sat 7/23
PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILSON
Jessica Lea Mayfield: See Friday.
PHOTO BY PETER JUHL
Daniel Johnston: See Friday.
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Liturgy
@THE ECHO
Brooklyn's Liturgy messes too much with the black metal "form," according to a lotta BM aficionados hovering 'round their church with torches. Screw it, say Liturgy, we want to take you higher. While they strew a blast-beat bombasticity as grindingly gruesome as any of your black metal bonehedz, Liturgy, for one thing, do their feral speed-thrash grindcore Guignol totally sans lyrical references to the horns of the goat or the bony finger of doom. And though the band's new Aesthetica (Thrill Jockey) is hardcore at core, it's heavier in the theoretical sense, an assaultive, rhythmic trance music whose formal cues — from the new-music likes of Steve Reich, Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham and the mighty Lightning Bolt — wrench their metal into ecstatic domains with maddeningly repetitive riffs pummeled, flayed and moiré-patterned unto infinity. Cathartic! —John Payne
The Posies
@VIPER ROOM
Whether they're giving the Germs' punk-rock snarl "Richie Dagger's Crime" a clever Who-style makeover or crafting their own melodic gems, the Posies have long been one of the smarter power-pop bands. Tonight, the Seattle group intends to perform their 1993 album, Frosting on the Beater, in its entirety. Although that record remains one of their most popular releases, it seems premature for singer-guitarists Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer to turn themselves into an oldies band. They recently released a strong new album, Blood/Candy, combining memorable hooks with thoughtful lyrics on such poppy tracks as "Cleopatra Street," the breezily dreamy "So Caroline" and "Accidental Architecture." The album features such simpatico guests as Letters From Cleo's Kay Hanley and Broken Social Scene's Lisa Lobsinger, as well as unexpected visitors like former Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell. —Falling James
Earth, Angelo Spencer
@THE ECHOPLEX
Dylan Carlson's Earth have been around since 1989, although it seems like a lot longer. Formed in the Seattle area's grunge scene, they're generally credited with creating the hair-splittingly specific genre (this is important) known as "drone doom," an experimental branch of things not to be confused with mere doom metal. Carlson has evolved his band's distorted low frequencies and spare, cyclical structures with explorations in the melodic patterns of medieval English music, American country, desert blues à la Tinariwen and progressive jazz textures, the latter notably by the inclusion of trombone in the instrumental lineup. Brittany-born one-man band Angelo Spencer plays fast and loose with a bunch of American roots and other styles, like, say, an occasional foray into Egyptian reggae. His brash and brisk newest is Angelo Spencer et Hauts-Sommets (K Records). —John Payne
Also playing:
TONALISM with DAMION ROMERO at Center for the Arts Eagle Rock; CORREATOWN at Bootleg Bar; MEMORY TAPES at the Troubadour; WHITE FENCE at the Smell; CHELSEA WOLFE at the Echo.
sun 7/24
Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire
@THE BLVD.
Seethingly vengeful and perpetually wronged, Denver's Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire lend some contemporary clarity to Napalm Death's pioneering and primal, guttural grindcore. Though still ragged by today's polished ProTools standards, CTTTOAFF's production buttresses the genre's traditional tinny guitars and battering snare with industrial-strength bass and diaphragm-directed kick. Passages of funereal, introspective sludge serve chiefly as contrast to Clinging's sky-falling-in maelstrom of blasting beats, throbbing overdrive, and Ethan McCarthy's demonic and worryingly damaged screech. Masters of both brevity and variety, CTTTOAFF spew ADHD anthems for the angry, alienated and utterly alone. —Paul Rogers
Global Soul with Stevie Wonder, Sharon Jones, et al.
@HOLLYWOOD BOWL
"A celebration of soul music from around the world," as the L.A. Philharmonic describes it, this curious Hollywood Bowl bill pairs Stevie Wonder and Tonight Show music director Rickey Minor with a handful of fringe-dwellers more accustomed to cozier confines: retro-R&B doyenne Sharon Jones, soul-rock firecracker Grace Potter, Tijuana-born alt-popster Ceci Bastida and local psych-folk lady Mia Doi Todd, whose recent Cosmic Ocean Ship, by the way, hasn't gotten nearly as much attention as it deserves. (Bowl veteran Janelle Monáe also is slated to appear.) No word on what material this appealingly motley crew has in store, though they are promising a show-closing tribute to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, which earlier this year turned 40. —Mikael Wood
Iceage, Cult of Youth
@The ECHO
Following in 2011's tradition of bile-spitting new artists are Denmark's Iceage, a gaggle of four teenage pals whose sub-25-minute punk debut, New Brigade, dropped last month on What's Your Rupture? Their sound is a welcome, long-awaited return to the genre, combining the best of post-punk, goth and hardcore into pure, unbridled energy. Their lyrics, slurred and sung in English, are largely anyone's guess, but that's not why we're listening: Pay attention to the brooding bass, jagged guitars and feral drums, all barely held together by the Elmer's glue of frontman Elias Rønnenfelt's voice. It's the kind of on-the-verge-of-collapse sound that gets us excited about new music today. And how does that translate live? Expect a feeding frenzy of angst and rage that's been known to leave audience members bloodied and grinning. —Andrea Domanick
Also playing:
SIN 34, DOGGY STYLE at Redwood Bar and Grill; RUTHANN FRIEDMAN, RUBY FRIEDMAN ORCHESTRA at the Echo; SELENA GOMEZ at Pacific Amphitheatre.
