Music Picks: Aesop Rock, Azealia Banks, Toots & the Maytals

Frank Ocean

THE WILTERN

PHOTO BY SHERVIN LAINEZ

Amanda Palmer: See Wednesday.

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It's not all that surprising that legendary '90s recluse D'Angelo has recently resurfaced — thanks to Frank Ocean's arrival, the guy finally has some competition. That's not to say that L.A.'s rising star has much in common with neo-soul but that he's the most interestingly idiosyncratic and eerily talented R&B singer-songwriter to emerge since Brown Sugar blew minds back in 1995. Though Ocean is affiliated with Odd Future, he eschews the puerile for the poignant and the ADHD-addled energy for intense focus. The resulting songs are gorgeously crafted, with music that pulls liberally from across the pop spectrum (he sampled Coldplay, MGMT, the Eagles and Eyes Wide Shut for last year's Nostalgia, ULTRA. mixtape), and lyrics lovingly seeded with intimate narrative detail. And, of course, there's that voice: yearning but warm, adept but never showy, making Ocean's sound an endlessly inviting proposition with promise to spare. —Chris Martins

Also playing:

THE YOUNG, LAMPS, ZIG ZAGS at the Echo.

wed 7/18

Awol One

THE AIRLINER

Awol One comes from the dark end of the street; as a member of the Shape Shifters, he was the guy dredging up the rhymes man was not meant to know. It's strong stuff: desolate, debased and somewhere between autobiographical and autodestructive, with bleaked-out beats and deadpan delivery and grisly Herschell Gordon Lewis imagery for texture. Ever wish the human race didn't exist ... and then realize you're one, too? Awol One as well. His newest release, Shockra, however, is Awol as producer only. Lyrics gotta come from someone and somewhere else, but there's plenty of space between Awol's ghostly, dubbed-out beats, crumpled-up melody lines and tones and drones lifted from the dark side of a Rahsaan Roland Kirk album. It's another worthy experiment from a man willing to try anything. —Chris Ziegler

Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra

THE ROXY

Life isn't a cabaret for Amanda Palmer so much as it's an ongoing, sprawling, endless carnival. From her early work with the Dresden Dolls to her upcoming album with her latest collaborators, the Grand Theft Orchestra, the madcap singer-pianist always dressed up her carny pop songs with plenty of extracurricular theatrics, garish makeup and stilt-walking sideshow performers. The circus elements are not so much distractions as they are amplifications and virtual re-enactments of the sometimes messy psychodramas that lie within Palmer's lyrics. If new songs like "Do It With a Rockstar" and the orchestra's covers of overplayed songs by Radiohead and Nirvana seem initially less quirky and inventive than her freaky Dresden Doll period, keep listening, because eventually the weirder and stranger elements of her persona will seep through the cracks. —Falling James

Also playing:

DEMI LOVATO at the Greek Theatre; FERRABY LIONHEART at Bootleg Bar.

thu 7/19

Al Green

GREEK THEATRE

Talking on the phone a few years ago about Lay It Down, his then-fresh collaboration with ?uestlove of the Roots, Al Green asked us after about four minutes if we'd gotten everything we needed. In fact, we had: What could this R&B great possibly say about his music that the music itself hasn't already expressed more eloquently? Green may pepper his set tonight with a few tunes from Lay It Down, much of which lives up to his legendary Hi Records high point. But showgoers should expect no shortage of the old stuff: "Tired of Being Alone," "Love and Happiness" and, of course, "Let's Stay Together." Last time we caught the good reverend at the Greek, he threw in some gospel, too. With Allen Stone. —Mikael Wood

Ras_G, Shabazz Palaces, Gonjasufi

THE ECHOPLEX

Ras_G is a crusher among crushers, a reality soldier of the highest order and a vessel for bass and philosophy so dense and heavy that they have to mark off you-assume-all-liability zones at the foot of every speaker. (At Flying Lotus' 420 dublab show, standing next to Ras_G's bass was like bodysurfing ... and failing repeatedly.) Sun Ra is the light of his life, but he ranges far and wide on his own releases, testing and touching everything from free jazz to Dilla-istic beat sketches to the pulverizing digi-dub-bass destroyers on his annihilating Spacebase Is the Place double 10-inch. Bill-sharers Shabazz Palaces (extremely vital) and Gonjasufi (ditto, plus some Beefheart) are from the same planet if not the same plane, and what you get when you visit is revelation through rhythm. —Chris Ziegler

Adam Lambert

PACIFIC AMPHITHEATRE

Due to various international commitments (including a brief European stint fronting Queen), this bedazzled American Idol refugee hasn't yet launched a full U.S. tour in support of his excellent new studio album, Trespassing. So Glamberts should be sure to hit this one-off O.C. Fair gig, which is likely to contain all the glitter-ball fabulousness you'll require this summer. Even the non-devoted may enjoy: Where Lambert's post-Idol bow, For Your Entertainment, felt as half-baked as it probably was, Trespassing delivers tunes as forceful as the singer's glam-god look. "Kickin' In" is a sassed-out disco-rock gem, while "Shady" brandishes a sweet guest spot by Nile Rodgers of Chic. If the man behind "Le Freak" is on board, we are, too. —Mikael Wood