BANDS

Joy, in name only

Seldom has the collision of the profoundly sad and startlingly pretty been so arresting as on “American Whip,” the second album from the Long Island duo Joy Zipper. The ache of love, the shudder of dementia, the pain of mortality, the tremble of fear -- they come quavering to life in the fuzzy production, doubled vocals and twee harmonies of a record that won over English tastemakers and finally, a year after its U.K. release, hit the shelves in the U.S. last month.

“There’s a strangeness and a sadness in our voices ... that has this ethereal, trippy feel,” Tabitha Tindale says of her harmonic convergence with partner Vinny Cafiso. “We seem to have found this dichotomy -- bittersweet, in a nostalgic sort of way.”

Joy Zipper’s sonic stew, which includes samples, keyboards, strings, horns and restrained electronic pabulum, suits the material’s restlessness. It’s no surprise that My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields had his production fingerprints on five of the tracks, including the striking “Alzheimers,” a song about the disease that manages to be neither patronizing nor maudlin.

Although the band has another album ready (due in May in the U.K.), much of its immediate focus will be to introduce U.S. audiences to “American Whip.” Joy Zipper will perform as a duo (with computer backing) Monday at Spaceland but will be back in L.A. on April 22 playing at the Avalon with Dogs Die in Hot Cars and Phoenix.

They want a hearing

Maybe this time the sound won’t go out. When the Platinum Pied Pipers -- the collaboration of producers Waajeed and Saadiq -- visited the Temple Bar last year, their set was scotched because of P.A. problems. On Saturday night they return, plugging the Detroit-flavored hip-hop on their upcoming “Triple P,” due to be released by local indie imprint Ubiquity in May.

It’s an album full of soulful contributors, earthy production and surprising genre twists -- including the Latin-tinged take on “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” Waajeed, a founding member of Slum Village, and Saadiq released a couple of well-received singles, and the album, two years in the making, includes appearances by Detroit’s Jay Dee and L.A.’s SA-RA Creative Partners -- whose own debut will be out on Ubiquity later this year. SA-RA, the trio behind the futuristic funk fusionists, have signed to Kanye West’s label Good Music.

Fast

forward

Silver Lake mainstays the Silversun Pickups have signed to Dangerbird Records, with plans to release an EP by late summer and an album early next year, says Dangerbird co-founder Jeff Castelaz. The locally based imprint started last year, an outgrowth of Castelaz’s Cast Management (which represents producer Tony Hoffer, French pop band Phoenix and local rockers the Vacation, among others), and last fall released the debut album by San Francisco singer-songwriter Peter Walker, as well as February’s album by the aforementioned Joy Zipper.... L.A. rockers All Hours have released their debut, an album of barroom glam titled “In Flagrante Delicto.” They play at 8 p.m. Monday at CineSpace.

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-- Kevin Bronson