Monday, January 14
Pop Noir
The Constellation Room
After spending a year laying low, Huntington Beach's own Pop Noir are ready to resurface with a month-long residency at The Constellation Room in The Observatory. Brothers Luke and Joe McGarry have used this time out of the limelight to carefully craft some new tunes, including a cover of British electro-pop outfit New Order's “Temptation.” Formed by the British twins while they still teenagers at the Orange County High School of the Arts, Pop Noir quickly built a following in the indie clubs of Los Angeles. To this point, the band has supported Doves, The Wombats, Robyn, Sebastien Tellier, Iglu & Hartly and Fitz & The Tantrums, and headlined shows in places ranging domestically from Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco, to internationally from London, Manchester and Paris. They return to OC this month with more songs and just as much hair.–Daniel Kohn
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Tuesday, January 15
OC Music Awards Showcase: Night 2
How the months fly by. It's time once again for the Orange County Music Awards' annual live music showcase, a series of free concerts leading up to the big trophy ceremony held in March. Each week, a slew of local bands–some you've heard of, some you haven't–vie for that coveted Best Live Band award and prize pack. This week's showcase, held at the District Tustin Legacy (each show is at a different OC venue), features hopeful contestants Annie McQueen, Becky Holt, Cherokee Fade, Alice Wallace and Justin Soileau. Judges rate performances on a series of skills–originality, song composition, crowd participation, and so on–to determine who plays the finals at the House of Blues in late February. Who knows? One of these starry-eyed musicians might just make it to the big time–and it all could start right here. –Erin DeWitt
Wednesday, January 16
Tycho
The Constellation Room
Tycho is the stage name of Scott Hansen, a rising star out of San Francisco whose sound craft centers in the electronic/ambient music genre. Though his music is sufficiently unique enough to defy simple classification, his sound calls to mind the artists of chill wave style, notably Toro y Moi. But where Toro seeks to infuse structure into his sound, Tycho seeks to deconstruct. Listening to the floating melodies interspersed with keyboard bleeps and rustles, it's hard not to think of a glass of water whose walls have disappeared, and the bounty of liquid drifts into the cosmos. — Brandon Ferguson
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Thursday, January 17
Shiny Toy Guns
Detroit Bar
Breakups can be hard. You have to split friends, divide household items and try your hardest not to cry at work. For Los Angeles-based rockers Shiny Toy Guns, the breakup of vocalist Carah Faye Charnow and former guitarist Daniel Johansson's relationship hasn't resulted in too much drama. On the heels of the release of their third album, III, Shiny Toy Guns shuffled around some band members but maintained their stage presence by pumping out Carah Faye's ethereal vocals to the backdrop of their signature synth-pop and electronica sound. Catch the Grammy-nominated Guns perform a special DJ set with live vocals (sans tears) at Costa Mesa's Detroit Bar this week. –-Amanda Parsons
Friday, January 18
Down
City National Grove of Anaheim
The buzzword with this heavy metal band is “super group.” Yes, we're aware that that's actually two words. But it should be mentioned that Down is comprised of well known rockers from already successful bands, not the least of which is Mr. Phil Anselmo from the amazing 90's metal outfit Pantera (You take this love, love, loooooooove!!!!) Hailing from New Orleans, Down rounds out its lineup with guitarists Pepper Keenan (Corrosion of Conformity) and Kirk Windstein, bassist Pat Bruders— and on skins– Jimmy Bower. Head down to the Grove, and get your pit on. —Brandon Ferguson
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