The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend
Friday, August 10
Ellen von Unwerth Red Hot Chili Peppers
Bomba Estéreo
LEVITT PAVILION, MACARTHUR PARK
Bomba Estéreo draw upon traditional styles of music like cumbia and champeta, but the Colombian quintet is too musically restless to be strict revivalists. Instead, band leader Simón Mejía pumps up their folkloric influences with hip-hop grooves and thumping electronics, ending up with a dense thicket of sound, which the group describes as "electro tropical." Liliana Saumet nimbly spits out dizzyingly fast wordplay in raps like "Fuego," but she also shows a more tuneful persona in such tracks as "Aguasala," from the band's 2008 album, Estalla (which was rereleased in the United States in 2009 with a new title, Blow Up). Mejía unveils more sonic sorcery on Bomba Estéreo's 2011 EP, Ponte Bomb, which features several juiced-up remixes of "Fuego" and other songs, further revealing the different ways he can manipulate the shape of fire. --Falling James
Gap Dream
THE SMELL
The city of Cleveland cracked open last year and out came Gap Dream, which is a guy named Gabe with a computer and a guitar and a set of songs just glowing with psychedelic brilliance. Maybe you remember the last guy who outta-nowhered with something this good -- they call him King Tuff, and turns out he's a big fan of Gap Dream. So are big things waiting for Gabe in the future? Probably, but there are deep and heavy things going on right now, with music that floats forth from the same haze that harbored Spacemen 3 -- especially when they were taking drugs to make music to take drugs to -- and Brian Jonestown Massacre and the 13th Floor Elevators and anybody who ever wished they could lower an amp down a cistern just to hear it reverb-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b. Yes, there should be a few more b's in there, but you can guess how this sounds already. --Chris Ziegler
Saturday, August 11
Power of the Riff
ECHO/ECHOPLEX
Now in its third year, Southern Lord's Power of the Riff festival continues to serve a buffet of heavy music for L.A. to gorge on. If angry, hardcore punk is what you are craving, Keith Morris and the OFF! Crew have you covered. If you prefer your brand of heavy caked with blood and guts, goregrind pioneers Repulsion have your back. If you want something that will compel you to punch every motherfucker in the pit, pissed-off powerviolence greats Despise You likely will be out there punching you back. If hazy, metallic, Pink Floyd-ish jams are what you need to get through the day, local boys Ancestors will do you proud. And at the end of the day, when you are stuffed with different breeds of heavy fighting it out in your stomach, the low-end rumble of drone legends Sunn O))) will assist you in the emptying of your bowels. --Jason Roche
Location Info
Venue
Map
Levitt Pavilion at MacArthur Park
2230 W. Sixth St., Los Angeles, CA
Category: General
|
0 user reviews
|
Write A Review |
| Save to foursquare |
|
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
