72 Hours: Sleep, Yellow Magic Orchestra and more
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The weekly Pop & Hiss rundown of the weekend’s top concerts.
Sleep @ the Wiltern. This is a relatively rare appearance by the Bay Area’s metal forebears and somewhat of a surprisingly large venue for the underground act. The Wiltern, however, will offer plenty of room for guitar wizard Matt Pike to explore, but while the tone is dark and deep, this is an aural assault that seems hellbent on annihilation. Bring earplugs, and expect crushes of lumbering, layered noise. So we’ve established that Sleep is a monolith of sound, but it’s also a mind-blowing proficient one. Turn the songs into data, and you’d be left with something that looks ripped from a calculus textbook. Pike went on to form the equally excellent High On Fire, but Sleep’s witch’s brew of psychadelic mysticism and slogging, drawn-out grooves are the template for stoner metal. And there’s no excuse for, well, sleeping on this one, because plenty of tickets are available. The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd. Tickets range from $25 to $35, not including surcharges. — Todd Martens
tUnE-yArDs @ the Troubadour. Ostensibly the musical alter-ego of Merrill Garbus, the typographically challenging tUnE-yArDs made a significant leap forward to critical darling status with ‘w h o k i l l,’ an irresistible mix of African rhythms and textures with Garbus’ rambunctious songcraft. Live, she constructs a song as if it were a chemistry project, sampling various pitches of her voice and an assortment of instruments to before hitting on the desired mix. The Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. Saturday. The show is sold out, and tickets on the secondary market are running for around $50. — Chris Barton
Alicia Keys @ the Pantages. Has it seriously been 10 years since ‘Songs in A Minor’ was released? Apparently so, given that this show is commemorating both the album’s anniversary and the inevitable deluxe edition (set to be released next week). Though Keys arguably never hit the same heights again since those days, this performance featuring the singer accompanied only by her piano should gracefully illuminate the talent that got so many excited about this artist in the first place. Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Friday. Tickets range from $26 to $146.50, not including surcharges. — CB
Yellow Magic Orchestra @ the Hollywood Bowl. This is the first appearance in SoCal by the Yellow Magic Orchestra in more than two decades, so one shouldn’t feel out of the loop for being unfamiliar with the act’s keyboard-based catalog. The on-and-off-and-on-again band has been praised as the Kraftwerk of Japan, and expect plenty of light and airy digital textures. There’s a bit of a disco undercurrent, and the electronics here, occasionally accented with live dreaming, are rhythmic based. It all deserves a light show worthy of Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade, or, weirder, Walt Disney World’s Electrical Water Pagaent. Also on the bill: Yoko Ono, Cibo Matto and others. The Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. Sunday. Tickets range from $12 to $134, not including surcharges. — TM
More weekend tips can be had here!
— Todd Martens
