Music Picks: Tame Impala, Deftones, DJ Quik

Calder Quartet, Lyris Quartet

First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica

PHOTO BY JIM HERSHLEDER

Lyris Quartet

Related Content

• Music Picks: Lord Huron, Matthewdavid, Smell 15th Anniversary Party
  January 3, 2013
• Santa Monica Club Sucker Punch Puts Marine In Hospital; Cops Seek Loser
  May 1, 2013
• Santa Monica College Bomb Scare Prompts Evacuation
  April 23, 2013
• Happy National Caramel Popcorn Day: 5 Places to Eat Bacon Popcorn Instead
  April 5, 2013
• Music Picks: John Beasley, Down, and Tift Merritt
  January 10, 2013

More About

• Rachael Yamagata
• Simone White
• Deftones
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

As part of the valuable Jacaranda series, which features the most relevant, lesser-heard contemporary classical works, tonight two of L.A.'s finest local quartets come together in honor of Claude Debussy's 150th anniversary. Along with a performance of Georges Enesco's "Octet", French composer Eric Tanguy's dazzling new Trio is performed by the Pantoum Trio: pianist Steven Vanhauwaert, violinist Tereza Stanislav, and Cécilia Tsan, the principal cellist of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra. The work was inspired by Tsan's family story (her composer father was assassinated in Paris after fleeing communist China for Europe). The Debussy works include the 1913 flute solo "Syrinx" and the 1901 setting of "Chanson de Bilitis," featuring French actress Clara Bellar's recitation of "sensual lesbian love poems." Tix/info: jacarandamusic.org or (213) 483-0216. —John Payne

sun 11/18

The Misfits

KEY CLUB

The horror of Halloween continues this weekend as The Misfits roll through the Sunset Strip demanding skulls. Every time they hit the Key Club stage, the room is packed with thrashing fans, making for a raw, almost animalistic event. After more than 30 years and countless lineup changes, the energy at their shows is still off the charts. The Misfits remain horror punk at their core, but they've been wearing a thick coat of heavy metal for many years now, playing at dizzying speeds that leave attendees breathlessly smiling. The current incarnation has founding member Jerry Only playing bass and singing, punk-rock legend Dez Cadena (Black Flag, Redd Kross) on guitar and Eric "Chupacabra" Arce on drums. —Diamond Bodine-Fischer

The Rezillos

THE ECHO

Classic Scottish band the Rezillos are what pop-punk was supposed to be about. Which is: music like a cheapie comic book come to life, complete with flying saucers and vigorous fisticuffs and smart-ass jokes and doomed romance, like the tragic ending of "Destination Venus," where the Rezillos drift to their lonely end in deep space. And of course it's all in blinding primary colors with plenty of exciting sound effects. (In fact, although Biff! Bang! Pow! was later used as a band name by someone else, it would fit the Rezillos just fine.) Blondie and the Dickies loved the same kind of sound over here in the U.S.A., matching well-chosen covers with hooks designed to command your mind forever. This is the band's first gig in the United States for something like 20 years — don't let this one get away! —Chris Ziegler

Aristeia

COBALT CAFÉ

These Valley kids augment their industrial-strength djent with proggy, slightly psychedelic instrumental passages, challenging rhythmic episodes and widdly, wanderlusty six-string odysseys. Yet far from diluting the disquieting, split-personality wrath of vocalist "Kirby" Ibarra's wizened croak/incensed roar, or drummer Mark Pacheco's almost cruel interpretation of his instrument's potential for audio violence, Aristeia's 420-friendly interludes only serve to sharpen the frustrated suburban savagery of their work. Last year's Era of the Omnipotent EP buries the listener in vast rock slides of almost impossibly dexterous kick and snare, but then, without so much as a by-your-leave, elevates the ear through gentle guitar uppers and abrupt shifts in groove and mood. All this, plus the fact that they somehow sound at once open- and single-minded, bodes well for the band's debut album in February. -- Paul Rogers

mon 11/19

Rush

GIBSON AMPHITHEATRE

Surely there was a moment — a time when it suddenly became not only socially acceptable but also kind of, well, cool to admit you were a Rush fan. Years on, the Canadian prog-rock titan trio unspooled a whirly-gig of serpentine guitar, synths and sequencers, often serving as the bedrock for wild sci-fi nerdboy narratives. But then, much like Hall and Oates, Rush went from being the band no one admitted they dug to a cult crush only the cool kids really understood. (What's more, now they're even up for admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame). Clockwork Angels, their latest album and their current tour's namesake, is as Rush-y as ever: a bloated concept record delving into a dude's steampunk journey full of pirates and exotic carnivals. Laugh, we do not. It's just Rush being Rush. —Dan Hyman

tue 11/20

Rachael Yamagata

EL REY THEATRE

Like so many songwriters, on her recent EP, Heavyweight, Rachael Yamagata describes the ups and downs of romance as a boxing match. She uses all of her powers of persuasion to soothe an angry lover, couching her entreaties in gentle piano and a wash of orchestrated strings. "There is not a thing here left to break," the Virginia-born, singer-pianist advises. "You can take your anger out on me ... I will love you through all your mistakes." Yamagata is quietly disarming, winning by a technical knockout — not with blind rage but by carefully framing her exposed feelings in stately and sympathetic pop structures. It is that ability to create something out of nothing that has led to Yamagata's endearing collaborations with everyone from Toots & the Maytals and Ryan Adams to Bright Eyes and the Muppets. —Falling James

Natasha Agrama

BLUE WHALE

Young vocalist Natasha Agrama comes from a fertile musical bloodline: Her father is legendary jazz bassist Stanley Clarke (Return To Forever). Over the past couple years, Agrama has been cutting her teeth at L.A. clubs like 2nd Street Jazz and at a Sunday brunch at Elderberries in Hollywood. Tonight she takes a major step up, fronting a solid young group at Little Tokyo's popular Blue Whale, backed by Nick Mancini on vibes, Louis Cole on drums and Santa Monica piano whiz kid Austin Peralta. The evening's bassist is a "special mystery guest" — and a quick check of Dad's tour schedule suggests he's likely in town for the Thanksgiving holiday. You figure it out. —Tom Meek