Best Coast, with Those Darlins, perform at 8:30 p.m. Monday at Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St. Tickets: $18-$20. Information: 215-232-2100, www.utphilly.com.
Nona Hendryx
When the storming glam-funk trio of LaBelle splintered, its individual members drifted off into their own stratospheres. Patti LaBelle, the act's Philly-based namesake, became a queen of slick soul and middle-of-the-road R&B. Although Sarah Dash just released a new single "Hold On (He'll Be Right There)," the sweet powerhouse vocalist has recorded too few solo albums for our own good, concentrating instead on session work with Keith Richards and touring gigs with the Rolling Stones. That leaves Nona Hendryx to be the longtime black sheep of LaBelle, a rebel rocker with a predilection for vintage soul, synthetic funk, and new-wave plink. If Janelle Monáe had a mom with equally strange but magnificently spiky hair, she'd be Hendryx. The big-voiced Hendryx releases her new album next week,
Mutatis Mutandis (Latin for "by changing those things which need to be changed," sort of like saying, "Now that we've changed what needs changing"), a record that finds her knee- deep in elastic Funkadelic-esque grooves and buoyant guitars while dissing right-wing talk show hosts ("Ballad of Rush Limbaugh"), BP ("Oil on the Water"), and African American violence ("Black on Black") with a heavy hand. Nona takes it nice and rough on a taut rendition of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" and makes you yearn for the barnstorming soar of "Lady Marmalade" all over again.
- A.D. Amorosi
Nona Hendryx and Natural Selection play 8 p.m. Sunday, at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St. Tickets: $20-$25 + processing fees. Information: 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com .
B-52s / Squeeze
To their fans, the current relevance of Georgia's B-52s and U.K. pop icons Squeeze is less important than the fact they're still out there touring. Both bands' latest recordings are live: The B-52s'
With the Wild Crowd! captured a 2011 gig in their hometown of Athens, Ga., while Squeeze recently released a 20-song concert disc,
Live at the Fillmore.
Founded in 1976, the B-52s first caught the public's attention with their garage-rock party classic "Rock Lobster," their stream-of-consciousness lyricism, and their outrageous, high-energy shows. Following the death of guitarist Ricky Wilson in 1985, the B's took time off to regroup, reemerging with their biggest commercial success, 1989's Cosmic Thing, which yielded the Top 10 hits "Roam" and "Love Shack." In 2008, the band released its first new album in more than 16 years, 2008's well-received Funplex.
Squeeze, meanwhile, has had its own share of ups and downs, including two breakups and regroupings. Led by original members/songwriting partners Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook (who have been referred to as the "new Lennon and McCartney" for decades), Squeeze - which rerecorded versions of it best-known songs for 2010's Spot the Difference - is working on its first album of all-new material in 15 years, so expect to hear some new tracks, too.
- Nicole Pensiero
The B-52s and Squeeze play at 8 p.m. Friday at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City. Tickets: $55. Information: 1-800-298-4200, www.theborgata.com .
