The Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

By LA Weekly Fri., Jan. 25 2013 at 3:00 AM

Categories: Los Angeles Concerts

Cody ChestnuTT

Friday, January 25

Help Mike! Benefit
ECHOPLEX
There was no such thing as hardcore punk before The Middle Class' debut single, "Out of Vogue," came out in 1978. Clocking in at exactly a minute, the song was half the length of a Ramones tune, and the Santa Ana quartet played it so astonishingly fast -- Jeff Atta's clipped, disaffected vocals chanted with rapid-fire precision over brother Mike's hara-kiri guitar -- that it made other punk bands sound like sludgy boogie rockers in comparison. By the time hardcore exploded into a worldwide phenomenon a year or two later, The Middle Class had already moved on into a more adventurous art-funk direction, before breaking up in 1982. Despite a brief hiatus of nearly three decades, they were as ruthlessly heavy as ever at their reunion shows at this club two years ago, which makes the recent news that Mike Atta is undergoing cancer treatment as dispiriting as it is unexpected. Tonight's benefit is fully loaded with many of The Middle Class' early-'80s punk-legend peers -- The Adolescents, Channel 3, Agent Orange, 45 Grave, Shattered Faith, White Flag and host Alice Bag -- but the bill also encompasses creatively restless entities like The Urinals and Mike Watt, who transmute hardcore tempos and energy into minimalist, postpunk weirdness. --Falling James

Cody ChesnuTT
Troubadour
This Atlanta-born singer and multi-instrumentalist may be best remembered for his gutsy 2002 debut, The Headphone Masterpiece. In that same year, ChesnuTT gained greater public visibility when an alternate version of his infectiously soulful "The Seed 2.0" featuring The Roots gained immense popularity in Europe. Despite a few quietly released projects in subsequent years, 2012's Landing on a Hundred was the first full-length from the talented musician in more than a decade. In an October interview with The Guardian, the womanizer-turned-family man explained: "I had been living in a rock & roll hideaway in L.A., having an affair with two women, and I was already married." That level of drama, explored in Landing on a Hundred, is as good a reason as any to take some time off. --Jacqueline Michael Whatley

Gojira with Devin Townsend Project
THE FONDA THEATRE
In the past Gojira were handpicked by Metallica and Lamb of God as support for various North American and European tours. But for the French metal outfit's own U.S. headlining tour, it's enlisted the never-disappointing Devin Townsend Project as support. With technical chops to spare, Gojira employ unusual song structures with extreme precision and progressive style. The band is hitting the Fonda in support of its fifth album and Roadrunner debut, L'Enfant Sauvage, which came out in June. Also with The Atlas Moth. --Diamond Bodine-Fischer