fri 6/3
PHOTO BY GRAHAM TOLBERT
Gayngs: See Friday.
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The Dagons
@THE BORDELLO
After stints in San Francisco and New Orleans (which they escaped mere hours before Hurricane Katrina hit), the Dagons have been based in Los Angeles for several years, although they rarely play their adopted hometown. But the coed duo are here to celebrate the release of their new album, Upon the Dull Earth, with a set of baleful goth-folk-punk chansons whose fuzzily mesmerizing exoticism should provide the perfect soundtrack for this venue's decadently swanky ambiance. Singer Karie Jacobson's blurry guitar riffs merge with Drew Kowalski's febrile sitar melodies, creating a strangely intoxicating brew that evokes the Stones' "Paint It Black" and the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs" as sung by a nightmare-addled Sylvia Plath. Better believe it when Jacobson confides in an eerie, childlike voice, "I am not nice but I am true." —Falling James
Gayngs
@NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Around this time last year, a mysterious little album called Relayted, credited to "Gayngs," started doing the usual Pitchfork/Stereogum/etc. rounds with little fanfare. The original spiel heralded it as the work of Minneapolis producer Ryan Olson and two members of Solid Gold, plus assorted collaborators from the worlds of indie hip-hop, jazz and alt-pop. Oh, and a chunk of Bon Iver, including frontman Justin Vernon, with everyone shooting for a 10cc/Godley & Creme vibe. Shockingly, the album sounded nothing like Bon Iver and only vaguely like "I'm Not in Love" — it's been a sleeper for initiates, who by year's end were raving about it as one of the best albums of 2010. A few weeks ago they gained even more converts at Coachella; if you missed them there, this is your chance to be initiated into the Gayngs. You won't regret it, particularly if you miss the Beta Band (and who doesn't?). With Dirty Beaches. —Gustavo Turner
The Antlers, Little Scream
@EL REY THEATRE
Blessed with a ghostly falsetto and an impeccable ear for delicate yet evocative arrangements, Antlers mastermind Peter Silberman has a real knack for silencing a room. His band specializes in electronics-fed chamber pop, but rather than overrun the senses à la Sufjan Stevens or DM Stith, the Antlers use wide open space to enthrall and ultimately enslave ears. This taut atmospheric grace is clearly heard on the group's widely acclaimed new album, Burst Apart, which ditches Silberman's earlier interest in crafting concept records for a series of heartbreakingly earnest songs about losing love. Similarly aligned is opener Little Scream, aka solo singer-guitarist Laurel Spregelmeyer. She's earned her fair share of praise for The Golden Record, on which her haunting folk is dressed up in lush instrumentation, grinding guitars and ambient haze, making for a gorgeous exercise in contradiction. —Chris Martins
Bootsy Collins
@CLUB NOKIA
If James Brown was the Father and George Clinton is the Son, Bootsy should be a shoo-in for the Holy Ghost of the Funk religion. The iconic bassist returns with a flashy new album, The Funk Capital of the World, featuring a veritable cavalcade of stars, from the predictable (P-Funk's maestro Clinton, Snoop) to the strange (shredder supreme Buckethead, who gets inexplicably preferential billing) to the dead (Jimi effin' Hendrix???). Still, we're talking about American music royalty here, and the swank Nokia cabaret should be a good venue to enjoy Bootsy's out-of-this-world jams. —Gustavo Turner
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., EMA
@THE ECHO
Though their choice of name is unfortunate, Detroit duo Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. are neither pop pranksters nor NASCAR knuckleheads. Joshua Epstein and Daniel Zott are, in fact, quite gifted when it comes to creating easy, breezy and seemingly sincere songs like single "Nothing but Our Love." As on the rest of their just-released debut LP, It's a Corporate World, this summery nugget comprises a winning mix of lightly fuzzed guitar, programmed drums, gauzy synth work and sleepy-headed vocals. Far harsher is the sound of L.A. resident EMA, aka Erika M. Anderson, who cut her teeth in psych-folk acts Gowns and Amps for Christ before embarking on an acclaimed solo career that stands precariously atop a mountain of shredded chords and bleak lyrics. Prepare to be as impressed as you are depressed — it's that good. —Chris Martins
Also playing:
ARCTIC MONKEYS at Hollywood Palladium; HOLCOMBE WALLER at Hotel Café; TANDY LOVE at Verdugo Bar; GROUPLOVE, WALK THE MOON at the Satellite.
sat 6/4
Amor de Dias, Damon and Naomi
@THE SATELLITE
This not-so-secret psych-folk tropicalia supergroup formed three years ago between Alasdair MacLean, singer of the London-based, hypnotizing psych-pop band the Clientele, and Lupe Núñez-Fernández from U.K. Spanish indie-pop duo Pipas, plus a handful of friends. Their debut LP, The Street of the Love of Days, recently came out on Merge, featuring a range of guests, including French singer Louis Philippe, folk-rock combo Damon & Naomi — who join them tonight at the Satellite — and Brooklyn indie-rocker Gary Olson. Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang have been making music together as Damon & Naomi since 1991, but they are best known as two thirds of dream-pop forefathers Galaxie 500. —Lainna Fader
Buffalo Springfield
@THE WILTERN
For what it's worth, it's a shame that the surviving members of Buffalo Springfield are reuniting now, four decades after the garage-country-folk supergroup broke up in 1968. Drummer Dewey Martin and bassist Bruce Palmer died earlier this decade, and it was Palmer's intuitive bass lines that helped to unify the sometimes disparate contributions of singers Richie Furay, Neil Young and Stephen Stills. Drummer Joe Vitale and Young's dependable bassist Rick Rosas will fill in as the rhythm section for these reunion shows, and it should be a nostalgic kick to hear Young growl the paranoid garage-rock nugget "Mr. Soul" and the gently sublime ballad "On the Way Home" with his old mates. Let's hope Young's ornery restlessness will kick up the energy level of the terminally mellow Furay and the erratic (if talented) Stills. Also Sun. —Falling James
