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72 Hours: Kid Sister, Robyn Hitchcock and more

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The weekly Pop & Hiss rundown of the weekend’s top concerts.


Friday Kid Sister @ Avalon. It’s going to be a late one for those angling to see Chicago’s electronic-infused should-be hip-hop star, as Kid Sister won’t grace the stage until midnight. Her recent EP, ‘Kiss & Tell,’ doesn’t hide her club ambitions but shows evidence of Kid Sister going in more of an avant direction. ‘Mickey’ is a schizophrenic rush of rhymes and vocal manipulations, all about celebrating the drinks of the 99%. Meanwhile, ‘Hide & Seek’ and ‘Cliq Claq’ put the emphasis on more spooked, aphrodisiac-like atmospheres. More important, however, is the fact that as an MC, she has never sounded this assured. The Avalon, 1735 Vine St., Los Angeles. Admission is $10 before 10 p.m. and $15 after 11 p.m.

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Saturday

Robyn Hitchcock @ McCabe’s. ‘I thought I knew all about everything,’ Hitchcock sings on ‘Beautiful Girl,’ an acoustic number with an anxious pace, reflective of a man who has suddenly had everything in his world shaken up by the presence of a pretty lady. The song is from his 1990 album ‘Eye,’ which Hitchcock will be playing in its entirety Saturday night. Sonically, Hitchcock has long been comfortable with turning things -- melodies, those pesky song structures -- completely on their head, but on ‘Eye’ he largely played it straight. Be it girls, or his government (‘Cynthia Mask’), ‘Eye’ is an album about attempting to make sense of what’s in one’s mind rather than distorting it. Opening is the Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs. McCabe’s, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. Two performances, one at 8 p.m. and one at 10 p.m. Tickets are $25, but both are sold out.

Sunday

Theophilus London @ El Rey. The Brooklyn MC has long had designs on another era, namely an early-to-mid-’80s mix of funk, new-wave and hip-hop. Sometimes it works better than others, such as the synthy ‘Love is Real’ featuring Holly Miranda, which, aside from from a 2011 flair here and there, could have been the blissful highlight on a John Hughes soundtrack. Other times, such as ‘Why Even Try,’ the backing track sounds as if its ripped from a should-be-forgotten Wang Chung album. Yet live, London keeps things dapper and upbeat. El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd. Tickets are $19, not including service charges.

The Bernie Worrell Orchestra @ the Bootleg Bar. Worrell is a funk legend, having been a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic, and having worked with the likes of Talking Heads and PiL. Last year, Worrell went jazz, releasing the album ‘Bernie Worrell: Standards.’ Heavily familiar tracks are there, such as ‘Take the ‘A’ Train’ and ‘Bye Bye Blackbird,’ but the real treat is to see what happens to the standards live, especially when the likes of rock ‘n’ rollers such as Mike Watt, Money Mark, Jimmy Destri and Lili Haydn get their hands on them. The Bootleg Bar, 2220 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles. Tickets are $12.

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-- Todd Martens

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