The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Week

By LA Weekly Mon., Dec. 31 2012 at 3:30 AM

Categories: Los Angeles Concerts

The Melvins

Monday, December 31

Redd Kross, The Melvins
ALEXANDRIA HOTEL
Despite the myriad achievements of the human race throughout history -- moonshots, pyramids, penicillin and the late-night food truck -- one never-realized dream haunted civilization: getting Redd Kross and The Melvins to play on the same show. If you were thinking about something with artificial intelligence or faster-than-light travel, then obviously you've never sensed the capacity for societal advancement inherent in a limited-edition 12-inch EP. So: Finally, these undisputed titans of punk and rock -- these choosers of perfect cover songs, these producers of the shits which rippeth, these knowers of the single awesome Osmonds track -- will share a bill on the last night of 2012. This must be that oft-discussed "rapture of the nerds," right? Cocktails served and black formal attire requested. This is history, people! --Chris Ziegler

Tuesday, January 1

Religious Girls, Hex Horizontal
THE SMELL
It's a new year, which requires a brave new soundtrack rather than the usual retro background noise of tired nostalgia. The Oakland trio Religious Girls clearly are aiming for something unusual in attempting to "to push aside the standards of popular songwriting with nonrepeating structures [and] an intricate mathematical style." What they end up is a molten stew of disembodied ghostly voices, electronic trickery and psychedelic weirdness on their generally instrumental album Open Your Heart to Fantasy. The local guitar-drums duo Hex Horizontal also say what's on their collective mind without actually using words, instead employing harsh slabs of electronic noise interspersed with intimately spacey prog-rock interludes. --Falling James

Wednesday, January 2

Dibia$e
LOW END THEORY at the AIRLINER
The prehistory of 8-bit beats in Los Angeles gets more and more pixilated the farther you look back, but believe that Watts beatmaker Dibia$e was there early and enthusiastically. In fact, he used to get the pieces for his Nintendified songs by playing video games live through his sampler and trying not to die before he got to hear Bowser growl at him. A longtime Low End Theory regular, his previous releases on Alpha Pup and All City -- the twin tentpoles of L.A. beat -- prove that he's just as agile a producer as he is a Player 1. His newest LP, Looney Goons, is bristling with sci-fi robo music that crackles with adrenalin and menace both. The last man on the last level with the timer counting down to disintegration? That's when Dibia$e feels most at home. --Chris Ziegler