Music Picks: Andrea Bocelli, Carina Round, A Hero A Fake

Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter

BOOTLEG THEATER

PHOTO BY NORMAN JEAN ROY

Carina Round: See Thursday.

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Das Bunker

4067 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: West Adams/ Crenshaw/ Baldwin Hills

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Largo at the Coronet

366 N. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: West Hollywood

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More About

• Kenny Werner
• Carina Round
• Wiz Khalifa
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

"It's always winter inside every heart of gold," Jesse Sykes murmurs on her latest album, Marble Son. "It's hard to love/harder not to love/everything that's ever come before/as the universe exhales just once more." The Seattle chanteuse exhales with a distinctively lulling moody-blue voice that evokes winter, birds, lakes and deep, dark woods, but she and the Sweet Hereafter aren't just in love with everything that's already come before. Although the new album includes tranquil ballads like "Wooden Roses" and the title track, which echo the haunting Americana of the band's earlier releases, Sykes and guitarist Phil Wandscher take some bold, new risks, venturing into sprawling epics like the psychedelic hard-rocker "Hushed by Devotion" and the Doors-y exotica of "Weight of Cancer." The way they blend their voices together on the glassy idyll "Come to Mary" is positively enchanting. —Falling James

Aimee Mann's Christmas Show

WILTERN

Aimee Mann's Christmas show has become a staple of the season — sort of like fruitcake, only much tastier. The gifted singer-songwriter has invited a bunch of talented friends, including hubby Michael Penn, comedian Paul F. Tompkins, actor-comedian Tim Heidecker (half of the Tim and Eric duo) and Nellie McKay, to perform with her. In addition to playing tunes from her winning holiday album, One More Drifter in the Snow, Mann intends to preview a song or two from her eighth solo album, Charmer, which is due out next spring. There are also some comedy performances and general yuletide cheer thrown in for good measure, which surely will make it a much more festive affair than the dry turkey dinner at Aunt Betty's. —Laura Ferreiro

A Hero A Fake

COBALT CAFÉ

Juxtaposing melodic singing and malicious screaming is intrinsic to the metalcore genre, but this North Carolina band takes it to extremes. Borderline sappy choruses butt up against Justin Brown's pissed-off, raspy roar. This can make for an almost signature, attention-keeping contrast, or just sound like two unrelated songs (or even bands). And while AHAF's twin guitars have become increasingly fluid and technical over their seven years as a band, and their song structures more elaborate and exotic, the vocals still seem kinda left back in the generic garage. Their bouncing live shows are hard to resist, and their palpable progress toward personality is charming, but they still veer between something greater than the sum of their parts and just some great parts. —Paul Rogers

Also playing:

CAVE SINGERS, BUILDERS & THE BUTCHERS at the Troubadour; THE BLACK PACIFIC at Malibu Inn; LUCKY DRAGONS at the Smell; BENJI HUGHES at the Satellite; DICK HALLIGAN at Alvas Showroom; KROQ ALMOST ACOUSTIC XMAS at Gibson Amphitheatre.

sun 12/11

Holiday Recital & Toy Drive

THE SATELLITE

The holiday season brings out the best and the worst in humanity. It's a time of peace and goodwill, of course, but for some reason it also encourages a surfeit of saccharine sentimentality, especially when it comes to music. With all of the sappy, crappy carols and Muzak-y Christmas music out there, December can be a bleak and depressing month. There likely will be some overly cheery standards performed at the Satellite's holiday party, but that grim horror will at least be mitigated by the bluesy ruminations of Rocco DeLuca and the "Healthy Geometry" of Vanaprasta's hazily scattershot indie rock, as well as the presence of such local worthies as Imaginary Bear & Barney and the Honorary Title's Jared Gorbel. Best of all, Nicole Simone will purr her intimate, languidly intoxicating cabaret chansons. —Falling James

Norma Jean

KEY CLUB

Norma Jean spews a dense, outraged noise: thickets of gurgling guitar, regurgitated grooves and Cory Brandan Putman's utterly earnest strep-throat vocals. Their arrangements are less up/down and stop/start than the majority of their metal-core peers', instead slinking in and out of emotional story lines almost unnoticed. But be patient with the militaristic verses, and succulent, melodic hooks emerge, displaying the (relative) versatility of Putman's pipes and a deft respect for harmony. These Georgians don't feel obliged to go at it hammer-and-tongs at all times, either, even allowing themselves a sensitive (and triple-guitar) side on the likes of "Falling From the Sky: Day Seven." Post-hardcore has hit a plateau from which many soon will fall — Norma Jean can at least stumble away with heads held high. —Paul Rogers

Scott Kinsey Group

THE BAKED POTATO

The late music legend Joe Zawinul (Weather Report) had only one protégé, Scott Kinsey, longtime keyboard wiz of supergroup Tribal Tech. Zawinul was impressed enough with Kinsey to serve as executive producer for his 2007 solo work, Kinesthetics, widely regarded as one of the best fusion efforts of the past decade. Tonight, Kinsey is backed by an uber-supporting cast of Jimmy Earl on bass and the wonderful Mike Miller on guitar; the drum chair belongs to gifted local phenom Ronald Bruner Jr., who most recently toured with Stevie Wonder and Stanley Clarke. Kinsey's compositions are individual and inventive, fused with sounds and voices from across the world emanating from his MacBook and vocoder. Expect an evening of genuinely unique world-class music. —Tom Meek