If you trust the adage about pop culture's revival cycle working in 20-year intervals, then S.F.-based Death Valley High is a few years early on the next tide of hipsterdom. Its debut CD, The Similarities of the Loveless and the Undead, pits NIN-style synths against smudgy guitar work right outta — dare we say — grunge. Complicating the picture further, the band also throws in the occasional old-school jungle breakbeat. This reverence for the near past makes sense, though, since singer-guitarist-programmer Rey Osburn headed the outstanding early-'90s industrial band Tinfed. Death Valley High performs with Red Host and DJs Juju and Sam Supa on Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Knockout at 10 p.m. Admission is $5; call 550-6994 or visit www.theknockoutsf.com for more info. — Darren Keast
It's ironic that the Game (Jayceon Taylor) is performing near the studio that gave him his little-known start. The multiplatinum-selling Los Angeles gangster rapper still hasn't given proper respect to JT the Bigga Figga, the Fillmore-based artist-producer who financed the Game's demos before he signed with 50 Cent and Dr. Dre. Now famously separated from 50, the Game also pulled the ballsy move of naming his latest album The Doctor's Advocate — despite not having Dre on it. His audacity and his album are equally entertaining, which should make for a good show when the Game comes to town on Wednesday, Jan. 31, at the Fillmore at 8 p.m. Admission is $35; call 346-6000 or visit www.thefillmore.com for more info. — T.P.
