The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend
Friday, September 14
Suzy Poling Hunx and His Punx -- See Saturday
Fiona Apple, Blake Mills
GREEK THEATRE
Before Blake Mills joins Fiona Apple's backup band for the headlining set tonight, he'll open with a set of tunes from his recent album, Break Mirrors. The Venice singer has produced albums by Jesca Hoop and Sara Watkins, and his subtle, nonflashy guitar style has cropped up in music by everyone from Kid Rock and Lucinda Williams to Band of Horses and Dawes. Mills sheds ghostly entrails with his magic guitar on folk-country tunes like "It'll All Work Out," while crooning in an easygoing, conversational voice. Apple returns with a vengeance from a six-year sabbatical from the spotlight with her romantically tempestuous new album, The Idler Wheel..., revealing bittersweet lyrical wit and inventive arrangements, which range from the junkyard soul clatter of "Anything We Want" to the surreally psychedelic pop of "Every Single Night" to the breathy vocal fusillades of the mesmerizing tongue-twister "Hot Knife." If there was one drawback at Apple's otherwise triumphant show at the Palladium in July, it's that she did relatively few songs from the new CD. --Falling James
FIDLAR/THE HIVES
THE WILTERN
When local punkers FIDLAR said, "Life's a risk" -- that's the L-A-R part, and the F-I-D stands for "Fuck it, dogg," dontcha know -- they weren't kidding, and if you ever got sucked into a circle pit at one of their shows, you'll know exactly what they meant. But FIDLAR know that life's a laugh riot, too. Animated as much by the spirit of The Dickies as The Dead Boys, or as much F.Y.P as Fear, this fast-rising foursome proudly stands in the California punk tradition of both not giving a fuck and encouraging the vigorous not-giving-of-fucks in others, too. "I drink cheap beer -- so what? Fuck you!" is the lyric of what's probably gonna be their big hit, or at least their big contribution to the world of parents wondering why their kids can't listen to something nice for once. They open for The Hives. --Chris Ziegler
See also: Fidlar on Hangovers, House Parties, and How They Came Up With Their Name
Saturday, September 15
Hunx & His Punx, Shannon & the Clams
LOS GLOBOS
For some reason, garage rock never really goes out of style. Every generation has its own twist on the eternal combination of fuzzed-out guitars and bratty/insolent vocals, and Hunx & His Punx are as twisted as they come. Mr. Hunx, né Seth Bogart, first came to attention as the goofball dancing and camping it up onstage with the lo-fi Bay Area electro band Gravy Train. Dressed in little more than a jock strap, Hunx is hardly a shy wallflower now that he fronts his own group. His latest album is called Hairdresser Blues (a nod to the real-life hair salon he operates with The Bobbyteens' Tina Lucchesi), and the songs range from the exuberantly punky "Private Room" to the relatively restrained throbbing Velvet Underground pop of "When You're Gone." His frequent partner in crime, Shannon Shaw, fronts the similarly groovy combo Shannon & the Clams and coos charmingly trashy girl-group anthems like "Sleep Talk." --Falling James
See also: Seth Bogart of Hunx and His Punx on Being a Gay Punk and Jay Reatard Giving Him a Foot Massage
Location Info
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The Greek Theatre
2700 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA
Category: General
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