Also playing:
JASON FALKNER, NEW MAXIMUM DONKEY at the Echoplex.
Related Content
More About
wed 8/1
ECHO
Erika Forster, member of Brooklyn synth-pop trio Au Revoir Simone, has reinvented herself as Erika Spring and just released a dreamy, self-titled solo EP that ranges from the breathy electro-pop of "Like a Fire" to the ethereal romanticism of "Six More Weeks." Forster's airy vocals anoint her version of The Eurythmics' "When Tomorrow Comes" with a gently sparkling allure, and she slyly crafts a mood of delicious anticipation on "Happy at Your Gate" with her bubbling keyboards and confessional intimacy. Don't bid adieu to her old band just yet; instead, say hello to this newfound and unexpected side of Forster — a charming consolation prize for those who need their Au Revoir Simone fix. —Falling James
BOOTLEG BAR
The disgustingly multitalented composer-songwriter-singer-producer Mike Andrews finds a moment to celebrate the release of his latest solo record, Spilling a Rainbow, coming in August on the essential Everloving label. You've heard Andrews via his imaginative scores for a lot of your fave TV shows and movies, including Freaks and Geeks, Donnie Darko, all those Judd Apatow flicks like The Five Year Engagement and Bridesmaids, and Jake Kasdan's magnificent Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. A sort of concept album themed around the birth of his baby boy, Andrews' new solo release reveals a sweetly mellifluous and choicely harmonized pop — and a slightly psychedelic one, too, like in "Music for Cell Division," where he scored his wife's ultrasound. Andrews' Wednesday-night residency with ultra-very-special friends runs throughout August; tonight he's joined by singer-songwriter Nik Freitas. —John Payne
Miles Evans Band
CATALINA
Trumpeter Miles Evans is the son of the late arranger Gil Evans, best known for his work with Miles Davis, Evans' namesake. Evans' recent gigs at Catalina have ventured more toward rock than jazz, including songs from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones; for this show he's adding Traffic and CSNY. Evans' band tonight includes longtime Stones backing vocalist Bernard Fowler, keyboardists Delmar Brown (Sting) and John Beasley (Miles Davis), and the return of (after her extended 2010-11 tours with Zappa Plays Zappa) saxophonist Scheila Gonzalez, joined by Doug Webb. Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty) will be in the drum chair, and guitarists Dean Brown (Brecker Brothers) and Mike Blumberg also are on board. Expect Hollywood's Catalina to be rocking on this one more than any gig this year. —Tom Meek
Also playing:
TENACIOUS D at Wiltern; TEARS FOR FEARS at Pacific Amphitheatre; CHRIS ISAAK at Grove of Anaheim; NEVILLE BROTHERS at Hollywood Bowl.
thu 8/2
BOOTLEG THEATER
If there's one thing the singers who've worked with filmmaker David Lynch have in common, it's that their music comes shrouded in layers of gauzy atmosphere. Such otherwise disparate chanteuses as Julee Cruise and Ariana Delawari find common ground in the way Lynch plunges their languorous ballads into a pool of swirling echoes and wraps them up in a shimmering haze. For more than two decades, Lynch's divas have carved out their own distinct subgenre of dream pop, and Texas native Chrysta Bell is one of his most captivating protégées to date. "This train stops for no one," she warns as a stark and lonely soundscape wells up behind her on the title track of her 2011 album, This Train. But Bell doesn't always keep things so cool, shuffling off her immortal coil to reveal a wounded human heart on "Swing With Me," where she wails with a piercing, persuasively soulful intensity amid Lynch's columns of funereal shadows. —Falling James
Onra, Free the Robots, Matthewdavid
ECHO
Instrumental electronicist Onra may call France home, but his sound is as influenced by our city's beat scene as it is by the Gallic, synthy come-ons of Sebastian Tellier and the deft pulse of Daft Punk. He, too, has worshipped at the altar of J Dilla, turning warm loops and cut-up vocals into seething scores for head-nodding and freak-dancing. He's also channeled the slow-seething bump of early Flying Lotus at times, weaving foreign percussives with celestial effects. That said, his new Deep Is the Night EP is made to boogie, emphasizing gushing keyboard sounds and echoing '80s drums, a perfect score for top-down cruising through an urban neon blur. Friends from the neighborhood will be on hand: Free the Robots, whose dystopic soundscapes are the right kind of terrifying, and Matthewdavid, who creates gorgeous textures out of found sounds and digitalia. —Chris Martins
Also playing:
CINDERELLA at Canyon Club; VICTORIA JUSTICE at Pacific Amphitheatre.
Now Trending
