Music Picks: Bettye LaVette, Johnny Thunders, Johnny Hallyday

Also playing:

ATTACK ATTACK! at House of Blues; GRANT LEE PHILLIPS at McCabe's; THE HURRICANES at Viva Cantina; CHUCK MANNING at Vibrato; MARK Z. STEVENS TRIO at Desert Rose; ANOUSHKA SHANKAR at Luckman Fine Arts Complex.

PHOTO BY TAMZIN BROWN

LP: See Monday.

Third Grade Teacher: See Sunday.

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sun 4/22

The Touré-Raichel Collective

THE ECHOPLEX

Like many Malian musicians, such as the nomadic Tuareg band Tinariwen, Vieux Farka Touré plays his guitar in an unusual style, pulling the notes off the frets in a slippery way that both sparkles and mesmerizes. After a chance meeting with the world-music pianist Idan Raichel in a German airport, Touré flew to Israel for an improvisational jam that turned out so well, it was just released on CD as The Tel Aviv Session. The record shows off the strengths of each musician — Touré's facility for launching exotic incantations that slowly build momentum and Raichel's classically formed dexterity on the keys — while also revealing previously unknown sides of their music. Although Touré usually performs his whirling, swirling riffs electrically, the duo's expansive jams were largely recorded with acoustic instrumentation, giving a newfound and intimate glimpse of the way he scratches those mysterious chords together. —Falling James

Third Grade Teacher

REDWOOD BAR & GRILL

At one point in time, back in the late '90s, Third Grade Teacher looked like they were about to break out of the local underground rock scene at any moment. They slammed out hard, convulsive grunge epics like "School Boy," but could segue right into a pretty pop tune like "Cinnamon" without blinking an eye. On top of that, lead singer Sabrina Stevenson — a real-life third-grade teacher — used her acting background to pull off some convincing onstage freakouts and virtual self-exorcisms, causing some new fans to wonder if she was having a literal nervous breakdown or was suffering from the memory of an extremely traumatic past. TGT also got a lot of attention because Stevenson and bassist Laura Smith like to wear schoolgirl uniforms, but the band's real talent was in writing catchy songs, with guitarist David Guerrero cobbling together some inventive riffs. After several years of lying low and raising families, the band plays a rare afternoon set. —Falling James

Also playing:

CHARLES AZNAVOUR at Gibson Amphitheatre.

mon 4/23

Jeff Mangum

ORPHEUM

He's been called the J.D. Salinger of indie rock, and with good reason. In 1996, Jeff Mangum, with his band Neutral Milk Hotel, wrote and released one of the most highly regarded albums in the '90s underground canon. Aeroplane Over the Sea was a remarkably ambitious record that wedded the raw emotions of grunge, to the lo-fi jangle of the day, to a deep psychedelia dating back decades, to a strange story about the ghost of Anne Frank. And just as that record's unlikely pop charm began to shine, its architect disappeared. As it turned out, he was tormented by the Holocaust victim's specter and a handful of other internal demons. Mangum has only resurfaced recently, playing a few fan favorites here and there, but eschewing a proper tour until now. Coachella has coaxed him out of whatever haunted closet he's dwelling in these days, so don't squander this opportunity. —Chris Martins

LP

Bardot

Her name is LP, but tonight she's celebrating the release of an EP, Into the Wild: Live at EastWest Studios, a five-song disc that inaugurates this local singer-songwriter's deal with Warner Bros. Records. Born Laura Pergolizzi, LP is no newcomer to the music biz; she's put out previous albums and has co-written tunes for Rihanna (yay!) and Heidi Montag (yikes!). This current push, though, has more muscle behind it, which is presumably how LP's Jeff Buckley–ish "Into the Wild" found its way into a recent Citi commercial. She shares this School Night! bill with Sweet Hearts, a new L.A. duo featuring Priscilla Ahn and Charlie Wadhams, and Brooklyn's indie-rocking We Are Augustines. Also: DJ sets by Brendan Canning (of Broken Social Scene) and Tummy Touch founder Tim "Love" Lee. —Mikael Wood

Bill Morrison/Jóhann Jóhannsson

REDCAT

Filmmaker Bill Morrison specializes in artful reconstructions of ancient footage that's usually in a bad state of decay. The mere look of his films is captivating, with a dark, damp atmosphere that will be enhanced at tonight's L.A. premiere of The Miners' Hymns by the addition of Icelandic electronic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson's achingly gorgeous and slightly disturbing score. Piling and sculpting black-and-white footage from the early 1900s through the massive 1984 strikes, the film is an ode to the lost world of the Durham coalfields in northeastern England, honoring the political battles and bloody hard graft of the Durham coal miners, along with a look at the cultural milieu of the workers, including the city's tradition of coal miner brass bands and the Miners' Gala. A selection of Morrison's earlier shorts, including Outerborough (2005) and Release (2010), also will be screened, and Morrison will be in attendance. —John Payne

Also playing:

JOHN CARPENTER, JOHNNY O'DON-NELL, BEN REDDELL at Los Globos; JAZZTEC at Vitello's; JACQUES LESURE JAM at Nola's; ERIC ERLANDSON at Largo.

tue 4/24

Hype Williams

THE ECHOPLEX