Music Picks: R. Kelly, Leonard Cohen, Cat Power

sun 11/4

Chicano Batman, Buyepongo, Anthony Valadez at Day of the Dead

ECHOPLEX

Chicano Batman is soul, although there's a lot more to this band than just soul music. There's psychedelia and tropicalia and cumbia, done up DIY in the most noble, garage-recorded tradition. If you ever saw the gigantic Chicano Batman logo — the Dark Knight merged with the UFW eagle — painted in triumphant colors across singer/keyboardist/guitarist Bardo Martinez's bedroom wall, you'd get it. This band is a dream made real. (And made even realer on the new Joven Navegante EP, with four songs of electrified experimentalism, actually.) This performance is part of a Day of the Dead extravaganza, including the mighty Buyepongo and the frenetic chicha-inspired La Chamba, who howl like maniacs when they really get going, as well as DJs Sloepoke and Anthony Valadez. —Chris Ziegler

Bush Tetras

THE ECHO

The collision of punk and funk resulted in a new, bass-heavy genre that encompassed everything from the straightforward vibe of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Doggy Style to weirder, harder and more aggressive groups such as Gang of Four and The Middle Class. The early-'80s New York band Bush Tetras were definitely on the artier side of things, with Cynthia Sley intoning dourly mesmerizing broadsides like "Too Many Creeps" and "Stand Up and Fight," while former Contortionists guitarist Pat Place chopped up angular shards of glassy funk. Sadly, founding bassist Laura Kennedy, whose buoyant, throbbing lines were such a major component of the group's early sound, died from liver disease last year. However, her replacement, Julia Murphy, has been with the reunited band for seven years now, and dubby tracks like "Das Ah Riot" still feel timeless. —Falling James

mon 11/5

Dark Dark Dark, Emily Wells

THE ECHOPLEX

Emily Wells' ambitious songs might seem too strange to attract much popular attention, but the Texas singer's unusual fusion of hip-hop rhythms with washes of classical-style strings and old-time folk, layered over her own innocently childlike cooing, has led to appearances on Last Call With Carson Daly and collaborations with hip-hop hotshot Dan the Automator. Despite its title, "Johnny Cash's Mama's House" isn't some predictably down-home, roots-reviving homage. Instead, the song is a gauzy electronic soundscape where Wells' eerie vocals and shimmering violin hover airily overhead like a delicate Kate Bush reverie. Headliners Dark Dark Dark have a similarly stately pop approach, with Nona Marie Invie's vocals wending their way winningly through her icily beautiful piano passages on grand new tunes like "Tell Me." —Falling James

Leonard Cohen

NOKIA THEATRE

Well-dressed man Leonard Cohen is often referred to as a ladykiller; no doubt, the gifted songwriter, musician and poet is effortlessly suave, with a quiet charisma that surely aids in conveying the pointedly poignant words and hues of his music and poems. Since his 1967 debut, Songs of Leonard Cohen, the man has consistently kept it rolling; it's inspiring to note that he produced some of his best work decades after he got started, including I'm Your Man (1988) and the elegiac excursions of this year's Old Ideas, another satisfying blend of the wrenchingly heartbreaking and happily hopeful, with time-earned simplicity that's deeply felt and, better yet, shrewdly thought out. Both live and in the studio, Mr. Cohen is in fine, funny, fighting form. —John Payne

tue 11/6

Miss May I

HOUSE OF BLUES

Defying its (relatively) clean-cut aesthetic, this quintet — whose members were still in high school when they formed the band in 2006 — summons a witheringly dense, guitar-driven din that allows little room for argument, let alone vulnerability. But for these unassuming Ohioans, heft and deft coexist in furious harmony, with plenty of noodly six-string detail and industrial strength (and speed) kickdrums amidst a veritable monsoon of oversaturated riffery. There's melody, too, with bassist Ryan Neff offering heartfelt, singable counterpoints to frontman Levi Benton's apocalyptic roar. Miss May I may not sound especially original today, but they came early to metalcore's table, and a rare sense of single-mindedness still pervades their angry yet anthemic assault. —Paul Rogers

wed 11/7

Danny Janklow

VITELLO'S

To most people, saxophonist Danny Janklow looks even younger than his 23 years. The Agoura Hills native and 2011 Temple University grad returned to Los Angeles and quickly began making a name for himself in local jazz circles. After hearing Janklow sitting in with Conan saxophonist Jerry Vivino, leading saxman Doug Webb was impressed enough to lend the young man one of his personal instruments. Tonight Janklow is upstairs at Vitello's in Studio City, the club where he cut his chops a year ago jamming in the downstairs bar. He's backed by former Wynton Marsalis pianist Eric Reed, drummer Wes Anderson and fine young bassist Mike Gurrola, who turned down a Juilliard scholarship offer to stay on the West Coast. Janklow promises a mix of original tunes and standards from the likes of John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon. —Tom Meek

thu 11/8

Cat Power

HOLLYWOOD PALLADIUM

Much has been made of Cat Power's recent makeover, with critics seemingly just as enamored of her new hairstyle (after the Atlanta native sheared off her trademark long, straight, brown hair in favor of a short, pixie-like blond cut) as they are the musical evolution on her ninth album, Sun. She shifts away from the Memphis soul of previous releases into a more overtly poppy, piano-laced sound, flecked with newfound traces of electronica. Such cosmetic adornments don't really change the soulful intensity that remains at the heart of Power's emotionally cathartic ballads. The arrangements might be different, but Power still hypnotizes with that languidly mournful yet ever-comforting voice. —Falling James