Vice Cooler, The New Dreamz, Secret Friends, Kroyclub
PHOTO BY GRAHAM TOLBERT
Gayngs: See Friday.
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@PEHRSPACE
A Vice Cooler show can be a lot of things — a striptease, an art exhibition, a multimedia audiovisual feast, a mosh pit with a rapping/dancing dynamo in its middle — but no matter what shape it takes, it is always entertaining. To wit, Peaches has dubbed him "the world's greatest performer," and the Alabama-born L.A. resident makes a good case for it. As Hawnay Troof, he combines clangy, nontraditional beat-making with lyrics that range from existential musings about life ("Connection") to goofy raps about sexual exploits ("Dry Hump"). And with his other main gig, fronting noise-punks XBXRX, he's known for captivating crowds by shouting apocalyptic come-ons. Though this all-ages gig should lean toward the former, Vice's deep connections to this city's bustling underground leave room for a star-studded cast of experimentalists to help shape the night. —Chris Martins
Also playing:
RACHEL GOODRICH, BAND OF SKULLS at the Bootleg Bar; DANTE VS. ZOMBIES at Echo; HENRY WOLFE at the Bootleg Theater.
tue 6/7
Cerebral Ballzy
@THE ECHO
[See Page Two.]
All-Star Crass Tribute Band
@THE SMELL
"Do they owe us a living?" British anarcho-punks Crass once asked. "Of course they do!/Of course they do!" even if it was never clear just who "they" really were. Do Crass owe us a full-fledged reunion tour? Of course they do — but it's probably never going to happen. But, coming on the heels of founding member Steve Ignorant's own recent nostalgic tribute to the fiercely non-nostalgic Crass, members of such crucial indie-punk and riot-grrl bands as Bratmobile, Mika Miko, the Need, the Sharp Ease, Dunes, Peter Pants and Auto Da Fe will attempt to re-enact Crass' seminal (pun probably intended) Penis Envy, in honor of the 30th anniversary of the album's original release. So get ready for plenty of "Systematic Death" and cheeky musical questions like "Where Next, Columbus?" —Falling James
Also playing:
ANNA CALVI at the Troubadour; RACHEL GOODRICH, BAND OF SKULLS at the Bootleg Bar; MOSES CAMPBELL at Silverlake Lounge; DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE at El Rey Theatre.
wed 6/8
Sloan
@THE BOOTLEG BAR
There's something timeless about the big chords and universal themes of great power pop, and Sloan knows this better than any band. The Canuck quartet has been rocking mightily for 20 years, weathering not only low stateside sales but grunge, gangsta rap and nearly every other evolution in music that seemed tailor-made to drive listeners further away from their exuberant, earnest rock & roll. Better yet, they've kept the same lineup, which may explain their staying power among an always slowly growing cadre of loyal fans. Each member not only writes songs but sings and shreds over his own compositions, resulting in a body of work that stays true to the medium's lean, '60s-saluting arrangements and hooky hit-making. Their just-out 10th album, The Double Cross, is rightly more of the same, with the knowingly cheesy themes that wink to the past Sloan's fans live for. —Chris Martins
Also playing:
DIEGO GARCIA, JENNY O at the Echo; CORREATOWN at the Satellite; FREDDIE McGREGOR at the Echoplex.
thu 6/9
Shabazz Palaces
@THE TROUBADOUR
Nearly 20 years ago, Grammy-winning jazz-rap giants Digable Planets dropped Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space), a record best known for schooling us on how to be "Cool Like Dat." Digable's Butterfly — aka Ishmael Butler — moved on to electro-funk as Cherrywine, and now, as Palaceer Lazaro, he rules Shabazz Palaces' carefully constructed, closely guarded universe of dense, blasted beats and gritty caustic dirges with airtight rhymes. The most exciting hip-hop act to come out of Seattle in decades, Shabazz Palaces released two mini albums in 2009 (s/t and Palaces of Light) and their debut LP, Black Up, will be out next month on indie-rock powerhouse Sub Pop. —Lainna Fader
Miasmal
@THE BLVD.
From afar, Sweden seems too serene to be spawning so many worryingly livid bands like this one. Though from Gothenburg, known for its melodic death metal, Miasmal owe more to the Stockholm scene's crusty bastardization of the genre. Their cantankerous, spare-some-change? vocals are nicely offset with incongruously slick instrumentation: seamless blurs of riffs; juicy, hair-tossing guitar solos; and beats born more of punk's primitive groove than metal's octopus dexterity. In fact, what makes Miasmal worth a listen is their carefree dipping into almost every era of angry guitar music, from late-'60s Sabbath, through '70s punk and the new wave of British heavy metal, to endless varieties of post-Venom thrash. —Paul Rogers
Also playing:
ADELE at Hollywood Palladium; AN HORSE at the Satellite; OAK & GORSKI at Hotel Café; FORBIDDEN at Whisky a Go Go.
