Not at Coachella? Don’t worry — neither are these shows

It’s April, which is good news for the roughly 180,000 music fans who have tickets to the sold-out Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, set for the weekends of April 12 and April 19. But for those who find themselves shut out of the annual festival in the desert, there are numerous noteworthy concerts happening closer to home. Most even feature modern amenities such as air conditioning, and many, in fact, include artists performing at Coachella.

Granted, you won’t be seeing 100-plus acts over a three-day span, but for less than the cost of one $349 general admission Coachella wristband, one can undertake a more than worthy pop-music crash course over the next four weeks. (Only shows in which tickets were still available at the time of writing were included.)

Sky Ferreira, April 11 at the Bootleg Theater (2220 Beverly Blvd.). Cost: $19.91. Ferreira has been pegged as the next big thing for a few years now, but Ferreira’s synth-based tunes finally seem to be finding an audience. Her eclectic EP “Ghost” was released last year via Capitol, and it was an advertisement for her versatility, showing her ability to handle goofy dance-pop, singer-songwriter seriousness and saucy goth-pop. She’s not playing at Coachella, but she will perform in Chicago at the tastemaking Pitchfork Music Festival in July.

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Yeasayer, Wild Nothing, Wild Belle, April 11 at the Glass House (200 W. Second St., Pomona). Cost: $30.50. Yeasayer’s worldly electro dance-pop is equally weird and irresistible, but get to this show early for newcomers Wild Belle. Singer Natalie Bergman’s husky vocals have a can’t-put-one-over-on-me depth, and she always looks coolly dapper as she puts a realistic spin on adult relationships with gleaming, reggae-inspired pop arrangements.

El-P, April 18 at the Echo (1822 W. Sunset Blvd.). Cost: $24.30. On El-P’s first solo album in five years, surveillance drones buzz Brooklyn, handwritten notes are left on fallen soldiers and messages of calm are pierced with choppy beats that morph into gunfire. Was “Cancer 4 Cure” a current-events record or a snapshot of paranoia? With El-P, it’s never quite clear, as he’s an artist who seems at constant war with his own mind.

Brokechella, April 20 at Six01 Studios (601 S. Anderson St.). Cost: $10. Now in its third edition, this downtown festival celebrates underground up-and-comers and affordability. It won’t be as polished as its VIP-saturated inspiration, but it will be just as diverse, with selections that include the melodic rock of the Dead Ships, the vampy weirdness of Kera and the Lesbians and a head-trip of a hip-hop artist in NoCanDo.

Green Day, April 18 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (3939 S. Figueroa St.). Cost: $38.95-$60.90. Here’s the thing about Green Day: Despite the fact that its most recent trio of albums — “Uno!,” “Dos!” and “Tre!” — disappointed commercially and artistically, the group still puts on a heck of a rock ‘n’ roll show. Reports from early tour stops indicate that the band has dropped many of its past arena-rock shenanigans for a back-to-basics delivery.

FULL COVERAGE: Coachella 2013

Best Coast, Jimmy Eat World, Laurence Juber and Mike Watt, April 20 at Fingerprints Music (420 E. 4th Street, Long Beach). Cost: Varies, from about $6 to $24. A number of Coachella veterans will perform in Long Beach’s beloved music shop to celebrate Record Store Day, the annual promotional blitz when a bevy of rare and exclusive material is released on CD and vinyl. The ever-sunny Best Coast starts the day at 1 p.m., Jimmy Eat World takes the stage at 4 p.m., English guitarist Laurence Juber performs at 6 p.m. and Watt (who played Coachella with Iggy & the Stooges) closes the shop with an 8 p.m. concert. All that’s required for attendance is an RSVP to (562) 443-4996 and a pre-order of each artist’s Record Store Day item.

Bat for Lashes, April 23 at the Fonda Theatre (6126 Hollywood Blvd.). Cost: $41.75. The moody dreamscapes of U.K.-based singer Natasha Khan are more dramatic live than they are on record, as Khan works the stage to heighten the tension in even the most minimal of her heavily electronic arrangements.

Telekinesis, April 25 at the Echo (1822 W. Sunset Blvd/). Cost: $12.78. Michael Lerner’s Telekinesis, whose band now includes multi-instrumentalist Rebecca Cole from the punk-leaning Wild Flag, have grown into one of the most reliable power-pop outfits around, standing out with a mixture of soul romanticism and garage rock spunk.

Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3, Peter Buck, April 30 at the Troubadour (9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood). Cost: $30.88. Former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck opens, but Hitchcock’s recently released “Love From London” shows the former Soft Boy, now 60, still has plenty of fire in him, whether defending the working class or musing on the end of his life.

todd.martens@latimes.com

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COACHELLA 2013: Full coverage