Beck, Beck ... and the need for substantial shoes

Beck's dinnertime show Thursday night at the Echo was more like an hourlong sampler platter with the usual heaping helping of surprising flavors. The 36-year-old musical alchemist, fronting a six-piece band, test-drove all manner of new permutations, his ensemble at their most savory and powerful through a couple numbers that could only be described as stoner jams.

Of course, even those jams at times broke off and became something else -- Beck has a way of making everything sound like a tangent for 15 seconds. Then, suddenly, it all works; it's all good.

Fresh from a rehearsal, or so the band said, Beck's sextet gave a capacity crowd (the show was not announced until late afternoon and still attracted a long line on Sunset Boulevard) a taste of the familiar funk and hip-hop. But the blowback from a couple psychedelic stomps, with their clatter of shakers, cowbells, noisemakers and harmonica and thick lines from bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen, packed a punch.

Waiter, a little more stoner rock, please ...

◊ ◊ ◊

Beck graciously thanked the kid bands who were playing later in the night for allowing his group's incursion on their bill. Hey, does this mean Metro Station (a promising electro-pop quartet) can say Beck opened for them?

◊ ◊ ◊

Later, across town at the cozy West Hollywood club Tempest, unsigned English quartet the Screening helped kick off the first night of Death Disco, the new Thursday night promotion from a British contingent that includes Creation Records founder Alan McGee.

The Screening's quick set of punked-up Britpop was their sixth performance in three days -- ah, showcasing in Los Angeles. They soldiered through it, and probably the only faux pas of the evening was the flip-flops worn by Liam Gallagher-channeling front man Tom Nurse. "If you wear a leather jacket," said one astute columnist and fashion expert, "you need to have substantial shoes."

The Screening returns to Tempest tonight for Club Underground.

◊ ◊ ◊

Touts for Friday, March 23: Anti-Flag and Alexisonfire top a bill of edgy punks at the Wiltern. ... The Start and the Randies play the Viper Room. ... Elvis Perkins (whom we previewed in the Calendar Weekend section of the Times) and Let's Go Sailing are at the Echo. ... Sold-out shows: Paolo Nutini at the Avalon, and Heavens at the Troubadour. ... And many of you have probably heard the song by the Trucks that I cannot reference on a family blog. The Bellingham, Wash., punkers perform at El Cid.

Photos by Kevin Bronson / LAT.