julie Feves, bassoon; Mark Menzies, violin; and Richard Valitutto, piano. Sun., May 15, 3 & 7 p.m.; Mon., May 16, 8:30 p.m.; Tues., May 17, 8:30 p.m. —John Payne
Haroula Rose
@ BOOTLEG BAR
Chicago-bred, L.A.-based singer-songwriter Haroula Rose's self-released These Open Roads is an easy-on-the-ears debut that launches Rose as a deft and resourceful melodicist, a subtly superb acoustic guitar stylist and evocative vocal presence. These are timeless tales of loneliness, lousy breakups and "so long to the past and hello to the future." While this particular palette of fear, cheers and sneers could be a tired recipe for maudlin moping in lesser hands, in hers it's used as a chance to revel in the fascination of pure creation. Rose's album is full of inventively arranged originals that are comforting but deeply felt (and she does a riveting take on Mason Jennings' "Duluth"), aided by a sterling cast of steel-guitar players, harmonizing singers and multi-instrumentalist/producer Andy Lemaster. —John Payne
Fancy Space People
@ THE ECHO
Don Bolles might have been there at the high-water mark of L.A. punk (he was and is a real live Germ), but his soul has always been full-glitter glam. (True story: If you run into him by a used-record bin, he's more likely to school you on Bowie than on the Ramones.) Now he's ditched his trademark fur hat and finally gets to lead a crew of psychedelic glam warriors. Part Time Punks is enabling — it should be out of this world. Also the Deadbeats and Gestapo Khazi. —Gustavo Turner
Also playing Sunday:
BIBLICAL PROOF OF UFOS at Viva Cantina; THE BLACK ANGELS, SLEEPY SUN at El Rey Theatre; EALDATH at the Blvd.
mon 5/16
Fucked Up
@ THE ECHOPLEX
These Toronto punks are ambitious freaks — they just put out a compilation of fake bands from a fictional British town born in the head of frontman Damian Abraham. It's a companion soundtrack (natch) to their upcoming heady, drugged-out rock opera David Comes to Life, about a guy who works in a lightbulb factory, falls in love with an activist and then gets cornered by an evil prosecutor for her accidental death. They're also notorious for their live-show madness — you might find lovable screamer Abraham slicing his chest with a shard of glass or "accidentally" destroying photographers' cameras, and you'll probably get punched in the face or at least get a beer dumped on your head. Hardcore, hypnotic and hysterical insanity. —Lainna Fader
Kristeen Young, Yael Naim
@ HOTEL CAFÉ
Once championed by none other than her former touring mate Morrissey, New York singer Kristeen Young constructs eccentric sonic structures that contrast her birdlike Kate Bush–style trills with densely cluttered backing. Songs like "Depression Contest" and the aptly titled "Comfort Is Never a Goal" are pumped up with aggressive piano accents, even as her arty vocals spiral airily above the mechanized madness. This combination of ethereal spaciness and assembly-line rhythms is unique, and it should prove fascinating to see how Young strips down her studio creations at this intimate venue for singer-songwriters. Yael Naim's music isn't nearly as dark as Young's psychological fusillades, but the French-Israeli chanteuse's pop-folk tunes are infused with Old World touches, intelligent lyrics and soothing melodies. —Falling James
Stephen Kellogg, Tift Merritt
@ BOOTLEG THEATER
Tift Merritt's music has evolved quite a bit since her 2002 debut album, Bramble Rose, announced the arrival of a thoughtful country singer who was seemingly uninterested in duplicating the syrupy pop of most modern Nashville divas. Since then, the North Carolina songwriter has ventured into brassy R&B and introspective indie-rock balladry, and she seems less interested than ever in perpetrating twang clichés. Her most recent album, See You on the Moon, might not be her strongest collection, but it's still a fine assortment of gently wistful pop songs interspersed with occasional up-tempo rockers. She opens tonight for the Sixers' frontman, Stephen Kellogg, whose earnest if lightweight songs attempt to evoke a comfortably worn, Jackson Browne/Bruce Springsteen kind of Americana. —Falling James
