Rock Picks: Spindrift, Randy Newman, The Gutter Twins

THURSDAY, JULY 3 Constantines at the Troubadour

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Blues empress Zola Moon

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Spindrift: Way out west

Zak Fleming

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The incredible Levell Crump, a.k.a. David Banner

The Constantines are probably the best rock band out of Toronto (via two shitty college towns in Ontario: London and Guelph), and probably Canada at large. A live Constantines show is a cyclical affair: Arena-rock seriousness builds to fuzzy punk pleas and instrumental histrionics, eventually giving way to a coaxing pastoral lust. The band, always good, have become great after close to 10 years, four albums (and handfuls of EPs and compilation appearances), deals with Arts & Crafts in Canada and Sub Pop in the U.S., and now a few established side projects and the odd celeb collaboration. The Cons are heirs apparent, and constantly made analogous, to Neil Young’s Canadiana-fixated rock resonance (the band’s alter ego, Horsey Craze, has recorded Young songs), Bruce Springsteen’s double-denim working-man spirituals and Fugazi. The air in utopia may be poisoned, but the Constantines are working on it. (Kate Carraway)

Also playing Thursday: NICO VEGA, THE GROWLERS at the Hammer Museum; FREE MORAL AGENTS at Alex’s Bar; THE KIDS OF WIDNEY HIGH at Mr. T’s Bowl; CHANA at Temple Bar.

FRIDAY, JULY 4

Zola Moon at Lynwood City Park

Some holidays go better with rock & roll than others, such as Halloween, whose combination of morbid sensuality and visual transformation is an ideal crossroads for rock, blues and other swampy voodoo musics to come creeping and crawling into. Rock and blues don’t fare as well during Christmas (except as a soulful palliative and ironic counterpoint to the syrupy artifice of the holiday season) or on the Fourth of July, whose soundtrack is generally given over to the brassy pomp and hot-air exhalations of marching bands and the percussively stuttering crackle of fireworks. Whether you’re celebrating the Fourth as a true-blue patriot or lamenting this nation’s often-tragic history, Zola Moon encompasses all of the holiday’s contradictions with a charismatic persona that’s hotter than a summer afternoon and a powerhouse voice that’s as explosive as a hundred bottle rockets. The South Bay blues empress howls with raw, feral abandon on classic covers like “House of the Rising Sun” and “Little Red Rooster,” but she also brings a Charles Bukowski–fueled poetry to her own excellent original tunes on her 2007 CD, Wildcats Under My Skin. 11301 Bullis Road. Also at Shoreline Village, Sat. (Falling James)

Spindrift at the Echo

Forget block parties and fireworks — those looking for a truly exciting way to celebrate the United States’ 232nd birthday should check out Spindrift tonight. The band, led by singer-guitarist Kirpatrick Thomas, take the haunting sounds of the American West and throw in a splash of ’60s psychedelia for songs just itching to be used in film scores, such as their tune from the upcoming Quentin Tarantino–produced flick Hell Ride. Spindrift also have a feature of their own in the works called The Legend of God’s Gun, which they’re starring in and for which they’re penning the accompanying soundtrack. Their atmospheric, shoegazing-in-a-good-sort-of-way approach takes listeners on a peyote-soaked trip to a sandstorm desert where slow-moving tumbleweeds careen, which is way cooler than sparklers and hot dogs. (Ryan Ritchie)

Randy Newman at the Hollywood Bowl

Feeling patriotic but don’t wanna check your skepticism at the door this Fourth of July? Spend the occasion with Randy Newman, who’s never let his love of country get in the way of his doubts (or his jokes) about America. Tonight the Grammy- and Oscar-winning singer-songwriter presides over “A Ball at the Bowl,” a multimedia program celebrating the Dodgers’ 50th anniversary in Los Angeles: In addition to Newman’s set, you’ll get video packages, the L.A. Phil doing old-school baseball songs, Tommy Lasorda leading the audience in a round of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and, of course, fireworks blowing shit up. Newman is scheduled to conduct the Phil in a performance of his music from the Robert Redford baseball flick The Natural; then he’ll play a handful of his pop tunes, including material from his upcoming album, Harps and Angels, due out August 5. Beats burning your finger with a bottle rocket. (Mikael Wood)

Also playing Friday:

BOOMBASH at 14 Below; HAYESFIELD, ZHAIN U.K. at the Good Hurt; ORGONE, BOOGALOO ASSASSINS at the Mint; THE VOYEURS, GRIZZLY OWLS, TERRAPIN, SEASONS at Mr. T’s Bowl; THE FLASH EXPRESS at the Redwood Bar & Grill.

SATURDAY, JULY 5

Hootenanny at Oak Canyon Ranch

Summer’s start once again brings that high, dusty O.C. ritual known to man as Hootenanny. This edition of the annual roots-rock blowout is toughened up with the kicking psycho-punk snarl of Tiger Army and Guana Batz, while the purely gone California rockabilly originator Glen Glenn ably represents the pioneering generation of rebels whom this audience so fetishistically reveres. With engaging musical side trips from former BR-549 cat Chuck Mead and renegade Foo Fighter Chris Shiflet, and a set from coolly deadly cliché-slayer James Intveld, it‘s a full-course big-beat banquet. Best of all, with the headliner’s closing spot going (yet again) to the perpetually unconvincing groaner Mike Ness, you’ll able get clean out of the parking lot before it turns into a Kustom Rod traffic jam. 4621 Santiago Canyon Road, Silverado. (Jonny Whiteside)