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Friday, July 5
Linda Perhacs & Friends
LEVITT PAVILION PASADENA
In 1970, now-revered psych folksinger-composer Linda Perhacs made an album titled Parallelograms, the artist's attempt at illustrating the synesthetic connections between color and sound. Perhacs sought to establish a new holistic art that would encompass the “harmony” inherent when ideas culled from film, dance and visual arts were incorporated into the more conventional shades of the '60s-style folk-pop songs she wrote. She would ideally create music that did away with literal or representational words and melodies. Rediscovered amid the “New Weird America” thing of recent vintage, the album has been reissued a couple of times and inspired a new generation of musical seekers, a few of whom will join Perhacs in performances of songs from Parallelograms along with new material. The lineup includes singer-songwriter Julia Holter, Lavender Diamond singer Becky Stark and Ramona Gonzalez of Nite Jewel. –John Payne
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The Purrs
HOTEL CAFÉ
These psych-rock Seattleites have been orbiting clubland since the turn of the millennium, toiling in that labor-of-love twilight between obscurity and notoriety personified by self-releases, mini-tours, daytime festival appearances and music-conference showcases. The quartet gleefully channels early-'90s Brit shoegaze (in particular the original Verve's strung-out jams) and, through this, The Rolling Stones' more trippy-hippie moments. Just as vocalist/bassist Jima emotes through a rather proper faux-English accent and a more feet-up stateside drawl, his bandmates' guitars straddle continents and musical cultures, dappling their alt-rock with country jaunt and West Coast jangle. With hefty, often harmonized hooks and an at times downright belligerent rhythm section, The Purrs are less cross-legged-in-a-kaftan and more floppy-haired-with-a-fuzzbox. –Paul Rogers
Froth, Mr. Elevator and the Brain Hotel
BOOTLEG BAR
There's a band out in Orange County called Feeding People, who dive right into the deepest and freakiest parts of real-deal psychedelic rock — in a way, they're the center of their own microminiature universe. Two of the more fascinating planetoids rattling around that universe are Froth and Mr. Elevator and the Brain Hotel. They each share members with Feeding People; more importantly, they share the same fearless spirit. Froth (celebrating a new Burger full-length) does blasted guitar psych and Mr. Elevator, et al., have a particularly screaming sort of keyboard-organ sound that's way close to obscuro Krautrocky maniacs (check: Birth Control and The Dukes) of the '60s than anything The Doors ever did. The corridor cities probably haven't sounded this heavy since ever. –Chris Ziegler
The Oblivians
ECHOPLEX
The Oblivians return from oblivion with Desperation, their first album in 15 years. A lot has changed in the world since 1997, but the Memphis garage-rock kings still sound raw and feral, with overly fuzzed-out guitars wrapped around contrastingly poppy tunes like “Little War Child” and such stomping rockers as “I'll Be Gone.” The Oblivians carry on again with their original three members, all of whom sing lead and switch off on instruments — Eric Friedl (who's also played with Jay Reatard), Jack Yarber (Jack O & the Tennessee Tearjerkers, Tav Falco) and Greg Cartwright (The Reigning Sound, Mary Weiss, The Detroit Cobras). Yarber and Cartwright also have collaborated in The Compulsive Gamblers, but they're always at their wildest when they're paired in The Oblivians, even on unabashed love songs like “Bad Man” (which The Detroit Cobras memorably transformed into “Bad Girl”). The trio headlines today's Murica Fest, a sprawling garage-punk roundup that also features Destruction Unit (with former members of The Reatards), L.A. combo The Intelligence, Fuzz (with Ty Segall) and The Lamps. –Falling James
Saturday, July 6
Intronaut
THE ROXY
Intronaut is one of the brightest shining lights in today's Los Angeles metal scene. The ambitious quartet combines the proggy adventurousness of Tool with thunderous riffs that rumble through your entire body. Recent albums such as this year's Habitual Levitations have seen the band getting more melodic, but their craftsmanship still makes for an incredibly rewarding journey through the band's complex, heavy song structures. Guitarists/vocalists Sacha Dunable and Dave Timmick roar out some mighty bellows, even amidst their trippy guitar moments, and bassist Joe Lester provides a strong groove underpinning to the proceedings, whether the band is chilling or rocking out. Drummer Danny Walker lives up to his notoriety as one of the most versatile drummers in metal by being equally capable of slamming the skins hard in a soaring crescendo or allowing you to get lost in the unhurried beat of Intronaut's slower-moving animals. –Jason Roche
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The Warlocks, Centimeters, Gliss, The Spyrals, Spirit Vine, The Hallucinations
BOOTLEG THEATER
Tonight's bill is cram-packed with trippy music makers who pump out everything from disturbing art rock and swirling shoegazer noise to full-blown psychedelia. As their name implies, The Hallucinations have the most obviously retro sound, evoking that magic moment in the 1960s when formal garage rock morphed into crazed acid rock. Echo Park enchanters Spirit Vine are more decidedly modern, with lead singer Jacquelinne Cingolani cooing haunting imprecations atop a bed of luminous guitars à la The Duke Spirit's Liela Moss. The Spyrals layer their fundamental garage chords with lonely, austere post-punk riffs that recall The Clean and Joy Division. Shape-shifting local trio Gliss has evolved recently into an even dreamier 4AD style, as Victoria Cecilia's languid vocals plunge into a sea of echoes on chansons like “Weight of Love.” The beloved art-cabaret iconoclasts Centimeters make a rare return, with wide-eyed Nora Keyes and Max Gomberg conjuring “Hovering Ponies” and other demented ditties that range from freaky to folkie. Meanwhile, The Warlocks cobble together lengthy Stones/Velvets-derived epics that are alternately mesmerizing and sleep-inducing. –Falling James
Sunday, July 7
Editor's note: The Ron Carter show at Catalina Jazz Club has been canceled
LL Cool J
GREEK THEATRE
Lauded globally for his pioneering rhyme skills and wicked good looks, LL has enjoyed the type of career longevity that many artists have seldom seen. Bred in Queens, N.Y., the rapper born James Todd Smith endured and witnessed both physical abuse and gun violence in his home. This challenging upbringing did not detour him, however. At 45 years young, the two-time Grammy Award winner has authored four books, appeared in more than 30 feature films, is a successful entrepreneur and currently stars in the CBS drama NCIS: L.A. Both a husband and a father, Smith put his career on hold briefly in the mid-2000s when his wife Simone contracted, and later beat, cancer of the tibia. His first release sans Def Jam, the aptly titled Authentic, was released in April. Tonight's show features a similarly storied long-standing rap act, Public Enemy. –Jacqueline Michael Whatley
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