Music Picks: Too $hort, Best Coast, Brad Mehldau Trio

Sparta, Ki:Theory

TROUBADOUR

PHOTO BY LAUREN DUKOFF

Dum Dum Girls: See Friday.

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When the mighty At the Drive-In disbanded in 2001, the El Paso band's former members split their influences down the middle. The group's experimental soul went to The Mars Volta, while their post-hardcore heart would beat on as Sparta, fronted by earnest barker Jim Ward and propelled by the drums of Tony Hajjar. With those two back on the road with their old group, ATDI, Sparta too has returned from a self-imposed hiatus (a "three-year nap," according to Ward) to both tour and record. While fans will no doubt be thrilled to hear old favorites like 2002's "Cut Your Ribbon," the band is expected to use this series of return shows as proving ground for new material, which is expected to advance the arena-sized agenda of its last LP, 2006's Threes. Arty electronicist Ki:Theory is Sparta's handpicked opener. —Chris Martins

Also playing:

MARK LANEGAN at the Echo.

wed 5/23

Sonnymoon

LOW END THEORY

Sonnymoon defy easy categorization, but that's what makes this unusual duo so enticing. Imagine a sampler platter of nearly every significant, groove-steeped, experimental movement of the past 60 years — jazz slink, motorik bass, buzzing sitar, ambient atmosphere, electronic soul — rolled up into a surprisingly sticky ball of far-out pop. Anna Wise has a voice that could soar in mainstream R&B or pull its own weight in a band like Dirty Projectors. That's good news for producer-instrumentalist Dane Orr, whose rare mastery over his clearly disparate influences results in tracks that hit a dozen sweet spots at once. The pair's self-titled debut plays like a surging, swirling dream — perfect for headphones, and also for the bass-amplifying low ceilings and thick, heady air of Low End Theory. L.A.'s own KONE kicks things off with a mix of hard-hitting beats and primal psychedelia. —Chris Martins

David Ryan Harris

HOTEL CAFE

Readers of liner notes may know this Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter from his gigs with the likes of John Mayer, Cassandra Wilson and Nick Jonas. (Harris played guitar on the youngest Jonas brother's weirdly legit soul-rock record, Who I Am.) But right now dude's working on a new solo album that promises to carve out a space of his own: In the four cuts I've heard — including a lovely duet with India.Arie and a funky shuffle co-written by Inara George of The Bird and the Bee — Harris uses deep craft to make simple points about love, life and how you don't need drugs to feel like a junkie. Tonight, he plays the second date of a four-show Hotel Cafe residency that extends through early June. Don't sleep. —Mikael Wood

Also playing:

LESLIE STEVENS, ROBERT FRANCIS at the Troubadour; OTMARO RUIZ at Vitello's; I BREAK HORSES at the Echo; MARGOT & THE NUCLEAR SO & SO'S at Bootleg Bar.

thu 5/24

Wolfgang Schalk

BANG STUDIO

Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Schalk has used Wednesdays in May on the usually comedy stage of Bang Studio to showcase his new album, Word of Ear, about which he's rightly excited. Schalk's straight-ahead approach is complemented here in live performance by the backing trio of the fine Venezuelan pianist Otmaro Ruiz, Mike Valerio on bass and Zach Harmon on drums. Schalk's style is friendly to mainstream jazz ears, but he's more inclined to offer up inventive, original compositions rather than rely strictly on jazz standards. KCRW's Tom Schnabel is "knocked out" by Schalk's new album. The minimal cover charge even includes wine and snacks, so it's hard to go wrong with this one. —Tom Meek

Simon Stokes

REDWOOD BAR & GRILL

Famously signed to Elektra the same day as the MC5, rock & roll wrecker Simon Stokes ran afoul of the industry because of his similar balls-out-itude. There wasn't a "motherfucker!" in his song lyrics, but there was a bound-and-whipped S&M gal upside down on his album cover, with what looks like Stokes grinning maniacally next to her. That was enough to slide him firmly into the not-for-mass-consumption camp. Which is fine — this is high-octane stuff, somewhere between early Beefheart, the gnarliest CCR guitar songs and the freak blues of Iggy Pop, whose screw-ya! sense of humor and showmanship are nicely compatible with Stokes' black-whip-thrill-band aesthetic. Although he's opted for a more backwoods country style lately, make no mistake, this guy is proto-punk in the proto-est, punkiest way. —Chris Ziegler

Also playing:

VARDAN OVSEPIAN, MIGUEL ATWOOD FERGUSON at Blue Whale; HUGH LAURIE at El Rey Theatre; JON MCLAUGHLIN at Troubadour.