Music Picks 

THA LIKS

The hip-hop artists formerly known as Tha Alkaholics haven’t released a new album since 2001’s party-hearty X.O. Experience (Loud), but rest assured they’re in it for the long haul. “In 10 years, Tha Liks will still be making records,” E-Swift says. “We model ourselves after bands like the soul groups from past eras. Someone like Quincy Jones had over 20 albums, and we’ve got a long way to go. It’s good because we’ve been consistent, we’ve got a good track record, and everything’s lovely—there’s not a lot of groups that can say that.” FRIDAY, March 21 @ Suede, 1612 Ute Blvd. (Kimball Junction), Park City, 9 p.m. 435-658-2665.

BANG TANGO

Another resurrected ’80s-metal band, another round of How Many Original Members Left? to play. Details are spotty, but reports say singer Joe LeSte is the only Bang Tango man remaining from the lineup that recorded two of the best Hollywood hard-rock albums of the time, Psycho Café (’89) and Dancin’ on Coals (’91). Rumor also has it members of LeSte’s recent Beautiful Creatures flop (apparently dumped from AOL Records, er, Warner Bros. for not instantly selling 10 million albums) round out the new Bang Tango. The remnants of two good bands—you could do worse. FRIDAY-SATURDAY March 21-22 @ Expose, 204 W. 2100 South, 7 p.m. Tix: 800-888-8499.

AMERICAN HI-FI

The title-track single from American Hi-Fi’s new Art of Losing (Island) kicks off with drums and shouts lifted from Adam & The Ants; the rest melds modern pop-punk with blatant Cheap Tricksterisms. Cool. And then there’s the video, shot in the midst of a Kansas kegger: “You’ve seen videos before with bands playing at quote-unquote parties, and there are always these models they cast in L.A.,” singer Stacy Jones told MTV. “This is the real fuckin’ deal. I don’t like there to be a line between the band and the fans, because then you start looking like Scott Stapp or the guy from Nickelback.” Totally. SATURDAY, March 22 @ Xscape Basement, 115 S. West Temple, 8 p.m. Tix: 800-888-8499.

PURDY MOUTH WV

Great songs transcend genre—so do mullet-rock nuggets from Nazareth, Rush and sitcom star Ozzy Osbourne. You’ve heard local bluegrass/rock/jam-band Purdy Mouth WV put hysterical hillbilly spins on “Love Hurts,” “Spirit of the Radio” and “Flyin’ High Again” live, and now you can own them all on the brand-new IIth (pronounced “tooth,” ha!), their second album coming out tonight. How much would you pay for this 12-tune masterpiece? Don’t answer yet: They’ll throw in “Rocky Mountain Way,” “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” and a fistful of originals at no extra charge! Order now! SATURDAY, March 22 @ The Zephyr Club, 301 S. West Temple, 355-CLUB, 9:30 p.m.

COMMON

Common’s new Electric Circus (MCA) could be one of the freakiest hip-hop albums to drop in years, a soul-booty free-for-all awash in ambition—it may be a tough commercial sell, but they also said that about 2000’s Like Water For Chocolate, which wasn’t exactly a stiff. At the very least, the man’s got a new definition of ghetto fabulous. “There’s more to ghetto life than just violence and sex and getting money—there’s a lot of beauty in the community aspect of it,” he told Rolling Stone. “That needs to be reflected in the music.” MONDAY, March 24 @ Suede, 1612 Ute Blvd. (Kimball Junction), Park City, 9 p.m. 435-658-2665.

JENNIFER LANE

Colorado blues mama Jennifer Lane cites readily apparent influences like Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin and Sheryl Crow, but also Gilda Radner—c’mon, everyone knows Gilda’s the patron saint of white-girl soul. Singer-keyboardist Lane’s latest CD, Sweet Long Cool Drink’a Water (Lunacy Records), has earned raves from Blues Revue, Living Blues and Downbeat as a smoky slab of R&B grooves that lives up the title on the cover, and astute ears may be able to pick out a little Laraine Newman in the mix, too. OK, no more SNL jokes. MONDAY, March 24 @ The Dead Goat Saloon, 119 S. West Temple, 328-GOAT, 9 p.m.

KING MISSILE

Actually, John S. Hall’s spoken-word art-rock project now goes by the name King Missile III, but they’re still more or less the same New York City band who brought you the psychedelic/psychotic “Detachable Penis” on the under-appreciated Happy Hour album 10 (yes, 10) years ago. KMIII’s latest, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (Instinct), trades in the tallywacker for Jennifer Love Hewitt, whom Hall emphatically thanks for her “brave and steadfast silence” in regards to 9/11. “It’s narratives, poems and tirades,” Hall warns of the live show. “People should be prepared for that.” TUESDAY, March 25 @ The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 746-0558, 9:30 p.m. (with Erosion).

I CAN LICK ANY SON-OF-A-BITCH IN THE HOUSE

Pity the poor son-of-a-bitch on marquee duty tonight. Described by those in the know as sounding “like The Supersuckers—if they ever got around to recording another good album,” Portland’s I Can Lick Any Son-of-a-Bitch In the House kick out unfiltered rock & roll with gritty residues of country, rockabilly and, naturally, mucho malice toward SOBs. Targets on the band’s upcoming Put Here to Bleed (In Music We Trust) include Prez Dubya, Charlton Heston and … Dandy Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor. It’s a Portland thing. TUESDAY, March 25 @ The Zephyr Club, 301 S. West Temple, 355-2582, 9:30 p.m.

IDLEWILD

Scotland’s Idlewild struck alt-rock gold two years ago with 100 Broken Windows at home, but few noticed stateside—they plan to better woo Yanks this time around with The Remote Part (Capitol, due out March 25). “When we play shows in Scotland, 50 percent of the crowd is pushing their friends around and pouring beer on each other’s heads,” singer Roddy Wooble told the Boston Globe of the band’s dual appeal to rockers and thinkers. “The other 50 percent is standing in the back listening to lyrics and cuddling their girlfriends or stroking their chins.” WEDNESDAY, March 26 @ Xscape Basement, 115 S. West Temple, 8 p.m. Tix: 800-888-8499.

COMING UP

Fishbone (Suede, March 28). Lynch Mob (Expose, March 28). Drums & Tuba (Dead Goat Saloon, March 29). CKY (Xscape, March 31). Brian Jonestown Massacre (Liquid Joe’s, April 1). Trust Company (Xscape, April 1). Ministry (Xscape, April 2). DJ Rap (Axis, April 3). Bright Eyes (Bricks, April 2). Cheap Trick (Harry O’s, April 4). The Soundtrack of Our Lives (Zephyr Club, April 6). AFI, Blood Brothers (Bricks, April 8). Taking Back Sunday (Xscape, April 9). Guster (Bricks, April 10). Rocket From the Crypt (Xscape, April 19). The Red Elvises (Zephyr Club, April 22). The Mooney Suzuki (Xscape, April 23). Pete Yorn (Bricks, April 26).