Herewith, hearty alternatives to sitting at home
L.A. offers up good reason to brave the rain and Valentine’s Day schmaltz in the days ahead: From an evening with a Grammy winner, to a Planned Parenthood fundraiser, to salad as performance art, this week’s music events are sure to warm even the coldest of hearts.
Kacey Musgraves and Soccer Mommy
Newly minted Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves is having one heck of a good week, topping off her four awards — including album of the year for “Golden Hour” — with a pair of shows at the Theater at the Ace Hotel. The country crossover star will be joined by indie songstress and Nashville compatriot Soccer Mommy for a can’t-miss evening featuring two of music’s strongest breakout voices. Tickets are sold out, but you can still nab some (and likely impress your Valentine) for around $200 and more on secondary markets.The Theater at the Ace Hotel, 929 S. Broadway, DTLA. 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
Panache’s Valentine’s Day Village of Love Planned Parenthood Benef it
Whether you’re single, taken or somewhere in between, there’s still occasion to go out and celebrate this Valentine’s Day with an evening of misfit rock royalty supporting Planned Parenthood. Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill/Le Tigre) and Adam Horovitz (Beastie Boys) lead a bill of local mainstays and rising acts that includes performances by Ty Segall, Amen Dunes, Bane’s World, Julie Byrne, Mikal Cronin, Rodrigo Amarante and many more, alongside DJ sets from Bleached and Devendra Banhart. Stick around for a prize raffle, all for a cool $35. Teragram Ballroom, 1234 W. 7th St., L.A. 7:10 p.m. Thursday.
Vundabar with the Read Pears
The hype surrounding Boston garage duo Vundabar has shown no signs of slowing since the band released its album “Smell Smoke” last year. Their galvanizing riffs and intricate rhythms evoke long- lost cousins of the Replacements and Built to Spill, but their songwriting tackling the collapse of the American Dream makes them distinctly at home in the present. The band has spent the better part of the last year on the road, and that shows in their madcap live chops and devoted fans packing rooms across the country. Tickets cost $15 in advance and $18 day-ofshow. The Glasshouse, 200 W. 2nd St., Pomona. 8 p.m. Friday.
Stereolab Night by Desert Daze
SoCal psych rock extravaganza Desert Daze is still months away — returning to Lake Perris’ Moreno Beach Oct. 13-15 — but they’re starting their roll-out early with a series of parties celebrating the work of this year’s performers and more in store for the festival. The first event kicks off Tuesday at Highland
Park’s Lodge Room with a career-spanning retrospective of avant-pop greats Stereolab, who just announced Desert Daze as their first North American appearance in more than a decade. Stop by the Lodge Room’s Checker Hall for the free event running from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., featuring guest DJs, giveaways, announcements and other surprises.The Lodge Room, 104 N. Ave 56, Highland Park. 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Fluxus Spotlight: Knowles/Ikeda
Redefining “dinner and a show,” multidisciplinary artist Alison Knowles builds her score “Proposition #2: Make a Salad” around doing just that. Part musical arrangement, part participatory performance, Knowles will prep and serve a massive salad to the audience alongside the world premiere of “100 cymbals” by Ryoji Ikeda, featuring the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet and Alexandre Babel. The performance reprises Knowles’ original 1962 performance of the piece at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, part of a concert by the conceptual antiestablishment art movement Fluxus, of which Knowles is a founding member. For its 2018-19 season, the L.A. Phil has joined forces with the Getty Research Institute for an event and concert series at Walt Disney Concert Hall celebrating the massively influential Fluxus movement around a central conceit: Anything can be music. Tickets start at $15. The salad is vegan and gluten-free.Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., DTLA. 8 p.m., Friday
Red Bull Music Festival Los Angeles
The expert curators behind Red Bull Music are back with a series of shows this month spotlighting subversive and innovative acts at venues around L.A. The week ahead offers two sets of can’t-miss hip-hop and more: Heartbeats delivers a Valentine’s celebration spanning two generations of powerhouse female MCs, featuring Miami great Trina, Chicago breakout Cupcakke, and New York’s Junglepussy The Majestic Downtown at the Reserve, 650 S. Spring St., 8 p.m. Thursday, $20.
On Saturday, head to the Pink Motel for a daylong celebration of multidisciplinary L.A. crew Illegal Civilization, known for its work spanning music, film and design, as well as collaborations with the likes of Spike Jonez, Frank Ocean, Jonah Hill and Kali Uchis. The day features performances from Tierra Whack, Tommy Genesis, Show Me the Body, 1TakeJay, Warm Brew, Sunni Colón and more. Pink Motel, 9457 San Fernando Road, Sun Valley. 2 p.m. Saturday, $25.