Music Picks: Matthew Sweet, Summer Darling, Billy Childs Quartet, Rusko,

Also, The Aggrolites, Kris Bowers, Chasing Kings, Asher Roth and others

Comments (0) By Weekly Critics Thursday, Dec 29 2011

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Summer Darling, Birds and Batteries, Baron Von Luxxury

ECHO

PHOTO COURTESY OF ASHER ROTH

Asher Roth: See Friday.

Location Info

Map

The Echoplex

1154 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Out of Town

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Key Club

9039 W. Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Out of Town

Blue Whale

123 Astronaut E S Onizuka St., No. 301
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Chinatown/ Elysian Park

Walt Disney Concert Hall

111 S. Grand Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Category: Music Venues

Region: Out of Town

More About

What's the beginning of a new year without a little lament for where the previous one went wrong? The Origami Vinyl–released LP from Los Angeles' Summer Darling was inspired by "alcoholism, divorce, interstate moves and a number of family deaths," plus frontman Ben Heywood's "dissolving faith and darkening worldview" (all of this from the band's official bio). Though the singer was raised by pastors in Northern California, his musical pedigree owes to the crushing bleakness of Midwesterners like Conor Oberst and his old post-hardcore act Desaparecidos, or really anyone on the original Saddle Creek roster. With angular guitars, pounding drums and an ever-shifting meter, the antithetically named outfit creates a thrilling (if not harrowing) atmosphere in person. The Bay Area's Birds and Batteries, meanwhile, cast a broad stylistic net that encompasses Randy Newman–like piano pop, bluesy psychedelic Americana and spooky synthesizer-driven elegies. —Chris Martins

Also playing:

VINTAGE TROUBLE at Troubadour.