72 Hours: Guineafowl, Megafaun, Tiesto and more
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The weekly Pop & Hiss rundown of the weekend’s top concerts, without a mention of Nick Lowe’s two Largo concerts because they are sold out.
FRIDAY
• Guineafowl @ Origami Vinyl. One of many shows over the next few days by this Aussie -- yes, Sam Yeldham goes by Guineafowl -- signed to locals Dangerbird, but this one has the benefit of being free. Performing as a small collective, Guineafowl has only an EP to his name, but it contains five reach-for-grandeur pop tunes. It’s the sound of a laptop-based artist striving to use the instrument to do everything in his power to disguise the synthetic construct of the tunes. Guitars are peppy, handclaps are never too far away and choruses sound as if they’re layered 30 voices deep. Origami Vinyl, 1816 W. Sunset Blvd. The show is free at 6 p.m. -- Todd Martens
• CANT @ The Troubadour. Chris Taylor takes a break from his role as bassist/producer of Brooklyn’s musical sleepyheads Grizzly Bear to offer something a bit rougher around the edges here with his solo project CANT. These are electronic-based deconstructions, with touches of jazz (‘The Edge’), funky slow-jams (‘Believe’) and all-out spooky abrasiveness (‘Dreams Come True’). Nothing is ever as it seems, though. Sweeter moments are kicked askew by demented, stalker-like backing vocals, and the harsher instances put sonic manipulation ahead of menace. The Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd. Tickets are $15 in advance and $17 at the door. -- TM
SATURDAY
• Megafaun @ the Satellite. North Carolina’s Megafaun has won over the East Coast press with its latest, self-titled effort, and here on Album No. 4 the one-time associates of Bon Iver make like ‘60s-era Haight-Ashbury revivalists. Folksy harmonies, jazzy noodling, electronic tinkering and orchestral experimentation are spread equally and impressively among these 14 tracks, which will make the Fall of Occupy Wall Street feel like the Summer of Love. The Satellite, 1717 Silver Lake Blvd., Tickets are $12. Los Angeles. Also Sunday at McCabe’s. -- TM
• Tiësto @ the Home Depot Center. The internationally known DJ superstar continues a U.S. tour with a seemingly endless supply of four-on-the-floor beats and crowd-pleasing house music, which took a bit of a more populist turn with this year’ s mix compilation ‘Club Life: Volume One Las Vegas.’ Home Depot Center, 8400 Avalon Blvd, Carson. Tickets are $40, not including surcharges. -- Chris Barton
• Kyuss Lives @ the Fox Theater. The excitement surrounding what should have been a hard rock celebration has been lessened. This re-born Kyuss is absent founding guitarist Josh Homme, and the recent arrest and potential prison term facing bassist Nick Oliveri hangs in the distance. Yet the interest of Pop & Hiss lies in the music, and the band’s four original albums helped give birth to stoner rock, a genre that bridged punk and metal and served as the precursor to grunge. Homme honed and expanded the formula with Queens of the Stone Age, but Kyuss hit loud and relentlessly. The Fox Theater, 301 S. Garey St., Pomona. Tickets are $28.50, not including surcharges. -- TM
SUNDAY
• Chad VanGaalen @ the Echo. Along with the Fruit Bats, VanGaalen remains one of Sub Pop’s unsung heroes of pop-rock craftsmanship. The soft-voiced Canadian keeps it simple, with the emphasis on voice, guitar and a random assortment of other home-audio accouterments, but a fine storyteller such as VanGaalen needs little more. The whistling says plenty in the love-stricken agoraphobia of ‘Sara,’ but VanGaalen still leaves room to cut loose, as he does on ‘Freedom for a Policeman.’ It’s zany, schizophrenic pop, yet VanGaalen finds the time to admire the police lights while his head is bashed into a bicycle. The Echo, 1822 Sunset Blvd. Tickets are $20. -- TM
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