Austra
EL REY THEATRE
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For its first few bars, a song like "Lose It" suggests that Austra are just another of those kinda dance-y, kinda goth-y electronic acts that seem to be performing at any given moment during South by Southwest and at least weekly at the Bootleg Theater. But then Katie Stelmanis starts singing. The classically trained Canadian emits unearthly, yodel-ish utterances that can color entire days. The electro Kate Bush, Stelmanis initially seems to be singing in some unintelligible language of her own imagination, but in fact her operatic gymnastics and crystalline vowels could make the recitation of a laundry label seem arcane, escapist and deeply meaningful. While Austra's early Depeche Mode synths and frisky beat-box grooves are nothing special in 2012, Stelmanis' wonderfully eccentric vocals are utterly, timelessly spectacular. —Paul Rogers
Poolside
Rarely does a band's name so aptly fit its sound. On its debut, Pacific Standard Time, Los Angeles' chlorinated duo Poolside creates lazy dance rhythms that sound miles away from dark nightclubs. Percolating in the midtempo region, the album's paced movements fit the mellowed-out, grown-up groove merchant. Head bobs are unavoidable as Poolside glide through the '70s-inspired shuffles of "Slow Down," then throw some spice into the Latin-flavored "Kiss You Forever." Explosions in the Sky–style guitars find their way onto "Off My Mind," bringing a dusty, eye-squinting vibe to the sounds of waves crashing in the background. Rather than restricting themselves to the summer months, with PST, Poolside transfer the smoldering balminess of the season to the rest of the year. —Lily Moayeri
sun 9/16
Kode9
LOS GLOBOS
L.A. has its own musician-moonlighting-as-a-Ph.D. in punk band Bad Religion's Dr. Greg Graffin, but across the pond, the honor of stage-smashing scholar probably should go to dubstepper Kode9 — sorry, Dr. Kode9 — for both giving the world the gonna-be-historic Hyperdub label and for his recent book, Sonic Warfare, published by the MIT Press as an examination of the "politics of frequency." Sound like something Slavoj iek might be working on? Because Kode9 songs are less like sonic warfare and more like the flames flickering in the ruins afterward — all sizzling synthesizer and big, split-open beats, and plenty of space and echo for that real, last-man-on-Earth feeling. This is smart, affecting stuff, as befits a doctor of philosophy, and it makes the perfect soundtrack for a world where the cracks are starting to show. —Chris Ziegler
mon 9/17
VITELLO'S
Josh Nelson looks much younger than his 34 years but has already become a seasoned veteran and one of the most respected pianists on the L.A. music scene. Nelson's talents are strong enough to have won him a job as Natalie Cole's primary touring pianist worldwide for the last several years, while he's continued to compose and record his own material, a practice dating back to his first album, at age 19. Vitello's in Studio City is home to a semi-regular Monday "Discoveries" series featuring Nelson, which allows him to add guest players to augment his regular trio. Tonight Nelson features NYC-based Philip Dizack, regarded there as one of the hottest young trumpeters on the East Coast. Nelson's musical knowledge has won him praise and fans both young and old, and tonight should serve as another example of exactly why. —Tom Meek
tue 9/18
Dirt Bird
BOOTLEG THEATER
With their ethereal, operatic harmonies and their semi-classical blend of harmonium and piano, local duo Dirt Bird conjure dreamy idylls that sound like they could be from another time. But Claire McKeown and Athena LeGrand's songs aren't linked to any one specific era, nor do they belong to a distinctly predictable retro genre. Instead, their "classical experimental folk gothic minimalist skiffle" reveries are drawn just as much from the modern pop world as they are from proper choral tradition. "How will we survive on Spaceship Earth?" they wonder on the icy-beautiful ballad "Buckminster Fuller," their shimmering harmonies trailing behind them like gauzy white clouds. —Falling James
Bombino
THE MINT
As you might have seen at his debut appearance at the Hollywood Bowl last summer, Tuareg guitarist-songwriter Omara "Bombino" Moctar is an ax shredder of quite unusual chops and point of view. He's earned critical raves all over the Sahara and recently in the West for his singing and playing, an acoustically lyrical but electrically badass mastery of the guitar — a cross between fellow Africans Tinariwen and Ali Farka Touré, laced with rocky blues à la John Lee Hooker and Jimi Hendrix. Given extra heft by the socially conscious themes rooted in his people's armed struggles for independence from the brutal tyranny of government forces, Bombino slays on his 2011 Agadez (Cumbancha), his scorching jams blended with traditional Tuareg song forms and toughed-up trance grooves. —John Payne
wed 9/19
Foxygen
THE ECHO
People now might think first of Ariel Pink, but the squiggly zigzag that leads to the band Foxygen goes way, way back, through British art-weirdos like Nikki Sudden and The Jacobites to the Television Personalities to the New York Dolls to Bowie and finally the Rolling Stones, who'd probably look at Foxygen like a dinosaur looks at a hummingbird — "So you say we're related?" But under beautifully lo-fi production by Richard Swift are glammed-up songs detailed to the last dot, like the Spiders From Mars if they'd actually been recorded on Mars, or the New York Dolls if they'd actually been stranded in the jungle. (There are plenty of space noises and animal yelps to reinforce the point.) To some people, this probably seems like a big mess. But if you listen closely, you'll realize it's more like a message. —Chris Ziegler
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