Jimmy Cliff, Liars, Jesse Sykes
Also, New Edition, Kátia Moraes & Sambaguru, Milo Greene and others
EL REY THEATRE
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Named after the adventurous jazz musician Rahsaan Roland Kirk, this New York–based soul singer follows his namesake's lead on his most recent studio album, last year's Bleuphoria. It's filled with luxurious, slow-jam grooves over which Patterson twists his nimble voice into all manner of unexpected, idiosyncratic shapes; we're particularly taken with the weird robot-R&B things he does with the silky-smooth melody of "I Only Have Eyes for You." Arrive early to the El Rey for an opening set by fellow left-field-soul veteran (and Sheila E. homegirl) Sy Smith, whose newish Fast and Curious contains a deliciously funked-up duet with Patterson, called "Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)." You'll understand the sentiment. —Mikael Wood
BLUE WHALE
The name Ferenc Nemeth might be lucky, for it belongs to both an award-winning sculptor and a Hungarian national-team volleyball player. Ferenc Nemeth also is a superlative drummer who once studied at L.A.'s Thelonious Monk Institute. Now he tours and records with guys like Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and his current bandmate, exceptional guitarist Lionel Loueke. Nemeth was here last with guitar wizard Gilad Hekselman; this time he leads a trio with Sam Barsh on piano and the unbelievable Hadrien Feraud on bass, featuring music from his upcoming release, Triumph. —Gary Fukushima
Also playing:
THE CULT at Hollywood Palladium; POWER 106's POWERHOUSE 2012 at Honda Center.
sun 6/24
Quintron & Miss Pussycat
ALEX'S BAR
A man howls trash-rock imprecations while surrounded by strange contraptions of his own invention, including an organ-synthesizer hybrid, which is tricked out like the front end of a car with real headlights, and the Drum Buddy, a light-activated drum machine and sound-effects box. Nearby, a pretty blonde dances, shakes her maracas and chants enigmatic rejoinders to the mad scientist's urgent pleas. It's another night in America with Quintron and his wife, Miss Pussycat, who, for all their souped-up, overdriven "swamp tech" wizardry, prefer to conjure music that evokes the playfulness of good ol' man-made roots rock and primitive garage. There's nobody else quite like this demented Crescent City duo, pumping out freaky incantations and ominously humming and buzzing spacey sounds that build increasing momentum, even as the whole mess threatens to blow up at any moment. —Falling James
Kátia Moraes & Sambaguru
VITELLO'S
Latin bands are plentiful in L.A., but finding one that offers genuine Brazilian music is considerably harder. The best example in town is Sambaguru, led by the dynamic vocalist and performer Kátia Moraes, known for her seemingly boundless energy, which is on full display as soon as she hits the stage. Moraes put together her first local band, Brazil Nuts, back in 1994, and for her birthday this year decided to reunite the original group for this special performance. Pianist Bill Brendle, bassist Hussain Jiffry and drummer Tony Shogren round out the quartet. While Vitello's in Studio City may not be Rio de Janeiro for Carnival, a Sunday evening with Sambaguru is certain to start the week on a danceable note. —Tom Meek
New Edition
NOKIA THEATRE
No word yet on when New Jack Swing progenitors New Edition will release a new album (it'd be their first in eight years), but they've been touring strong since reuniting in 2010 and reports from the road confirm that the original six are as, ahem, harmonious as ever. Part of that is due to the triumphant return of their once wayward son, Bobby Brown, a man who completed his excursion to hell and back when he released his powerful new solo LP, The Masterpiece, earlier this month. Lest we forget, the group got its start in the early '80s and eventually spawned a pair of competing realities: first, the horrid boy-band movement and, later, the early '90s melding of R&B and rap pioneered by its spinoff acts — Bell Biv DeVoe, Johnny Gill, Ralph Tresvant and Mr. Prerogative, of course. Come out to witness a bit of history and, if we're lucky, a little future, too. —Chris Martins
Also playing:
SIX FEET UNDER at Whisky A Go Go; GLEN CAMPBELL at Hollywood Bowl; THE SLOTHS at Hollywood Studio Bar and Grill.
mon 6/25
JJAMZ
SATELLITE
JJAMZ is what L.A. indie-rock darlings do when they grow up. Comprising Z Berg (The Like), Alex Greenwald (Phantom Planet), Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley), James Valentine (Maroon 5) and Michael Runion (The Elected), their collective cred alone could have packed any Silver Lake venue with beardy boys and waify gals in the mid-aughts. These days, though, JJAMZ will need to deliver some tasty and at least reasonably trendy sounds to cash in (or top up) their stacks of scenester chips. And so they do: pleasantly melodic, electro-flecked indie rock made special by Berg's marvelously grained, achingly sultry utterances. Almost inevitably signed to local label Dangerbird (also home to Silversun Pickups), JJAMZ head out on something called, in all seriousness, the Nylon and Starbucks Frappuccino Summer Music Tour next month. —Paul Rogers
Also playing:
ESP, ADVENTURE TIME, PHAROAHS at the Echo.
tue 6/26
Destruction Unit
THE SMELL
The man behind the Suicide-meets-Chrome-meets-Hawkwind-meets-Screamers-meets-the-killer-last-scene-reveals-in-all-the-alien-episodes-of–The Twilight Zone (also known as "glue wave," but now you understand the guts of it!) band called Destruction Unit was once a man all alone in the Arizona desert with nothing but dirt and rocks and dirty rock records, and that's why this monster sounded so damn igneous when it came out. Destruction Unit never knew a soft day in their lives, and though main Unit man Ryan Wong spent plenty of worthwhile time in bands with Jay Reatard and other legendary Memphis punk wreckers, there's something particularly and personally punishing about Destruction Unit. Boston bill-sharers The Men are surprisingly compatible — a Twilight Zone-y shock reveal in itself! — but if you wanna get destroyed, go with a name you can trust. —Chris Ziegler
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