.Local Licks

This week we review Lisa Lindsley, Jim Allio, Megan Slankard, and The Fresh & Onlys.

Jim Allio, Evil Twin. Oakland-based electro rapper Jim Allio describes himself as resolutely “out.” That apparently pertains to his LGBT status (which informs pretty much every song on this album), but it could easily refer to his musical sensibility as well. Allio’s beats never quite synch up to his half-sung, half-chanted vocals, but that might be intentional. (14th Avenue Records)

Lisa Lindsley, Everytime We Say Goodbye. Jazz vocalist Lisa Lindsley may have a girlish voice, but she sings with the unhurried cadence of a mature woman. That shows best on her rendition of “Alice in Wonderland,” which manages to be dreamy and world-weary at the same time. With only piano and bass in the rhythm section, Lindsley’s band seems spartan. But it’s also loose and clean. (Blondsongstress Productions)

At Piedmont Piano Company (1728 San Pablo Ave., Oakland) on Tues., Mar. 8. 7:30 p.m., $15.

Megan Slankard, A Token of the Wreckage. If you’re a fan of girlishly-voiced singers, Megan Slankard is worth a blind buy. At 27, the country singer has already amassed a sizeable discography. Such precociousness belies the youthful quality of her music. In the title track she sings about being world-weary so young. The source of Slankard’s disenchantment is unclear, but her tone is just world-weary enough to be believed. (self-released)

At Bottom of the Hill (1233 17th St., San Francisco) on Friday, March 5. 8 p.m., $10.

The Fresh & Onlys, Play It Strange. Garage bands of the Nineties stayed gritty; garage bands of the 2000s err on the bubbly side of rock. Take The Fresh & Onlys, a band whose harmonies sound almost petulantly sweet and optimistic, even if its song titles are a little left-of-center. Some might call this San Francisco four-tet a throwback. Others will credit the Fresh & Onlys for resurrecting the ghosts of genres past. (In the Red)

At Bottom of the Hill (1233 17th St., San Francisco) on Sunday, Feb. 27. 1 p.m., $12.

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