Thursday 28

Up for some “intellegent fun”? That’s how L.A. rap duo Afro Classics (feat. Scarub of Living Legends and Very of Us Pros) describes this year’s Classic Rock, their first release together in a decade. The Loft is hosting the show at its Price Center digs and has posted AC’s video for “Think,” so you can bone up: artpwr.com/events/768.... Loud-ass locals Lord Howler turn up at Eleven. The 2010 SDMA winners for Best Hard Rock have been on a two-month hiatus and “are itching to shred.” Long Beach alt-rock trio Bella Novella will roll down to set it up.... Remember Bang Tango? The L.A. glam-metal band’s been on and off for about 25 years. The twist BT added to the cocktail was a healthy hit of funk, making them the Chili Peppers of hair bands. The reconfigured foursome will play Brick by Brick with Ratt tribute (?!) Rattz.... From Mexico City, the hard-rocking Fobia rolls through 4th&B on its North American tour. Hear-tell the quintet does Queen’s “Under Pressure” with a side of salsa.... San Diego singer-songer, recording engineer, and producer Greg Laswell is out to tout last year’s Vanguard Records release Take a Bow. Laz’ll play the late slot at Anthology Thursday night.... Esco’s gruff punks Dan Padilla (the band not the man) hit Til-Two with Slow Death. Did you know that “Slow Death” was an early ’80s nickname for San Diego? Yuh, “named so because of the shitty punk scene,” according to Urban Dictionary. Mad Marc Rude and Battalion had something to say about that.

Friday 29

Friday night’s, like, Pacific Rim atrocities night, as Agent Orange lands on Ramona Mainstage...and Dengue Fever hits Casbah. Agent Orange are punk vets from Orange County who are big in surf and skatecore circles, which is weird because they say they don’t do either. Dengue Fever’s a six-piece from L.A. via Cambodia that rocks psychedelic-pop. Flip or click to Dave’s "Of Note" for more on that of-notable show.... Sax-funk freak Maceo Parker plays Belly Up. Dude’s list of top-flight collaborators could choke the proverbial (and, probably, real) horse: James Brown in the 1960s, P-Funk in the 1970s, and since then, Prince, Bootsy, Chili Peppers, Keef, etcet, etcet. You like to shake that ass, jump on that gig, kids.... SD’s newest punk-rock supergroup the Tuggs pull into Bar Pink. The fourpiece features members of Lady Dottie’s Diamonds, aMiniature, and the Dragons and posts on their website, “We’ve started recording tracks at San Diego’s Archival Sound Studio for our upcoming album.” Blam!... SoCal big band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy swings into Anthology Friday night. If you get a chance, get your hands on their Cab Calloway trib How Big Can You Get? The disc cooks.... English pub-rockers Eddie and the Hot Rods roar into Eleven to celebrate the 35th anniversary of their early-punk essential, Teenage Depression, and play them tracks from front to back. Always thought their “Kids Are Alright” had a little more venom than the Who’s.

Saturday 30

Proggy Knoxville trio Royal Bangs hangs at Soda Bar. They’re touring in support of this year’s Flux Outside, a schizophrenic concoction of Southern blues and boogie, math rock, and prog that Blaremagazine.com calls “noise with finesse...unhooks music’s undergarments, leaving it naked, exposed, and oddly attractive.” I have no idea what that means, but I couldn’t not share. Superhumanoids and the Paragraphs go first.... Seattle act Mudhoney oozes into Casbah with their grunge pedals and hefty alt-rock back-catalog, which, according to rock scribe Jay Hinman, is proof positive that Mark Arm et al. are “the undisputed kingpins of roaring, surging, fuzzed-out, punk music.” Attendees’ll get Makeup Sex first.... Fans of first-wave punk, prick up yer ears, SoCal throwbacks the Stitches and the Crowd’ll be in town at the Shakedown Saturday night. Go get your Weirdos fix.... Else: L.A.’s lil’ Dogg, Nipsey Hussle, will rap last year’s South Central State of Mind around 4th&B...coupla CD-releases uptown, as Destruction Unit drops its debut Volar disc, Sonoran, at Til-Two, while Underground Railroad to Candyland delivers its new t’do, Knows Your Sins, to Bar Pink...and in the NC, bassist Brian Scott’ll celebrate his birthday with his band, alt-rock power trio Red Hand, at Hensley’s pub in Carlsbad. Dude pitched in the bigs. I know, What happened? You go, you ask him. And don’t forget to get him a birthday shot.

Sunday 1

May Day! It’s, like, the European Labor Day.... German thrash-metal band Destruction brings Day of Reckoning to Brick by Brick. Whole bunch of Marshall-stacked heavy hitters on this bill: Heathers, WarBeast, Nihilist, Helsott, Thirty-30, Phantasm. Do you cone your ears before or after a show like that? Your answer says a lot about who you are.... Aussie blues-and-roots multiinstrumentalist Xavier Rudd shines his Koonyum Sun on House of Blues.

Monday 2

Tough call Monday night, as TV on the Radio plug in at 4th&B...Vivian Girls play at Casbah...and Beach Fossils wash up at Soda Bar. (Three Brooklyn bands — color me surprised.) That new TV on the Radio disc is super stacked, though, and the Vivians’...not so much. And while Beach Fossils are plucking some very tasty indie-pop strings, they don’t have howlin’ wolves Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone up front. Turn on Nine Types of Light and meet me on B Street.

Tuesday 3

Pop-rock pin-up Rhett Miller (Old 97’s) takes the stage at Anthology. The alt-country Austinite is rolling solo behind last year’s s/t Shout! Factory release, which garnered Miller Billboard-charting single “I Need to Know Where I Stand”.... More of that as English singer-songwriter James Blunt plays Humphrey’s by the Bay behind his new one, Some Kind of Trouble.... Tin Can Ale House will host an art show/sale for JFRE Coad that’ll include odd-pop music by Hing, Kenseth & Brandon (Sleeping People), and Jason & J (Aspects of Physics).... This week’s Tiki Tuesday at Bar Pink plugs in Adrian Demain’s Exoticatronica: myspace.com/adriandemain2. The ex-pro-skater’s got a knack for looping little guitars. Pissah.

Wednesday 4

Hey. Look. Another Brooklyn band. Post-punk brooders Crystal Stilts last month released In Love with Oblivion, a lo-fi jangle-pop affair that finds frontman Brad Hargett wrasslin’ with his Jim Reid/Ian Curtis confusion. Still and all, a tasty platter. Have some: myspace.com/crystalstilts. The five-piece plays Casbah...while Soda Bar sets up yet another Brooklyn band, omg, wtf — this one with a blissed-out experimental bent — Kranky artists Cloudland Canyon. “It’s like some sort of laptopped Dead C/Ash Ra mash up.” If you get that, you should prolly go.

— Barnaby Monk