HOUSE OF BLUES FOUNDATION ROOM
Zydeco, that rockin' Creole-R&B sound, is definitely a wild child of Louisiana's singular cultural crossfire, yet California has nonetheless produced some significant forces in the genre. Certain districts in San Francisco, West Oakland and nearby Richmond are so saturated in Louisiana emigres that a stroll through them feels more like visiting the Ninth Ward than Funky Broadway; their progeny include such squeeze-box paragons as San Francisco-based Queen Ida and Richmond-born live-wire zydeco overlord Andre Thierry. With a soulful set of pipes and a left hand that churns out the French boogie with masterly emphasis, Thierry is one of the hottest torchbearers on the West Coast. With his wildly capable Zydeco Magic band, he dispenses a highly spiced, irresistibly exotic sound with downright delirious effect. —Jonny Whiteside
VIPER ROOM
Jamaica's original 1960s reggae was as grimy as it was groovy, offering both an escape from and a reflection of life in the island's teeming, violent slums. Though a new-millennium L.A. creation (formed in 2002 as the backing band for reggae godfather Derrick Morgan), The Aggrolites adhere to this organic, organ-stained strain of the genre, albeit one injected with the ska-inflected skinhead angst of England's late-'70s 2 Tone scene. Though they clearly come to skank and celebrate, snapping snare drums and slightly spooky fairground keys hint that a single misplaced elbow could flip the quintet's mood entirely. Last year's lo-fi, largely instrumental Rugged Road has many a mellow moment, but the album's bold bucking of stylistic (and production) trends makes it proudly punk-as-fuck nonetheless. —Paul Rogers
sun 12/30
CLUB NOKIA
Main mouth Beyoncé Knowles so dominated mega-selling Texan R&B trio Destiny's Child that, as she writhed toward mononymous ubiquity in the early aughts, her bandmates seemed threatened with obscurity. But not Kelly Rowland, who grew up with Knowles in Houston and survived Destiny's Child's commercial explosion and Y2K switch-up (in which original members LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett departed). Rowland was actually the first Child to go it alone. Her 2002 debut, Simply Deep, spawned globally chart-topping Nelly duet "Dilemma," one year before Beyoncé's solo bow, Dangerously in Love. In '09 Rowland teamed with DJ David Guetta for another worldwide floor-filler, "When Love Takes Over," and her versatile, suggestively cooed vibrato and knee-weakening onstage glamour continue to remind that Destiny's Child wasn't all Knowles after all. —Paul Rogers
CLUB NOKIA
Ludacris (nee Chris Bridges) made the transition from Atlanta-based urban radio jockey to hip-hop heavyweight in the early 2000s, shortly after the release of his game-changing debut, Back for the First Time. The Billboard-charting tracks "What's Your Fantasy" and "Southern Hospitality" received heavy urban-radio rotation and quickly became hallmarks of rap's Dirty South movement. The three-time Grammy Award winner continued to churn out a flock of chart-topping singles during the 2000s. To date, he's sold more than 20 million albums just in the United States. More than a musical force, Bridges has successfully enjoyed careers as a SAG Award–winning actor, restaurateur and philanthropist. His highly anticipated 2013 release Ludaversal includes production by Pharrell Williams and David Guetta. —Jacqueline Michael Whatley
mon 12/31
Despite the myriad achievements of the human race throughout history — moonshots, pyramids, penicillin and the late-night food truck — one never-realized dream haunted civilization: getting Redd Kross and The Melvins to play on the same show. If you were thinking about something with artificial intelligence or faster-than-light travel, then obviously you've never sensed the capacity for societal advancement inherent in a limited-edition 12-inch EP. So: Finally, these undisputed titans of punk and rock — these choosers of perfect cover songs, these producers of the shits which rippeth, these knowers of the single awesome Osmonds track — will share a bill on the last night of 2012. This must be that oft-discussed "rapture of the nerds," right? Cocktails served and black formal attire requested. This is history, people! —Chris Ziegler
tue 1/1
Religious Girls, Hex Horizontal
THE SMELL
It's a new year, which requires a brave new soundtrack rather than the usual retro background noise of tired nostalgia. The Oakland trio Religious Girls clearly are aiming for something unusual in attempting to "to push aside the standards of popular songwriting with nonrepeating structures [and] an intricate mathematical style." What they end up is a molten stew of disembodied ghostly voices, electronic trickery and psychedelic weirdness on their generally instrumental album Open Your Heart to Fantasy. The local guitar-drums duo Hex Horizontal also say what's on their collective mind without actually using words, instead employing harsh slabs of electronic noise interspersed with intimately spacey prog-rock interludes. —Falling James
wed 1/2
Dibia$e
LOW END THEORY at the AIRLINER
The prehistory of 8-bit beats in Los Angeles gets more and more pixilated the farther you look back, but believe that Watts beatmaker Dibia$e was there early and enthusiastically. In fact, he used to get the pieces for his Nintendified songs by playing video games live through his sampler and trying not to die before he got to hear Bowser growl at him. A longtime Low End Theory regular, his previous releases on Alpha Pup and All City — the twin tentpoles of L.A. beat — prove that he's just as agile a producer as he is a Player 1. His newest LP, Looney Goons, is bristling with sci-fi robo music that crackles with adrenalin and menace both. The last man on the last level with the timer counting down to disintegration? That's when Dibia$e feels most at home. —Chris Ziegler
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