TUESDAY, JULY 31:

Abe Vigoda have transformed a lot since their early Smell days opening shows with screamy distorted post-punk. They’re now returning from their U.S. tour a few years older and a little worldlier. Abe Vigoda used to be known as these kids from the east side who didn’t really know the extent or roots of their no-wave sound, yet who still managed to draw comparisons to DNA and Glenn Branca. Today they bring a fresh new “calypso-punk” sound full of world beats and tropical flavor—you’d swear they had some guy with dreads on steel drums. Think Talking Heads goes Tom Tom Club, and it all comes together in a lively show with Juan’s sing-song shouting in front of Reggie’s marching band/Jamaican-style drums. You can still hear their harder sound on songs like “Calypso,” ironically, yet they have become much cleaner, too, making every pounding and atonal riff sharp and direct, and adding some deliberate distortion in between. When Abe Vigoda plays, you can tell they are having fun with it—they still have that untouched enthusiasm you see with lots of young bands before they get old and jaded and so “tired of the scene.” That’s a refreshing reassurance that L.A. music is still thriving and producing new sounds, or at least putting a new face to old ones. Watching videos from their recent shows, you can see the crowd is feeling their energy, with heads bopping and shoulders moving—even some hips here and there. Don’t miss their welcome-back show from tour at the Smell—their home base! (BINX)

WITH TALBOT TAGORA, WE QUIT AND JOHN THILL AT THE SMELL, 247 S. MAIN ST., LOS ANGELES. 8:30 PM / $5 / ALL AGES. WWW.THESMELL.ORG.