mon 7/25
PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILSON
Jessica Lea Mayfield: See Friday.
PHOTO BY PETER JUHL
Daniel Johnston: See Friday.
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Maroon 5
@HOLLYWOOD BOWL
Not unlike country star Blake Shelton, whose new Red River Blue is earning him loads of non-Nashville attention, Maroon 5 seem to be in for a popularity bump following frontman Adam Levine's recent stint as a celebrity coach (alongside Shelton, Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green) on NBC's hit The Voice. They could use it: Last year's Hands All Over didn't do the blockbuster business the band's first two records did, which must have stung in light of the dough they surely spent hiring arena-pop godhead Mutt Lange to produce. Whatever the album's flaws, Levine and his bandmates boast one of Top 40's most durable songbooks. Even if you're dragged to the Bowl by the reality TV fan in your life, be prepared to recognize at least half a dozen hits tonight. —Mikael Wood
Also playing:
CRYSTAL ANTLERS residency at Echoplex; WEIRD AL at the Grammy Museum; SUGARLAND at Greek Theatre.
tue 7/26
Wu Lyf
@The Echo
[See Page Two.]
Fucked Up
@EL REY THEATRE
Next month these Canadian rabble-rousers are opening a pair of arena dates for the Foo Fighters, an unlikely pairing that speaks to the Foos' admirable musical taste but also to Fucked Up's increasingly expansive aesthetic. Though they certainly have touched on the epic before, the art-punk outfit's new one, David Comes to Life, feels like the first Fucked Up record with songs that might actually make the most sense in an arena; it's a full-blast if-you-say-so rock opera with raging guitars, galloping beats and soaring boy-girl vocals that suggest Arcade Fire covering Minor Threat. Here at El Rey, of course, the band will be forced to make do with somewhat smaller dimensions. Word to the venue's owners: Your roof may be in danger. —Mikael Wood
Also playing:
LANGHORNE SLIM, AMANDA JO WILLIAMS at Echoplex; GAVRYLYUK PLAYS TCHAIKOVSKY at Hollywood Bowl; WOOLEN at Lot 1; ELECTRIC DAISY at the Music Box.
wed 7/27
Cold Cave
@UKRAINIAN CULTURAL CENTER
Earlier this year Matador released Cold Cave's Cherish the Light, an album years-years-years in the making, the sum total of an immeasurable distance traveled — it took singer Wesley Eisold numerous bands and projects and collaborators to realize this was the record he'd always wanted to make. He started out as frontman of celebrated hardcore band Give Up the Ghost, but as Cold Cave he plays hard and dark electronic beats in synth-splashed pop songs. These songs constantly reference old new wave, post-punk, synth-pop and industrial records that Eisold probably grew up with, but here he manages to make them sound fresh decades past their heyday. —Lainna Fader
Also playing:
ELLEN FRIEDBERGER (FIERY FURNACES), CLOUD CONTROL at the Satellite; BOB MOULD at Largo (See GoLA); PARIS LOVES L.A., ADELE JACQUES at Bootleg Bar; PAUL RODGERS at Pacific Amphitheatre; GIN BLOSSOMS at Brixton; CULTS at the Echo; THE 88 at Grammy Museum; GLADYS KNIGHT at Hollywood Bowl.
thu 7/28
A Perfect Circle
@GIBSON AMPHITHEATRE
While A Perfect Circle will forever be tinted with Tool (the two bands share vocalist Maynard James Keenan, and APC guitarist/songwriter Billy Howerdel is a former Tool tech), the band's recent return to live action has served as a reminder of its unique sonic signature. Yes, Keenan's hypnotic, desperate timbre (with its distinctive studio processing) is unmistakable, but Howerdel's romantic, goth-stained compositions and tapestry arrangements put this into more intimate context and — though APC are no strangers to aggression — bring out a sensitive side. A Perfect Circle cajole rather than bludgeon the ear; with lurking melodies and swirling, saturated guitars feeding the imagination, they imply as much as they outright state. Escapist, oddly exotic and much more durable than the "side project" tags suggested. —Paul Rogers
The Henry Clay People
@HAMMER MUSEUM
Henry Clay was a slave-owning Kentucky politician in the 19th century, but the Henry Clay People are another story altogether. Led by brothers Joey and Andy Siara, the pop-rockers combine energetic guitar riffs with slyly sarcastic lyrics as they debate their place in the music scene and the purpose of rock & roll in general. In their hands, rock isn't dead, and the restless intelligence and surging hooks on their 2008 album, For Cheap or for Free, came off like a modern equivalent to the Replacements. Their 2010 follow-up, Somewhere on the Golden Coast, made it clear that underneath the Siaras' cynical bravado beat some sincere (if wounded) hearts. "We were stuck inside for the better part of our lives," Joey chants on the new tune "California Wildfire." When he punches that line with, "I just want to watch something burn," he could just as easily be describing the band's rapid rise to local prominence. —Falling James
Also playing:
UPSILON ACRUX at the Echo; PETRENKO CONDUCTS DVORAK at Hollywood Bowl; GIN BLOSSOMS at Brixton South Bay (Redondo Beach).
